Question

Difficulty: MediumBusiness Impact Analysis and Business Continuity Management

A regional healthcare system is conducting a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) for its clinical Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS). The operational team determines that the application must be fully restored and operational within 4 hours of an unplanned outage to avoid catastrophic disruption to surgical scheduling. Additionally, clinical governance rules mandate that the system must not lose more than 15 minutes of newly ingested radiology scan data during a disruption. Which of the following metric configurations correctly aligns with these BIA parameters?

  1. Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 4 hours and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 15 minutesAnswer
  2. B
    Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 15 minutes and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 4 hours
  3. C
    Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) of 4 hours and Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) of 15 minutes
  4. D
    Corrective Control Duration of 15 minutes and Preventive Control Duration of 4 hours

Answer

Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 4 hours and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 15 minutes
In a Business Impact Analysis (BIA), Recovery Time Objective (RTO) represents the maximum allowable amount of time that a system or business process can be down before incurring unacceptable consequences (4 hours for PACS system recovery). Recovery Point Objective (RPO) dictates the maximum acceptable age of data that can be lost from memory/backup due to an event (15 minutes of missing radiology imaging data). Therefore, the correct metric configuration is RTO of 4 hours and RPO of 15 minutes.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the target system downtime tolerance specified in the scenario
The PACS application must be restored within 4 hours of an outage, establishing an RTO of 4 hours
Recovery Time Objective (RTO) measures the maximum acceptable time a system can remain offline before causing intolerable operational impact.
2
Identify the target maximum data loss tolerance specified in the scenario
No more than 15 minutes of radiology scan data can be lost, establishing an RPO of 15 minutes
Recovery Point Objective (RPO) defines the maximum acceptable age of data that can be lost from storage due to a disruption.
3
Select the configuration matching both identified metric values
RTO = 4 hours and RPO = 15 minutes
Both defined metrics accurately map to their respective operational business continuity concepts.

Key Concept

Distinction between Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) in Business Impact Analysis
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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