Start with the systems that keep the business moving
I begin by inventorying the services and data your business actually relies on. That may include a WordPress or ecommerce website, hosting account, domain settings, business email, shared drives, accounting exports, customer documents, databases, and files stored on individual computers. The inventory also records who controls each account, where data lives, and whether an export or platform-native backup is available.
Not every system deserves the same recovery priority. A public website may need to return quickly because customers use it to contact or buy from you, while an archive of old files may have a longer recovery window. We help separate critical, important, and lower-priority systems so backup effort and storage decisions reflect business impact instead of treating every file as equally urgent.
A useful first-pass inventory includes:
- Website files, databases, media, plugins, themes, and configuration
- Email mailboxes, contacts, calendars, and important attachments
- Shared files, local files, exports, and operational records
- Domains, DNS, hosting, administrator accounts, and recovery contacts
Build protection for websites, email, and files
Website protection usually needs more than a copy of the visible pages. A practical backup can include the site files, database, uploaded media, configuration, and information needed to reconnect the site to hosting. I also look at backup frequency and retention: a site that changes daily has different needs from a brochure site that changes once a month.
Email and cloud files require a separate conversation because access to an account is not always the same as an independent backup. Deleted messages, overwritten documents, compromised credentials, provider issues, or accidental sharing can create recovery problems. Depending on the platform, the right approach may involve native retention, exports, a separate backup service, or a combination that keeps recovery access distinct from everyday administration.
We design around practical safeguards such as:
- Separate backup access from routine user accounts
- Retention that covers likely deletion and recovery windows
- Encrypted storage and controlled administrator access
- More than one copy or location for important data
- A documented owner for reviewing backup status
Set recovery time and recovery point goals
Two questions make a recovery plan useful: how much recent work can the business afford to lose, and how long can each system remain unavailable? The first is commonly called a recovery point objective, or RPO. The second is a recovery time objective, or RTO. These are planning targets, not promises, and they help determine backup frequency, storage, restore procedures, and support priorities.
For example, a business may decide that its website should be recoverable from a recent backup, while a noncritical archive can wait longer. A sales team may need access to current files sooner than an old marketing folder. I document these priorities in plain language, then identify dependencies such as DNS, hosting credentials, email administration, payment integrations, or third-party applications that could affect the sequence.
A recovery target should answer:
- Which system must be restored first?
- How much recent data loss is acceptable for that system?
- Who approves a restore or decides to use a fallback?
- What access, credentials, and vendor contacts are required?
- How will staff work while the primary system is unavailable?
Test restores instead of trusting a status screen
A successful backup job does not prove that a usable business system can be restored. Files may be incomplete, credentials may be missing, a database may not connect, or the backup may depend on a service nobody can access. I use controlled restore checks to confirm that selected website files, databases, documents, or other protected data can be retrieved and opened without putting the live environment at unnecessary risk.
Testing also exposes assumptions before a real incident does. A website restore may require DNS changes or a compatible hosting environment. A file recovery may depend on the correct administrator account. An email recovery may have different limits from a file restore. After each test, I record what worked, what required manual steps, and what should change in the next test.
A useful restore test records:
- The backup date and data set used
- The restore location and access required
- What was successfully recovered
- How long the major steps took
- Follow-up actions and the next review date
Keep the plan usable during a stressful outage
A disaster recovery document should be short enough to use under pressure. I organize it around scenarios such as accidental deletion, website failure, lost device, unavailable hosting, account compromise, or a broader service outage. Each scenario identifies the first decision, the systems affected, the order of restoration, and the information needed to contact the relevant provider.
The plan should also define boundaries. If an account may be compromised, restoring from it without addressing access can recreate the problem. If a website has signs of malware, recovery may require coordination with security work rather than simply putting the newest copy online. I keep the plan tied to actual accounts and services, review it when those services change, and schedule restore checks so it does not become an outdated document.
Before considering the plan ready, confirm that:
- A current copy is accessible when the main systems are unavailable
- Recovery contacts and account ownership are accurate
- Backup alerts have a person responsible for review
- Restore procedures have been tested, not merely written
- RTO and RPO targets are reviewed after major business changes