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January 27, 2009

Surviving a system crash

Proper backup protocols could keep you on schedule if your network goes down.

by Noah Levine


In the days before computer-based practice management, a mug of coffee or glass of water might have presented the biggest threat to a practice’s schedule. These days an accidental spill can still cause big problems, but with so much information stored inside computers, practitioners facing a day without access to their network might long for the frustrations of a soggy appointment book.

Like all machines, computers and servers will break down from time to time. However, implementing a proper backup protocol for your practice data could keep this unfortunate inevitability from being an all out catastrophe. In fact, having access to a good backup can keep a practice up and running normally even while work to fix the computer system is ongoing.

“Data is the lifeblood of a dental practice and losing even one day of data can mean significant expense and interrupted service to patients,” said Steve Hunt, eBackup product manager for Henry Schein Practice Solutions (henryschein.com).

The daily backup

To protect yourself from losing data, it is important to have a daily backup protocol to create at least one additional copy of critical files such as patient records, billing information and the daily schedule. Should the system go down, this backup copy can be put into action, provided the office has at least one functional computer. The backup data can simply be copied to that computer, and it can serve as a temporary server until the main system is fixed.

Creating a backup protocol to protect you critical data is a fairly simple process that can be done in several ways. A daily backup should create a separate copy of all important electronic records. These can be stored on a tape, disc, external hard drive or online through an Internet data service such as eBackup.

It is a good idea to review your backup procedures with the manufacturer of your practice management software to make sure you are including every file you might need in the backup copies you create, said Dianna Borries, product support team manager for Patterson Dental’s EagleSoft (eaglesoft.net). By working with the software company you can be sure your backup data will be usable should it ever need to be accessed.

“A good back up is a daily back up that is rotated to have a different tape or whatever media you’re using for every day of the week that you’re open—so you don’t have one that you keep reusing over and over—and that you’ve worked with your hardware provider periodically to make sure the back up is restorable,” she said. “I think you have a large percentage of practices that do backups, but they aren’t good backups. They may be backing up the wrong files, they may only use one tape, or in other instances, you’ve got to be exited out of the program completely or else the files don’t get backed up.”

The protocol

The basic backup procedure should include all files considered critical to operations and should be performed around the same time every day—often around the time the often closes. Having one staff member in charge of the backup is a good idea, but more than one member of the team should know the procedure in case the primary staff member is out for a day, Borries said.

Understanding just what to back up is less complex than it might seem. Both Borries and Hunt said the critical information is contained in the practice management software’s database file. Both EagleSoft and Henry Schein’s Dentrix G4 conveniently store all data in the “data” folder making it easy to back up. While not part of the database file itself, image files from intraoral cameras and digital radiography systems are stored in the same directory as the database, so both Borries and Hunt recommend backing up the entire folder rather than just copying the database file. Borries also recommends testing the backup data every three months or so to make sure the backup works should it ever be needed for real.

Having a second copy of the data is not enough on its own. Once the data is copied to some form of external media, that disc, tape or drive should be clearly labeled to indicate the date of the backup and then taken off site and stored in a secure location. Of course, the online backup option takes care of the off site storage issue automatically.

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