Disaster Recovery Plan: Risk Assessment and Criticality of Asset Application

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To manage risks that occur unexpectedly, it is important to develop and design a Disaster Recovery Plan that will offer directions on how to alleviate the effect of the losses associated with disaster occurrence (Wallace, 2017). The disaster recovery plan has considered the susceptibility of resources to natural disasters and damages as a result of activities related to human beings. The following is a Disaster Recovery Plan:

Assets Inventory

The business has a significant number of assets that are susceptible to risk of loss in situations that are uncertain. Some of these assets are worked within the buildings of the business while there are others whose setup is without the organization’s buildings. Each asset has its separate chance of occurrence of a disaster based on the setting and the state of the operatives that are involved. For a long time now, some of these assets have encountered risks incidence and has resulted in a perceptible negative effect on the business.

The assets possessed by the business and that are susceptible to the risk of loss in situations of emergency consist of structures, fittings, motor vehicles and writing implements useful in several departmental offices, plant, and equipment, databank, raw material, finished goods as well as the money used in the business trades whether being liquid cash or cash at bank.

These assets are treated in a different way and are worked from diverse arenas at dissimilar times too. Each asset has the quality of workload is involved in and this regulates the level of loss that can be occasioned by failure of these assets. Some assets function dependently despite the fact others are used unconventionally. As a result, the risks involved with all assets vary to that involved by others and as a result, every asset must be evaluated on basis of the possible risks that are linked to its operations.

Risk Assessment

Due to do various assets owned by the business, there is a particular level of risk linked to each of these assets (Aven, 2016). These risks can be due to a natural event or human activities. Primarily, the business’s buildings and structures are susceptible to natural disasters such as floods because of flat landscape where the business premises are situated. These floods can sweep away some assets and destroy other materials that are not supposed to come in contact with water and from time to time they can sweep away the business staff causing their unexpected deaths. Constructions are also susceptible to risk of fire and can also be destroyed by thieves as they attempt to earn entry inside the business premises. Structures can also be destroyed if terrorists attack the organization’s premises.

Assets such as writing implements are susceptible to burglary or misplacement in some occasions. Other assets such as plants and machinery are very susceptible to risks. A natural disaster such as a flood can cause technical complications in this machinery that result to high cost in refurbishing them or attaining fresh ones. Assets such as cash are susceptible to compromise situations where enormous sums of money are utilized in indistinguishable and undefined means. Cash is also susceptible to being misplaced when being taken to the bank due to highjack circumstances. The cash at bank is at risk of delay in its retrieval if the host bank is declared insolvent. The business can also encounter delayed access to their bank accounts when there are burglary cases in respective banks. Plant and machinery are also linked to the risk of death of their operatives. They may also be physically applied or operated by power. Sometimes they cause intense damage to their machinists when they tend to perform unusually.

Motor vehicles are connected to a number of risks and this is because most of their operations are found outside the organization’s buildings. In most cases, the risks that are related to motor vehicles are accidents though in some instances they can be hijacked or stolen.

When accidents occur, the vehicle can be partly or absolutely be damaged. Accidents can therefore result to death of the staff that could be operating the affected motor vehicle which is a loss to the business together with the family of the victim. A motor vehicle can also be involved in an accident while is inside the business such as fire occurrences. Motor vehicles can also be hijacked when they are being driven at night and occasionally destroyed by these persons with bad intents. At times in the line of duty, a motor vehicle can be stolen when is parked in parking zone even though this is an unusual happening. Motor vehicle can still be interfered with while it is still in business premises in cases of terrorist attack on the organization’s buildings.

The database can be under risk of attack by malware which might change with the accounts of the business. This type of hackers can encode both the data in motion and the data in usage, therefore, preventing manipulation of data.

Criticality of Asset Application

Each asset has its value for its being in the business (Aggarwal, 2018). Each asset play a role in the attainment of the business objectives and aims in their respective manner whether they are executed alone or their presentation is combined with others. Premises and buildings is the home of the business. For machinery to be worked on-premises and building are elementary essential; this is where the offices and the stores of the business are situated. The other asset is safeguarded when the assets have their particular rooms where they get locked inside after work. Buildings boost the guard security by not allowing direct access when they are locked inside the building.

Plant and machinery is a fundamental tool in the manufacturing process. Without them, the business could not automatically be regarded as conducting any business because there will no products sold in the market from the business This means that the business is in existence as a result of plant and machinery in charge for the manufacturing of the products that the business deals with.

Fixtures and fittings are extremely essential as they are used in the safe storage of files and documents retained by the business. Stationeries enable the office and accounting work in the business for suitable track of the performance of the business. Devoid of them, there could be difficulty in the assessment of the organization’s performance as well as inappropriate record keeping in the business.

