Business Backup
- Engineering

The data types, volume, and varied retention requirements applicable to engineers vary considerably from those of other users. Backupanytime have put in place a engineering specific version of online backup to address these issues. To understand the benefits of using our engineers installation it is necessary to examine these variances.

1. Data types
   In addition to the general office data types used by most business users (Office applications, accounts, payroll, email, and specific industry database) engineers will commonly use shared engineering templates, C.A.D. (Auto cad and many other related products), scientific mathematical manipulation software and 3d imaging model software. The file extensions for these application are rarely covered by bespoke online backup auto select and we at backupanytime have included an extensive list of frequently used and less common engineering applications which may be included or excluded with online backup auto select. This reduces much initial file type selection work for engineering online backup and more importantly reduces the risk essential file exclusion.
2. Volume
   The volume of data used by engineers generally exceeds normal user requirements by a factor of 30 (Source British Engineering Manufacturers association)
   The daily (more commonly nightly) online backup window commonly limits the amount of data which can be backed up per session. Backupanytime have addressed this issue by offering multiple backup types and compression levels. These can be used to reduce the compression period and use the most appropriate type to ensure the available backup period per session is used efficiently providing near maximum performance throughout the available backup window and allowing normal resumption of services by start of day.
3. Retention requirements.
   Correct management of data retention requirements is essential as it directly affects data availability, relevance of data store, efficiency, compliance and cost. Backupanytime provide the largest default data retention period in the industry (365 days) and this is configurable to unlimited retention. This extremely beneficial difference is however not the sole answer to data retention policy for engineers. Engineers face considerable data retention challenges. Among the most important to be addressed are the following
   • Project life to data availability requirement issues.
     Even projects with given completion dates do not necessarily have a simple or definite data store end date. Data pertaining to projects completed this month may be required in several years time.
   • Multiple copy work in progress.
     Current projects will almost always involve multiple copies of documents and drawings with minimal variances providing detail on an interested party basis.
   • Multiple version per engineer.
     Each engineer on a job may have multiple versions of his / her own work to allow for changes, individual detail discussion and planning focused detail as against engineering focused detail.
   • Data protection requirements.
     In addition to ensuring that data is available when required, it is also imperative for management and I.T. to assist and direct engineering as to the obligations under compliance and importance from and efficiency and cost point of view to avoid indefinitely storing data beyond requirement and specifically if it relates to unneeded personal or confidential information.
   • Mobile workforce
     On-site and sub office level engineers need access to specific drawings and management need to ensure any locally loaded drawings at site or engineer laptop level are included in backup and data retention policy.
     To assist in addressing these data retention issues we have allowed the creation of multiple backup sets per system. All of these backup sets are individually configurable. This allows administrators to manage all backups (including other site backups) from one location and to decide on the level of ownership and responsibility attributable to users on an individual user level. We also allow administrators to run individual backups in “silent mode” thus allowing backups to take place not alone without any required user intervention but without conflict or interruption. As part of our mobile workforce solutions we allow administrators to enable or disable individual end user reporting and to send original or copy reports to admin for every system backup. A common issue with mobile workforce disaster recovery is knowing what is available if the report emails are lost. We allow forwarding of system report copies to our spamseal protected mail server for perusal by admin from any computer without any required intervention from us.

Conclusion
Engineering data backup requirements are considerably different from standard users. These differences are apparent in even a single engineer office environment and are compounded by the addition of multiple engineers, projects and work locations.

Backupanytime have considerable experience in providing online backup for engineers and we have configured our award winning software to offer an engineering specific online backup solution.
Backupanytime are Ireland's largest online backup providers and provide online backup services mainly in the U.K. and Ireland with solutions based on needs and compliance in the Euro zone.

Contact backupanytime today in strict confidence and avail of a world class solution built for your environment.

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