DISASTER RECOVERY

Disaster recovery is the process, policies and procedures of restoring operations critical to the resumption of business, including regaining access to data (records, hardware, software, etc.), communications (incoming, outgoing, toll-free, fax, etc.), workspace, and other business processes after a natural or human induced disaster.

To increase the opportunity for a successful recovery of valuable records, a well-established and thoroughly tested disaster recovery plan must be developed. This task requires the cooperation of a well-organized committee led by an experienced chairperson.

A disaster recovery plan (DRP) should also include plans for coping with the unexpected or sudden loss of communications and/or key personnel, although these are not covered in this article, the focus of which is data protection. Disaster recovery planning is part of a larger process known as business contiuity planning (BCP). In plain language, BCP is working out how to stay in business in the event of disaster. Incidents include local incidents like building fires, regional incidents like earthquakes, or national incidents like pandemic illnesses.