Practical software guides
When a business app fails, staff need a short answer to four questions: what continues, what pauses, how customers are informed and how work re-enters the system. Store that answer somewhere that survives the same failure.
| Decision | Write your answer |
|---|---|
| Critical task | Which customer service must continue? |
| Stop condition | When is work unsafe or unauthorised? |
| Fallback | Independent paper or read-only roster; authorised minimal data |
| Communication | Who issues the message and when is the next update? |
| Recovery objective | How much lost work and downtime can this task tolerate? |
| Re-entry | Who matches temporary references and resolves conflicts? |
A fictional shop drill
Use a test till and five synthetic orders. Disconnect its network. Staff can use the approved price list and record orders with unique temporary references. A payment whose outcome is unknown stays unknown until checked with the provider; do not charge again merely because the screen timed out. Never write card details into a paper ledger or custom logs.
Restore connectivity. Match each temporary order once, reconcile the provider’s transactions and flag any quantity or price conflict for review. A duplicated order must not duplicate fulfilment. Clear temporary copies according to the approved retention procedure. Record observed restoration time and unresolved items; this walkthrough is a proposed drill, not a reported result.
Check independent failure domains
A web fallback hosted beside the failed app may fail too. A local roster can become stale and must be protected. A backup that no one has restored is still untested. Run separate tests for lost internet, an unavailable provider, a lost device and a corrupt restore.
The Ready.gov business preparedness guidance offers general planning context. For security incidents, use the incident recovery guide; for ticketing, use the admission-specific runbook. Equipment isolation and safety decisions require the responsible specialist, not instructions improvised from a blog.