1. Preparing to Develop a Disaster Recovery Plan
Chapter 2

2. You Will Learn How To…
Understand the need for executive support of disaster recovery planning
Establish leadership for disaster recovery planning
Organize a disaster recovery planning team
Create an inventory of planning team skills
Help train the disaster recovery planning team

3. You Will Learn How To…
Start an awareness campaign for disaster recovery planning
Establish a budget for disaster recovery planning and management
Cope with standards and regulatory bodies
Assess progress of the plan and move ahead

4. The Need for Executive Support
Successfully organizational change or enterprise-wide initiatives is easier when top managers support the effort
Executives
Are responsible for leading the development of disaster recovery plans
Will probably not continue to provide support if they do not receive support in return
Need training in disaster recovery planning and regular briefings on the progress of the plan

5. Disaster Recovery Planning
Four of every 10 managers surveyed think the upper-level managers do not take disaster recovery planning seriously enough

6. Executive Preparation
Middle-level managers
Perform the detailed, day-to-day work to analyze disaster recovery needs
Develop policies and procedures
Executives
Play an essential role in developing disaster recovery plans that no other person can perform
Are high-level emissaries to boards of directors, investors, business partners, the general public, and the media
Executive preparation - the process of training executives to articulate the organization’s philosophy for disaster recovery planning

7. Actions Required to Prepare Executives

8. Executive Briefings
The coordinator of the disaster recovery planning team should be responsible for briefing executives on the planning effort
Planning team leaders from various departments should attend these briefings and answer specific questions
Key public relations personnel and legal counsel should also attend the briefings
Executives should receive a disaster planning support list of people with whom they can discuss planning issues

9. Establishing Leadership for Disaster Recovery Planning
The highest levels of management need to support disaster recovery planning across the enterprise
The highest levels of management include
Chief executive officer ( CEO )
Chief operating officer ( COO )
Chief financial officer ( CFO )
Chief information officer (CIO )

10. Challenges to Effective Leadership
Good leaders must have
Political clout within the organization
The motivation to stick with the time-consuming task of developing a plan

11. Disaster Recovery Planning
Five of every 10 organizations surveyed have established some type of centralized disaster recovery planning

12. Disaster Recovery Planning Coordinator
The disaster recovery planning coordinator is responsible for project management and day-to-day leadership of the planning team
A mid-level manager should be assigned the coordinating role in developing a disaster recovery plan
The person assigned to be the planning coordinator must dedicate considerable time to the process
The coordinator needs to be
Able to give the plan full attention when necessary
Detail-oriented without getting lost in the process
Able to work diplomatically with all departments and external resources
Able represent all corporate concerns for the plan
Able to balance various department perspectives

13. Organizations with a Disaster Recovery Coordinator

14. Disaster Recovery Coordinator Responsibilities

15. Files a Disaster Recovery Coordinator Should Maintain

16. Adequately Documented Disaster Recovery Procedures
Five out of every 10 organizations surveyed think that disaster recovery procedures are not adequately documented in their organization

17. Activity Log
Activity log - a list of important events or accomplishments, the dates they occurred, and which departments or subcommittees participated

18. Organizing the Disaster Recovery Planning Team
Every department in the enterprise needs to be represented
Each department should have two representatives
Primary department representative - a full member of the planning team
Alternate department representative - a secondary member
Two representatives
Increase the chances of maintaining team continuity
Decrease the difficulty in scheduling meetings

19. The Executive Champion
The big challenge in forming a team is getting the time and attention of busy managers
The executive champion should ensure that the team gets the resources, participation, and cooperation needed
The executive champion’s role is symbolic and supportive
The team must understand the responsibilities of each department in disaster recovery planning

20. Departmental Responsibilities in Disaster Recovery Planning

21. Departmental Responsibilities in Disaster Recovery Planning

22. The Role of IT Staff and Network Managers on the Team
IT and Network Management departments are represented on the disaster recovery planning team
They probably require more representatives on the team than most other departments, and more of a role in planning
IT and network managers on the team must address enterprise issues as well as specific department and business application issues
The mix of IT architecture and software applications helps determine the number and expertise of the IT representatives

