DR does NOT happen automatically. Even with outsourcing, and lots of well-managed (external) services, aided by virtualization and recovery tools, it requires a lot of time and perseverance to maintain a plan. Efficient ways are available to simplify and capture relevant DR information during periods of rapid change, using a minimum of effort.
Keeping it Fresh
DR plans have been known to go bad very quickly. When a plan is shunted aside or isn’t fully updated, it may not work effectively, partially, or at all. Often, it takes significant work to refresh paperwork during annual testing or management reviews, or when customers or auditors come calling.
Lack of current IT “configuration” information is mostly to blame. Keeping tabs on such specifics as, server names and locations, network addresses, passwords, and the latest interface is tedious business. Never mind watching for evolving risks, new apps or team members changing phone numbers. To keep on top of this requires some focus and effective documentation techniques, especially when there is a sizable portfolio of IT assets involved. Here’s three ways to keep ahead of the DR documentation challenge.
Three Ways to Make DR Easier
#1: Fewer “Cooks in the Kitchen”. You cannot trust the best efforts of a pot pourri of participants to get their act together to protect you. A mixed collection of staff, vendors, cloud providers and users should act like a well-coached squad before running onto the field. Reducing the number of different parties involved is achieved by reducing “complexity” within your IT environment, prioritizing suppliers and consolidating. We all know that the elevated use of IT drives rapid expansion of applications. Many apps are now expected to be 7×24; a number are mission critical – but are they? Probably not. Separate them into three tiers to isolate the most important services to recover first. Then, using the top tier, rank order and then single-out your most “strategic”, plus their supporting suppliers. Get closer to those suppliers. Invest in exchanging information regularly, but also introduce mutual risk sharing. Simplifying and directing focus to a fewer number of suppliers will help reduce planning and documentation effort. Try to avoid being dependent on “transactional” relationships that should be strategic. Avoid on-premises and off-premises contractors that may cloud gaps in accountability – as well as responsibility for recovery. Use your “top ten” cloud suppliers, manufacturers and platform providers, to assist with key recovery processes and help keep them simpler.
#2: A Clean House. Keep things tidy, keep complexity in check and make it easier to recover. Facilitate DR by maintaining centralized, standardized and commoditized architectures. Server sprawl typically follows the rapid growth of application systems. Fast-and-furious implementations, coupled with inconsistent architecture, produces a mixed bag of server products and platforms. Net effect: IT documentation and DR plans will suffer. They will take more effort to retroactively update.
Many departmental, standalone and distributed data files create challenges as well. Try to minimize unnecessary business exposure relating to unique, valuable and/or isolated data. Connect, back-up regularly, and integrate all data sources using your DR data and system replication regime.
Maturing IT processes (but not necessarily all at once!) can also make a big difference in the DR lifecycle. Be sure to include the two most critical ones:
- Incident Management – good execution may buy you some time and/or help mitigate damage – and should help you distinguish minor operational hiccups from emerging catastrophes
- Change Management – constant attention to this improves your chances of success – by increasing visibility of any critical considerations impacting DR plans & recovery processes.
Both of these processes are best supported by a good documentation discipline.
#3: Buy the Right Pieces. If you can’t figure out how to do it in-house, but can’t afford to ignore it, help yourself by acquiring one or two key DR-specific aids or ingredients. There are plenty of suppliers with simplified, standardized architectures, mature IT practices, fully-embedded redundancy and a choice of a-la-carte DR offerings. Standalone Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery appliances, software, tools and skillsets are also readily available in the market. Many of these are packaged with easy to use training materials, and directions-for-use, that can be plugged into your DR recovery plans and processes.
People time is precious and scarce. And availability is not always predictable from day-to-day and especially, at time of disaster. Rapid rates of change to the organization and IT environment (apps., platform, network, 3rd party suppliers) drives a constant need to document and update DR documentation. These are ways to make things easier to link, simplify and reduce the manual and time consuming processes to maintain DR-related IT documentation.