Rutland Technologies

BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING - SUMMARY

Business Continuity Planning - Summary

To determine and implement the most appropriate Business Continuity Strategy for an organisation, the following approach is recommended:

(1) Project Initiation Conduct an initial meeting with senior management Form a project team Agree and finalize the Scope Of Work Prepare a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) Questionnaire Distribute BIA Questionnaire to Recipients

(2) Business Impact Analysis (BIA) Gather Business Impact Analysis Data Review Initial Business Impact Analysis Results Conduct BIA Interviews Identify Critical Business Operation Processes and Application Systems Estimate the cost to the business of the loss of these critical processes and systems Fully document Business Impact and DR Requirements Spec

This step identifies the impact to the business of losing various components of the IT infrastructure. Critical parts of the IT Infrastructure are grouped and ranked according to the size of their impact on normal business operations. It is important to understand that various managers within the organisation may have different views of which IT Infrastructure components are most critical and different priorities for recovery. Once we are fully aware of what components cause the most disruption when unavailable and what the estimated cost is to the business, we can put together a Requirements Spec.

(3) Determination and Evaluation of Alternatives Define and Cost Business Continuity Alternatives Recommend Preferred Option Prepare Senior Management Report and Presentation Obtain Disaster Readiness Strategy Approval

This step evaluates the various Business Continuity options against the Requirements Spec, makes recommendations and presents findings to Senior Management.

Commercial in Confidence

Rutland Technologies - September 2011

Rutland Technologies

BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING - SUMMARY

(4) Documentation of the DR plan Define the Scope of the Business Continuity Plan Define the BCP Team Organization Conduct Initial Meetings with the BCP Team Organize and Document Recovery Plan Data Conduct Periodic Meetings with Teams Identify Team Tasks and Procedures Conduct Plan Document Reviews

Once a DR strategy has been determined, it is important to document exactly what procedures need to be followed in the event of a disaster. This covers such things as who to call, where to go and what to do.

(5) Implementation and Testing

Establish an Implementation Schedule Establish Training Requirements Set-up and Implement DR environment Test the DR Plan Establish a DR Testing Schedule Update and Refine the Plan Regularly

A documented DR plan is not complete until it has been successfully implemented and tested in a realistic recovery scenario. The DR plan is then revised to include issues discovered during the testing phase

Commercial in Confidence

Rutland Technologies - September 2011