Disaster Recovery Plan

(Template)

Prepared by:
Table of Contents
1. Overview ..............................................................................................................................................................4
1.2 Purpose ..............................................................................................................................................................4
1.3 Scope .................................................................................................................................................................4
2. Brief Introduction .................................................................................................................................................5
2.1 About Us (Your Business) ........................................................................................................................5
2.1.1 Description .................................................................................................................................................5
2.1.2 IT Setting ....................................................................................................................................................5
2.1.3 Network Services ......................................................................................................................................5
2.1.4 Critical Business Processes ....................................................................................................................6
2.2 Risk Assessment ..............................................................................................................................................6
3. Preparation and Risk Mitigation ........................................................................................................................7
3.1 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity ................................................................................................7
3.1.1 Goals ...........................................................................................................................................................7
3.1.2 Define Objectives ......................................................................................................................................7
3.1.3 Checklist .....................................................................................................................................................8
3.2 Building a Team ................................................................................................................................................8
3.2.1 Department Heads ....................................................................................................................................9
3.2.2 Disaster Recovery Team .......................................................................................................................10
3.2.3 Outside Vendors......................................................................................................................................10
3.3. Key Areas Of Preparation ............................................................................................................................11
3.3.1 Call Center ...............................................................................................................................................11
3.3.2 Emergency messages ............................................................................................................................11
3.3.3 Passwords, license keys, warranty information ..................................................................................11
3.3.4 Network Connectivity ..............................................................................................................................12
3.3.5 Backups ....................................................................................................................................................12
3.3.6 Systems Inventory ..................................................................................................................................13
3.3.7 Remote Workers .....................................................................................................................................13
3.3.8 Redundancy and High Availability Options .........................................................................................13
4. Recovery Plan ...................................................................................................................................................15
4.1 Emergency Declaration .................................................................................................................................15
4.2 Notify Employees............................................................................................................................................15
4.3 Process Restoration .......................................................................................................................................15
4.3.1 Restore critical processes for emergency level ..................................................................................15
4.3.2 Restore Key Processes For Key Business Services .........................................................................16
4.3.3 Restoring to Business As Usual ...........................................................................................................17
4.4 Situations .........................................................................................................................................................17
4.4.1 Power Loss .............................................................................................................................................17
 4.4.2 IT Systems Failure ..................................................................................................................................17
4.4.3 Robbery ....................................................................................................................................................18
5. Monitoring and Reporting Template ...............................................................................................................19
5.1 Damage and Assessment .............................................................................................................................19
5.2 Insurance .........................................................................................................................................................19
5.3 Financial BIA ...................................................................................................................................................19
5.4 Recovery Success Evaluation ......................................................................................................................20
5.5. Suggested Improvement to DR Plan ..........................................................................................................20
6. Overall Plan Management ...............................................................................................................................21
6.1. Distribution .....................................................................................................................................................21
6.2 Source ..............................................................................................................................................................21
6.3 Accessibility .....................................................................................................................................................21
6.4 Change Management ....................................................................................................................................21
6.5 Alternate Versions ..........................................................................................................................................21
7. Drill and Practice ...............................................................................................................................................22
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................................................23
A. Systems Inventory ...................................................................................................................................23
1. Overview

This template is a comprehensive disaster recovery plan made for detailing the key
systems and resources that must be recovered in the case of an IT systems failure.

This template is just a starting point and will serve as a guide. Disaster recovery plans
can evolve with time depending on its relevancy, we encourage you to make changes
to the template as you see fit.

1.2 Purpose

The purpose of a disaster recovery plan is to provide an efficient coordination and

guidance during the disaster recovery process. This will allow your business to continue
and recover critical business processes that might compromised your IT systems.

This document will be used to assess and mitigate your current level of risk, build a
disaster recovery team, gather critical contact information, identify key business
practices, set objectives, create an executable recovery plan, and report and monitor
your recovery in the event of a disaster.

1.3 Scope

This document will help you define critical priorities for business continuity. This template
also prioritizes IT systems essential to critical business processes.

This template is based on information available at the time of its development.

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2. Brief Introduction

2.1 About Us (Your Business)

2.1.1 Description
Provide a short description of your business that will include the industry/sector,
number of employees, organizational chart, list of departments, etc.

2.1.2 IT Setting

What comprises your current IT Infrastructure?

2.1.3 Network Services

Provide a short description of your current network’s upload/download speed, no. of

internet connections, no. of providers, type of network, backup providers, etc.

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2.1.4 Critical Business Processes

Distinguish each of the key business practices and rank them beginning with the
most critical to your business.

Key Business Process Rank Level of Priority Needs

2.2 Risk Assessment

What disasters are most likely to happen and what do you think is the most impactful?

