The DR plan describes vendor phone numbers but never names who may declare a disaster and activate the alternate site. What planning element is missing?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
If nobody is allowed to yell 'go,' the spare site stays dark while people argue. Activation authority and criteria are the starter pistol. Put names and triggers in the plan before the outage starts.
Full Explanation
Disaster recovery plans must specify activation criteria and the roles authorized to declare a disaster and activate the alternate site. Vendor phone numbers without named declarers leave municipal responders unsure who may trigger costly site activation under ambiguous conditions. Defined activation criteria and roles close that planning gap and reduce both hesitation and unauthorized activation.
Listing preferred lunch caterers for the recovery team is logistics trivia that does not authorize activation. Requiring that any employee may activate sites without criteria invites chaos and uncontrolled spend. Forbidding any formal declaration so activation stays informal forever prevents accountable decision-making when citizen services are down.
Exam caveat: activation authority and criteria are core DR plan elements, distinct from vendor contact lists.
Operational check: name primary and backup declarers; write objective activation criteria tied to outage severity and BIA impacts; place those rules on page one of the municipal DR plan; exercise a declaration decision in the next tabletop. Publish the activation roster and criteria where duty officers can find them under stress, and re-confirm names after each leadership change. Unauthorized or unclear activation authority is itself a continuity defect.