At my bank, data backup frequency depends on the type of program being used. The program we use to track/maintain accounts, Jack Henry, is automatically updated to reflect the day’s transactions at 4pm.  Employees can automatically update Jack Henry by manually entering transactions as they occur; however, most employees choose not to do this, because of time restrictions. To ensure information availability and safety, all information on Jack Henry is saved to our server each day at 4pm. My bank is some-what old fashioned, as we still manually write up tickets for each transaction. The tickets serve as a safeguard against system failures, etc. We are currently transitioning to a new loan processing software, Laser Pro, which automatically saves information every 5 minutes. Our former processing software, Arta, only saved data if the user manually selected to save. 

         If lost, the data in Jack Henry would generate the greatest cost. Luckily, our worst-case scenario involves losing the transaction data of one day.  This kind of loss would have serious repercussions, as customer account information would no longer be accurate. Employees would have to go through accounts to reverse late fees, interest, etc. that have been automatically applied to customer accounts in error. Employees would have to re-run tickets, which would interfere with the processing of the current day’s tickets.  

We had a strong storm come through Quincy this spring and took out power for the area for several days.  At Lowe's we have a battery powered backup system that provides uninterrepted power to the computer system in the event of a power outage.  The store is backed up by a diesel generator that will kick in with 20 seconds to repower the store.  The store was able to open during these two days without electricity and run seamless.  The backup power allowed the computer system to still run and backup data throughout day and complete the nightly backup.  By having an emergency plan in place, the store computer system operated normally on a day when many businesses never opened their doors.