The motor vehicle is a largely significant asset in the activities of the organizational employees. The motor vehicle is also in charge of obtaining raw material from their locality as well as supplying the finished products to the marketplace. This means that minus motor vehicle, raw materials collection could encounter problems such as high costs involved to hire private means to convey the raw materials to the business premises or late delivery of the raw material. Without motor vehicles, the finished products could encounter postponements before actual transportation to the market place.

Lack of cash by the organization makes it unable to finance any of its activity. Furthermore, it cannot pay the salaries and wages of their staffs. The organization, therefore, might not be able to obtain other assets as well to pay the maintenance cost of each asset. Acquirement of raw materials is reliant on cash and the conveyance of the finished products is cash reliant. Cash is also very beneficial in the marketing undertakings for the finished product.

The database enables the management of data and exchange of data amid staff as well as the business, traders and clients.

Disaster Recovery Objectives

Disaster recovery plan is usually concerned on how disaster influences can be alleviated in case of incidence (Gupta, 2016). Diverse assets are susceptible to various risks therefore the aims will differ from one asset to another.

The disaster recovery plan on buildings is to evade the cost associated with setting up fresh buildings. If a suitable plan on how to manage risks related to buildings is not established, the loss can be too huge to a degree that a business is made to close down. The disaster recovery plan on structures will also aid in discovering when an impending risk is ready to strike. It enables the business to manage the risk in advance before it damages the assets contained in the buildings. This plan is also intensive on the safety procedures that ought to be put in buildings that can offer easy escape in disaster circumstances. This will help to protect people’s lives that otherwise could have been locked in the buildings.

Plant and machinery must be well apprehended in the disaster recovery plan so as to evade the circumstances where the business is not producing during their interruption. This will help to lessen the loss of profits throughout such a time when the business is not producing. This will help to lessen the cost involved with the procurement of new equipment in case of absolute destruction or the cost of repair in case of incomplete damage.

Seizing motor vehicle in the disaster recovery plan aids the organization to execute safety procedures that could minimize the likelihood of loss of life or the goods in transportation. The recovery plan will also aid in the determination of the time a risk of loss is most expected to happen and consequently issues more careful to pinpoint. The aim of a disaster recovery plan on risks connected to cash will enable current concerns of the business. It outlines what ought to be done to prevent financial predicament and the procedure to implement when the business experiences a financial crisis.

Fixtures, fittings and stationery are contained within the recovery plan for the reason of preventing the misperception of record-keeping and the treatment procedures to be implemented in cases of risks. The database ought to be much protected to avoid leaking of the organization’s data concerning its tactics to execute as well as the personal data of the staffs.

Tools and Techniques to be Used in Disaster Recovery

Several tools will be employed to be able to deal with numerous risks when disaster strikes. There must be fire extinguishers fitted inside every single branch of operation. Workers must be trained on how, when and where to utilize the fire extinguishers. The business must also build open spaces where public can run through to save their lives in circumstances of fire and their efforts to put it off are fruitless. The business must ensure that it has contact with external fire extinguishers that can respond and manage the fire if it is away from the internal management force. The business must provide their employees with hats so as to lessen the effects of minor injuries that can happen when one is assigning their duties.

The business must set up safety belts and airbags in their motor vehicles so as to enable the safety of people’s lives. It must as well set up speed governors so as to limit the maximum speed which the vehicles can be driven at. These will enable the drivers to drive the vehicles more conscientiously and professionally compared to when the vehicles are being driven at high speeds. The business must also set up an office where these drivers can contact at any time of a day when they encounter any problem in the process of operation.

Plant and machinery must be fitted with digital sensors that signal when a flaw is noticed. This will aid to alleviate the risk that strikes progressively. The business must also fit CCTVs in places where the equipment is operated from so as to support the security offered by the security personnel.

The business must develop a habit of keeping their cash with bank accounts to lessen the risk of loss through pilferage and to enhance effectual management of cash. This spontaneously lessens occurrences of adulteration as there are scarce persons who will be in charge of endorsements of finance matters in the business.

Stake-holders Buy-in

One must acknowledge the consent from the stockholders of the business to the services that will be provided by the data recovery team (Mojtahedi, 2017). One should elaborate to them the standards embraced in highlighting the criticality of the request of each asset. In addition, the shareholders should be involved in the valuation of risks and in drawing aims on their feeling on the likelihood and the effect of disaster. In case they suggest an adjustment, one must do it or explain to them how the adjustment might affect the whole disaster recovery plan. Their opinions should be appreciated even if they are not professionals in the disaster recovery arena.

Business partners in the field of disaster recovery must be consulted to estimate the efficiency of the disaster recovery plan. Their opinions from their past encounter will be very essential as it will enable the disaster recovery team to determine the ideas and concepts that they can copy from their associates for a more auspicious recovery plan. After their opinions on this disaster recovery plan one can define how different mechanisms treat each and each possible risk that can take place in future. After these important discussions with investors and the disaster recovery colleagues, one should decide on the executive backings from the business that the plan needs for the application of the disaster recovery plan design project.

