This CISA practice question tests your understanding of information systems operations and business resilience. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which THREE of the following are key metrics to include in a disaster recovery test report? (Select exactly 3.)
Amount of data lost (actual vs. RPO)
Measures data loss.
Cost per incident
Why wrong: Cost is not a test metric; it is a business consideration.
Time taken to recover each critical system
Measures against RTO.
Number of personnel involved
Why wrong: Not a performance metric; staffing is part of planning.
Percentage of successful restores
Indicates reliability of backups.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Amount of data lost (actual vs. RPO)
Option A is correct because the amount of data lost (actual vs. RPO) directly measures whether the recovery process met the Recovery Point Objective. This metric validates the effectiveness of backup frequency and replication lag, which is critical for determining if the DR plan preserved data integrity within acceptable loss limits.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Amount of data lost (actual vs. RPO)
Why this is correct
Measures data loss.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Cost per incident
Why it's wrong here
Cost is not a test metric; it is a business consideration.
Time taken to recover each critical system
Why this is correct
Measures against RTO.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Number of personnel involved
Why it's wrong here
Not a performance metric; staffing is part of planning.
Percentage of successful restores
Why this is correct
Indicates reliability of backups.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse operational metrics (like cost or personnel count) with technical DR success metrics, leading them to select B or D instead of focusing on RPO, RTO, and restore integrity.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, RPO is measured by comparing the timestamp of the last successful backup or replication snapshot against the time of the disaster event, using tools like Veeam or native replication logs. In a real-world scenario, if a DR test reveals actual data loss exceeds RPO, it may indicate insufficient replication frequency or a failure in log shipping (e.g., SQL Server log backup intervals). The percentage of successful restores is calculated by dividing the number of systems that completed a full restore by the total systems tested, often verified via checksum validation or application-level consistency checks.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the CISA exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
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FAQ
Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience — This question tests Information Systems Operations and Business Resilience — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Amount of data lost (actual vs. RPO) — Option A is correct because the amount of data lost (actual vs. RPO) directly measures whether the recovery process met the Recovery Point Objective. This metric validates the effectiveness of backup frequency and replication lag, which is critical for determining if the DR plan preserved data integrity within acceptable loss limits.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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