Disaster Recovery Plan Template: Step-by-Step Guide & Download

When the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in Baltimore in early 2024, the effects spread quickly. A single event halted a major shipping route, disrupted delivery schedules, and compelled companies across multiple industries to reassess their methods for moving essential goods. Organizations that relied on predictable logistics had to adjust, communicate, and recover in real time. The incident underscored something that business continuity teams have been emphasizing for years: Modern disruptions rarely stay contained and rarely follow a neat playbook.

As John Liuzzi, National Director of Business Continuity at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, shared, professionals in his field no longer view disaster recovery and business continuity as administrative or compliance issues but as an integrated part of the business. Liuzzi says, “It’s about threat intelligence, disaster recovery, and crisis management that’s all seamless.”

A single human error can spur disruptive events from your supply chain to the front of the house. The impact can expand even further when organizations lack built-in redundancy or when recovery actions depend on a specific operating system that is inaccessible during the incident. The longer your business stays out of service, the greater the loss to your people, systems, physical assets, and company reputation—and the harder it becomes to restore operations within an acceptable time frame.

A well-executed disaster recovery plan is your key to minimizing the impact. Let’s break down what that could look like for your business.

What Is a Disaster Recovery Plan?

A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a documented strategy for returning to normal operations quickly after an unexpected incident. Its purpose is to provide clear instructions for actions to take before, during, and after any disaster, supported by defined backup procedures and recovery activities that teams can rely on under pressure. A comprehensive DRP should address all types of disasters, including human-caused and natural, internal and offsite, accidental and intentional.

Many organizations also treat the DRP as a functional counterpart to their broader continuity documentation, similar to a table of contents for the technical actions required to restore IT systems, bring critical functions out of standby, and begin structured recovery operations after an interruption.

The range of potential disaster scenarios covered by a DRP includes:

• Malware or ransomware
• System outages
• IT infrastructure failure
• Fires
• Floods
• Equipment failures
• Building damages
• Power outages
• Terrorism
• Violence
• Civil Unrest
• Citywide or regional issues
• Health crises

These events can unfold as a short disruption or over an extended period of time. The plan’s goal is to ensure teams know exactly how to respond and how to restore systems, regardless of the cause.

Key Components of a DRP

A DRP is fundamentally a technical document. It explains how systems will be restored, who carries out each step, and how the organization stabilizes its business operations during recovery work. Although industries differ in scale and complexity, most organizations build their plans around the same core components.

• Risk analysis and system prioritization: Identifies critical applications, infrastructure, and dependencies, then ranks them according to their importance to business operations.
• Plans for emergency operations: Outlines how essential work continues during an outage, including temporary processes and the minimal resources required to keep the organization functional.
• Defined recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO): Sets the maximum acceptable downtime and data loss for each critical system, guiding the pace and sequence of restoration.
• Data backup and restoration procedures: Details where backups are stored, how quickly they can be accessed, and the specific recovery procedures for each system or dataset.
• Redundant infrastructure and failover paths: Documents the systems or environments that can take over when the primary infrastructure becomes unavailable, including alternative work sites and recovery locations.
• System restoration steps and order of operations: Provides a clear, step-by-step sequence for bringing applications, servers, networks, and databases safely back online.
• Roles and responsibilities for the disaster recovery team: Defines who makes decisions, who executes technical tasks, and who coordinates with leadership and other departments.
• Internal and external communication procedures: Explains how updates are shared with employees, leadership, vendors, and customers during the incident.
• Testing and verification processes, training, and continuous improvement: Outlines how the plan will be exercised and validated through tabletop exercises, technical failovers, and scheduled reviews.
• Document maintenance schedule: Establishes how often the plan will be reviewed, updated, and synchronized with business continuity plans to maintain accuracy over time.

A DRP typically starts with a clear understanding of which systems the organization depends on. This helps technical teams focus on restoring what matters most, rather than treating all infrastructure as equal. It also aligns work with the priorities defined in the organization’s larger business continuity and disaster recovery strategy.

From there, plans for emergency operations support the business during the outage. These steps don’t replace full operations but prevent the organization from stalling while technical recovery takes place. They often include short-term workarounds, minimal staffing requirements, and temporary communication flows.

Technical recovery is at the heart of the document. The most effective plans give teams precise restoration sequences, tested recovery procedures, and clearly assigned ownership. These plan details help prevent delays, reduce errors under pressure, and shorten the overall outage.

