Evaluating a disaster recovery plan

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Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

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

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

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

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

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

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1features = [evacuation, backup, restoration, communication, testing]		AIF restore_hours > 4 THEN gap
2IF feature = missing THEN record gap and risk		BOnly one feature was checked. A full evaluation must also check evacuation, restoration, communication and testing.
3Judge each feature against the organisation's needs, for example restoring systems within the time the business can tolerate being offline		CA missing or weak feature is recorded as a gap, along with the risk it creates for the organisation
4Each gap found should lead to a recommended improvement that fits the organisation		DHaving a plan is not enough. Each feature must be judged against the organisation's needs to find gaps and risks.
5Plan checked: backup only		EThe checklist of five features a disaster recovery plan is evaluated against
6Plan rated OK because a plan exists		Fgap: testing -> recommend: yearly drill

Definitions

Evaluating a disaster recovery plan

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

________ feature IN checklist IF feature is missing THEN gaps ← gaps + feature

IF yearsSinceTest _ 1 THEN risk ← "plan may be out of date"

riskRating ← likelihood * ______

IF gapFound THEN _________("run a yearly test")

IF featuresCovered = _ THEN planComplete ← TRUE

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an 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

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

Question 3

A feature ← testing

B IF plan has test schedule THEN

C covered ← FALSE

D ELSE gaps ← gaps + testing

Question 4

A feature ← backup

B IF backups tested OR offsite

C covered ← TRUE

D ELSE risk ← high

Question 5

A score ← 0

B FOR each feature covered

C score ← score - 1

D OUTPUT score, ' of 5'

Answer Key

Evaluating a disaster recovery plan

Section A: Quick Questions

B — Evacuation, backing up, restoration, communication, testing

B — The restoration feature is missing or weak

A — The 2-hour restoration target is too slow for an online store that earns sales every minute

A — Testing

A — Add a communication list with contact methods and who is responsible for each message

Section B: 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.

Section C: Definitions

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.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

FOR EACH feature IN checklist
  IF feature is missing THEN
    gaps ← gaps + feature

IF yearsSinceTest > 1 THEN
  risk ← "plan may be out of date"

riskRating ← likelihood * impact

IF gapFound THEN
  recommend("run a yearly test")

IF featuresCovered = 5 THEN
  planComplete ← TRUE

Section E: Spot the Error

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.

D — Improvements should be recommended first for high-risk gaps. The condition should be 'IF risk is high THEN', not low.

C — If the plan has a test schedule, the testing feature is covered. It should set covered ← TRUE, not FALSE.

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.

C — Each covered feature should add 1 to the score. Subtracting would give a negative result, so it should be score ← score + 1.