← VCE Data Analytics U4O2

Evaluating a disaster recovery plan

Checking a plan covers evacuation, backup, restoration, communication and testing, then judging each against the organisation's needs to find gaps, risks and improvements.

Part of: VCE Data Analytics - U4O2 - Cyber Security: Data Security — Module 91

Understanding Evaluating a disaster recovery plan in VCE Data Analytics U4O2

What it does: The restoration feature is compared with the organisation's needs (a 4 hour limit), and a plan that takes longer has a gap. Evaluation ends with a recommendation, here a yearly drill to fix the missing testing feature. Without testing, nobody knows if the plan works or whether staff can follow it. Regular tests find gaps before a real disaster does. A recommendation should fix the identified gap. The gap is in communication, so the improvement must set out who is told what, how and by whom. Gaps and risks show where the plan may fail the organisation. Recommendations then target those weak points.

Common mistakes: A feature the plan does not cover is a gap. It should be added to gaps, not to covered, or the evaluation would miss the weakness. Improvements should be recommended first for high-risk gaps. The condition should be 'IF risk is high THEN', not low.

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This module's key terms are also in a printable crossword (Modules 80–113) and word search (Modules 44–113).

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Learning
Duo
Which list shows the five features a disaster recovery plan should be checked for?
Evacuation, hashing, encryption, advertising, auditingEvacuation, backing up, restoration, communication, testing
Matches
Plan checked: backup only
↓
Only one feature was checked. A full evaluation must also check evacuation, restoration, communication and testing.
Applying
Meanings
Term
Evaluating a disaster recovery plan
Meaning
Checking a plan covers evacuation, backup, restoration, communication and testing, then judging each against the organisation's needs to find gaps, risks and improvements.
Practice
EVALUATE disaster recovery plan
Testing
Gaps
feature IN checklist
Check Answer
Spots
3 mark feature as covered
4 ELSE add feature to covered

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Quick Questions

1. Which list shows the five features a disaster recovery plan should be checked for?
A. Evacuation, hashing, encryption, advertising, auditing
B. Evacuation, backing up, restoration, communication, testing ✓
The VCE checklist for a recovery plan is evacuation, backing up, restoration, communication and testing. Each one is judged against the organisation's needs.
2. A plan sets out in detail how to back up data, but never says who rebuilds systems from those backups. What is the gap?
A. The evacuation feature is too detailed
B. The restoration feature is missing or weak ✓
Backups are only useful if there is a clear plan for restoring them. A plan with no restoration steps leaves the organisation at risk of long downtime.
3. When evaluating a plan, which judgement is stronger?
A. The 2-hour restoration target is too slow for an online store that earns sales every minute ✓
B. The plan has a restoration section, so it is effective
Evaluation means judging each feature against the organisation's needs, not just checking that it exists. A feature can be present but still not good enough.
4. A plan was written three years ago and has never been run as a drill. Which feature is the main weakness?
A. Testing ✓
B. Evacuation
Without testing, nobody knows if the plan works or whether staff can follow it. Regular tests find gaps before a real disaster does.
5. Which recommendation best improves a plan with no way to contact staff and customers during an outage?
A. Add a communication list with contact methods and who is responsible for each message ✓
B. Buy a faster firewall
A recommendation should fix the identified gap. The gap is in communication, so the improvement must set out who is told what, how and by whom.

Match the Pairs

features = [evacuation, backup, restoration, communication, testing] → The checklist of five features a disaster recovery plan is evaluated against
IF feature = missing THEN record gap and risk → A missing or weak feature is recorded as a gap, along with the risk it creates for the organisation
Judge each feature against the organisation's needs, for example restoring systems within the time the business can tolerate being offline → IF restore_hours > 4 THEN gap
Each gap found should lead to a recommended improvement that fits the organisation → gap: testing -> recommend: yearly drill
Plan checked: backup only → Only one feature was checked. A full evaluation must also check evacuation, restoration, communication and testing.
Plan rated OK because a plan exists → Having a plan is not enough. Each feature must be judged against the organisation's needs to find gaps and risks.

Key Term

Evaluating a disaster recovery plan
Checking a plan covers evacuation, backup, restoration, communication and testing, then judging each against the organisation's needs to find gaps, risks and improvements.

Fill in the Blanks

1. FOR EACH feature IN checklist IF feature is missing THEN gaps ← gaps + feature
Hint: Type the two-word loop keyword that checks every feature on the list.
2. IF yearsSinceTest > 1 THEN risk ← "plan may be out of date"
Hint: Type the comparison operator meaning the last test was longer ago than one year.
3. riskRating ← likelihood * impact
Hint: Type the variable that is multiplied by likelihood to rate a risk.
4. IF gapFound THEN recommend("run a yearly test")
Hint: Type the function name that proposes an improvement for a gap.
5. IF featuresCovered = 5 THEN planComplete ← TRUE
Hint: Type the number of features a plan must cover on the checklist.

Spot the Error

Question 1
A FOR each feature IN checklist
B IF plan covers feature THEN
C mark feature as covered
D ELSE add feature to covered
E END FOR
Line D — A feature the plan does not cover is a gap. It should be added to gaps, not to covered, or the evaluation would miss the weakness.
Question 2
A FOR each gap IN gaps
B judge impact on organisation
C rate risk: low, medium, high
D IF risk is low THEN
E recommend improvement
F END FOR
Line D — Improvements should be recommended first for high-risk gaps. The condition should be 'IF risk is high THEN', not low.
Question 3
A feature ← testing
B IF plan has test schedule THEN
C covered ← FALSE
D ELSE gaps ← gaps + testing
Line C — If the plan has a test schedule, the testing feature is covered. It should set covered ← TRUE, not FALSE.
Question 4
A feature ← backup
B IF backups tested OR offsite
C covered ← TRUE
D ELSE risk ← high
Line B — A strong backup feature needs backups that are both tested and stored offsite. OR would pass a plan with only one of them, so it should be AND.
Question 5
A score ← 0
B FOR each feature covered
C score ← score - 1
D OUTPUT score, ' of 5'
Line C — Each covered feature should add 1 to the score. Subtracting would give a negative result, so it should be score ← score + 1.

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