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Should I Test My Disaster Recovery Plan?

Yes, a Disaster Recovery Plan must be tested periodically. One needs to appreciate that, factors such as applications, technology infrastructure, and business processes are bound to undergo changes or modifications on regular basis. Testing of Disaster Recovery plan on regular basis helps identify such changes. If you are not aware of these changes, then you will not be able to achieve principal criteria of DR plan such as user reconnection, restoration of data, and re-hosting of application.

At the end of every data recovery testing procedure you will be able to modify the plan to accommodate the changes that are identified through the process. Disaster Recovery testing is also important for the purpose of rehearsing individual roles and to confirm inter-connectivity of various team members. This is very important aspect of execution of a Disaster Recovery plan in real life situation. Disaster Recovery should be periodically tested to remove surprise element by continuously assessing changes and modifying the processes to update the DR plan.

One should aim for a disaster recovery plan that is most current in view of perpetually changing business landscapes. An ideal Disaster Recovery plan should always be in state of preparedness with every single individual having clear knowledge of his or her roles and responsibilities. Testing of DR plan helps rehearse these roles from time to time.