Finally, teams must treat a DRP as a living document. Regular testing ensures that its steps reflect current infrastructure, staffing, and incident management plans. By aligning the plan with the organization’s business continuity plan, disaster recovery teams keep documentation cohesive and ensure that each function understands its role.

Setting goals and objectives for key recovery activities

The goals and objectives of a disaster recovery plan set the direction for the entire document. They clarify what the organization is trying to protect, how quickly systems need to return to service, and the level of disruption the organization can tolerate during an incident. These targets guide every technical and operational decision in the plan.

Common goals and objectives include:

• Restore critical systems within approved timelines based on established RTOs.
• Limit data loss to the organization’s tolerance levels defined by RPOs.
• Protect system and data integrity throughout the recovery process.
• Stabilize essential business operations while recovery procedures are underway.
• Provide clear ownership and responsibilities so teams act without confusion or delay.
• Maintain steady communication across employees, leadership, vendors, and customers.
• Minimize financial and operational impact by reducing downtime and preventing secondary failures.
• Support recovery efforts with tested procedures that reflect the current environment and resource structure.

These objectives form the foundation of the plan. They help ensure recovery steps are realistic, coordinated, and aligned with the organization’s broader business continuity and disaster recovery strategy.

DR Plan vs. Business Continuity Plan

A disaster recovery plan and a business continuity plan serve different functions, but they depend on each other to maintain stability for the organization during disruptions. In many organizations, these plans follow a business impact analysis, which helps clarify which functions must recover first and how long different parts of the organization can operate with limited capability.

Teams that follow frameworks such as ISO 22301, NIST SP 800-34, or ITIL often develop these plans together, ensuring their compliance risk assessments, continuity priorities, and technical recovery steps stay aligned.

A disaster recovery plan covers the steps needed to restore the functions your organization relies on, including technology, facilities, and key operational workflows. It details the sequence, ownership, and dependencies involved in bringing systems, data, and essential services back online. When documented clearly, this becomes the central reference for technical teams and a key component of integrated risk management.

A business continuity plan outlines how the organization will continue its essential work during disruptions. It covers temporary workflows, staffing adjustments, and manual alternatives. It also sets communication expectations, outlines vendor coordination, and details the actions required to maintain business operations when technology, facilities, or standard processes are unavailable.

The two plans strengthen each other when they are developed in tandem. Disaster recovery provides the structure for bringing critical systems back into service, while business continuity ensures the organization can function until those systems are fully restored. Together, they form the foundation of the broader program, giving teams clarity at both the operational and technical levels, whether the disruption is tied to operations, facilities, or the triggers defined in the IT disaster recovery plan.

Preparing for Disruptions From Weather Events to Cyberattacks

Businesses endure significant damages from disasters each year, especially catastrophic events such as floods and hurricanes. In 2023, global economic losses from natural disasters reached $280 billion. Security breaches are one example of a common and costly human-caused disaster. They can lead to business downtime that often exceeds $300,000 per hour for mid-sized and large enterprises.

Whatever causes the disruption, the impact reaches every part of the organization. Operations slow down, work becomes harder to complete, and customers begin to feel the effects. Employees deal with uncertainty as schedules shift or wages fluctuate. When this pattern continues, the strain builds and becomes more challenging to reverse.

If your business is located in an area susceptible to specific weather events, you absolutely need to plan for natural disasters. For example, plan for hurricanes in southern coastal areas, blizzards in snow-prone areas, or wildfires in the western and southwestern United States.

New market expansion creates added pressure because it changes how people work and how the organization supports them. Rapid team growth has a similar effect, increasing the coordination required during normal operations. These shifts make recovery more difficult when a disruption occurs.

Even in stable periods, a single incident can interrupt the flow of work. A security breach can trigger one kind of disruption. Severe weather can trigger another. A basic equipment problem can cause the same level of interruption. Each situation slows the organization and increases the strain on teams.

If you have not reviewed your disaster recovery plan recently, this is the moment to update it. A disaster recovery checklist offers a clear starting point, whether you are building a new plan or evaluating an existing one.

