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  DISASTER RECOVERY Best Practices White Paper
  A disaster recovery plan covers both the hardware and software required to run critical business applications and the associated processes to transition smoothly in the event of a natural or human−caused disaster. To plan effectively, you need to first assess your mission−critical business processes and associated applications before creating the full disaster recovery plan. We'll look at the following critical steps for best−practice disaster recovery: Management Awareness,Disaster Recovery Planning, Resiliency and Backup Services, and Vendor Support Services.
  • Performance Indicators for Disaster Recovery:
    Performance indicators provide the mechanism by which you can measure the success of your disaster recovery process and plan. Performance indicators for disaster recovery are somewhat different from those used to measure network performance, because they are a combination of project status and test runs of infrastructure.
    • Indicators of success include:
      Periodic reports from the planning group to senior management.
      Representation of the network design team on the disaster recovery planning team.
      Periodic tests to verify implementation of the disaster recovery plan and reports about gaps and risks.
      A review process that includes the deployment of new solutions.

    Analysis of the disaster recovery handling, effectiveness, and impact on the business (after a disaster occurs).

  • Management Awareness:
    Management Awareness is the first and most important step in creating a successful disaster recovery plan. To obtain the necessary resources and time required from each area of your organization, senior management has to understand and support the business impacts and risks. Several key tasks are required to achieve management awareness.
 

  Identify Possible Disaster Scenarios  
 

First, identify the top ten disasters and analyze their impact on your business. Your analysis should cover effects on communications with suppliers and customers, the impact on operations, and disruption on key business processes. You should complete this pre−study in advance of the disaster recovery planning process, knowing that it will require additional verification during the planning process.
The following are examples of possible disasters: fire, storm, water, earthquake, chemical accidents, nuclear accidents, war, terrorist attacks and other crime, cold winter weather, extreme heat, airplane crash (loss of key staff), and avalanche. The possibility of each scenario depends on factors such as geographical location and political stability.
Assess the impact of a disaster on your business from both a financial and physical (infrastructure) perspective by asking the following questions:

  • How much of the organization's resources could be lost?
  • What are the total costs?
  • What efforts are required to rebuild?
  • How long will it take to recover?
  • What is the impact on the overall organization?
  • How are customers affected, what is the impact on them?
  • How much will it affect the share price and market confidence?

  
 
 
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