Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) is the documented, tested process by which an organization restores its IT systems, data, and infrastructure to a functional state following a disruptive event. Within the ISACA CISM framework, DRP is a core component of Domain 4 (Incident Management) — it defines in advance the recovery objectives, system priorities, procedures, and roles required to bring critical technology assets back online within acceptable timeframes. DRP is scoped to IT systems and data restoration; it is distinct from Business Continuity Planning (BCP), which addresses how business processes continue during and after disruption. DRP answers: 'How do we recover our technology so the business can function again?' The plan is anchored by two key metrics: Recovery Time Objective (RTO) — the maximum acceptable duration of system downtime — and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) — the maximum acceptable data loss measured in time.
Where it stops · what it isn't
- —IS: Documented procedures, recovery objectives (RTO/RPO), system prioritization tiers, backup and restore instructions, failover sequences, communication protocols, and post-recovery validation steps for IT systems and data
- —IS: Activation decision criteria, recovery team roles and responsibilities, and coordination with incident response command structures
- —IS NOT: Business Continuity Planning (BCP) — DRP covers IT system and data restoration; BCP covers business process continuity and manual workarounds during outages
- —IS NOT: Incident Response Planning — incident response focuses on threat detection, containment, and eradication; DRP activates after or in parallel with containment to restore systems to a trusted state
- —IS NOT: Crisis Communications Planning — DRP includes internal communication protocols, but broader stakeholder, media, and regulatory communications are managed at the BCP or crisis management level
- —IS NOT: Risk Assessment — DRP is the response artifact produced after risk assessment and Business Impact Analysis (BIA) identify which systems are critical and what their failure costs the business
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PART OFIncident Management Domain (CISM Domain 4)Business Continuity and Resilience Strategy
REQUIRESBusiness Impact Analysis (BIA)Incident Classification and CategorizationIncident Response and Containment Procedures
RELATED TOBusiness Continuity Planning (BCP)Crisis Communications Planning
ENABLESRegulatory Compliance (NIS2, SEC Cyber Rules, PCI-DSS, HIPAA)Cyber Insurance Coverage Qualification
CONSTRAINSRecovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) commitments