PLAN COMPONENTS

Your Disaster Recovery Plan should include some essential components:

• Introduction
  General company information (like a product/service overview and the number of staff and clients), the objective of the plan (such as “ensuring the physical safety of all employees”), and any key information that may be important to point out, such as where contact information is saved.
• Team
  List of the members of the Emergency Planning Team and their roles, an explanation of how the team was selected, and the process for replacing team members and evaluating the plan on an ongoing basis.
• Risk Assessment
  Overview of key risks that the business is exposed to due to industry, operations, or other internal/external factors.Risks can range from a breach of sensitive information to sabotage to acts of nature.
• Risk Management
  Explanation of actions the company will take to minimize its risk exposure, including items ranging from the building alarm system to insurance coverage to having an established procedure.
• Personnel
  Where to find contact information for employees and how that information will be kept up to date, the procedure for authorizing the disaster recovery actions, and alternate means of communicating if standard means are not available.
• Floor Plans
  Where to find floor plans and explanation of required building maintenance activities related to safety, such as checking emergency lighting, keeping an inventory of emergency supplies (and where they are located), and conducting practice drills with employees.
• Evacuation Procedures
  Where to find evacuation routes and meeting points for after an evacuation.
• Precautionary Backup Measures
  As applicable, technology backup procedures that occur on an ongoing basis to protect client data.
• Prioritized Functions
  The key business functions that must occur in the event of a business interruption, such as arranging for calls to be forwarded or contacting an insurance company.
• Procedures
  How company policies and procedures are recorded, backed up, and accessible.
• Directory
  Where to find a directory of current contacts, vendors, and suppliers and how this directory is maintained.
• Alternate Worksite
  Where employees will report to work if the standard office is not available and how access to the alternate worksite will be granted.
• Alternate Communications
  How phone calls will be forwarded to the alternate worksite, how clients will be notified of the plan, how clients can contact the company, and how mail will be managed.
• Alternate Communications and Decision Tree
  Decision tree explaining how decisions on communication modes or other key issues will be made.
• Equipment and Resources
  Where key materials and documents are located, how important or confidential information is backed up, how to access resources that may be needed during a recovery period, how repairs would be managed, and how the Disaster Recovery Plan will be available.
• Plan Communication
  How staff are trained on the plan and instructed to store the plan for future reference.
• Plan Monitoring
  ​How the plan will be maintained to ensure that it is strengthened on an ongoing basis.