Recovery drill planning and results worksheet
Mimir IT Consultation Services

A successful backup job is only the starting point. Choose a realistic recovery scenario, agree what success means, and keep the evidence of what actually happened.

System / scenario: ____________________
Exercise owner and approver: ____________________
Exercise date: ____________________
Target RTO: maximum recovery time: ____________________
Target RPO: maximum acceptable data loss: ____________________

Plan and authorise
[ ] Write a scenario and success criteria
    Name the business task that must work, the required restore point, the expected recovery time and the person who will accept the result.
[ ] Agree the exercise boundaries
    Choose a tabletop or isolated functional restore appropriate to the objective. A disruptive production test requires a separate approved change.
[ ] Prepare an isolated recovery destination
    Check capacity, network separation, credentials and dependencies. Keep test integrations from sending real messages or changing live data.

Prepare the recovery path
[ ] Confirm the recovery copy and restore point
    Record its timestamp and how it is protected from the original incident. Verify that the needed backup and recovery tooling are accessible.
[ ] Make the runbook reachable
    Confirm authorised access to recovery instructions, keys and emergency credentials if the affected systems are unavailable. Record references, not secrets.
[ ] Map dependencies and the recovery order
    Include identity, DNS, network, databases, applications and external services. Name who handles each dependency.

Run and verify
[ ] Record the full timeline
    Start at the decision to recover. Capture access delays, restore start, restore completion and business validation, with timezones.
[ ] Validate business use and data integrity
    Have a business owner open records and complete representative tasks. Check permissions and integrations inside the exercise boundary.
[ ] Compare evidence with the objectives
    Record measured elapsed time and the actual restore point. Mark objectives met, missed or not tested; a partial test does not prove full recovery.

Close the loop
[ ] Assign corrective actions
    For each gap, record the evidence, action, owner, due date and retest condition. Preserve failures as findings.
[ ] Close the exercise environment safely
    Confirm with the owner which temporary resources, test data and temporary access can be removed. Keep the agreed evidence.
[ ] Set the next review and retest
    Retest corrections and revisit the plan after material system changes. Choose the exercise cadence to match business impact.

Timeline, actual restore point and measured recovery time:

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Business validation, evidence and limitations:

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Corrective actions, owners, due dates and retest:

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Outcome, approver and next exercise date:

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Full guide: https://mimirpsa.com/insights/backup-testing-restore-drill/

Source guidance:
NIST SP 800-34 Rev. 1: contingency planning: https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/34/r1/upd1/final

This worksheet is a planning aid. Recheck current product guidance before executing a change.