Business Outcome

Having and regularly testing backup procedures should always be a vital step in project workflows. Unexpected problems arise, such as power losses or network outages, but having a rock-solid backup procedure in place can make or break a project schedule.

For example, if just one week of work is lost (40 hrs) by 5 designers ($150/hr bill rate), that’s over $30,000 of project revenue lost. But taking 4 hours and ensuring a backup and restore procedure could ensure that the loss is minimal.                                

Technologies

The following technologies are utilized in the solution:

• Autodesk AutoCAD Plant 3D
• Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
• Robocopy Increment Backup
• Windows Task Scheduler
• Windows File Explorer

Solution

Manual Option

Create a project backup using the Create Project Backup in the Project Manager. This is the simplest and quickest way to get an instant backup. See the first steps in our previous article .

Alternative manual option

Make a copy of the project folder in Windows Explorer (SQLite Projects). However, this process can be automated by using Robocopy. Robocopy performs incremental backup by default to copy only changed or newly added files. You can schedule it by Windows Task Scheduler. Visit this link to learn more about Robocopy.

Automatic Backup

Configure Volume Shadow Copies on Windows Server. Chances are your I.T. group will be handling this. It’s always good to have a good working relationship with your I.T. department. They could save you if you run into an unexpected issue and need your backup.

Steps

Manual Backup

• Manually create a project backup using the Create Project Backup in the Project Manager.

Or

• Copy the project files in Windows file explorer to another location.

Automate the manual backup

• Use Robocopy to fully back up once a week, then schedule incremental backups using the Task Scheduler (only the data that has been changed) 4 times a week.

Final Output

Having a backup procedure in place for projects could save upwards of $30,000 in project revenue loss and 40+ hours of work.