C. The strategy development task bridges the gap between Business Impact Assessment and

business process–oriented list is much more reflective of real-world conditions, but it requires considerable additional effort. It will, however, greatly assist in the recovery effort—after all, not every task performed by your highest-priority business unit will be of the highest priority. You might find that it would be best to restore the highest-priority unit to 50 percent capacity and then move on to lower-priority units to achieve some minimum operating capacity across the organization before attempting a full recovery effort. Crisis Management If a disaster strikes your organization, it is likely that panic will set in. The best way to combat this is with an organized disaster recovery plan. The individuals in your business who are most likely to first notice an emergency situation i.e., security guards, technical personnel, etc. should be fully trained in disaster recovery procedures and know the proper notification pro- cedures and immediate response mechanisms. Many things that normally seem like common sense such as calling 911 in the event of a fire may slip the minds of panicked employees seeking to flee an emergency. The best way to combat this is with continuous training on disaster recovery responsibilities. Returning to the fire exam- ple, all employees should be trained to activate the fire alarm or contact emergency officials when they spot a fire after, of course, taking appropriate measures to protect themselves. After all, it’s better that the fire department receives 10 different phone calls reporting a fire at your organization than it is for everyone to assume that someone else already took care of it. Crisis management is a science and an art form. If your training budget permits, investing in crisis training for your key employees would be a good idea. This will ensure that at least some of your employees know the proper way to handle emergency situations and can provide the all- important “on the scene” leadership to panic-stricken coworkers. Emergency Communications When a disaster strikes, it is important that the organization be able to communicate internally as well as with the outside world. A disaster of any significance is easily noticed, and if the organi- zation is unable to keep the outside world informed of its recovery status, the public is apt to fear the worst and assume that the organization is unable to recover. It is also essential that the orga- nization be able to communicate internally during a disaster so that employees know what is expected of them—whether they are to return to work or report to another location, for instance. In some cases, the circumstances that brought about the disaster to begin with may have also damaged some or all normal means of communications. A violent storm or an earthquake may have also knocked out telecommunications systems; at that point it’s too late to try to figure out other means of communicating both internally and externally. Work Group Recovery When designing your disaster recovery plan, it’s important to keep your goal in mind—the res- toration of work groups to the point that they can resume their activities in their usual work