Documentation and Communication of the Disaster Recovery Plan

Various assets are involved with diverse risk, risk management, and dissimilar aims to capture the asset in the disaster recovery plan. From the records, it must be able to tell the list of assets that the business owns. Constructions are connected to the risk of fire, torrents, and terrorism attacks. The management measures of these risks contain fitting of fire extinguishers in buildings. Another measure that can assist in lessening the risk of loss fixing is an all-day open fire exit. The engagement of security guards will also assist the organization to be in a position to identify terrorism threats in advance and to limit them where possible.

On the motor vehicle, the accounts will plainly state that the main probable risks are accidents and burglary cases. To protect the lives of drivers, the business must fix safety belts, air bags as well as speed governors. These have been viewed as the greatest effective safety approach to be implemented. The aims of disaster recovery plan on motor vehicles are to avoid loss of life, destruction of goods being transported and to lessen delays as a result of vehicles mechanical problems.

After the valuation of plant and machinery, likely risks were water destruction and they can occasionally kill the persons operating them. Another potential loss that was pinpointed was loss of equipment when they are stolen. For safety procedures, there must be fitting of CCTVs where they are located to boost the protection provided by the security personnel. These CCTVs will also assist in backing trace proceedings if the loss was as a result of concession.

From the risk valuation, cash was involved with concession together with theft susceptibility. As a protective procedure, the business is guided to store their cash with banks. To facilitate effectual handing of this cash, the business must assign monetary errands to specific employees to be in charge and accountable on how cash has been handled in the business.

Database has been deliberated to be very susceptible to access by hackers particularly due to enhanced and fast emerging advancements. It is therefore a need for the organization to implement multiple layers to deny access to the information in the database by unauthorized persons.

Test the Disaster Recovery Plan

Try to strike the potential risk intentionally and see if the management measure designed will be able to settle risk and bring everything back to order. Take for instance motor vehicle, try to drive it past the set speed in the speed governor and see if it will actually limit the vehicle to run beyond that speed. You can try to see the speed at which the air bags installed respond by trying to drive the vehicle through obstacles that resemble an accident collision.

With fire, try to introduce fire and try to put it out by the installed fire extinguishers. You can also subject the staff into random assumptions of fire strikes and see how simple they can access and use the fire extinguishers. You can also try to determine the time that an external fire extinguisher can take before they reach to your organization’s premises in cases of occurrence of fire.

You can also try to identify any IT specialist and subject him to try to hack you database and see if the multilayer access control measures can actually deny access to the database by the hackers. You can also request to know their views on the safety measures that have been employed to protect the organization’s data.

Emergency Response Procedures

After the evaluation of the validity of the disaster recovery plan from its test, the disaster recovery team should be able to identify possible emergencies. These scenarios should be given their allocations by amending the initial disaster recovery plan. They should be treated just like any other potential risk by deciding which tools and techniques will be used to manage the risk of loss that is associated by these future emergency uncertainties.

Evaluating and Updating the Disaster Recovery Plan

Every data recovery technique should be effective and should be cost-effective. A technique that will require more cost than the risk impact should be dropped. A technique that only requires small amounts of money should not be advocated as the plan might not have the capabilities to settle and manage risk within the allocated time.

The defective measures from the test of the plan should be eliminated and the adoption of new disaster recovery plan and implementation of new solution of risk management should be advocated. The disaster recovery plan should be in line with the developing technology to avoid using obsolete techniques that might be costly due t their failure to perform as expected. The downtime for each risk should be well estimated so as to meet the objectives of managing risk in case of future strike.

Disaster Recovery Team

The disaster recovery team will include specialists in the field who have experienced and actually managed the risk before. This team will largely depend on the staff’s feedback when they detect a threat by potential risk. The team will involve some employees going through disaster recovery process so as to avoid the increased cost of obtaining new employees.

References:

Wallace, M., & Webber, L. (2017). The disaster recovery handbook: A step-by-step plan to ensure business continuity and protect vital operations, facilities, and assets. Amacom.
Aven, T. (2016). Risk assessment and risk management: Review of recent advances on their foundation. European Journal of Operational Research, 253(1), 1-13.
Aggarwal, A., Chaudhary, H., Koç, Y., Kim, Y., Kumar, T., & Raman, A. (2018). U.S. Patent No. 9,923,778. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Gupta, V., Kapur, P. K., & Kumar, D. (2016, February). Exploring disaster recovery parameters in an enterprise application. In 2016 International Conference on Innovation and Challenges in Cyber Security (ICICCS-INBUSH) (pp. 294-299). IEEE.
Mojtahedi, M., & Oo, B. L. (2017). Critical attributes for proactive engagement of stakeholders in disaster risk management. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 21, 35-43.

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