It’s important to have a documented procedures for doing regularly scheduled program and data backups of your application software. If you are using tapes or other removable media, it should be rotated as it is being used. Typically, this would involve a schedule, with a log for keeping track of what and when something was backed-up, plus what specific media it was backed-up onto. This might also include archiving backup media sets off-site in secure areas, so that it could be retrieve during a disaster.
Having proper procedures in place can mean the difference between a small amount of lost time and revenue, and a large loss. Obviously, data is the most important, however, having a complete backup that includes program files is also important.
One recent example of this involved a user who was manually cleaning up import files from an applications top-level directory. Somehow, the user managed to delete an entire custom program directory during this process, which disabled a large portion of the software. A week went by, and when staff tried to use areas of the software that required these programs, it crashed the application software.
Luckily, the in-house MIS person had copies of the original media, a recent internal copy of the all of the files, and several verified external backups of all of the files. In this situation, it made the difference between taking a few moments to get the software operational again, instead of it taking hours…
If you would like schedule a review of your backup procedures, please contact the CCS Retail Systems Support Department.