One of my least favorite tasks on the job is when I have to tell a customer that all their financial information is lost... forever.
Could you imagine that happening at your company? The panic and horror that would ensue?
Too often, companies are not sure what sort of disaster recovery plan their company has in place. What if the server goes down? What if your system is hacked? There's a saying that systems engineers like me live by: Backup, backup, backup.
Are you protected?
Many companies and customers are surprised to learn how simple a task like backing up your financial data can be. Many still live in the unknown as to whether or not it's being done correctly, or at all.
With the Microsoft SQL server, "jobs" can be created to back up your data on a nightly basis—or even every hour using log backups that will allow you to restore to the closest point of failure, if necessary. Not all companies require up-to-the-hour or up-to-the-minute restores, and are typically fine restoring to backups from the night before. The point is, no matter what flavor of backup you prefer, there are tools that can be used in SQL to get the job done.
Sounds easy right? Well for the most part it is, but often companies forget one very important task—if you're thinking, "what good is having backups on my server if the server goes down for any reason?" You're exactly right!
Often backups are stored on the server itself for what we call “hot swapping” purposes. Meaning, if we need to restore from a backup quickly, the backup is already stored locally and can be done almost instantly. One of the most important parts of any backup and recovery plan is to make sure your backups are also being stored or transferred off the server and on another holding device completely. Your database backups are probably the most important part of any recovery plan, and you should be implementing that immediately.
Now, I don’t want to overwhelm you and get into much more detail about what else is a good idea to backup for your Dynamics GP system—partly because each setup is unique and it isn’t nearly as important as your database backups. Programs can be reinstalled and some files can be recreated, but if your backups aren't there, the data may be lost forever.
Could you imagine having years of financial data gone and starting from scratch today? I've working with companies who have had to do just that. You can never put a price on piece of mind and for a task that can be implemented so easily, there's no excuse not to have a plan in place.
Please have a backup and recovery conversation with your IT department or IT company today! Don’t be caught off guard. If you still aren’t sure what is involved, we'd be happy to clarify anything that will ease your pain points and build your confidence in the face of disaster.
