In this guide 6 sections
A business needs a backup and recovery plan because data, orders and records are needed to trade. Without one, a failure, a mistake or an attack can stop work for days. Decide beforehand how long you can be down, how much recent data you can lose, and who acts first.
What is actually at risk
Think about what stops if the system is gone. Billing, stock, customer records, payroll and the files behind them are common examples. Each one has a cost when it is unavailable.
Losses come from several places. A disk fails. A staff member deletes a folder by mistake. A laptop is stolen. Ransomware locks the files. A cloud account is closed or its access is lost.
Not all of these are technical. Many are ordinary human mistakes. A plan covers them all, since the business is affected in the same way whatever the cause.
- Customer and order records
- Accounts, invoices and tax records
- Stock and purchase data
- Staff and payroll files
- Shared documents and email
Two numbers to decide: downtime and data loss
Recovery time is how long the business can run without the system. Recovery point is how much recent data it can afford to lose. These are two separate questions with two separate answers.
A shop that bills all day may lose a day of sales entries if the last copy is from the night before. Re-entering a day of bills from paper may be possible. Re-entering a week may not be.
These numbers are business choices. The owner decides them, with advice from the technical team. Shorter times and smaller losses need more equipment, more storage and more care, so each has a cost.
Different systems need different answers
Rank each system by how much it hurts to lose. Order entry may need recovery within hours. An archive of old reports may wait for a few days. Treating all systems alike wastes money or leaves gaps.
Write the ranking in a short table. Put the system, who uses it, the time it can be down, the data it can lose and who is responsible. Staff will refer to this table during a bad day.
Include systems that people forget. Email, the accounting package on one desktop, the website and the phone numbers kept in someone’s mobile all count.
What to decide before an incident
During an incident, people are under pressure. Questions that were easy in a quiet week become hard. So decide the main points in advance and write them down.
Name who declares an incident and who may spend money. List who calls customers and what they say. Keep contact numbers for the vendor, the internet provider and the support team outside the affected system.
Also decide where copies are kept. A copy in the same room as the original is lost in the same fire or theft. Keep at least one copy elsewhere, and keep one that cannot be changed from the office network.
- Who decides that recovery starts
- Who talks to customers and staff
- Where the copies are kept
- Who holds the passwords to reach them
Test it, or it is only a hope
A backup that has never been restored is an assumption. Files may be empty, passwords may be lost or the restore may take much longer than expected. Only a test shows this.
Run a restore at least twice a year. Choose one system, restore it to a spare machine and let a user check that the data is complete. Record how long it took and what went wrong.
Update the plan when the business changes. A new branch, a new software package or a move to the cloud changes what needs protecting. Review the plan whenever such a change is made.
Recovery decision sheet
A single table with one row for each system. Columns cover the owner, the longest tolerable downtime and the most data that can be lost. Others cover where the copy is kept, who restores it and the date of the last test. Complete it with the heads of each department present and review it every six months.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Is a backup the same as a recovery plan?
No. A backup is a copy of the data. A recovery plan says who restores it, in what order, how long it may take and how the business keeps working meanwhile.
Who should decide how much downtime is acceptable?
The business owner or the department head, not the technical team alone. The technical team explains what each choice costs. The owner decides what the business can bear.
Does cloud software remove the need for our own plan?
No. The provider protects its platform, but deletions by your own staff, lost access and account problems remain your concern. Ask what is kept, for how long and how you restore it.
How often should we test a restore?
At least twice a year, and after any major change in systems. Test one important system each time and record how long it took.