Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan Tabletop Test Template

A Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan captures the critical information an organization needs to continue operating and reestablish data access during an unplanned event. Drafting this plan is only one step in the process. Testing how the plan may work with a simulated disaster raises staff awareness about their roles in such an event, re-affirms the best communication pathways, and fosters participant interaction.

The tabletop template below walks your organization through a simulated disaster. It outlines the steps and actions to consider and provides a place to document your test results. You may add anything to the template your team deems helpful and/or that came up during the tabletop exercise.

Commonly associated evidence:

• Business Continuity Test

• Disaster Recovery Test

Who should participate in the tabletop exercise:

• Executive team, if available (CEO, CFO, VPs, etc.)

• IT team

• Operations team

Please note: It is not necessary to use our template for the tabletop test. As long as your team performs a tabletop exercise and provides documentation of such (via a logged ticket, presentation, memo, etc.), the control requirements will be fulfilled.

How to use the template:

• Click on the link above to access the template

  • If you are a Google Workplace organization, make a copy by going to File > Make a copy

  • If you are not a Google Workplace organization, download a copy by going to File > Download and selecting your preferred file type (available as DOCX, PDF, and more)

• Review and then remove instructional text

• Save in a centralized place

• Attach to evidence either through Integrations, Automated Collection, or direct upload

If you need help using the template, please let us know.