Data Collection and Analysis Report: Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan

This report presents a data collection and analysis phase of a research study focused on backup and disaster recovery plans within IT organizations. The study employs a mixed methods approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative data to provide a comprehensive understanding of the topic. The report details the data collection methods, including online surveys and interviews with IT professionals, and presents the findings through charts and descriptive analysis. Quantitative data reveals insights into the frequency of disaster recovery plan updates, inventory maintenance, and the time required for system restoration. Qualitative data, gathered from interviews with IT managers, explores the roles and responsibilities within disaster recovery teams, awareness of data vulnerabilities, and the adoption of up-to-date organizational systems. The report also includes a comparison of backup and disaster recovery plans implemented by companies like Apple, Amazon, and BestBuy, as well as a discussion of data inclusion and exclusion criteria and the emergence of patterns during the research process. Additionally, the report outlines improvements made to previous submissions, such as enhanced critical analysis, supportive statements, and more detailed data collection methods.

Running head: BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
Data Collection and Analysis: Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:

1
BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
Table of Contents
Tasks to be performed this week related to advance in research project.........................................2
Collection of data using mixed data analysis..................................................................................2
Analyze the data..............................................................................................................................3
Comparison of various companies’ backup and disaster recovery plan..........................................8
Include and exclude of data from the research................................................................................8
Emergence of patterns.....................................................................................................................9
Improvements made to previously submitted papers......................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

2
BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan
The paper is based on data collection and analysis phase of the research study. It provides
the original information that is gathered, stored along with accessed during the course of the
research study along with final report on the research findings. The selected data analysis for this
study is “Mixed methods data analysis” which means it involves of analyzing data from
quantitative and qualitative approaches. The strategy for analyzing the data and timing of its
analysis are driven by entire rationale and purpose of the study.
Tasks to be performed this week related to advance in research project
In this week, we are going to do data collection and analysis for gathering information
from primary and secondary sources to fill the research gap. Sometimes, there is data loss into
the computer server, and then it affects the business which may result into shut down. Backup
and disaster recovery plan helps to ensure that those catastrophic events are not destroying the
organization. While collecting of data, the researcher learns many advantages of backup and
disaster recovery plan to find out the best backup option against the data loss.
Collection of data using mixed data analysis
Mixed data collection method is used to collect data on selected research topic. The
mixed approach is consisted of quantitative and qualitative information. Into the quantitative
approach, the data are obtained using online survey of the populations. The recorded data are
important to consist of detailed information to reduce the data loss issues in the organization. The
researcher collected qualitative information from interview of the participants (Aldrich, 2016).
The goal of collecting data is to capture proper research evidence which allows leading

3
BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
formulation of convinces and realistic answers to the research questions. After collection of the
data using mixed methods, those are summarized and analyzed to draw the research findings. It
is better to summarize the information for identifying the patterns.
Analyze the data
The researcher tried to illustrate the data analysis of IT organization’s backup and
disaster recovery plan. With help of mixed analysis, the data analysis helps the researcher to
perform research process for increasing quality of the information and making of better analysis
for the selected research topic. Mair, Ritchie and Walters (2016) pointed that the analyzed data
helps to implement of theoretical knowledge into practical application. Hsu, Howitt and Miller
(2015) stated that data analysis is involved of complexities along with limitations. The
respondents those are considered for the data collection are employees and managers of IT
organization such that detailed information are extracted from the research work.
Quantitative analysis: In this section, the data sources are retrieved from the employees
of IT organization are considered such that the researcher can understand the influence of backup
and disaster recovery plan on the organization to solve data loss issues (Chang, 2015). The total
respondents involved into this section are 20 as others are not interested to provide their
feedback. Therefore, the employees are sample of the study.

4
BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
1. Is the disaster recovery plan updated on regular basis?
Options No of respondents Total respondents Percentage of
response
Yes 13 20 65%
No 7 20 35%
Figure 1: Disaster recovery plan updated on regular basis
Findings: From the chart, it is analyzed that the disaster recovery plan is tested on
regular basis within the IT organization based on 65% of the respondents. The plan is also tested
regularly to update the records of vendor, suppliers, operational requirements, contact details of
client and employees. Have a schedule to update the disaster recovery as well as plan of business
continuity is important as starting point. All the updates are taken as important piece of the audit
evidences. The updating process is broken down into manageable bits.
65%
35%
Disaster recovery plan updated on
regular basis
Yes
No

5
BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
2. Is periodic inventory taken for verification of proper backup files being
maintained?
Options No of respondents Total respondents Percentage of
response
Yes 16 20 80%
No 4 20 20%
Figure 2: Periodic inventory taken for verification of proper backup files being maintained
Findings: From the above chart, 80% of the respondent’s response that there is periodic
inventory which are taken for verification of proper backup of the files which are also
maintained properly. Backup procedures are based on company’s requirements. When it is
developed as per organizational requirement, then it is tested, documented and verified. Review
of backup and restore process are key requirement to ensure the data security.
80%
20%
Periodic inventory taken for verification of
proper backup files being maintained
Yes
No

