Question:
Question 10: (Click here to View this Q&A Series)
I am trying to determine if my vendors have a Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery program. I am looking for a checklist or a list of questions to ask them. Your assistance is appreciated.
Answer 1:
There is not a straight
forward list of questions to ask a vendor because
some probing is required. However, one approach is to ask for a copy of
the
vendors' recovery plan. Some vendors might not provide this because they
might consider it a confidential document.
There are some key items that you want
to validate even if you get the
recovery plan.
Communication - How will the vendor notify
you of a disaster and its impact?
What provisions has the vendor made for you to contact them in a disaster?
(These are the requirements to place orders or request service.)
Provisioning - Does the vendor have a plan
to re-establish the delivery of
materials and service? Does the vendor have alternate warehouse locations
to provision the materials you need? Do they have a logistics plan to
receive and deliver orders to alternate locations? What would be the time
delay to receive orders and provide delivery? Does the vendor have plans
to
deliver services from an alternate location or another office?
Data - Does the vendor have a plan to capture
and secure critical
information? (Contracts, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable,
Order/Fulfillment information, etc) Does the vendor have a plan to make
this information available on a short\long term basis? Does the vendor
make
copies\backups of this information and keep it in a secure\vaulted location?
Insurance - Does the vendor or your organization
have adequate insurance
coverage to limit the exposure to your organization. (Your organization
might have to pay a premium for materials or services if the vendor defaults
during a disaster.)
This is a basic approach that can be taken
to interview a vendor. Just
build your questions to meet the needs of your particular business
relationship with the vendor.
Dave Ziev
Answer 2:
We have a large number of critical vendors/business
partners that support our operations and had some good success using the
attached survey to focus in on areas where we thought vendor plans needed
a
closer look.
thks
Paul Honey
Attached (Vendor Questions - Word Document)
The responses reflect the views of the individual EAB member, and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employers, the DRJ, or the EAB as a whole.