How frequently should DR tests be conducted for OIMS and what should they cover?

• A. Annually or per policy; cover recovery procedures, failover, data integrity checks, and user access restoration.
• B. Every decade; only backup verification.
• C. Only during disaster; skip.
• D. Monthly; focus only on failover.

Answer: (A)

Regular DR testing keeps OIMS ready to recover after a disruption. The best practice is to conduct disaster recovery tests annually or as required by policy, and to cover the full set of recovery activities: the documented recovery procedures, the ability to failover to backup systems or sites, data integrity checks to ensure restored data is accurate and complete, and restoration of user access so that authorized personnel can resume work promptly.

This approach is preferred because it verifies all critical aspects of recovery, not just one piece. Testing only every decade is far too infrequent to catch issues, and focusing solely on backup verification, during a disaster, or only on failover misses important elements like data integrity and user access restoration that are essential for a complete recovery.