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Data Availability & Disaster Recovery

Preparing for the Worst Can Save Your Dealership Time & Money

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PFW Password - Spring 2006Today, information may well be the prime commodity in business. At PFW, our belief is that the successful dealership needs to first ensure that data collection is being performed, and then be able to turn this raw data into powerful, revenue-generating information, via a sophisticated business system.

When this information is lost, as was experienced by some companies during 2005’s violent storm season, all aspects of your business may be affected. And just because you’re not located in a typically weather-affected region, remember that many other threats exist, for example fire and water damage, burglary, theft, and power outage.

In the aftermath of the 1993 bombings of the World Trade Center, 150 out of the 350 affected companies went out of business; the “recovery rate” after 9/11 was considerably higher, in large part because of the “red flag” that was raised due to the earlier incident. Interestingly, statistics show that fire damage leads to the demise of 44% of affected businesses (see "A PFW Customer Story").

PFW would like you to consider the costs associated with creating qualified, high-quality, practical information:

Costs of creating a transaction
+ Labor cost of data input and reporting
+ Hardware and infrastructure
+ Business system software
+ Business system software training
= The Cost of Acquiring Information

If information security is not sufficient, the following additional costs may be incurred:

Costs incurred to recover information
+ Employee downtime
+ Decrease of customer support ability
+ Vendor relationships may be harmed
+ Loss of marketing capacity
= The Cost of Information Loss

This list illustrates the fact that highly qualified information may be of equal, or greater, value than the server hardware that helps store, move, and output that information. Hardware is replaceable; information can be irreplaceable. Even when information is recovered, the final cost of an ad-hoc and inefficient recovery effort may be greater than the price of a new server.

Getting Started: Protecting Your Business By Planning Ahead
At PFW, we receive many questions regarding how to ensure your information resource is currently protected, and how it can be protected in a sometimes uncertain future. What can you do in order to prevent an information emergency? Our first recommendation is to take a “Murphy’s Law” approach. In other words, imagine that whatever can go wrong, will—and plan accordingly.

Arrange for off-site storage of backup storage tapes. Make sure that the tapes are located remotely in a place that is easy to access—should the need arise. As an extra check, store the backups in a fireproof vault. The backup tapes should be separated out; in other words, don’t use the same physical tape for more than one backup. Then, if corruption of the tape occurs during the save process, your company won’t be left without a usable and complete system save.

PFW would like to caution against a casual approach to data backup. Those who conduct a risk assessment usually ask themselves how much information—which usually represents work of some kind—they can afford to lose. The answer invariably comes back as, “Not much at all.”

Whether this requires a weekly, daily, or a more-than-once-per-day full system backup, you’ll need software functionality, like that inherent in PFW software, in order to accomplish that. We’d also like to note that something that is often overlooked, at a high price, is the quality of the backup. As of PFW R6V03, a backup log file displays a message that indicates if the backup failed. For more information on this, please call PFW Client Services.

“Backup” and Running
Sometimes, for some unforeseen, unavoidable, and catastrophic reason, your company’s operations are interrupted. How can you then limit this costly stoppage and quickly get back to business? The good news is that, because you’ve created and fostered a good backup plan, PFW can help: If you have a recent PFW data save and a recent IBM system save you can, if necessary, obtain and implement a new IBM System i5, restore the server from the backups, and then set up the client PCs for client access. The resumption of operations is slowed only by the time it takes to acquire your new hardware.

Continuity is also aided by PFW’s hardware solution, which includes a UPS. The power supplies feature a test system, where returned beeps pinpoint any potential problems with the unit—for example, a weak battery. As well, an IBM system value can be applied to control the power-down rate of the UPS. Simply type in WRKSYSVAL QUPSDLYTIM, press <Enter>, and set the value to 200-300, which corresponds to 3-5 minutes.

In general, for the purposes of continuity and cost savings, we also believe documentation is critical. IT contingency experts recommend that an effective network administrator ensure that the following documentation be current and protected: hardware and software serial numbers, licenses, locations, warranty information, and configuration details; network topology, including descriptions, a wiring and nodes schematic; and a network “retrospective”, complete with past problems and solutions.

