DRP is s big miserable job. It must have visible support from some senior VP and there must be measurable targets with fixed dates. Eg. the test will be on this date and we expect these results (whatever they are), failing that there will be sufficient data collected to enable those results to be achieved next time.

And in a large company (or un-namable government org *ahem*) you need somebody, usually your department's VP, to work with the MBA's under him and come up with some hard numbers on risk vs. cost. Even if the ratio of one to the other sounds obvious to a large public service org. This will not only give your project the strength to get going but will give the board or other higher-ups something to chew on when your first test fails horribly: you can show in dollars what the cost would be.

...The best way to achieve that is for everyone to be responsible for the same stuff that they are responsible for in normal operations....To be effective these policies and procedures must affect the normal day-to-day operations. This is where you will run into a great deal of resistance.

Which is why you need higher-ups to provide the political clout; if you don't have them then run away screaming NOW. Line workers and even their immediate managers have their own goals for the departments which seem in direct opposition to your goals. Hence the need for a higher power.

What role did the hot-site play in planning and testing.
In my experience the recovery site provided hardware and people to mount tapes. The rest was up to us.

Absolutely. Although there are service providers you can subcontract to for more than this. My question is, Joe, when you speak of "the hot site team", what do these people do day-to-day when they're not recovering from disaster? Or is it a disaster contractor?