4Sight Group Blog

Just when you thought you were finished with your Business Continuity Plan “BCP” (also called Disaster Recovery Plan), the real work begins.  The primary advantage of completing a BCP is that it helps you identify weaknesses in your organization that can be corrected before a disaster or disruption occurs. Using your BCP as a blueprint, your business must take steps to implement the objectives set forth in the BCP, and that all the restore/recovery processes specified actually work.  So review and testing of the BCP is critical.

You should plan on performing regular testing and making any pertinent updates. 4Sight recommends that the BCP is reviewed quarterly with all interested parties involved to ensure no changes to the technology, recovery infrastructure, staff, or vendors have been made. If even the most minor changes have been made, then that portion of the BCP must be tested to ensure the procedures are still accurate. If changes are needed, updates to the plan should be made, and then tested, as quickly as possible.

At least once a year, and when the first BCP is written, 4Sight recommends all businesses perform a full business recovery exercise.  It’s best for this process to occur over a weekend or other slow business time, and involves executing all critical business applications at an alternate location as set forth in the plan.  This is the only way to completely uncover any shortfalls in your plan, and provides your technical staff and management confidence that the process will run smoothly should it ever be necessary.

Conducting a business recovery exercise rarely runs 100% smoothly, so it sure is comforting to have time to make adjustments before the success of your business is at stake.

4Sight Group LLC has a staff of talented BCP professionals who can help you with any phase of the BCP process, including being on-site to assist with testing.