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Download Free Business Continuity Plans Audit Checklist. This Checklist covers some basic activity during BCM testing such as:
- Table-top testing of various scenarios involves an imaginary ‘walkthrough’ of a continuity plan in a specific set of circumstances, using imaginary events and predicting what is likely to happen on the ground.
- Simulations are one of the most important testing approaches, as simulations also serve to train the people concerned and help identify other issues that could be critical but that have not been identified through the walk-through test.
- Technical recovery testing is designed to ensure that systems can be recovered efficiently, and this should start with ensuring that the system, or individual elements of it, can be restored from back-up and should then move on to test the restoration of individual servers, and then groups of servers, and then the whole server room. Weaknesses in any of these areas could be significant, and the processes and staff skill sets are critical. The availability of back-up personnel and third-party services, particularly out of hours, should be tested at this time.
- The testing of recovery into an alternative site (depending on the recovery strategy of the organization) is important. A prepared alternative site is essential for most organizations, otherwise fire, flood or any other major natural disaster may force the organization out of existence. It is important to test the ability to resume service and operations from an alternative site, getting back-up processes working and dealing with all the staff issues that there might be in such an event.
- Supplier facilities and services should be tested to ensure that they will meet their contract commitment. It is particularly important to test those components of their contract that relate to emergency or out-of-hours support as well as to stress-test the services to find out the point at which they might fail.
- Complete rehearsals of dealing with major disasters should be carried out at least annually and perhaps twice a year. These are best handled by using an outside, specialist organization to stage and manage the rehearsal, which should test all the components of the plan and all parts of the organization. The learning points from such a rehearsal are likely to be numerous, and therefore the post-test review should be comprehensive and should involve feedback from all the people involved in it.
- Post-event trauma counselling may be a sensible component for the disaster recovery plan. It should perhaps be available after major rehearsals as well.

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