A disaster recovery plan template is a short set of fields a business fills in so its IT can be brought back in a known order by named people. It lists the systems and data that matter, the order they come back, where the backups live, who does what and who to call, and when the plan gets tested. That’s the whole idea.
Without a written plan, a serious outage can find a business arguing about what comes back first. It may hunt for a backup location or a phone number. It can lose time while it decides. So the task is a short one, and it isn’t complicated. Write the first page. Give every line an owner. Keep a copy that works when the office systems don’t.
What Should a Disaster Recovery Plan Template Cover?
One short page can cover it. Six parts do the work: the systems and data that matter, the order they return, the backups, the people and the calls, the testing, and where the page is kept. Each part takes a few lines, not an essay. A reader should be able to follow it under pressure.
A wider plan can sit around it. According to Ready.gov’s IT Disaster Recovery Plan page, an IT plan should be developed together with the business continuity plan, and recovery strategies should anticipate losing the computer room environment, the hardware, connectivity to a service provider, software applications, and data and its restoration. That’s a long list for one page. A small business can read it as a prompt: what would have to come back, and in what order?
A first page can hold these six parts, in this order:
- The systems and data the business would struggle without.
- The order they come back, and how long each one can wait.
- Where the backups live and who can restore them.
- Who does what, and who gets the call.
- How the plan gets tested.
- Where the page is kept.
These fields and their order are suggestions for a small business, not a required form. A business can rename them, drop one it doesn’t need or add a line that fits how it works. Copy them into any plain document. What matters is that someone can read the page and act on it.
Which Systems and Data Does the Plan List?
The plan lists the systems and data the business would struggle without. For each one, it records what the system does, who needs it, where its data lives and what it runs on. Ready.gov’s IT Disaster Recovery Plan page says an IT plan begins with an inventory of hardware, software applications and data.
Ready.gov’s IT Disaster Recovery Plan page also says critical applications and data and the hardware required to run them are identified. In the plan, five short fields per system can carry that:
- A name in plain words.
- What the business uses it for.
- Who depends on it.
- Where its data lives.
- What it runs on.
Keep the list to the systems that matter. A long inventory can go stale. A stale page stops getting used. A handful of accurate entries can beat a long list nobody updates, so if a system goes away, take its line out.
Which Systems Come Back First?
The order comes from what the business can least do without. Rank the systems from the top. Next to each one, record how long the business could wait for it. That wait matters as much as the order, because it can tell whoever is working the recovery when to ask for help.
Guidance from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency points the same way. According to CISA’s Cyber Essentials guide, business impact assessments can be used to prioritize resources and to identify which systems must be recovered first. That guide is written for leaders of small businesses and for leaders of small and local government agencies. It’s guidance, not a legal duty.
Ready.gov’s IT Disaster Recovery Plan page says the recovery time for an IT resource should match the recovery time objective of the business function that depends on it. A separate post on how to set recovery targets covers how to work those out, so the plan itself can stay short and record the wait the business can live with.
Three fields per system can carry the order:
- The rank, from first back to last.
- The longest the business can wait, written in words.
- What staff do in the meantime.
What Does the Plan Say About Backups?
The plan answers four things about backups: where the copies live, what gets copied, who can restore it, and when a restore was last checked. That last field is an easy one to leave blank. A backup job that reports success every night isn’t proof on its own. Someone has to pull a file back out.
Ready.gov’s IT Disaster Recovery Plan page says data restoration times should be confirmed and compared with the recovery time objectives, and that copies of program software should be available for reinstalling on replacement equipment. CISA’s Cyber Essentials guide says backups should have protections including physical security, encryption and offline copies. Those lines earn their own fields on the page.
Four fields can cover it:
- What gets copied.
- Where the copies live, including any offline copy.
- Who can restore it.
- When a restore was last checked.
A restore is its own check. A separate post on how to test a backup restore covers how to run one, so the plan only needs the result and the name of the person who checked it.
O&O Systems’ Backup and Disaster Recovery page says the company designs and implements customized backup solutions that fit a business’s needs, and that its disaster recovery plans go beyond simply storing files.
Who Does What, and Who Gets the Call?
Every part of the plan gets an owner’s name. One person decides. One person talks to staff and customers. One person or provider does the technical work. Their mobile numbers belong somewhere they can be reached without company email, because email may be part of what’s down.
CISA’s Cyber Essentials guide says leaders should lead development of an incident response and disaster recovery plan outlining roles and responsibilities. It also says to learn who to call for help: outside partners, vendors, responders, technical advisors and law enforcement.
Five role lines can cover a small business:
- The owner or decision maker.
- Whoever runs IT, plus the outside IT provider if there is one.
- Whoever talks to staff and customers.
- Whoever holds the logins and the backup access.
- A named stand-in for each of them.
A contact list belongs on the same page. It can hold names, roles and mobile numbers for the IT provider, the internet provider, the support line for the main business program and the other people the plan relies on. Check it for accuracy whenever a person or a provider changes. A wrong number can waste time the business doesn’t have.
How Often Should the Plan Be Tested, and Where Should It Live?
Two habits keep a plan usable: testing on a schedule, and changing the page whenever the business changes. A printed copy helps, plus one that doesn’t depend on the systems it describes. Ready.gov’s IT Disaster Recovery Plan page says to test the plan periodically to make sure it works, and CISA’s Cyber Essentials guide says to test it often.
As a rule of thumb, test it at least once a year, and again after a big change. A system the business adds counts as a big change. So does a change of IT provider, or an office move. A simple test can be enough: walk the page out loud with the people named in it, then fix every gap the walkthrough shows. That interval is a suggestion for a small business, not a rule.
Where the page lives matters as much as what it says. Keep a printed copy at the office and a second one with the decision maker. Keep another copy apart from the office systems, so the page survives whatever took those systems down. And make sure each person named on it knows where to find a copy. A plan nobody can reach during an outage isn’t much of a plan.
Frequently Asked Questions About a Disaster Recovery Plan Template
Is a disaster recovery plan the same as a business continuity plan?
Not quite. Ready.gov’s IT Disaster Recovery Plan page says the IT plan should be developed together with the business continuity plan. The IT plan covers the technology: systems, data, backups and the order things come back. A continuity plan covers how the wider business keeps running. A small business can start with the IT page and widen it later.
How long should the plan be?
As a rule of thumb, short enough to be read and used during an outage. A page or two can carry the six parts for a small business, and a short page that stays accurate can beat a long one that nobody updates. Length isn’t the point. Someone under pressure has to find the next step quickly.
Can our IT provider write it for us?
A provider can help with the technical detail: where data lives, what the backups cover and how a restore runs. The owner still decides which systems matter, how long the business can wait and who makes the calls during an outage. Those are business judgments. The useful split is simple. The provider supplies the facts, and the owner sets the priorities.
Do we need special software or a form?
No. A plain document works. What matters is that the page is accurate, kept up to date and reachable when the office systems are not. A business can keep it in whatever it already uses for documents, as long as a printed copy exists too. The fields matter more than the format.
What should trigger an update?
A system the business adds or retires. A change of IT provider or internet provider. An office move. A change in who holds one of the roles the plan names. A failed test counts too, and so does a restore that didn’t work the way the page says it should. These are suggestions, and a business can add its own triggers.
Start With One Page
Open a blank document. Write the six parts as headings. Fill in the first one, even roughly, and give every line an owner’s name. A page with gaps in it can still beat nothing in writing, because the gaps show what the business needs to find out first.
If you’re drafting a first disaster recovery plan template and want a second opinion on what to list, ask O&O Systems about your recovery plan and bring whatever notes you have.