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DonorExpress NewsLine
This newsletter is a publication from the staff of DonorExpress Software
with the intention of sharing with our users and interested organizations
nonprofit information along with TIPS on how to better use our software.
We hope is that you will look forward to receiving this newsletter and
please feel free to respond back with suggestions for future issues.
Comments
This past month I have had two different clients
that have experienced the pain of computer crashes or software failures.
The good news is that for the most part, computers are made up of electronic
components with very few moving parts that might fail. The bad news
is that your hard drive does consist of moving parts that can and will
fail at some point. Most people do not fully understand the need to
back-up until that day when they turn on their computer and it fails
to boot up. Fortunately the clients that had this bad expedience had
backed up their computer when they noticed the flaky warning signs of
possible failure.
Everyone who is currently backing-up their computer feels confident
that if there is a computer or software failure, they will be able to
recover. One company that we work with recently experienced a problem
with a corrupted (damaged) data file and went to their back-up tape
to recover the file only to find the back-up tapes blank. The back-up
system was not configured correctly and was not writing any information
to the back-up tape. This organization thought they were protected but
ended up with the unthinkable loss of a very valuable data file.
Every office should have a system setup to handle a regular process
for backing-up important data. Use the How, When and Where steps to
set the procedure.
How: What method will you use to back-up your important data?
Most new USB external hard drives come with back-up software that will
automate this process. You can manually copy and write data to any other
form of media storage (floppy disk, CD, flash or memory keys, ect.).
When: What schedule do you want to establish for back-ups. Set
up a schedule for the frequency of you back-ups and stick to it. Look
at the volume of data entry you have and decide how often you you should
back-up. Larger organizations need to run back-ups nightly while smaller
organizations may back only once a week or every two weeks. It should
not be a "when I think about it" thing but a regular schedule
like every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Where: Where are you going to store you back-up media. Many organizations
will create two copies and store one on-site and another off-site in
case of fire. If your back-up is kept on-site only, be sure it is in
a fire proof safe. Wherever you keep it must be safe.
Remember, your back-up is your means of Deserter
Recovery in the event you organization suffers a catastrophic catastrophe.
Make sure your system is working. Look at the media you are using to
be sure that the files you need are on there. You do not need and may
not be able to open the files but check that they are written to the
media. And do not delay another day in getting your system setup.
Remember, your back-up is not just for important
large data files. Many users forget about the important spreadsheets
and documents that you store on your workstation. Think about the personal
files or folders you may have on your computer that you depend on daily
and how you would function without them. Remember, it is your responsibility
to protect yourself from computer failures.
DonorExpress Software is built in two parts. The application is the
code that runs the software and it is linked to the data file which
is the database that stores the donor information. The application can
easily be reinstalled at anytime and does not need to be backed-up.
The data file on the other hand is the file that needs to be protected.
This file is called DonorExpress4Data.mdb and this is the file you need
to include as part of the files you back-up. If your organization is
using a single user workstation, this file will be located on the local
C drive in the Data folder found in the DonorExpress folder (path C:\DonorExpress\Data\DonorExpress4Data.mdb).
If you are not sure where the data file is located, you can click Help/View
Data Path from the Main Menu and the top listing should be the path
to the data.
Most organizations that have a network connected to a server have a
back-up system for the server. Make sure that the DonorExpress Data
File is part of the back-up. For single user or organizations that have
computers networked together to share data, be sure that someone is
responsible for backing-up and storing your important data files. Somewhere
today a computers containing important information will fail. I hope
it is not yours but if it is I trust you will be protected with a secure
back-up.
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Thank you for your time and interest in DonorExpress™ Software.
Bob Holder
DonorExpress™ Software
PO Box 1126
Boone, NC 28607
828.264.2577
info@donorexpress.com
www.donorexpress.com
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