Recognition of Mission-Critical Elements

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A key element of effective disaster recovery is recognition of all aspects of critical operations. Whatever is necessary to function for the next month or three months must be identified and then established at offsite facilities. With particular reference to data, doing so includes mirroring data offsite. What else? As people tend to have tunnel vision regarding the definition of "critical" items, it takes input from all departments and many echelons of command in order to determine the exact recipe for DRP success. Which assets are most critical for the running of every area of the organization, right down to the fine details? It takes a lot of input to get it right. Outside help, then, is a very good idea. People who have experienced disasters, who have helped organizations work through them, and who have implemented DRP in dozens of similar organizations are good to have around when it is time to work out a disaster strategy. They can sort things out in an orderly process that moves smoothly from planning to implementation.

Drilling

Further, such people can help with an important component of DRP that is often neglected: drilling. Have you ever seen a really competent crew of seamen drilling? They do "man overboard," "abandon ship," and fire drills on board over and over. I even saw one crew, of the Freewinds out of Curacao, doing emergency drills blindfolded. Amazing to behold, but it drove home the point that these guys were ready for everything that Old Man Sea, Mother Nature, or human stupidity could throw at them. It is the same with corporate DRP. It is important to drill the plan thoroughly until everyone knows his part, what to do, where to go, and how to get back up and running quickly. Obviously, this exercise can be taken to extremes, but the consequences of not doing it become evident if we return to our nautical example. I have seen a crew fail to deal effectively with a small fire on board an ocean liner; they abandoned ship in a very shoddy fashion that endangered the passengers in the process and almost lost the entire vessel for no good reason.

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