How to Write a Disaster Recovery Plan

What is a disaster recovery plan?

A disaster recovery plan describes how you will restore your IT systems and carry on working after a serious disruption, such as a ransomware attack, a fire or a major failure.

Step 1: List your systems

Write down every system your business relies on, who uses it and what it depends on.

Step 2: Rank them

Decide which systems must come back first. Give each a recovery time objective (how long you can be without it) and a recovery point objective (how much data you can afford to lose).

Step 3: Decide how each will be recovered

• Restore from backup
• Fail over to another location
• Use a manual workaround for a short time

Step 4: Assign roles

• Who declares a disaster?
• Who contacts your IT provider?
• Who speaks to staff and customers?
• Who has authority to spend money?

Step 5: Record the details

Include supplier contacts, account numbers, passwords held securely, and where backups are stored. Keep a copy offline.

Step 6: Test and update

Run a test at least once a year. Update the plan whenever your systems or people change.

Read our guide to testing your backups.