Developing a Disaster Recovery Plan

While the BCP folks develop a plan to keep business operations rolling, the DRP people develop a plan to restore the damaged facility(ies) so that the critical business functions can operate there again.

Preparing for emergency response

Emergency response teams must be prepared for every possible scenario. Members of these teams need a variety of specialized training to deal with such things as water and smoke damage, structural damage, flooding, and hazardous materials.

All the types of response must be documented so that the response teams know what to do. The emergency response documentation consists of two major parts: how to respond to each type of incident, and up-to-date facts about the facilities and equipment that the organization uses.

In other words, you want your teams to know how to deal with water damage, smoke damage, structural damage, hazardous materials, and many other things. Your teams also need to know everything about every company facility: where things such as utility entrances, electrical equipment, HVAC, fire control, elevators, communications, data closets, and so on are located, which vendors maintain and service them, and so on. And you need experts who know about the materials and construction of the buildings themselves.

Responding to an emergency branches into two activities: salvage and recovery. Tangential to this is preparing financially for the costs associated with salvage and recovery.

Salvage

The salvage team is concerned with restoring full functionality to the damaged facility. This includes several activities:

• Damage assessment: The facility must be thoroughly examined to identify the full extent and nature of damage. Frequently, this inspection is performed by outside experts such as structural engineers and the like.

• Salvage assets: Assets, such as computer equipment, records, furniture, inventory, and so on need to be removed from the facility.

• Cleaning: The facility needs to be thoroughly cleaned to eliminate smoke damage, water damage, debris, and more. This job is frequently performed by outside companies that specialize in these services.

• Restoring the facility to operational readiness: The final step to full recovery is the completion of repairs and restocking and reequipping the facility to return it to pre-disaster readiness. At this point, the facility is ready for business functions to resume there.

 Instant Answer   The salvage team is primarily concerned with the restoration of a facility to return it to operational readiness.

Recovery

Recovery comprises equipping the BCP team (yes, the BCP team - this is one of the touch points between BCP and DRP) with any logistics, supplies, or coordination in order to get alternate functional sites up and running. This activity should be heavily scripted, with lots of procedures and checklists in order to ensure that every detail is handled.

Financial readiness

The salvage and recovery operations can be very expensive. The organization must be prepared for potentially large expenses (at least several times the total monthly operating cost) to restore operations to the original facility.

Notifying personnel

The disaster recovery team needs to have communication plans prepared in advance of any disaster. The DRP team must have a way of notifying employees about facilities that are closed, and note that one or more traditional means of communications may also have been adversely affected by the same event that damaged business facilities. For example, if a building has been damaged, the voice-mail system that you would expect people to call into for checking messages and getting workplace status might not be working. Hmmm, what to do, what to do . . .

Facilitating external communications

The corporate departments that communicate with customers, investors, government, and the media are equipped with pretty much the same information as for Business Continuity Planning. There are really no differences and no need for any significant differences in planning for external communications between DRP and BCP.

Not only response, but also prevention

On the surface, it appears that Disaster Recovery Planning is all about cleaning up and restoring business operations after a hurricane, tornado, or flood. However the DRP project can add considerable value to the organization if it also points out things that are putting the business at risk in the first place. For instance, the DRP planning team may discover a design flaw in a building that makes it more vulnerable to damage during a flood. The planning team can make a recommendation outlining the necessary repairs in order to reduce the likelihood of flood damage.

Maintaining physical security

Looting and vandalism sometimes occur after significant disastrous events. The organization must be prepared to deploy additional guards as well as erect temporary fencing and other physical barriers in order to protect its physical assets until damaged facilities are secured and law and order are restored. And we’re not just concerned with physical assets: personnel (if any are present) require protection too.

Personnel safety

The safety of personnel needs to be addressed, as there are often personnel working in areas with damage and safety issues, usually right after a disaster, during salvage and damage assessment.