Part 1
A disaster recovery plan is a business plan that explains or illustrates how business activities can resume operations effectively and faster after a disaster. It is continuity planning, and it’s employed in firms that rely on the IT infrastructure for its functioning. For example, the Nozama firm’s operations rely on the MIS system. The firm needs to develop a disaster recovery plan, which will handle the disaster in case it occurs.
Building a disaster recovery plan
The following are the procedures used to build a disaster recovery plan in the firm.
- Conduct asset inventory for all the resources available and the system used in the operation, the MIS system.
- Perform risk analysis that will assist in understanding the performance of the available system and identify possible threats in the system.
- Set up the objective, scope, and team for the plan and identify the appropriate techniques and tools.
- Document and communicate the plan to all firm stakeholders.
- Test and implement the plan to be used.
- Evaluate and upgrade the plan if it is not very perfect.
The plan’s main objective is to detect, identify, and resolve threats that may affect the system’s performance. Therefore, the team set aside for a disaster recovery plan should work to resolve the issue before it becomes uncontrollable.
Purpose of the disaster recovery plan
The policy document defines the requirements that the Nozama firm should develop and implement, and it describes the procedure for recovering the MIS system. The major concern is the data and applications that may be affected by any disaster that can cause a major outage.
Part 2
The Nozama firm uses an MIS system. Therefore, the security of the information kept in the database is important. Also, the connection between the components of the firm system is guaranteed. Finally, all the firm accessories should be kept secure and free from thieves. Hence, to protect the firm system from all these threats, the firm disaster recovery plan team should develop constraints that will identify threats at an early stage. For example, each system component or device should be installed with antivirus to protect them from viruses. Each system user should be authorized to be the system administrator. The firm database should be kept in a safe place, and the system administrator should back up data daily in other stores for the safety of the information in case of damage to the firm database. Therefore, the constraint developed in the system should be intelligent in identifying the user before authorizing him to access the resource in the system.
Network disaster recovery
- Assess and identify network outage
- Analyze the system with ICT management
- Develop constraints for network assets
- The decision to call upon a network disaster recovery plan
- Initiate recovery plan activities
- Contact appropriate carriers and vendors
- Follow recovery procedure
- Report the matter to senior ICT management
References
Abram, B. (2012). Tips to Build an Effective Disaster Recovery Plan.
Bahan, C. (2014). Disaster Recovery Planning – Step by Step Guides. Michigan State University.
Wold, G. (1997). Disaster Recovery Planning Process. Disaster Recovery Journal.
