Free resource · Georgia local government
The Recovery Playbook
Free. No obligation, no purchase order, no credit card.
Six steps, in order
Work them in sequence; each one leaves a written record you keep. Each step names the area of the free Recovery Readiness Self-Assessment it improves, so you can re-score and see the change.
01 · Self-assessment area: Continuity & People
List the services, not the servers
Write one line per public service: tax collection, payroll, permits, court and records systems, the 911 and dispatch interfaces, utility billing, email. For each: which department stops, who answers to the public, and how long the agency can go without it. Department heads, not only IT, should sign off on the list.
02 · Self-assessment area: Continuity & People
Agree how much you can lose and how long you can be down
For each service, write two numbers: how much recent work you could re-enter (the recovery point) and how long you can be without it (the recovery time). Put them in front of the manager or administrator. If they were never written down, today's answer is whatever the last restore happened to take.
03 · Self-assessment area: Backup & Recovery
Count your copies, and how far away they are
Note where every backup copy lives. A copy in the same building as the servers will not survive the fire, flood or hurricane that takes the building. At least one copy should be well away from your county, and at least one should be impossible to change or delete, even by an administrator.
04 · Self-assessment area: Backup & Recovery
Restore one real system and time it
A green backup report proves data was copied, not that it comes back. Pick one system that matters, restore it to a separate, isolated place, have the department confirm it works, and write down how long it took from start to finish.
05 · Self-assessment area: Ransomware & Security
Lock the doors to the backups
Require a second sign-in step for every administrator account, keep backup accounts separate from everyday network accounts, and confirm backups are encrypted with a key your agency holds and has written down in two safe places.
06 · Self-assessment area: Operations & Evidence
Write it down, re-test, and keep the record
Put the restore steps for your top systems on one page each, print them, and keep them where someone other than the IT lead can find them. Re-test on a schedule and keep a dated log. That log answers the auditor, the cyber-insurance renewal and the commission's question after an outage.
See where you stand before you start.
The free self-assessment shows which of these six steps matter most for your agency. Prefer help with step 04? The Recovery Readiness Assessment includes one live, timed restore.
Free. No obligation, no purchase order, no credit card.