What Should Go in a Disaster Recovery Plan? (Checklists Included)
When a crisis hits, the impact can be overwhelming. Operations pause, decisions pile up and every hour of downtime adds pressure. Having a clear recovery plan in place before an emergency gives you the structure and resources to respond quickly and protect what matters most.
Whether you’re developing a new disaster recovery plan or reviewing an existing one, a detailed checklist helps confirm that every critical step is accounted for. Below, you’ll find a disaster recovery plan checklist designed to guide you through the essentials, so nothing important gets overlooked when time and resources are limited.
1. Executive Summary of Plan
Begin your disaster recovery plan documentation process with a summary that provides a concise and thorough outline of all the elements covered within the plan. At a high level, this section should outline the overarching goals, scope and use of the plan, as well as relevant administrative details.
It’s important to note that, although this is the first item listed in this disaster recovery plan checklist and the section your document should open with, you may find it helpful to actually formulate this portion last.
Disaster Recovery Plan Checklist: Executive Summary
- The goals and purpose of the disaster recovery plan
- How the disaster recovery plan will be used
- How the disaster recovery plan is relevant to the company as it relates to all aspects of the organization:
- Systems
- Data
- Processes
- People
- The members of the disaster recovery team and their contact information
- An estimate of resources, budget and personnel required to execute the disaster recovery plan
- The results of your risk assessment, including the specific threats identified and the potential impact and likelihood of each threat
2. Recovery Objectives
The recovery objectives should reveal the plan’s specific priorities, purposes and goals. This section will explain the actual procedures, hierarchy of priorities and goals for recovering from a disaster.
Be sure to define your company’s recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) in your documentation.
Disaster Recovery Plan Checklist: Recovery Objectives
- Critical processes, applications and data essential for continuity
- Potential consequences of downtime for each critical component
- Priorities for recovery based on the impact of downtime
- RTO and RPO for each critical component
- Recovery procedures for each critical component
- Sequence of tasks, dependencies and required resources
3. Data Backup and Storage
Today’s companies depend heavily on data for nearly every aspect of their operations. As a result, business continuity after a disaster depends on being able to still access and process that data, which makes data backup and storage a critical aspect of this disaster recovery plan checklist.
Any information that is stored on your company’s networks should be backed up regularly for easy restoration following a disaster, and it’s essential to have documentation in your plan to outline that process.
Disaster Recovery Plan Checklist: Data Backup and Storage
- Your overall data backup strategy
- Frequency of data backups
- Data backup methods
- Retention periods of the backups
- Both on-site and off-site storage locations for the data
- How and where any critical physical documents are stored
4. Communication
In the communication section of your disaster recovery plan documentation, the chain of command should be clearly defined. This means clarifying who will be the point person or have primary communication duties during a disaster. It should also be noted which communication channels will be used during the disaster.
There should be guidelines for communicating with all internal and external stakeholders about the event and for ensuring that everyone in the company understands how to communicate about the disaster.
The inclusion of communication templates is highly recommended, especially for statements to the press, which can impact a company’s stock prices and whether the company will be subject to regulatory or civil penalties.
Disaster Recovery Plan Checklist: Communication
- Chain of command
- The point person who has primary communication duties
- Which communication channels will be used during the disaster
- Guidelines for communication with all internal and external stakeholders
- Internal guidelines for communication
- Any communication templates
5. Testing Procedures
Disaster recovery testing is necessary to validate the effectiveness of your plan, making it an essential (yet often overlooked) part of any disaster recovery plan checklist.
In this section of your plan, describe the process for testing and explain how the results of these tests will be evaluated and used.
Your documentation of testing should include the various scenarios with varying degrees of complexity that were tested, as well as any new current vulnerabilities or threats that can expose critical assets to risks.
Also, be sure to document the analysis of the test results and any inconsistencies and flaws within the disaster recovery plan that can contribute to the mismanagement of the incident.
Testing of the plan should occur at least annually. Factors such as compliance requirements, security threats and business environments and risks can change often. Repeated testing ensures that your company’s disaster recovery plan remains on top of these changes.
Disaster Recovery Plan Checklist: Testing Procedures
- The process for disaster recovery plan testing
- Specific scenarios tested
- Any new or current vulnerabilities or threats that can expose critical assets to risks
- Explanation of how the results of the testing are evaluated and used
- The analysis of the most recent test results
- Any inconsistencies and flaws identified in testing and how they have been remediated
6. Vendor and Supplier Agreements
A solid disaster recovery plan checklist will cover elements outside of your organization (not just internal affairs).
Key vendor and supplier agreements should have clearly defined procedures for disaster recovery so that downtime can be minimized as much as possible in the event of a disaster. This section of your plan will vary depending on your company’s line of work and your vendors’ requirements.
Disaster Recovery Plan Checklist: Vendor and Supplier Agreements
- Summary of the agreements with suppliers and vendors related to disaster recovery
- Clarification of their roles and responsibilities in the recovery process
7. Training and Awareness
Employees must be included in the company’s disaster recovery plan because a disaster can negatively impact their ability to work and provide critical services. They should be fully informed about the disaster recovery process and should understand their roles in how it is carried out.
Your plan should have supporting documentation about what training programs equip your team with this knowledge and how the training programs are implemented.
Disaster Recovery Plan Checklist: Training and Awareness
- Description of training programs aimed at educating employees about the disaster recovery process
- Explanation of how awareness of the plan will be raised across the organization
8. Regulatory Compliance
In addition to having corporate policies and/or contractual obligations with your customers and vendors regarding disaster recovery, many companies are also required to remain in compliance with regulatory statutes.
This is particularly relevant for companies that operate in stringently regulated sectors, such as healthcare or financial services, which are governed by HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley, respectively. Not complying exposes your company to risks, penalties and fines.
Disaster Recovery Plan Checklist: Regulatory Compliance
- List of all regulatory requirements or industry standards that your company’s plan must adhere to
- Measures your disaster recovery plan has taken to abide by each of these standards of compliance
9. Review and Maintenance
This disaster recovery plan checklist doesn’t end with a finished plan. To ensure that your company is always prepared for any disaster scenario, your disaster recovery plan should be regularly re-evaluated and maintained. Be sure to document your plans to revisit and update your plan regularly.
Disaster Recovery Plan Checklist: Review and Maintenance
- Schedule for reviewing the plan
- Process for updating the plan
- Parties responsible for maintenance
Implement This Disaster Recovery Plan Checklist With a Professional
Being well-prepared for a disaster requires a lot of careful planning. While this disaster recovery plan checklist can help, it can be challenging to actually implement and maintain a comprehensive plan.
Get expert disaster recovery planning assistance from the advisors at Warren Averett Technology Group to ensure that your company recovers swiftly from a disaster and resumes normal operations as soon as possible. Get in touch with us today to get started.
This article was originally published on August 30, 2023 an most recently updated on December 15, 2025.
