Back Up

Taking back up copies of essential business information and software should be done to ensure that data and systems can be easily and quickly recovered in the case of a system problem.

Here are the minimal requirements for central IT departments;

1. Remote location
2. Accurate and complete
3. Generations
4. Restoration procedures
5. Environment and physical protection in line with main location
6. Access controls in line with original data
7. Regularly Tested (incl. the operation of the control, the integrity of the backups and the effectiveness and timeliness of restoration)

Typical back-up cycle - daily, weekly, monthly, annual

Business with greater speed of data change may back-up more frequently or consider electronic vaulting whereby data is written twice, once locally and also to a remote machine.

However, sometimes backups are the responsibility of departments or individuals. In this case, clear guidance is required on responsibilities and protocols especially around handling of removable storage media.