How Proactive Planning Strengthens Risk Management

A strong disaster recovery plan gives your organization a structured framework for responding to emergencies and restoring critical systems without unnecessary delays. When every minute counts, a documented plan helps teams work from a single playbook and reduces the risk of confusion or missteps. This clarity is especially vital when coordinating with external service providers or verifying contact information during early response.
A well-developed plan offers several advantages for organizations of any size:

• Minimizing downtime and operational disruption by restoring priority systems quickly and in line with your established recovery time objectives
• Reducing financial losses tied to outages, delays, and emergency workarounds
• Protecting critical data and assets with clear restoration procedures, data backup strategies, and validation steps
• Ensuring compliance with regulations, standards, and industry requirements
• Preserving customer trust and company reputation by maintaining continuity during an incident
• Supporting rapid and organized recovery through defined steps and assigned ownership
• Providing clear guidance for teams during crises so decisions are made with confidence
• Enhancing organizational resilience by strengthening systems, processes, and recovery capabilities
• Meeting contractual and service-level obligations even when operations are strained
• Improving employee preparedness and confidence through training, testing, and documented expectations

Disaster recovery planning anchors technical and operational teams around the same objectives. It accelerates recovery, mitigates losses, and builds long-term confidence in your organization’s ability to manage unexpected events.

Build Your Comprehensive Disaster Recovery Plan in 6 Steps

Building a comprehensive disaster recovery plan begins with a clear understanding of how your organization operates under challenging conditions. Each part of the business relies on its own set of information systems and the level of connectivity those systems require to stay productive. Daily work also depends on the business processes that guide teams from one task to the next, even when circumstances shift. Before you dive into the steps of the plan, identify the key personnel who will participate in response activities and define how your teams will maintain continuity during a disaster event. These early insights give your organization the baseline it needs as it transitions from assessment to restoration.

1. Assess risks and vulnerabilities

The first step is a risk assessment to identify the threats you’re facing. A threat assessment and business impact analysis (BIA) will help you identify potential disasters and understand the possible consequences.

During this phase, take a detailed inventory of the critical assets your organization relies on. Begin by noting the technology that supports daily work. Continue with the applications your teams depend on each day and the data stores that hold essential information. Then review the vendors connected to your processes and the cloud services that support your environment. Finish by identifying the physical locations your operations rely on.

Once you have this inventory, document the location of each asset within your environment and its interactions with the rest of your systems. This assessment helps you understand which functions would be affected if a single point of failure occurred. It also reveals the presence of third-party services that introduce additional risk, legacy systems that no longer receive full support, and parts of your infrastructure that carry a higher level of operational risk.

Your assessment should also identify vulnerabilities tied to worksite availability. One example is an office that cannot open. Another is a facility that has taken damage and cannot support regular activity. A third is a situation that forces teams to move to a different location to continue working.

Each scenario tests your ability to keep people productive when the primary site is not an option. During this stage, you evaluate whether your organization can operate from an alternative site and whether your teams can work remotely when needed.

Finally, use this phase to establish a baseline for continuous improvement. Identify weaknesses in your environment and determine where a single failure could disrupt operations. Identify any risks that require immediate attention. This baseline ensures that your recovery plan reflects the current conditions you face, rather than an outdated picture of your infrastructure.

2. Create your team

Decide who will create, update, and execute the plan. This disaster team will spearhead recovery and communication efforts during a crisis. Assign specific tasks to your disaster recovery team members and document responsibilities. Ensure the disaster management team includes representation from each business function, and align recovery tasks with each business unit so every department is included.

To make the plan actionable, document clear ownership across the team. A well-rounded disaster recovery team often includes roles such as:

• Recovery Team Lead, who guides major decisions during the incident and directs recovery activity across all involved groups
• IT Recovery Lead, who oversees the work required to bring technology back into service and confirms that restored systems function as expected
• Communications Lead, who manages updates to employees, customers, and partners—and ensures all messaging stays consistent throughout the event
• HR / People Operations Lead, who handles employee accountability and supports teams that need to adjust their work locations or schedules during the disruption
• Facilities / Operations Lead, who evaluates the condition of each site to determine whether the environment is safe, accessible, and equipped for ongoing use
• Finance & Legal Liaison, who reviews the financial impact of the disruption and advises on any legal or regulatory requirements that arise during the response
• Business Operations Lead, who keeps essential work moving and guides teams through alternate methods when normal processes are not available

3. Establish clear objectives and priorities

Once you’ve built your asset inventory and understand how systems connect, the next step is defining the objectives that will guide every technical and operational decision during recovery. These priorities clarify what matters most, how quickly systems need to return, and where your team should focus its effort when resources are limited. A strong set of objectives prevents teams from treating every issue as equally urgent and helps restore the components that keep the business functional.

