Are you doing properly backing up your Sage MAS ERP system?

Article by Nicole Ronchetti, Technical Services, Computer Management Services, Westbrook, CT

Keeping a regular backup of your computer data is one of the single most important tasks any user should carry out on a regular basis. It doesn't matter how careful you are, sooner or later you're going to suffer from data loss. It's always the people who think it will never happen to them suffer from the worst cases of data loss. Here are the top 5 tips for ensuring that your MAS system will be backed up properly.
1. Make sure that your back up is running when all users are out of MAS. If people are in the system or processing, the backup will not complete.
2. The backup should be backing up the entire MAS90 folder. If you are using additional features that may have folders outside of the MAS90 folder, ensure that these folders are being backed up as well. For example, if you are using Paperless Office check the location of the Paperless Office folder. If you are generating ACH files check that location as well.
3. If you are using MAS200, the activate.pvx file should be excluded from your backup. This file often times causes most backup programs to error out.
4. Check your backups. Many times clients assume that their backups are working properly. Periodically schedule time to review the back up. If you are unsure about the integrity of your backups check with your IT provider.
5. Schedule the frequency of the backup to run based on the number of transactions your company is processing. If possible, it is always best to run your backups nightly. Remember if all your data is lost and you need to retrieve the data from a backup, you may need to recreate transactions that were processed in that time frame. The less you lose the better.