When writing a disaster recovery and business continuity plan you need a checklist of the disaster recovery plan you will use during an actual disaster or event causing down time for the company.
Each state and local government has a disaster recovery plan (DRP) as a part of a public service organization. The California Office of Information Security has a review checklist as a part of an internal plan to assist state agencies in the event of a disaster.
Since every company provides different products and services, from a nursing home facility, a day care, web hosting, auto parts and/or repair, manufacturer for a General Electric part, distributor, mechanical services, plumber, or any other type of industry, the questions should be fine-tuned to meet each business’s needs.
The answers for each question should be one of the following:
1. Has the step has been full addressed: yes or no
2. Has the step been partially addressed but more development needed: yes or no
3. Has the step not addressed yet more development needed: yes or now
Included a section for additional comments or questions and also include: the date completed
and page number referenced.
The DRP checklist includes:
1. Does our company have a current business continuity plan (BCP)? If yes when was it last updated?
2. Are critical processes documented and included in this DRP?
3. Is a communication plan included?
4. Are several communication channels included?
5. Are call trees and lists, staff names, and recovery procedures documents automated or manual?
6. Are there layers of contingencies such as IT or manual workarounds documented?
7. Does the DRP require an alternate site for recovery?
8. Does the DRP specify the level of service (which the business owner has agreed to be acceptable) to be provided while in recovery mode?
9. Does the DRP have distinct management and staff assignment of responsibilities immediately following a disaster and continuing through the period of re-establishment of normal operations?
10. Does the facilities section have predetermined contacts to recover facilities and/or rebuild plans for critical equipment?
11. Are the operational procedures documented in a systematic fashion that will allow recovery to be achieved in a timely and orderly way?
12. Does the DRP identify hardware and software critical to recovery?
13. Does the DRP provide for print to mail services to be forwarded to the alternate facility?
14. Does the DRP identify necessary support equipment (forms, spare parts, office equipment, etc.) to recover the mission critical business and/or functions?
15. Do we have an UNINTERRUPTIBLE PWER SUPPLY (UPS) for critical systems and/or business area workstations?
16. Do we have a back-up generator? If so, how much time can it run supporting critical systems, technical staff and business area workstations?
17. Do we have a hot/cold site vendor on contract? If so, does the vendor have UPS and generator back-up?
18. Is a current copy of the DRP maintained off-site?
19. When was the off-site last updated?
20. Do all users of the DRP have ready access to a current copy at all times?
21. Do all employees responsible for the execution of the DRP receive training?
22. Is all important data required to support the DRP backed-up?
23. If back-ups are performed, are they stored in a protected location off-site?
24. How often and what method(s) are used to test the DRP?
Disaster recovery is the process of resuming operations after a disaster. Many businesses are prone to ignoring disaster recoveries because a disaster may seem unlikely. Consider these unexpected disasters:
· The BP oil spill of 2010
· Hurricane Katrina
· The northeast blackout in 2003
· 9/11
Last September 2011 the Indiana Governor closed the Sherman Minton Bridge.For seven months the Southern Indiana Community and the Louisville Business Community had to make adjustments.
Deliveries were re-routed; consumers didn't cross the river for shopping in Indiana and the public quickly protested the 20 year delay in building at least one new bridge. This wasn't a natural disaster, but man made and it caused retailers in Indiana to suffer and businesses on both sides of the river adjusted employees' hours to make up for the loss of a bridge.
The checklist is a reminder of the steps needed in order to overcome any disaster. Part five will cover the critical points to be considered when creating a BCP and DRP for your company.
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