simpl.
Sign in
Cybersecurity GRC 15 items

Disaster Recovery Tabletop Exercise Checklist

Structures the planning, execution, and after-action review of a disaster recovery tabletop exercise validating the DR plan against a realistic scenario.

NIST 800-84NIST 800-34ISO 22301

Free PDF · enter your email to download.

Exercise Planning

  • Are clear exercise objectives and scope documented? *
  • Is a realistic scenario aligned to identified threats and critical systems? *
  • Are recovery time and recovery point objectives defined for in-scope systems? *
  • Is a facilitator and evaluator assigned for the exercise? *

Participation & Roles

  • Do participants include IT, business owners, and executive decision-makers? *
  • Are DR roles and responsibilities (who declares a disaster) exercised? *
  • Are third-party and vendor dependencies represented or accounted for?

Scenario Execution

  • Was the disaster declaration and escalation process walked through? *
  • Were recovery sequencing and system dependencies validated? *
  • Were internal and external communications and notifications exercised? *
  • Were injects introduced to test decision-making under changing conditions?

After-Action Review

  • Was an after-action report produced capturing gaps and observations? *
  • Are corrective actions assigned with owners and due dates? *
  • Will the DR plan be updated based on lessons learned? *
  • What is the date of the next scheduled DR exercise?

Download the full Disaster Recovery Tabletop Exercise Checklist checklist

Get it as a clean, printable PDF — free.