Thursday, January 23, 2014

The Steps Necessary In Disaster Recovery Planning Process

By Judy Sullivan


All companies must have contingency plans designed to ensure their continuity regardless of unfortunate events that may occurs in their lifetime. It is for this purpose that organizations are continuously involved in developing and revising plans that are used to guide through an orderly process from a catastrophic. The process of disaster recovery planning is not as simple as it may appear.

It requires involvement of all members of the organization at all levels from top to bottom. In addition to this, it is also necessary that all aspects of organization are put into consideration. This include internal processes, procedures, systems, machines and all other resources and external players like suppliers, government and other regulatory authorities. The aim is to come up with a fully tested and functional plan in a formal document.

Other benefits of the outcome of this process include the general sense of security, minimal delay risks, the reliability of standby systems is guaranteed, reduced decision making during disasters and provision of a standard of testing. In addition to this, firms with comprehensive and functional disaster recovery plans (DRP) enjoy discounts on insurance premiums.

Every enterprise has a unique plan that may not be suitable for the other business. It depends on many factors from the business type and environment, processes and machinery, level of security measures in place and the level of technology. Although many organizations prefer to prepare their own plans, they can also be bought in software applications. Services of consultants from outside the organizations can also be secured in designing appropriate plan.

A typical DRP involves several stages. It starts from understanding of the interconnections of all organization resources and activities followed by assessment of its vulnerability areas. After getting the insight on how organization can get affected in case of a disaster, a short term plan is developed. This will assist in developing a longer term recovery plan, prioritizing all areas of vulnerability. The planning is continuously tested and updated to respond to changing needs of the business.

The DRP has become a necessity in all industries and is a requirement by law in some firms due to several reasons. Many firms primarily depend on computer networks and electronic systems which are prone to failure. In addition to this, dealing with accidents in a proper manner reduces insurance claims. For this reason, insurance firms normally charger lower premiums for firms with better DRP.

The strategies are then documented in a formal plan with specific steps that can be followed in the unlikely event. It also specifies the backup systems to be put in place and how to regularly maintain them to ensure they are always functional and responsive. The plan is then put to a thorough test involving checklist tests, simulation tests, parallel test and a full interruption test before final approval and implementation.

The disaster recovery planning process involves much more than just coming up with storage and backups. It should be able to address all critical areas of risk exposures in the organization. If well done, this plan will prevent many risks from occurring, other than just minimizing their impacts.




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