Continuity of critical services, with fixed recovery objectives
Onesurance safeguards the continuity of critical insurance services through redundant infrastructure, documented DR procedures and regular testing. Our business continuity programme is designed in line with the core principles of DORA and aligned with the requirements of the insurance industry.
- 95% availability: committed monthly availability within the service window.
- Daily backups: full daily backup, supplemented by differential and transaction log backups.
- Multi-AZ redundancy: Azure multi-zone deployment for high availability.
- DORA-aligned: control measures aligned with the Digital Operational Resilience Act.
A multi-layered strategy against disruptions
Onesurance maintains a multi-layered business continuity strategy designed to minimise the impact of disruptions and ensure rapid service restoration.
High availability
Our infrastructure runs on Azure multi-zone within the European Union. This means our services are distributed across multiple physically separated data centres (Availability Zones). If one zone fails, the remaining zones automatically take over without any interruption to service delivery.
Backup strategy
- Daily full backups: a complete backup of all databases, configurations and application data is created every day and retained for 1 week.
- Differential backups: every 24 hours, retained for 4 weeks.
- Transaction log backups: transaction logs are backed up every 10 minutes and retained for 3 months.
GRC platform
Onesurance uses Eramba as its Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) platform. All business continuity plans, risks, controls and test results are centrally managed and monitored within this system.
Disaster recovery procedures
All DR procedures are fully documented. A DR test on a fixed annual cadence is planned. The DR plan covers scenarios for data loss, service outages and security incidents.
How we restore services after a disruption
Our DR plan outlines the procedures for restoring services following a disruption. The plan is updated periodically based on evolving insight and changing business needs; the first full DR test is planned.
Backup strategy in detail
| Type | Frequency | Retention | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full backup | Daily | 1 week | Complete backup of all databases, configurations and application data |
| Differential backup | Every 24 hours | 4 weeks | Changes since the last full backup |
| Transaction log | Every 10 minutes | 3 months | Continuous transaction logs for point-in-time recovery |
Recovery procedures
Azure multi-zone failover
In the event of an Availability Zone failure, traffic is automatically redirected to the remaining zones. Azure Load Balancer detects the outage and reroutes traffic within seconds. No manual intervention is required for zone-level failover.
Point-in-time recovery
Thanks to transaction log backups every 10 minutes, the database can be restored to any point in time within the retention period. This minimises data loss in the event of accidental deletion, corruption or other incidents.
Full service restore
In the event of a complete service outage, the recovery process is initiated from the most recent backup. Infrastructure-as-Code enables the entire environment to be rebuilt. The target is to restore full service within 24 hours.
Client communication plan
In the event of a disruption impacting clients, the following communication protocol is followed:
- Initial notification: clients are informed as soon as possible of the disruption and expected impact.
- Status updates: regular updates on recovery progress.
- Post-incident report: after recovery, clients receive a full report covering root cause, impact and remediation measures.
Recovery time and data loss, defined in advance
Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) define our recovery targets in the event of a disruption.
Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
| Service | RTO | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Full service | <24 hours | All functionality including reporting, dashboards and non-critical modules |
Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
RPO: 8 business hours
The RPO is set at a maximum of 8 business hours, in line with the Service Conditions.
Transaction log every 10 minutes
Transaction log backups every 10 minutes enable restoration to a specific point in time within the retention period.
Service window
Supported service window: Monday to Friday, 08:30 - 17:30 CET.
Monitoring continues outside the service window. Committed response times apply within the service window. Planned maintenance is performed outside the service window, with prior notification to clients.
A continuity plan that is tested regularly
The business continuity plan is regularly tested and validated to ensure its effectiveness. Test results are documented in Eramba and result in concrete improvement actions.
Disaster recovery test programme
We are establishing an annual Disaster Recovery test, involving an end-to-end run-through of the recovery process, including client validation of the restored environment. The first full test is planned.
Test scenarios
Data loss
Simulation of accidental deletion or data corruption. Testing of point-in-time recovery and verification of data integrity after restoration.
Service outage
Simulation of a complete outage of one or more services. Testing of failover mechanisms and manual recovery procedures.
Security incident
Simulation of a security incident affecting availability. Testing of coordination between the Incident Response Team and DR team.
Capacity, cloud outages and personnel
Capacity planning
- Quarterly review: each quarter, the capacity of all systems is assessed based on current usage and growth projections.
- Proactive scaling: when growth is anticipated, capacity is scaled up well in advance to prevent bottlenecks.
Cloud outage response
In the event of an Azure platform outage, the escalation protocol is activated immediately. The team monitors the Azure Service Health dashboard, communicates proactively with clients and initiates manual failover procedures if necessary.
Personnel continuity
- Backup roles: for every critical function, at least one backup person is designated and trained.
- Knowledge sharing: procedures are documented so that backup personnel can operate independently.
- Cross-training: team members are regularly trained on tasks outside their primary role.
Questions about business continuity?
Our Data Protection Officer is happy to assist with any questions about our continuity plans, DR procedures or availability guarantees.