A challenge for business leaders, responsible for continuity and disaster recovery is the prioritization of restoration of business processes following a disaster or negatively impacting event. When asked what business processes need to be restored the correct answer is “all of them”, but when faced with time, resource, and financial constraints there must be a systematic approach to the restoral process. The three-tiered system of prioritization and recovery seeks to identify the key processes that need to be restored and place them in order of importance so that the restoral of these processes are performed in a logical order. Selection of the order in which these processes are restored can be facilitated by measuring the business impact of each process, the ability to understand, control, and articulate the nature and level of risks taken in pursuit of process restoral, the availability of finite resources, the time needed for restoral, and the level/grade in which these processes need to be restored (Bailey, 2015). Also, the prioritization process level of detail can differ depending on the scope and severity of the disaster and at what level of the organization (perspective) the basis is derived.

            An example of 3-tiered disaster response from a business perspective can be found with Lagasse, Inc., a distributor of janitorial supplies, and their prioritization of key business processes following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Lagasse Inc. was hit hard during Katrina where “200 associates were located in New Orleans at their main Headquarters, primary customer care center, and primary IT computing center” (IBM, 2020). Lagasse identified picking, packing, and shipping products as their tier 1 business function to restore due to the need for filling and processing of current customer orders and for generating business income. Tier 2 business function was to maintain good customer service and communicate to the customer any constraints or issues with order processing. Being in the service industry this business function would be of great value to Lagasse and maintaining a right-standing customer relationship is a top priority. The tier 3 disaster response would be based on the restoral of reporting and administrative functions and other support functions and systems (IBM, 2020). This 3 tiered approach to restoring essential business services gives us a glimpse of what the company’s priorities are from multiple standpoints and can be used by the individual departments as a measurement for contribution in the restoration process. Lagasse Inc. faced many struggles as they attempted to restore key services and please the customer, but was able to remain productive partly due to their systematic and prioritized 3-tiered disaster recovery system.

Question to consider…

What are some resource constraints that might affect your organization’s 3-tiered DR strategy during a large-scale natural disaster?