23. Representation At least one representative each is needed from
Data center operations
Network management
Desktop computing
Each of the major IT applications, including
Financial management support
Supply-chain systems
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
Human resources support

24. Areas of Representation of IT and Network Management

25. Creating Interdepartmental Subcommittees
Disaster recovery planning subcommittee
A group of planning team members and technical experts from various departments that is formed to solve specific problems or explore special planning issues
These subcommittees typically address problems that do not need the full attention of the planning team, and require expertise that all team members may not possess

26. Organizing the Team at the Departmental Level
Each department should have its own disaster recovery planning group
These groups should
Conduct specific departmental research to help establish the corporate plan
Help evaluate the plan as it is drafted by the enterprise team
Implement the plan at the department level once it is developed

27. Organizing the Team at the Departmental Level
The size and membership of departmental teams vary depending on the department’s diversity of activities
The major obstacle in forming well-rounded department planning groups is getting the time and interest of necessary supervisors and technical experts
Employees may feel threatened by the entire process of disaster recovery planning

28. IT Staff and Network Managers and Department Teams
Should be prepared to work with departmental disaster recovery planning groups
Can help department planning groups protect these systems in a crisis
Can also help departments overcome the technology challenges of operating in temporary quarters and completely recovering their operations

29. Creating an Inventory of Planning Team Skills
To help determine the skills of planning team members, the coordinator should compile an inventory of their background and training
A skills inventory includes a list of corporate team members and those in department planning groups, along with an assessment of each team member’s skills
The inventory should point out which employee skills are most helpful in disaster recovery planning, and which team members have prior experience in managing such plans

30. Skills Inventory for Disaster Recovery Planning Team

31. Individual Skills Inventory
All planning team members need to conduct initial assessments of their own departments to determine if any staff have experience with disaster recovery planning
Departmental team members with related experience need to be noted as potential resources

32. Individual Skills Inventory

33. Training the Disaster Recovery Planning Team
The planning team needs training to understand what it is trying to do and to understand the issues and basic concepts of disaster recovery planning
Each team member should research disaster recovery issues that affect their disciplines or departments
This research includes
Case studies of what other organizations have done
Professional papers from their disciplines
Government regulations that individual departments need to observe in their business processes
The biggest obstacle to disaster recovery training is getting all the team members together at one time and having them focus on the topic

34. Selecting Outside Help
Many organizations need outside help at some stage of disaster recovery planning
Organizations are more likely to know what outside support they need once
They have inventoried the skills of the planning team
Members have undergone initial training

35. Selecting Outside Help
Two of every 10 organizations surveyed have hired outside consultants for disaster recovery planning

36. Setting the Planning Team’s Schedule
Organizations should establish an agenda for their disaster recovery planning team
They should also set a schedule for accomplishing goals immediately after the team has been formed
The first step is to set a regular meeting schedule
Weekly meetings are recommended for the first several weeks
The planning team coordinator should oversee the scheduling of these meetings to ensure that all involved parties attend

37. Setting the Planning Team’s Schedule
During these initial meetings, the team needs to establish a communications process
If a company so chooses
Form subcommittees
Identify responsibilities
Assign interdepartmental tasks
The departmental planning groups should meet as often as necessary to keep their tasks on schedule and support the enterprise-wide planning team

38. Sample Disaster Recovery Planning Schedule

39. Starting an Awareness Campaign
To successfully implement a disaster recovery plan, an organization needs the support of all its employees
Five of every 10 managers think that employees in their organization do not take planning efforts seriously enough

40. Starting an Awareness Campaign
Organizations must start building awareness of their planning efforts early in the process
The goal of an awareness campaign is to inform all the employees in an enterprise about the disaster recovery planning effort
Efforts to build awareness include
In-house media campaigns
Enterprise-wide training
Media campaigns can include articles in employee newsletters, postings on enterprise intranets, and posters on bulletin boards
Public relations staff should be asked to help develop these campaigns

