
We often get asked questions from clients pertaining to the best methods to backup their policy management systems. Naturally, clients of PolicyMedical want to be prepared in case of a loss of power or internet service which would keep them from accessing critical policies and procedures. Because our application is web based, we understand this concern. In this article, we’ll discuss the current methods for backing up your policy management system as well as new options we’re creating that will be available to our clients soon.
Maintain Access To Policies During A Partial Power Failure
There are three options when backing up your policy management system should an emergency arise. First, in case there is a power outage in your building that does not affect internet access, the best method is to acquire a battery-powered mobile device, such as an tablet, smart phone, or laptop. Many of our clients have chosen this method. As long as they have a device they can turn on, they can still access PolicyManager. All it takes is just typing in the URL and they can access their policies and procedures within the application.
Access Policies When You Lose Both Power And Internet
The second method is to back up your documents using a USB flash drive. In the event your organization has lost power and its internet connection, there is no longer access to your policies and procedures through PolicyManager, even if you have a backup device such as an tablet or laptop. Therefore, having your policies and procedures downloaded onto a USB flash drive would be ideal in a situation that lacks internet service. In fact, to make this easier, our application has a functionality that allows the user to periodically download all of the policies and procedures onto the flash drive in preparation for a situation like this.
Immediate Access To Policies If Your Policy Management System Crashes
The third method for backing up your policies and procedures is to use a typical backup offline module, the FTP server. This requires PolicyMedical running a backup job on a consistent schedule. For example, we run a backup of your policies and procedures on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis, and these documents will be placed on the FTP server. This option is ideal if a client loses access to the Policy Manager application itself. If they still have internet access, they can connect to the FTP server and access their policies and procedures.
Some clients have inquired about what would happen if our servers go down, and rightfully so, because they want to know how they will have access to their critical documents. What they’re mainly concerned with is that what if Amazon, the party we’re hosting with, goes down. We assure them that we have security papers that outline that Amazon has guaranteed an up time of 99 percent, thus, a server going down would be rare.
One of our clients, a very large, multi-site hospital, can attest to the importance of backups. They were in the midst of a Joint Commission survey, and they lost access to PolicyManager. They had been regularly backing up their system on an in-house server, and they were able to quickly and easily pull up the appropriate policies for the survey.
New Enhancements To Backup Procedures At PolicyMedical
Here at PolicyMedical, we hear our clients’ concerns. We want them to be able to use PolicyManager as effectively and efficiently as possible. While the previously mentioned options are standard when backing up hospital management systems, we have been working on enhancing our offline module right within the application. We aim to have this completed by the end of the first quarter. While the need to actually use your backup methods should be rare, we highly recommend using backup methods just in case the unforeseen happens. For additional information about backup methods, contact our Customer Support team. We will be happy to discuss your options.