LOS ANGELES COUNTY
DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH
  Policy 550.03 Information Technology Contingency Plan
 
  Procedures - Data Backup Plan
  1. The Data Backup Plan must ensure that exact copies of critical data are retrievable. This plan must allow the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH/Department) to decide what and how much information will be backed up and available in the event of a disaster and/or emergency. It also provides information about the media used, the location of the backups, and the person responsible for each backup.
     
  2. In creating this plan, include the following steps:
     
    1. Identify the backup methods (e.g., full, incremental, or differential backup), materials to be used (e.g., NAS Device, magnetic tape, or SAN), and frequency of performing backups based on the criticality analysis.
       
    2. Assign the responsible person(s) to manually back up the data sets as determined or to configure the backups to be done automatically by available tools. The assigned  responsible person(s) will also be inspecting and testing the backups to ensure that their contents are exact copies of the data archived and that they are restorable.
       
    3. Assign a responsible person or persons to catalog, store, and secure the backups in a suitable container and location for such purpose.
       
  3. Create the Data Backup Plan spreadsheet:
     
    1. From the Application and Data Criticality Analysis spreadsheet (Procedures - Applications and Data Criticality Analysis), copy the Official System Name, System Owner, and Director's Priority Level columns into a new spreadsheet.
       
    2. Add columns for Data Backup Method, Data Backup Material, Frequency of Backup, Location of Backup, and Responsible Person to the spreadsheet to create the DMH Data Backup Plan spreadsheet, shown below:
APPLICATION AND DATA CRITICALITY ANALYSIS
Date:
Official
System Name
System Manager/ Owner
Director’s Priority Level
Data Backup Method
Data Backup Material
Frequency of Backup
Location of Backup
Responsible Person
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  1.  Complete the spreadsheet by filling in all of the data.
     
    1. In the Data Backup Method column, include the corresponding data backup method (e.g., full, incremental, or differential backup) for each system identified.
       
    2. In the Data Backup Material column, include the materials used to create the data backups (e.g., NAS Device, magnetic tape, or SAN).
       
    3. In the Frequency of Backups column, include the frequency (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly).
       
    4. In the Responsible Person column, identify the person or persons responsible for performing, cataloging, inspecting, storing, and securing the backups.
       
  2. The system manager/owner for each system listed in the Data Backup Plan spreadsheet shall ensure the backup of electronic information as provided, maintenance of those backups, and offsite storage of the backups. The backups will allow for full system restoration in the event of an emergency.
     
  3. In implementing this plan, include all of the following tasks:
     
    1. Monitor and track storage and removal of backups, ensuring all applicable access controls are enforced;
       
    2. Track the archive requirements for each backed-up data set, ensuring they are maintained for the appropriate time period;
       
    3. Test the Data Backup Plan as set forth in Testing and Revision of Contingency Plan.