Question

Difficulty: MediumBusiness Impact Analysis and Business Continuity Management

A biotechnology organization conducts a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) for its automated high-throughput compound screening database. The assessment establishes that losing more than 2 hours of experimental data will corrupt active testing models and cause significant financial loss. However, the business units determine they can tolerate a total service disruption of up to 12 hours before catastrophic operational failure occurs. Which of the following metric configurations accurately represents these BIA findings?

  1. A Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 2 hours and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 12 hoursAnswer
  2. B
    A Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 2 hours and a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 12 hours
  3. C
    A Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 2 hours and a Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD) of 2 hours
  4. D
    A preventive control limit of 2 hours and a corrective control limit of 12 hours

Answer

A Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 2 hours and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 12 hours
The correct response specifies a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 2 hours and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 12 hours. In Business Impact Analysis (BIA), RPO measures the maximum acceptable timeframe of data loss during a disruption, matching the 2-hour limit for screening data. RTO measures the targeted duration required to restore system operations to operational status, matching the 12-hour service disruption allowance.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the data loss threshold metric requirement from the scenario.
The maximum acceptable data loss duration is 2 hours, which corresponds to the Recovery Point Objective (RPO).
RPO measures the acceptable amount of data loss expressed in time prior to an outage.
2
Identify the system restoration timeframe requirement from the scenario.
The maximum tolerable duration to bring the service back online is 12 hours, which corresponds to the Recovery Time Objective (RTO).
RTO defines the target time set for resumption of business operations after a incident.
3
Synthesize both metrics to select the correct configuration.
RPO = 2 hours, RTO = 12 hours.
Matching both metrics directly addresses both data loss limits and system recovery expectations.

Key Concept

Distinction between Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
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