Contingency planning establishes communication systems, recovery thresholds, and employee roles and responsibilities to prepare for disasters. Disaster recovery plans provide step-by-step procedures for recovering critical systems after natural disasters like fires or human-caused incidents like cyber attacks. An effective plan identifies recovery teams, actions, and procedures to allow essential functions to continue operating and eventually restore regular services. It also includes off-site backups, training, risk analysis, and communication strategies to facilitate rapid response and recovery.

1. Contingency Planning and
Disaster Recovery Planning

2. What is Contingency Planning?
Contingency planning: The goal of a
contingency plan are to establish a
communication system, create
recovery/response thresholds, and define the
roles and responsibilities of key employees.

3. Disaster Classification
Natural disasters-These disasters include
flood, fire, earthquake, hurricane, smog, etc
Man made disasters- Human error and
intervention may be intentional or
unintentional which can cause massive
failures such as loss of communication and
utility. These disasters include walkout,
sabotage, burglary, virus, intrusion.

4. Some common threats include the
following
Disease
Earthquake
Fire
Flood
Cyber attack
Hurricane
Utility outage
Terrorism

5. What is Disaster Recovery Plan?
Disaster recovery plan: Provides detailed
step-by-step procedures for the recovery and
operation of mission critical systems. Also
includes detailed procedures for responding to
emergencies and performing post-disaster
recovery efforts.

6. What is in Contingency Planning
Your plans also must identify key individuals
responsible for implementing recovery actions
specify actions and sequences required to
allow essential functions to continue; and
identify procedures for restoring services to
the original processing sites.

7. What is in Contingency Planning
Scenario format, to be followed when
implementing backup and recovery actions.
Contingency plan is that of an in-depth
procedures manual for recovery team
members to make decisions regardless of the
disaster situation.

8. The Crisis management plan should include
A database with the names, phone/page/fax/cellular
numbers, e-mail and postal addresses of everyone on the
team
Assigned roles and procedures for everyone on the crisis
team
A multimedia database with critical information on the
organization's plants, offices, personnel, products and
services that can be quickly accessed and analyzed
Commercial databases that complement proprietary
databases
A means for everyone on the team to access the databases
and collaborate from remote locations globally

9. The crisis management plan should
facilitate rapid responses for
Determining the crisis' origin and scope
Monitoring the crisis
Acknowledging the organization's responsibilities
Taking prudent action to end the crisis
Informing all those affected about how to protect
themselves
Updating those affected continuously via
interactive communications and the media

10. Pre-Preparedness Plan
A pre-preparedness plan should include pre-disaster actions to
protect people, business property - including data - and facilities; a
pre-defined emergency shutdown and evacuation procedure; and
off-site storage of backed up information.
- Analyze your risk
- Create a disaster recovery plan
- Provide your staff with disaster recovery training
- Regularly audit your disaster recovery systems and procedures

11. Possible Incidents
This list should include all possible incidents no
matter how remote the likelihood of their
occurrence.
Against each item listed the project team or
manager should note a probability rating. Each
incident should also be rated for potential impact
severity level. From this information, it will
become much easier to frame the plan in the
context of the real needs of the organization.

12. Protection
Local mirrors of systems and/or data and use
of disk protection technology such as RAID
Surge protectors — to minimize the effect of
power surges on delicate electronic
equipment
Fire preventions — alarms, fire extinguishers

13. Disaster Response
Required responses to a disaster
Determine a disaster condition
Notify persons responsible for recovery
Initiate the Institute's Business Continuity
Plan
Provide support services to aid recovery

14. Recovery Phase
Critical Functions
Essential Functions
Necessary Functions
Desirable Functions

15. Communication
Provide critical voice and data communications
services in the event that normal telecommunications
lines and equipment are disrupted or relocation of
personnel is necessary.
Consult with outside contractors and service providers
to ensure that replacement equipment and materials
are available for timely delivery and installation.
Utilize available resources, such as the MIT Cable
Television network and voice mail system, to broadcast
information relevant to the disaster

16. Identify the potential risks
Estimate the effects of a disaster on the
organization
Estimate monies to go back into recovery
strategy.

17. Impact Analysis
The impact analysis should quantify the
effects of a disaster as much as possible. Hard
dollar figures

18. Recovery Kit
The numbers and types of desks, required outside of
the primary business location in the secondary location
The individuals involved in the recovery effort along
with their contact and technical details
Data required from the secondary location desks for
critical business functions
The manual workaround solutions
The peripheral requirements like printers, copier, fax
machine, calculators, paper, pens etc.

19. Recovery Kit
The crisis management command structure The
location of a secondary work site (where necessary)
Telecommunication architecture between primary and
secondary work sites
Data replication methodology between primary and
secondary work sites
The application and software required at the secondary
work site.
The type of physical data requirements at the
secondary work site.

20. Recovery Kit
Important clients and their contact details
Important vendors/suppliers and their contact
details
Changes in upstream/downstream supplier
routes
Keep business cards and brochures

21. Mohanad Mohammed™