Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
Determining recovery requirements
- Identify all functions performed for all departments within scope.
- Map interdependencies and information flows between functions to fully
understand the consequences of loss. - Determine the length of time that the organization can live without each function
before the loss becomes unacceptable (e.g. Recovery Time Objectives [RTOs]).
(look beyond loss of revenue as the sole criterion). - Identify enabling requirements (IT, personnel skill sets, etc.).
- Validate frequency of backups.
- Identify Single Points of Failure (SPOFs).What database users have access to sensitive data?
Recovery Strategy Analysis (RSA)
Understanding and fulfilling recovery requirements
- Develop your recovery organization with the necessary teams and their proper
staffing. - Understand the available recovery strategies in the industry and the Recovery Time
Objectives (RTOs) those strategies support. - Map requirements from the BIA to the available strategies, determine cost and ease
of implementation and then decide the best strategies for your organization. - Implement the necessary contracts and integrate those strategies into your recovery
solution.
Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
Write your plans to include the following:
- Damage assessment procedures.
- Activation criteria based on the comparison between the estimated time to repair
and RTOs. - Recovery team(s) rosters and sub-plans for those teams that provide the activation
procedures for the approved strategies. - Critical vendor / supplier POCs and contact information.
BCP Training
Develop critical skills
- Ensure your people with recovery roles and responsibilities are trained to fulfill
those duties. - Ensure all personnel in the organization have a familiarization of recovery policies
and where to go for information in the event of an incident / disaster
Exercise Your Plan
Test to verify your plans efficacy
- Use realistic scenarios.
- Ensure coordination and participation among all personnel with recovery roles
and responsibilities. - Use the exercise results to refine your plan and update training curriculum.