When a disaster occurs, the response team must identify the nature, source, and impact. This Initial Assessment will facilitate the recovery efforts through assessing the priority of the incident and identifying the correct response plan to be enacted. The initial assessment should be based on criteria such as the impact on customers, finances, reputation, source, and regulations.
The assessment information should be conveyed to management so that management can best decide the priority of recovery efforts for a given situation.
The criteria for determining extent and cost of a disaster event should be determined prior to a contingency event, as part of the planning effort; these criteria and a guide for performing the assessment should be included in the response plan, along with this procedures. The criteria may be based on or informed by internal factors (such as asset valuation performed by asset owners, or the value data included in the BIA) or external drivers (such as SLAs, regulatory audits, insurance valuations, etc.).
