What is the MAIN objective of risk analysis in Disaster Recovery (DR) planning?

Establishing Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD) is a business impact analysis (BIA) activity that occurs after risk analysis has identified threats, not during the risk analysis phase itself.

Defining variable costs for extended downtime is a financial modeling or BIA function focused on cost quantification, which is a downstream activity that depends on risk analysis outputs rather than being its main objective.

Risk analysis is the systematic process of identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing potential threats-such as natural disasters, cyberattacks, hardware failures, or human error-that could disrupt business operations. Without first identifying these threats, planners cannot determine likelihood, impact, or appropriate countermeasures. This threat identification forms the foundation upon which all other DR planning elements, including recovery objectives and resource requirements, are built.

Determining personnel requirements for downtime scenarios is a resource planning and DR strategy development activity, not a function of risk analysis, which focuses on threat and vulnerability identification rather than staffing.