Testing and Training

One of the reasons that disaster recovery and business continuity plans fail is they often are not updated, tested, or employees are not trained in how to use them. Don't be one of those organizations that only becomes a believer in testing after a disaster in which plans didn't work. Heed the advice in this week's articles and rest assured that your plan will do what it's designed for.

If you want to be ready for a disaster, you must test your plan. (Item #1)   Can your organization take a lickin' and keep on tickin'? (Item #2)   Testing your plan requires management support, time for preparation and execution, funding, careful planning... here's how. (Item #3)  

Simulations are not a science. In fact simulations are, for better or for worse, an art. (Item #4)   Hurricane season is upon us, and you should be asking yourself if your Disaster Recovery (DR) plan can help you recover if needed. (Item #5)   Disaster recovery planning is an ongoing, never ending process that should include quarterly reviews and annual tests. (Item #6)  

As always, we look forward to hearing your comments & insights regarding business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover, email me at [email protected].

Bob Mellinger, President
Attainium Corp

1. Testing ensures you are ready for any disaster, large or small

Testing is a critical component of business continuity planning. If your systems went down, how long would it take to get them up and running again, and what would be required to achieve that goal? Where are the gaps in your recovery plan and how can you close those gaps before a disaster strikes?
http://www.preparemybusiness.org/testing

2. Business continuity test scenarios - do you have to "pull the plug"?

Business continuity test scenarios are an integral part of good Business Continuity planning, on two conditions: they test for the right things; and that they are realistic in how they test. It's important to keep the end goal in mind. A simple definition of business continuity can be helpful here, such as the one from the US Department of Homeland Security - "the ability of an organization to take a lickin' and keep on tickin'".
http://www.opscentre.com.au/blog/business-continuity-test-scenarios-%e2%80%93-do-you-have-to-%e2%80%9cpull-the-plug%e2%80%9d/#more-499

3. Business continuity and disaster recovery testing templates: A free download and guide

Business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) plans are useless until you test them. Fortunately, many types of tests are possible, ranging from simple to very complex. The key to business continuity testing success is to incorporate testing as part of the overall business continuity/disaster recovery management process. But testing can be a major challenge to many organizations.
http://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/feature/Business-continuity-and-disaster-recovery-testing-templates-A-free-download-and-guide

4. The art of the disaster simulation

No simulation is perfect. There are technical details that get missed. There are uninvolved and disinterested parties. There are complete no-shows. There are overzealous leaders who threaten to hijack the event. There are challenges to the scenario. There are rabbit-holes that waste time and activities that are poorly executed. There's equipment that doesn't work. There's food that fails to arrive. Schedules get thrown off and individuals go missing-in-action. Coordinators get second-guessed and late arrivals demand to be brought up-to-speed.
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0988.html

5. It's Hurricane Season: Is Your Disaster Recovery Plan Ready?

Hurricane Irene taught, or should have taught, IT a few very important lessons. First and foremost, all companies must have a fully-tested DR plan in place. You can't afford not to, when disasters can have such a dramatic impact on the overall health of the business. What's more, it's critical that the plan supports your current business requirements.
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2012/07/03/review-your-disaster-recovery-plan-hurricane-comes-knocking-your-front-door/

6. How's That Disaster Recovery Plan Coming Along?

Everyone talks about disaster recovery planning, and business continuity planning, and most companies take a stab at developing a DR plan, but very few ever take the process to completion until after they experience a disaster and have to try to get things back up and running without a plan. It's always one of those tasks on everyone's radar that never gets done. Why is that?
http://www.drj.com/2012-articles/online-exclusive/hows-that-disaster-recovery-plan-coming-along.html