Abstract
All organizations experience unexpected and unwanted disruptions to their day-to-day operations. Too often organizations view an IT emergency as something solely handled by their IT unit. However as more and more of an institution’s mission requires a working IT infrastructure, it becomes increasingly important to look at the broader impact of an IT systems or infrastructure disaster on the institution’s operations.
While it is impossible to predict when and what sort of emergency will occur, it is possible to prepare in advance. Only by regularly practicing responding to a simulated disaster can an organization gain confidence that when a real incident occurs, it will be prepared to respond.
This disaster recovery tabletop exercise plan, developed by Brandeis University, is a review of the processes and procedures that would generally be used during a real crisis. The goal of this exercise is to detect issues that may interfere with response and recovery during an actual emergency.