An information protection and disaster contingency program requires attention to detail on your part, as well as advice and tools by PFW. We can provide you with a plan to protect your most valuable asset, but we emphasize that it’s ultimately up to you to understand the value of your information, and to take the necessary steps to protect it.

In conclusion, PFW would like to arm you with a sample of the security measures we believe you should take:

PFW’s Pre-emptive Continuity Recommendations

Estimate the cost of a disruption, identify critical information, and implement a system to reduce or, ideally, eliminate, disruption
Create a contact list that includes “IT-relevant” dealership staff members, as well as vendor and infrastructure contacts
Review your contingency plan at regular intervals and also test the plan; remember that changes to the network may have a “ripple effect” on the continuity plan, so re-testing is required
Back up PCs if possible, ideally to a backed-up network server
Perform a daily PFW “database”—a data backup and reorganization—and be sure to check that the contained backup and reorganization were successful; this backup will copy the data library of the PFW system, and should be stored off-site
Run PFW reports, including a customer list and a parts inventory summary that shows bins, price, on-hand, and an A/R summary—and store all at a remote location
Carry out a monthly IBM complete system save of the data library, server data files, system files, PPUs, dependent network files, and any e-mail files that are required for recovery, and store this backup off-site
Store multiple backups or backup sets off-site and do not recycle media until the contained data is useless or redundant
Check that your UPS works—do a battery test—and that your IBM server powers down properly, as an improper power-down can damage files, resulting in costly downtime
Consider installing a generator, in case of a power outage
Designate an alternate site for business relocation, in the event of disruption

A PFW Customer Story: Godfrey Bros. Inc. Put to the Test

A PFW customer who can attest to the value of foresight is Godfrey Bros. Inc., of Jonesville, Michigan. Godfrey, a PFW customer since 2002, and a distributor of John Deere agriculture and lawn and garden equipment, experienced an inauspicious start to 2004 when, on Sunday, January 4, their premises were extensively damaged by fire. The building was a write-off, the IBM server lost, 95 percent of the parts inventory destroyed, and only five PCs salvaged. The situation was dire, as revenue was halted while costs steadily mounted.

By Tuesday, an old storage barn was set up on location to house the PCs, and an Internet connection was set up in order to establish basic operations. Later in the week, the backup tape was received by PFW, the data quickly restored to a PFW server, and within three days Godfrey was ordering parts for their customers. Howie Kesselring, Godfrey’s Systems Manager, recalls, “Our customers were surprised with the speed of the recovery process. They were impressed, considering what had happened.”

Due to Godfrey’s readiness, in the form of an off-site backup tape made the previous Friday night, business was only marginally affected, as just Saturday morning’s four hours of business was unrecoverable. PFW continued to host dealership data and operations for about nine months while Godfrey rebuilt their premises.

Eventually, Godfrey’s new building was finished, a new IBM server was purchased and put in place, and the dealership’s full services restored. The bottom line? When Godfrey’s business continuity plan was put to the test, it proved to be sound. By simply taking a backup tape off-site, Godfrey limited critical downtime by preventing a total loss of data.

But is just a backup tape enough of a security plan?

Our answer to this question is a resounding “no”. Today, terms like “business continuity”, “data availability” and “disaster recovery” are frequently heard when business plans are discussed. It’s essential that business data and business applications be approached with the goal of availability, with software and hardware combining to minimize technological failure and create continuous customer service.

When continuity is broken, costs start to accumulate. As previously mentioned, whether it’s IT costs, information recovery, employee downtime, failure to provide customer services, damaged vendor relationships, or marketing compromises, when all of the tangible and more nebulous costs are finally tallied—and this is hard to do, as the costs must be calculated forward—they far outstrip the cost of implementing preventative measures.

PFW, for its part, is once again taking a leading position through the creation of business partnerships that translate into an even more-robust product line. The PFW/Lakeview Technology relationship described here is a testament to this.

For more information on how to create and maintain an information-contingency plan, contact PFW Client Services at (519) 474-3700.

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