Common Mistakes in Creating Disaster Recovery Plans
A Backup Article Contributed by A.J. Vasaris
Common Mistakes in Creating Disaster Recovery Plans
The key reason for pre-planning for disaster recovery is to get up, running, and back to business as soon as possible. While less than fifty percent of businesses and organizations have formal disaster recovery plans, many that complete writing their plans make some simple mistakes along the way. Since losing vital corporate resources can bring companies to a standstill or cause them to close their doors forever, avoid these angst-producing mistakes:
Assigning the Creation of Disaster Recovery Plans to the It Department
Since the IT department is responsible for computer system backups, management's first tendency is to assign the creation of the disaster recovery plan to the personnel in that department. Sure the IT department needs to be heavily involved, but don't forget the financial and operational departments as well. Everyone must be involved, including executive management.
Senior management must be actively involved in the development of the disaster recovery plan. They must agree to the need for such a plan and be prepared to authorize activation of the plan, should the need arise.
Not Distributing the Disaster Recovery Plan to All Personnel
Don't forget to keep your employees informed during the planning and recovery process. Are you just telling everyone to stay home while you find new offices or install new computer systems? Which employees, vendors or suppliers have any responsibilities during disaster recovery? Is each person and each assigned task noted? Have you designated a remote sight or temporary facilities where everyone should report to work? Does any one besides the managers and executives know anything about this plan?
The plan should be developed with input from managers and employees at all levels who will be involved in implementing the plan and affected by the disaster.
Never Testing Your Disaster Recovery Plan
Most companies do a decent enough job of documenting what needs to be backed up from the computer servers, information to save and making archives. Financial and operational managers should work closely with the IT department to schedule a test recovery of financial data and production systems on at least an annual basis.
Not only do many companies fail to test their recovery plan, but they forget to test those computer backups on a periodic basis to make sure they work. They sometimes discover too late that the incremental backups they'd been making to save time are inadequate to recover the entire system. If you have not restored from a backup tape in the last month, your business could be the next disaster waiting to happen!
Conduct test scenarios yearly. Build recovery consciousness into day-to-day operations and test the formal plans. Many companies stage mock disasters periodically. Best practice companies tend to hold tests twice a year. Disaster recovery plans tested less than once a year will not support critical business requirements as equipment, tasks, applications and personnel constantly change. Even a failed disaster recovery test is useful. Address top priorities first.
By clearly defining the key business processes that must be re-established in the event of a disaster, enterprises can prioritize which resources are most critical.
