A Non-arbitrary Method for Estimating IT Business Function Recovery Complexity via Software Complexity

摘要

The goal of the present paper is to introduce a new model for estimating business function recovery complexity in order to predict reasonable recovery timeframes in case of an unexpected information system failure. The method has its roots in the Use Case Points approach, which is a broadly tested tool for software complexity estimation. The current paper illustrates the pure theoretical form of the new model as well as the mapping between software complexity and business function recovery complexity. The method includes 3 categories of factors which affect the recovery procedure and are weighted according to the Rank Order Centroid (ROC) approach of assigning weights. The method is entitled Business Continuity Points. The idea behind the development of the new method is the establishment of a standard approach for implementing efficient time management regarding business function recovery. The estimated recovery time depends on the impact of technical, environmental and unexpected factors. Each function's Recovery Time should be compared with the Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Maximum Accepted Outage (MAO) values as they are proposed by business continuity and IT experts.