IATS’ BACKUP POLICY AND PROCEDURES

PURPOSE

To prevent the loss of data at the Inter-American Adventist Theological Seminary (IATS) it is a requirement that all institutional data be properly backed up. The purpose of this policy is to describe the minimum necessary controls by which IATS will be governed for the creation of data backups that will serve as protection against data loss due to hardware or software failure, physical disaster, among others. IATS requires all staff to take responsibility for the management of institutional data and records under their control. Staff should not rely solely on data backup to fulfill their recordkeeping responsibilities because backups are primarily for the purpose of data recovery in the event of a disaster such as fire, flood, earthquake, etc.

SCOPE OF APPLICATION

This policy applies to all equipment and data owned and operated by IATS.

POLICY

IATS recognizes that the backup and maintenance of computer data is critical to the viability and operation of the respective offices. It is imperative that certain basic and standardized practices are followed to ensure that data files are backed up on a regular basis.

PROCEDURE

Full type backups will be stored in the Google Drive cloud of your institutional email. You will need to select the folders on your computer where you store indispensable information which will be automatically synced to the cloud so that they can be restored in the event of a chance event. As an additional method you can use an external disk which is very useful, convenient and practical in environments where there is little or no Internet connection. However, you should keep in mind that in case of a mechanical failure of these portable devices you would be prone to lose all the stored data irreversibly.

BACKUP CONTENTS

The backup copies should include all the user’s files that are directly or indirectly related to the institution. It is necessary for the user to make sure that the backup is being performed correctly. If an error occurs while performing a backup, please contact the IATS Technology Office.