This is also the point where recovery questions become more specific. You determine which systems need attention first and how long each function can remain offline. You also assess whether your teams need an alternate worksite or a temporary process to keep operations moving. If a regional outage shuts down a primary office, the plan should already explain where teams will relocate, who is responsible for approving the change, and how they will access the necessary systems during restoration.

These priorities depend on clear documentation of backup locations and methods. Your teams need to know where the most recent copies of critical data are stored and who is responsible for maintaining those locations. This prevents confusion during an outage and clarifies which systems can return to service first.

Each objective should align with the responsibilities assigned earlier in your plan. Every recovery action needs an owner. Some actions involve bringing infrastructure back online. Others involve validating restored data or coordinating a temporary workaround. When teams document ownership in advance, they avoid bottlenecks and move through recovery tasks without delay.

These objectives also need consistent review. Infrastructure changes over time, and vendors shift or expand. Systems evolve, and past incidents reveal new gaps. Regular reviews help you determine what is realistic, what needs to be strengthened, and where your teams may need additional training. A steady review cycle keeps your objectives aligned with how your organization actually operates today, rather than how it has operated in the past.

4. Create a communication plan

During a fire, flood, or other disaster, seconds count, and connectivity is the key to maximizing your time. Your crisis communication plan can make the difference between “crisis averted” and catastrophic consequences. In devising a disaster recovery communication plan, prioritize these steps:

Identify key audiences

Determine who needs information at each stage of a disaster. That includes the people who work for you, the customers who depend on you, and the partners who support your operations. It may also involve city officials and local first responders if the situation poses a threat to public safety. Ensure that every group has current phone numbers and email addresses on file, allowing you to reach them promptly.

Pro tip: An emergency mass communication system can even help you group audiences that may need different information at different times. By organizing contact groups in advance, you lose no time sending critical messages to ensure people’s safety and mitigate operational disruptions.

Establish media protocols

Define the media protocol your organization will follow during a crisis. Select the spokesperson who will represent the organization and prepare that person with guidance that aligns with your communication plan. Leadership also needs to understand when a situation calls for external communication and the process for escalating it.

Instill a Culture of Preparedness in Your Organization

Disaster recovery works best when it is fully integrated into an organization’s operations. That point was made early in this guide by John Liuzzi, National Director of Business Continuity at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. It becomes even more relevant here.

As he explains, “It has to be built into your organizational DNA.” John also notes that organizations see better results when they “make it part of the business, not separate,” a perspective reflected in the best practices he shares from his own experience.

Monitor for ongoing threats

As the world’s largest wine and spirits distributor, Southern Glazer’s must remain vigilant 24/7 to manage its complex global supply chain. With ongoing threat intelligence, they are the first to know about all types of external risks—upcoming storms, wildfires in impacted areas, demonstrations, or geopolitical upsets. When contextual risk intelligence is built into your emergency preparedness, you’re not spending excessive time and resources monitoring and filtering through potential threats.

Nurture internal and external relationships before an incident happens

As Liuzzi attests from experience, running a successful business continuity program is about being prepared and building a culture where preparedness is not an afterthought. Part of building this level of safety culture is creating partnerships before an incident happens. For example, you could join an industry-specific safety organization. Support local fire, police, and emergency services departments at their events and coordinate with them for company training.

Internally, nurturing a culture of emergency preparedness might look like:

• Proactively providing access to resources like emergency kits and online tools for employee preparedness
• Engaging employees in ongoing training, drills, and testing
• Promoting company values that include situational awareness and company resilience
• Running disaster recovery tabletop exercises as part of a safety meeting
• Partnering with your global security operations center (GSOC) and other org-wide teams to optimize backup and recovery plans
• Winning buy-in from executive stakeholders by tying the value of business continuity to the data they care about

Optimize Your Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Strategies

You can’t always avoid disasters, but you can prepare for them. A disaster recovery plan helps you recover what is lost (data, physical property, or something else) and get back to running smoothly as soon as possible. More importantly, educating your teams and building ongoing support for disaster recovery and continuity programs will go a long way in helping your organization respond quickly and effectively in the event of an emergency.