41. The Message Upper Management Should Convey to the Outside
Executives should convey a consistent and uniform message about their disaster recovery planning efforts
Any executive statements regarding the organization’s disaster recovery planning should be relatively short and to the point
Statements should be formulated in coordination with the planning team, the public relations staff, and even the legal counsel, depending on the circumstances
Executives should not comment on pending legislation or government regulations

42. What Upper Management Should Tell the Board and Investors
Executives are responsible for briefing the board of directors on the organization’s disaster recovery planning
These briefings should be precise reports on the plan’s progress and obstacles
If the board is not interested in the details, the planning team coordinator should prepare a five- to 10-minute presentation that covers the plan’s high points and its implementation

43. The Message to take to the Media and the General Public
Executive responses to questions about disaster recovery planning should be short and to the point
They should refer detailed questions to the public relations staff and the disaster recovery planning team
The purpose of this approach is to avoid putting executives in the awkward position of explaining details they may not know off the top of their heads

44. Budgeting for Disaster Recovery Planning and Management
Organizations use one of two major models to establish a disaster recovery function
A centralized office or a part-time coordinator
Four of every 10 organizations surveyed use a centralized office, while the other six have placed the function in another department
A centralized office requires a larger budget than a part-time planning coordinator
Regardless of the office structure, salaries are usually the most expensive item in a disaster recovery planning budget

45. Disaster Recovery Planning Coordinators

46. Salaries for Disaster Recovery Planning Staff
Salaries for full-time disaster recovery planners are influenced by location, years of experience, and related certifications

47. Salaries for Disaster Recovery Planning Staff

48. Salaries for Disaster Recovery Planning Staff

49. Budget Structure for a Centralized Office
A centralized office of disaster recovery planning is probably necessary in large organizations
Each organization can place the office within a reporting structure that makes the most sense
This placement varies by organization
A centralized planning office requires several budget items, as shown in Table 2-13

50. Budget Structure for a Centralized Office

51. Budget Structure for a Part-Time Disaster Recovery Coordinator
When centralized offices of disaster recovery planning are not necessary, the budget structure is considerably different
For example, a part-time disaster recovery coordinator usually requires fewer staff and less overhead
Also, part-time coordinators have other responsibilities, so they usually have an office, computer, and telephone already in place
Table 2-14 shows a sample budget structure for a part-time disaster recovery coordinator

52. Budget Structure for a Part-Time Disaster Recovery Coordinator

53. Coping with Standards and Regulatory Bodies
The team must recognize that organizations in many industries are required by law to have specific procedures in place
Managers often have trouble interpreting what action or standard a regulation requires, so an organization’s legal counsel must research and interpret these requirements
Disaster recovery planners need the same type of legal assistance

54. Assessing Progress and Preparing to Move Ahead
Managers should evaluate progress as the process moves from one step to the next
It is good to have a disaster recovery planning checklist
Once the planning team has completed all the items on the list, the team and department groups should be ready to move to Step Two of the plan
Step 2 is assessing risks in the enterprise

55. Checklist for organizing the Disaster Recovery Plan

56. Chapter Summary
One of the greatest frustrations for disaster recovery planners is the difficulty of gaining and maintaining support from upper-level managers
The disaster recovery planning coordinator should represent all corporate concerns for the plan and balance various department perspectives
Every department in the organization needs to be represented on the disaster recovery planning team
The coordinator should compile an inventory of their background and training
The major obstacle to disaster recovery training is getting all the team members together at one time and getting them to focus on the topic

57. Chapter Summary
The goal of an awareness campaign is to inform all the employees in an enterprise about the disaster recovery planning effort
Organizations use one of two major models to establish a disaster recovery function
A centralized office, or
A part-time coordinator
The team must recognize that organizations in many industries are required by law to have specific procedures in place
Once the planning team has completed all the tasks for organizing its disaster recovery plan, it should be ready to move to assessing risks in the enterprise