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CISA Practice Question: Is implementing a business continuity plan (BCP)…
An organization is implementing a business continuity plan (BCP) and needs to determine the maximum acceptable downtime for a critical system. Which metric should be defined FIRST?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
RTO defines the maximum acceptable downtime; it is the foundational metric for recovery planning. RPO, MTTR, and SLA are defined later or are contractual.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
Why this is correct
Correct: RTO is the primary metric for downtime tolerance.
- ✗
Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
Why it's wrong here
MTTR is a performance metric, not a planning objective.
- ✗
Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
Why it's wrong here
RPO defines data loss tolerance, not downtime.
- ✗
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Why it's wrong here
SLA is a contractual commitment, not an internal planning metric.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CISA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISACA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CISA exam.