Probability Score: Impact Score:

1 = Very Low 1 = Minor Impact
5 = High 5 = Destruction

Potential Disaster Probability Impact Score Possible

Score Consequence

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3. Preparation and Risk Mitigation
3.1 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Business Continuity is devising a plan that allows a business to function during or

quickly after a disaster. Disaster Recovery is a portion of business continuity that
focuses IT resources.

3.1.1 Goals

What are your goals for disaster recovery? Is there a business process that should be
uninterrupted during disaster?

3.1.2 Define Objectives

Set goals for your recovery which are specific to your businesses needs as
well as its capabilities.

Recovery Time Objective (RTO): The time you will set for the recovery of your business’
IT and activities after a disaster. RTO’s goal is to calculate the maximum acceptable time
your business can be offline.

Level of Recovery Recovery Time Objective

Establish an emergency level of service
within

Restore Key Services within

Recover to BAU within

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Recovery Point Objective (RPO): What is the acceptable amount of data you can afford
to lose? If your tolerance is high, your RPO can be from hours to days. If you can’t afford
to lose data, then your RPO will be seconds.

3.1.3 Checklist

What technologies do you currently have in place to aid in the disaster recovery
process? Are there any you want to add? Any you are curious about?

TOOLS YES NO
Cloud Backup
Local Backup
Backup Generator

3.2 Building a Team

The disaster recovery team is responsible of executing and maintaining business

recovery procedures and coordinating the recovery of business and its functions. The
stakeholders are c-level members of the company who have stake in their department.
Please note that your disaster recovery team should be capable.

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3.2.1 Department Heads

Department Name Position Contact Option Details

Finance Work
Mobile
Address
Email
Addresses:

IT Work
Mobile
Address
Email
Addresses:

Disaster Recovery Coordinators are the most important individuals on the day of a
disaster. They are the IT, operations managers, and financial managers. They have the
capabilities to restart and reconfigure systems, resume key business processes, open
communications, and make critical financial decisions

Department Name Position Contact Option Details

Operations Work
Mobile
Address
Email
Addresses:

Work
Mobile
Address
Email
Addresses:

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3.2.2 Disaster Recovery Team

Always have a backup team in case one of the team is not available.

Department Name Position Contact Option Details

Alternative Work
Coordinator 1
Mobile
Address
Email
Addresses:

Alternative Work
Coordinator 2
Mobile
Address
Email
Addresses:

3.2.3 Outside Vendors

List the important outside contact information. (Example)

Department Name Position Contact Option Details

Property Work
Manager
Mobile
Address
Email
Addresses:

Internet
Service Work
Provider
Account # Mobile
Address
Email
Addresses:

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3.3. Key Areas Of Preparation

3.3.1 Call Center

Communication is one important factor in an event of disaster. Do you have an alternate

phone number where phone call would be forwarded or rerouted after a disaster?

3.3.2 Emergency messages

What medium of communication do you use?

3.3.3 Passwords, license keys, warranty information

List all the non-private passwords and keep private password secure.

Passwords

System Username/Login Password

Program License Keys

Program License Key Other

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Warranty Info

Product Warranty Information Expiration Date

3.3.4 Network Connectivity

Draw a diagram of your network architecture. Type of internet, modem, routers,

switches, servers, firewalls, SAN, WAN, VoIP

3.3.5 Backups

Record the location where backups are stored, document the backup schedule, and
description of backups.

Key Frequency of
Onsite Offsite Description Frequency of
Business Incremental
Backup Backup File/Folder Full Backups
Process Backups

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3.3.6 Systems Inventory

Identify and record technical specifications, physical locations, model numbers, disk
size, vendors, applications, warranty information, and other critical information.

3.3.7 Remote Workers

Prepare and designate an alternative remote working site if your office becomes
inaccessible.

3.3.7a Cold Site

A cold site is the most economical type of backup site for an organization to use. It does
not include backed up copies of data and information from the original location of the
organization, nor does it include hardware already set up which cost less.

3.3.7b Hot Site

A hot site is a replica of the original site of the company, with full computer systems as
well as near-complete backups of user data. The hot site exists so that the company
can move with minimal costs to normal operations.

3.3.8 Redundancy and High Availability Options

Example of a Hot Site

Key business processes and the agreed backup strategy for each are listed below.

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KEY BUSINESS PROCESSES
Hardware
Software
QA
Monitoring
Finance
Email
Purchasing

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4. Recovery Plan
4.1 Emergency Declaration
Person recognizing disaster should immediately contact the DR Leaders.

4.2 Notify Employees

How will you notify the rest of your employees? What are their instructions?

4.3 Process Restoration

List the order in which to restore processes.

4.3.1 Restore critical processes for emergency level

What is vital to you making revenue or retaining your customers? What needs do those
processes have? And what measures must be taken to recover said processes?

