The level of exposure a business faces dictates the amount of disaster recovery investment necessary to protect it. Environmental, political, and technological variables require an ongoing commitment to maintaining the DR program’s relevancy. Typically this means continuous amendments to the current disaster recovery plan, but can also call for totally new plans to be developed. Building a strong DR plan is not a question of if or when; it must happen now.
1. Improving the Current Disaster Recovery Plan
Do you already have a disaster recovery plan in place, but are questioning its validity in the wake of recent changes? Whether it is because of changes in systems, technology or the environment, an outdated disaster recovery plan loses its value, and can give business owners a false sense of security. Keeping a disaster recovery plan up-to date and following changes in the business or exposures is essential.
Improving an existing disaster recovery plan requires:
- gathering all disaster recovery documentation
- conducting a gap analysis via a checklist approach
- setting of realistic targets and prioritizing requirements
- utilizing the roadmap strategy to put the improvement plan in place over reasonable timelines and provide checkpoints throughout the entire process
To improve any disaster recovery program, you must first evaluate the current strategy and identify any new threats, exposures, or weaknesses. Completing a checklist with a maturity model will provide an unbiased view of how good or bad things really are. In some cases, you might be right on target! In other cases, you may need help to clearly define specific goals regarding gaps.
2. Building a Disaster Recovery Plan from Scratch
Do you not have a disaster recovery plan at all? Or perhaps too many changes have occurred that have invalidated the original plan. If the disaster recovery plan is out of date to the point that it is no longer applicable, then it is best to start from scratch and build a new one. Believe it or not, this is sometimes easier. If you already have a decent business continuity plan in place, you’re ahead of the game. If not, this is a good starting place.
Steps to building a disaster recovery plan:
- define the focus, scope, and organizational requirements
- list your data centers and valued systems
- rank the list in order of importance using a business impact analysis
- take inventory and understand the interrelationships and dependencies in the technical infrastructure
- decide on the basic recovery approach including the network, recovery tools, server and database technology
- consider a range of realistic recovery site options
There is much to consider when planning; and it is important to address all areas of the business, how they inter-relate, and the impact their “down time” could have on your business. Talk to an expert in DR to ensure maximum protection.
