RPO/RTO values have no business owner
Address the cause before treating the recommendation as approval-ready.
Decision Guide
Recovery Readiness Decision Guide
Test whether recovery commitments are supported by real business priorities and proven technical capability.
Questions · Evidence · Red flags · Executive output
Questions to ask
Do not approve until the answers are traceable.
Each answer should identify its source, owner, confidence level and impact on the decision.
01. Which services are genuinely critical to the business?
Document the answer, assumptions and validation action.
02. Who owns each RPO and RTO decision?
Document the answer, assumptions and validation action.
03. Are application and infrastructure dependencies mapped?
Document the answer, assumptions and validation action.
04. Can backups be restored within the required time?
Document the answer, assumptions and validation action.
05. Do tests prove end-to-end service recovery?
Document the answer, assumptions and validation action.
06. Are manual workarounds realistic and documented?
Document the answer, assumptions and validation action.
07. Which gaps require investment versus governance correction?
Document the answer, assumptions and validation action.
Evidence pack
Minimum evidence to collect.
EvidenceBIA and service criticality
Check recency, completeness and ownership.
EvidenceDependency maps
Check recency, completeness and ownership.
EvidenceRecovery plans and test results
Check recency, completeness and ownership.
EvidenceBackup and restore performance
Check recency, completeness and ownership.
EvidenceGap register and ownership
Check recency, completeness and ownership.
Red flags
Signals that should trigger a review.
Plans describe systems but not business services
Address the cause before treating the recommendation as approval-ready.
Tests validate components, not service chains
Address the cause before treating the recommendation as approval-ready.
Backup success is confused with recovery readiness
Address the cause before treating the recommendation as approval-ready.
Remediation actions have no accountable owner
Address the cause before treating the recommendation as approval-ready.
Executive output
The decision should produce more than verbal approval.
01Decision and scope
What is approved, deferred or excluded.
02Assumptions and risks
Remaining uncertainty and control actions.
03Roadmap and owners
Sequence, owners, milestones and dependencies.
04Governance cadence
Reviews, KPIs, escalation and exit criteria.
Related solution
RecoveryShield™
The guide helps prepare the decision. A formal recommendation requires context-specific scope, evidence and validation.