Backup Scheduling
Copyright 2006, R. James Holton. All rights reserved
The Expense Submittal System (ESS) processes financial transactions between the Reporter (i.e., traveler) and the company. Because of this, all important expense reporting data must be backed up so that in the event of a systems failure it can be restored. The following files and folders should be backed up on at least a daily basis:
1. The database. The ESS database should be backed up at least daily. Under SQL based systems (e.g., MySQL, Oracle and MS SQL Server) the default database is ‘adisoft’ but DBA’s have a lot of latitude in what they want to call the database so it could be under any name. The tables that constantly change are the report, purpose, receipt, expense, and extended tables. These tables contain report data. The register table also changes frequently. This is an index into the contents of the xmlr folder which holds report data from the user perspective. Other tables change but not as frequently and auditors will generally have an idea when the last updates were made.
2. The xmlr folder. The xmlr folder should be backed up at least daily. The xmlr folder holds report information from the user’s point of view.
3. The xmlu folder. The xmlu folder should be backed up daily. The xmlu folder holds the users “personal database” which includes preferences and personal lists. It does not hold critical financial information.
4. The xmls folder. The xmls folder should be backed up periodically, especially after changes to any of its files. The security.xml file is updated when security privileges are granted to auditors and help desk personnel. Other files, such as reports.xml and Status.xml will be periodically changed as part as the normal process tweaking. Another consideration, is that the default location of most of the xmls files is in the xmls folder, but they can be moved around by changing the location of the associated system.xml element. The location of the system.xml file is specified in the system table. Here are the files normally found in xmls:
· calendar.xml – changed yearly. Describes banking holidays.
· edit.xml – describes the Audit edit screens
· export.xml – describes the generic payment and G/L export files
· nacha.xml – describes the ACH payment file
· prepopulated – describes how to map a pre-populated transaction to the expense and receipt files. Changes when a new feed is incorporated into the syste.
· processTable – deprecated. Don’t worry about this.
· remove – Describes what to do with a report that has been marked by a user with the remove option on the “List My Reports” screen.
· reports.xml – Holds “Simple Inquiry” report descriptions. Changed when a new inquiry is added.
· rules.xml – description of how initial report submission should be handled.
· schema.xml – description of the database.
· security.xml – grants access to audit, profile generation, and password reset functions. Changed whenever a user is given access to those functions.
· status.xml – describes the workflow that occurs after the initial report submission
· system.xml – general system configuration file.
5. The expense.log file. The expense.log file should be backed up and initialized periodical. For installations that have a high volume, greater than 100 reports a day, it should be daily. The expense.log file is ESS’s audit trail. The location of the expense.log described in the “Administrator’s Installation Checklist” document. The location can be controlled by creating a C:\ess folder in Windows or a \var\ess folder under Linux.
As part of the ESS installation process, the above backups should be put in place prior to any live reports being processed through the system.