The plan must include everything that end users need to meet their work requirements. They must have a location from which to work that provides comfortable surroundings where useful work can be performed, although it does not have to be as spacious or well appointed as the home site. The location must be equipped with what ever resources are required to perform the critical function, i.e., supplies, office machinery, furnishings, mail, etc.

It is important to understand that for most functions, fewer staff is required in recovery than in normal situations.

Each department manager must identify which personnel are needed to perform the critical processes. Some processes can be postponed until later. Some personnel may be told to go home or could be reassigned or retrained to temporarily perform another more critical function until things return to normal. Assigned personnel must be familiar with the processes and workflow of the function.

Each work group or process being recovered requires representatives with managerial and technical skills. These personnel are responsible for assisting in the preparation of the new work area following a disaster. They also participate in the maintenance of the disaster recovery plan as it pertains to their managerial or technical role.

Users provide the knowledge and skill to accomplish the business function performed by the unit. The work of these personnel comprises the actual recovery of the business function. Customers will deal with these personnel, systems will be used by them, and networks will be connected for their access needs.

Users are the primary resource of:

• Recovery information used to develop recovery procedures,
• Resource allocations,
• Scheduling, and
• System and network configurations.

System recovery must be accomplished in the plan for users to access system resources and mission-critical applications. The acquisition and installation of end-user terminals or workstations must be part of this plan and is a technical responsibility.

Network recovery is often overlooked, yet users must have access to voice and data communications capabilities to do work with recovered systems. Network recovery is made easier if the location of the user recovery center is known in advance for implementation of network rerouting strategies