Disaster Recovery

Disaster Recovery is an interesting subject in isolation and will be discussed briefly here. Before I do however, I would like to point out that it should be done in conjunction with and aligned to the Business Continuity Plan. That said lets get down to it.

Disaster Recovery – not just a project

Disaster recovery planning is not just a short term project, also once done (the project side), that is the end of it. The whole idea behind this is to be a working plan that evolves with the business. The plan must be maintained for currency and tested/exercised regularly. Here is a list of some of the things that need to be considered:

• Pre-Planning Activities (Project Initiation)
• Vulnerability Assessment and General Definition of Requirements
• Business Impact Analysis
• Detailed Definition of Requirements
• Plan Development
• Testing Program
• Maintenance Program
• Initial Plan Testing and Plan Implementation

Disaster Recovery – primary objective

The primary objective of a Disaster Recovery plan provide the IT resources at the appropriate time to enable an organization to survive a disaster and to reestablish normal business operations. In order to survive, the organization must assure that critical operations can resume normal processing within a reasonable time frame.

The successful and cost effective completion of such a project requires the close cooperation of management from all areas of Information Systems as well as business areas supported by Information Systems. Senior personnel from Information Systems and user areas must be significantly involved throughout the project for the planning process to be successful.