| If you have been in the information technology | | | | out what's been written for such disaster and |
| field for any length of time you will no doubt be | | | | follows the plan. Granted, something written in |
| familiar with the term disaster recovery plan or | | | | calmness and tranquility will never ever have the |
| DRPs. They are the best thing in the world when | | | | same punch of an actual emergency because |
| they are written and in place. The opposite side | | | | normally there is chaos all around. However, the |
| of that coin is that if they are not in place and | | | | process of writing the DRP is worth the effort |
| something happens, your organization can take a | | | | because it gets people thinking about how they |
| huge loss, a loss greater than the disaster that | | | | would do things and even how your networks are |
| exposed the fact that you never had a DRP. | | | | redundant and fail-safe now. The major question |
| DRPs are tough to write because they involve a | | | | that should be looked at is, "if something happens |
| lot of variables and educated guesses. They are | | | | right now to our facility, is there availability |
| also expensive to maintain because each division | | | | elsewhere?" Do you have fail over capability? Do |
| or department within your organization must | | | | you have redundant systems and networks? |
| address their specific areas and how they would | | | | What about backups? Where are they stored? |
| handle every emergency and disaster imaginable. | | | | There are a lot of things to consider when |
| Just identifying the correct subject matter | | | | creating a disaster recovery plan. Even though |
| experts in each department can be a daunting | | | | when a major disaster occurs, the plans are |
| and challenging. | | | | tossed for expediency, there is great value in |
| Having said that, a well-written DRP will save your | | | | systematically reviewing current methodologies |
| bacon! When a disaster occurs, management pulls | | | | and procedures. |