6
BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
3. How much time does it take to perform a full restore when the computer fails?
Options No of respondents Total respondents Percentage of
response
24 hours 1 20 5%
12 hours 4 20 20%
8 hours 5 20 25%
5 hours 10 20 50%
Figure
3:
Time
takes
to
perform a full restore when the computer fails
24 hours 12 hours 10 hours 8 hours
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Time takes to perform a full restore when the computer
fails

7
BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
Findings: From the above chart, 50% of the respondent’s response that it takes 5 hours to
perform a full restore when there is failing of computer as it tries to restore the point before the
update. It takes time when more changes are made which is required to restore. The system
restore can fix of problems and it does not work.
Qualitative analysis: The data sources are retrieved from qualitative description of the
selected research topic as interviewed by the 2 managers of IT organizations across US. This
section consists of managers as the sample to know about detailed backup and disaster recovery
plan they are using in their organization.
1. Does your disaster recovery team have defined roles and responsibilities?
Into disaster recovery plan, the team has defined their roles and responsibilities as the
key significant requirement. At the time of defining individual roles, their limit of authority is
also considered. There is establishment of communication plan to interact with each other. Have
a defined roles and communication plan help to carry out disaster recovery plan easier.
2. Do you know about biggest vulnerabilities of your data are?
At the time of implementing disaster recovery plan, there is awareness of the wrong thing
and vulnerabilities so that it is easier to plan as possible. Mostly, there are data vulnerabilities in
the organization consists of deployment failure, inconsistency into database and leakage of data.
The organization takes holistic view of the IT infrastructure based on disaster recovery plan.
3. Is your organizational system up-to-date?
The organization consists of up-to-date system which is required to have stronger disaster
recovery plan. There is modern backup as well as recovery solution for backup of data to prevent

8
BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
from data loss. Most of the organization consists of new technology like copy data visualization
which manage the disaster recovery plan towards next level. Using the new and advanced
technology, the risks such as data loss, unforeseen expense, losing of customer’s trust are
removed during the planning. Recovery plan minimizes the downtime as well as expenses to
make live of the IT team easier and efficient.
Comparison of various companies’ backup and disaster recovery plan
Apple: The three local backup services for Apple are allowed to provide greater control
as well as flexibility to manage the disaster recovery plan. Time machine of Apple is used in
network nodes for backup of data. Mozy is developed into paid service model which backup the
services into the cloud over internet. Crashplan is used for unlimited storage for backup the user
data.
Amazon: The organization is used of AWS storage solutions for delivering secured and
durable storage of their business data. The scalability into their backup system needs on-premises
infrastructures. ASW storage gateway is used to backup the data from one location to other for
faster recovery.
BestBuy: The organization started store visits for standard operating procedures of their
business. They have evacuation plan to set the disasters.
Include and exclude of data from the research
Into this particular study, include and exclude are focused on the research questions.
When specific sample of population are taken to conduct the study, include criteria are required
to be more proper. Include is used to set the characteristics of the research to identify the

9
BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
research course (Palinkas, 2015). Both include and exclude are selected to rule out the sample
population. Include means there is pick up of those files needed to backup using identified file
type. Exclude method are used by the user to include set of backup by default. There are no files
types are needed into exclude.
Emergence of patterns
Before doing research on the topic, the researcher gains some knowledge from their
lecture notes, experiences, peer review journal articles and reading of textbooks. The mixed
method approaches help to gather data from qualitative and quantitative approaches using survey
and interview methods (Schabenberger & Gotway, 2017).
Improvements made to previously submitted papers
In the literature review paper, there are improvements into the critical analysis as the
paper has lack of critical factors to analyze the selected research topic. Supportive statements are
added to the literature review. In research methodology, there are improvements into the data
collection methods such as there is addition to in-depth details on selected data collection
approaches. Into the research methodology paper, there is missing of research limitations, which
are further added. Some of the sections have lack of clarity and lack of logical details which are
improved later.

10
BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
References
Aldrich, D. P. (2015). Social capital in post disaster recovery: strong networks and communities
create a resilient east asian community. In Resilience and Recovery in Asian
Disasters(pp. 19-34). Springer, Tokyo.
Chang, V. (2015). Towards a Big Data system disaster recovery in a Private Cloud. Ad Hoc
Networks, 35, 65-82.
Hsu, M., Howitt, R., & Miller, F. (2015). Procedural vulnerability and institutional capacity
deficits in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction: Insights from Wutai Rukai
experiences of Typhoon Morakot. Human Organization, (2015), 308-318.
Mair, J., Ritchie, B. W., & Walters, G. (2016). Towards a research agenda for post-disaster and
post-crisis recovery strategies for tourist destinations: A narrative review. Current Issues
in Tourism, 19(1), 1-26.
Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015).
Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method
implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health
Services Research, 42(5), 533-544.
Schabenberger, O., & Gotway, C. A. (2017). Statistical methods for spatial data analysis. CRC
press.