Documentation
Documentation is an important, but often overlooked, component of disaster recovery and business continuity planning. The plan itself, including instructions for notifying appropriate staff and the steps to take to resume operations, needs to be well documented. Assignment of responsibility for various actions needs to be clearly delineated. Vendor documentation of all hardware and software be available. Is is especially important to document the numerous modifications made to default configurations, so that the replacement system has the same functionality as the original. Failure to do so can create substantial costs and delays in implementing the recovery process. Detailed operating instructions are also needed, especially if temporary replacements have to be hired. Finally, copies of all documentation need to be stored both on-site and off-site so that it is available when needed.