Fixed-scope readiness assessment
Backup and Recovery Readiness Audit
A scoped review of backup configuration and agreed restore tests, with conclusions limited to the systems examined.
Findings are limited to the systems, samples, restore exercises and conditions actually examined.
Recovery evidence
Know what the backup can actually demonstrate.
Replace assumptions with evidence
Confirm what an agreed sample can restore and what dependencies matter.
Expose recovery blockers
Identify missing access, keys, retention, documentation or application dependencies.
Prioritize practical corrections
Leave with a bounded list of corrections and decisions for the systems reviewed.
The decision behind the test
A restore sample is useful when its limits are visible.
For teams with active backups
Useful before a migration, after a backup-platform change or when an important workload has never been restored.
Not a universal recovery guarantee
It is not a full disaster-recovery program and does not guarantee a future RTO, recovery, zero data loss or incident prevention.
What the evidence can answer
Separate a successful job from a usable recovery.
The problem we address
A green job confirms that a copy was produced according to what the tool reported. It does not confirm that the right content is covered, that someone receives the alerts, that retention matches the business need or that a restore will work under real conditions.
The uncertainty often appears after a provider change, departure, migration or outage. A portal works, but nobody knows who can authorize a restore; an old alert mailbox is no longer watched; or the last restore has never been observed.
Information and access required
Before work begins, you identify the systems that would be most costly to lose, outage constraints, platforms in use and the last test supported by evidence. You also name the people who can authorize a sample or confirm that a result is usable.
We prefer exports, read-only access and an approved test location. Access and data are limited to what is necessary for the agreed items.
Protection and restore conditions
Backup evidence and an agreed restore sample
Protected workloads
Files, Microsoft 365 items, databases, VMs or another workload selected with the customer.
Protection controls
Destinations, retention, isolation, immutability, encryption, alerts and administrative access.
Restore conditions
Approved location, window, dependencies, sample and validation steps.
Depending on scope, we compare what is supposed to be protected with what the tools and documents actually demonstrate: jobs, destinations, recovery points, retention, isolation, immutability, encryption, alerts, administrator access and application dependencies.
The sample may be a file, Microsoft 365 item, database, virtual machine or specific workload. We also record who owns the alert, how a restore is authorized and what remains unknown. A workload that was not examined does not become proven by association.
From assumption to observation
Choose the sample before drawing the conclusion.
Confirm scope
Agree workloads, outage constraints, samples and approvals.
Review evidence
Inspect backup configuration, recovery points, access and dependencies.
Run agreed tests
Perform authorized restores in the agreed location and window.
Record observations
Document timing, errors, limitations and practical corrections.
Work performed
We start by separating three questions: is a copy being produced, is the right content present and has a restore been observed? We inspect available evidence, choose samples with you and perform only authorized restores in the agreed location and window.
An exercise may restore one file to an isolated location, verify that it opens and confirm permissions with the responsible person. We document the result, dependencies, errors and remaining unknowns. A return to production, destructive restore or full recovery exercise requires separate scope.
What the review leaves behind
A record of what was seen and what remains unknown.
You receive a view of intended and observed protection, recovery points used, alerts and owners that need clarification, missing dependencies, sample results and a prioritized correction list. If a restore test was agreed, its observed timing belongs to that exercise; it is not a future timeframe for the whole business.
What changes the work
Scope follows the systems and evidence available.
Systems
- Workloads and platforms in scope
- Backup destinations and retention
- Data volume and dependencies
Exercise
- Agreed restore sample or recovery exercise
- Approved test location and window
- Specialist validation required
Requested outcome
- Configuration findings
- Restore-test observations
- Optional recovery planning or implementation
Evidence, limits and authorization
A useful test does not pretend to cover everything.
Included
- Scope confirmation
- Agreed evidence review
- Observed restore results and recommendations
Separately scoped
- Broader disaster-recovery exercise
- Production return or remediation
- Application-owner validation
Excluded
- Guaranteed recovery or RTO
- Guaranteed zero data loss
- Destructive restore without approval
The review may cover configuration, available evidence and one or more approved samples. It does not prove systems that were not examined and does not guarantee universal recovery, an RTO, zero data loss or incident prevention. Conclusions describe the systems, conditions and exercises actually examined.
The scope, deliverables and fee are confirmed before work begins. Additional work is performed only after approval.
Operational care
Keep the test safe for the business.
Restored data stays in the approved location and is deleted or returned according to your instructions. Tests avoid production where practical. No destructive restore starts without explicit authorization, and no password or secret is requested through the public site.
The next recovery decision
Start with the system whose loss would be hardest to explain.
Start by naming the system whose outage would be hardest to explain, the last restore anyone observed and the person who could authorize the next test. Request a backup and recovery audit to define a proportionate exercise.