Disaster Recovery for Retail Stores

Disaster Recovery for Retail Stores

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Bad things do happen to good people who think they are prepared. It isn’t fair, it’s just life. Several years ago I experienced a catastrophic disk failure that taught me some valuable lessons, lessons I’d like to share with you.

Oh, so you already back up your data and think you’re ready? So did I; I backed up my data and I thought I was prepared. I was wrong. Backing-up isn’t enough. You need to have a back up and you need to have a disaster recovery plan. Why? Because computers are electronic and mechanical devices that will eventually fail, and because whatever can go wrong eventually will. The question is not, Will it break? The question is, When will it break? Computer manifest systems and computer accounting systems are wonderful. They make life easier, they save us time, and most important of all, they make us more profitable. They also give us a single point of failure that can bring our business to its knees if we aren’t careful.

Let’s begin with routine maintenance. If you don’t have a utility program such as Norton Utilities, go out and buy one for each of your computers, then install it. Every week you should perform the following tasks on each of your computers:

Norton System Check. This will look for and help you to fix Windows problems.
Norton Disk Doctor. This will check your hard disk or disks for problems, and in most cases fix any problems detected.
Norton Speed Disk. This will concatenate your files which improves the speed of your system, and helps to prevent problems that can occur as files become too fragmented.

Any data base applications you are running, PC Synergy’s PostalMate, is one example, an accounting package such as Quick Books 2001 is another, will usually have a utility to re-index the files. Run this utility on some regular, i.e. weekly, basis. It will help to prevent your system from locking up and/or crashing when you have a bunch of customers in line in front of you.

Another area of routine maintenance is the daily backup of your data files. Each of your computers should be equipped with some sort of removable back up drive such as the Iomega Jaz or Zip drives. Back up your files at the end of each day. At the end of the week remove the media and take it home. Monday morning bring in the old one you had at home. In this way you have two sets of back up. One is in the computer and is current to the previous day’s business. The second is at a remote site, usually your home, and is current to the previous Saturday or Sunday. Products like the Iomega drives make backing up quick and easy, therefore, your employees are more likely to perform this function. In our stores running the daily backups is a condition of employment. All of the employees know that failure to perform this task can result in termination.

On a daily basis I print out a Sales Report, Gross Profit Report, Shipping Profit Report. These reports are filed in the same envelope with our daily balancing data. This not only allows me to go back and look at any given day of business in the past, it ensures that I have a hard copy backup of each day’s totals. I’ve been using computers since I wrote my first Fortran program at the University of Kansas in 1968. I like them, I just don’t trust them.

One final area of routine maintenance involves the power cord of your computer. Does it plug directly into the wall or do you have a surge protector and an uninterruptible power supply (UPS, they really are called that in the industry)? Surge protectors are cheap, even a good one costs less than $40. Your computer does not receive a nice steady 117 volts. The power fluctuates all the time with occasional spikes that can easily damage your equipment. The UPS protects both your hardware and your data. These cost around $100. In the event of a power failure the UPS keeps you up and running for five to twenty minutes depending on the model you purchase. Additionally, Windows doesn’t like to be suddenly shut off. Just shutting off the power can result in lost or scrambled data. In the past this was an issue we faced during storms. For those in California the regular black out may well become a part of life until more power plants can be built in that part of the country. Whatever the reason, you need a way to go through the proper shut down procedure to protect your data if the power is suddenly and unexpectedly lost.

We don’t keep a computer for more than 36 months. After three years the technology has greatly improved, and I don’t want to run the risk of a complete failure during a busy day. If, when I’m running Norton Disk Doctor or Windows Scan Disk, I notice a bad sector has developed on the C: drive, I take that computer in the next day to have that hard drive replaced. I don’t care what the published Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) figures show, I lean toward the conservative side.

This addresses only the issue of computer problems. Have you given any serious consideration to what you would do if your store went away? Suppose you had a fire, flood, or tornado. What will your insurance provide? Where would you go? How would you distribute the mail? If you rent only 20 or 30 mailboxes this may not be much of a problem. On the other hand, if you rent more than 100 mailboxes I think you’ll find that many of your clients would express sympathy for your loss in one breath, then in the next ask what you plan to do about their mail. It isn’t that your customers wouldn’t be concerned about your loss, rather disaster recovery planning is such a basic part of business today most people will assume that you have a plan in place so that you can be back up and running within 24 to 48 hours.

Look around and think about possible temporary locations that you might use. If there is a store front that is up for lease you can often arrange to rent it on a temporary basis at a very good price. Be sure to look at your insurance policy and discuss with your agent just what is and is not covered. Find out how to file a claim. Find out how long it takes to get the first installment of money. Do you have adequate coverage to rebuild? Are any pieces of equipment on lease covered? Do you have an accurate inventory to provide your insurance company?

A good disaster recovery plan should be written just like your business plan. It need not be as involved as your business plan. A simple outline with contact names and telephone numbers, account numbers, a list of tasks, and an order of events can be of great assistance when you stand there looking at a pile of smoldering ashes or wet mud in the place that was once your store.

Take a hard look at your back up, computer hardware maintenance, and computer software maintenance procedures. Plan and schedule your activities. Make sure your plans are actually carried out by the assigned employees. Think about what you would do if you lost your shop to some catastrophe. Remember, Murphy is out there lurking, watching, and waiting. If he hasn’t been around for a visit in a while, trust me, you’ll see him again soon enough, probably much sooner than you’d like.

I know that I sound paranoid, and I am. Like a ten point buck on the opening day of deer season, the question is, am I paranoid enough? Risk management is the currently in vogue buzz phrase in business. It is nothing more than taking a look at the risks your business faces, then making plans to minimize those risks, and planning courses of action should something bad actually happen.

Larry Lehman
T-L Stores, Inc.

This article comes in good timing for the new millennium. My notes are to check any hard drive back-up system regularly, especially if you change any of your software. Another insurance program is to back-up files or drives on diskette or on CD ROM. Keep copies of back-ups in another location, in the event of a fire in the primary location.

Fran Scarborough
Vision Alliance Network, Inc.