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Rank Business Process Dependencies Other Instructions

4.3.2 Restore Key Processes For Key Business Services

Rank Business Process Dependencies Other Instructions

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4.3.3 Restoring to Business As Usual

Rank Business Process Dependencies Other Instructions

4.4 Situations

Identify where you are most vulnerable. What is most likely to happen and what will hurt
your business the most?

4.4.1 Power Loss

4.4.2 IT Systems Failure

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4.4.3 Robbery

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5. Monitoring and Reporting Template
5.1 Damage and Assessment

Affected Key Business Description Damage

Process

5.2 Insurance

As part of the company’s disaster recovery and business continuity strategy several
insurance policies have been put in place. These include errors and omissions,
directors & officers’ liability, general liability, and business interruption insurance.

Insurance Coverage Period Amount Person In Renewal

Name Type Charge Date

5.3 Financial BIA

Financial Impact Description Exact/Estimated Cost

Lost Customers
Lost Sales
Hardware Damage

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5.4 Recovery Success Evaluation

List the things that must be recovered.

System Success or Fail Time of Recovery

5.5. Suggested Improvement to DR Plan

Fill this up if there is any feedback and suggestion to your disaster recovery plan.

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6. Overall Plan Management
6.1. Distribution

Do your employees have a soft copy and hard copy of this document? Does anyone get
access to this?

6.2 Source

Is there any e-distribution?

6.3 Accessibility

Can anyone easily access this file? Do you require passwords?

6.4 Change Management

Keep a document of new hardware, software, service providers, and personnel. The
person in charge should be knowledgeable of this plan.

6.5 Alternate Versions

DR plans contains confidential information. Do you provide different version to some of

your employees?

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7. Drill and Practice

It is recommended to review and test your DR plan once every 6 months to check its
relevancy and to make room for improvements.

Next Scheduled DR Drill:

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Appendix

A. Systems Inventory

Servers

System

Overview
Production Server: Location:
Server Model:
Operating System:
CPUs:
Memory:
Total Disk:
% Used:
System/Admin Handle:
System/Admin Password:
System Serial #:
DNS Entry:
IP Address:
Other:
Hot site server:
Applications:
Associated servers:

Key Contacts
Hardware Vendor:
System Owner:
Database Owner:
Application Owner:
Software Vendor:
Offsite Storage:

Backup Strategy for

System One
Daily
Weekly
Monthly

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Server One
Disaster Recovery
Procedure

ADDENDUM

Contacts

File Systems

File Systems as of (date)

Minimal file system to be

created and restored from
backup:

Critical files to modify:

Necessary directories to
create:
Critical files to restore:
Secondary files to restore

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Local Area Network

System

Overview
Firewall: Internet Service Provider:
Account Information:
Device Type:
Model Number:
Technical Specifications:
Power Requirement:
System Serial #:
DNS Entry:
IP Address:
VPN:
Port Settings:
Other:
Hot site equipment:
Special Applications
Associated servers:
Key Contacts:
Hardware Vendor:
System Owner:

Overview
Modem: Internet Service Provider:
Internet Type:
Account Information:
Device Type:
Model Number:
Technical Specifications:
Power Requirement:
System Serial #:
DNS Entry:
IP Address:
Other:
Hot site equipment:
Special Applications
Associated servers:
Key Contacts:
Hardware Vendor:
System Owner:

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Overview
Router: Device Type:
Model Number:
Technical Specifications:
Power Requirement:
System Serial #:
DNS Entry:
IP Address:
Routing Protocols:
Passwords/Security Type:
Wi-Fi Security Protocol:
Other:
Hot site equipment:
Special Applications
Associated servers:
Key Contacts:
Hardware Vendor:
System Owner:

Overview
Switch: Device Type:
Model Number:
Technical Specifications:
Power Requirement:
System Serial #:
DNS Entry:
IP Address:
Routing Settings:
Other:
Hot site equipment:
Special Applications
Associated servers:
Key Contacts:
Hardware Vendor:
System Owner:

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Backup Strategy for
System Two
Daily
Weekly
Monthly

System Two
Disaster Recovery
Procedure

Scenario 1
(Stopped Working)

Scenario 2
(Loss of HW)

ADDENDUM

Contacts

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Systems Inventory for Voice Communication

System

Overview
Equipment: Location:
Provider:
Phone Type:
Manufacturer:
Model No.:
Technical Specifications:
Mac Address:
Network Interfaces:
Power Requirement:
System Serial #:
DNS Entry:
IP Address:
Other:
Hot site Equipment:
Special Application:
Associated devices:

Key Contacts
Hardware Vendor:
System Owner:
Database Owner:
Application Owner:
Software Vendor:
Offsite Storage:
Network Service
Provider:

Backup Strategy for

System Two
Daily
Weekly
Monthly

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System Two
Disaster Recovery
Procedure

ADDENDUM

Contacts

Support Systems (Date)

Support System
Critical Network Assets
Critical Files to Restore
Critical Network Services to
Restore
Other Services

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