Virtual Office CS or SaaS data backup schedule and data retention policies

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Virtual Office CS and SaaS observe a nightly maintenance period that begins around 2:30 a.m. EST and ends around 4 a.m. EST in order to complete system updates and perform a daily backup. Prior to the maintenance period beginning, a warning will be displayed notifying connected users to save data and close open applications. At the onset of the scheduled maintenance period, any remaining users will be forced out of the system.

We back up data in the Virtual Office CS and SaaS environments using the following data retention schedule:

  • Nightly backups for 14 days
  • End-of-month backups for 4 months
  • One End-of-year backup (which is retained until the following End-of-year backup is created)

To restore file and application data, see Restoring data into applications that run in the Virtual Office CS environment.

  • Nightly backups for 14 days.
  • End of month backups for 4 months.
  • End of year backup for 1 year.

Backups are created for the full SQL database.  If you need to back up individual clients for Accounting CS, see Backing up and restoring data for a client via the Client Data Management Utility for details.

For full SQL database restores, contact Support and a representative will assist with this process.

Use this form to use submit a request to CPT for the following scenarios.

  • Full SQL database restore - include the date of the requested back to restore from.
  • Restore requests for firms moving to the Virtual Office/SaaS.
  • Requests to send the firm a backup of their full SQL database.

For firms not be able to restore clients individually in VO/SaaS, in most cases, the data they are trying to undo can be undone such as using the delete multiple transactions dialogue to reverse multiple entered items.

  • Permanently Deleted Items (email, appointments, contacts, and tasks) are kept for 1 year from the date of the permanent deletion.  For more information see, Recover deleted emails from VO Exchange using Outlook 2010.

    Note: A permanently deleted item is one you clicked shift + delete to delete or an item you deleted from the Deleted Items folder in Outlook.

  • Items in the Deleted Items folder older than 120 days will be permanently deleted automatically and then kept for 1 year from the date of the permanent deletion.  For more information on recovering deleted emails see, Recover deleted emails from VO Exchange using Outlook 2010.

    Note: The data retention policy above only applies to the Deleted Items folder.  All other mail items including contact and calendar data does not auto-expire. 

  • If you disable the Microsoft Exchange permission on a NetStaff CS user, the mailbox is kept for 1 year from the disable date even if the account was deleted after Microsoft Exchange was disabled.
  • If a NetStaff CS user was deleted while Exchange was enabled, then we do not have the ability to recover the mailbox.

Prior to deleting or disabling Microsoft Exchange, export the contents of the user’s Mailbox to a .pst file to have immediate access to the user’s data.  For instructions on exporting to a .pst file, refer to this Microsoft Office help topic External link.

Note: To import the .pst file into another user’s Outlook, refer to this Microsoft Office help topic External link.

If you did not export the contents of the deleted or disabled mailbox to a .pst file, please contact Support to discuss the options to retrieve the mailbox data.

Submit a ServiceNow ticket for Virtual Office Microsoft Exchange Request to perform one of the following actions with a deleted or disabled mailbox, once the firm decides how to proceed.

  1. Reattach the mailbox to the same NetStaff user
  2. Reattach the mailbox to another NetStaff user

    Note: This user cannot have a current Exchange mailbox setup but does need the Exchange permission enabled

  3. Have the contents of the mailbox exported to a .pst file and this file can be sent to the firm

Due to the static nature of archive data, the archive drive is backed up on the following schedule.  Contact CS Support to have Archive drive data restored.

  • Nightly backups for 1 day
  • End-of-month backups for 1 month
  • One End-of-year backup (which is retained until the following End-of-year backup is created)

Archive drive data cannot be restored through the VOMinibar. Please email CirtixPortalTech (CPT) to have this data restored.

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Internal only

File Exchange or Document Presentation data cannot be restored from backup.

To restore data that clients cannot restore or that is more than 14 days old (and is available per the schedule listed above), you can restore the data using the VO Minibar.

  • These data restores will be billed at the standard Support billing rate for the duration of time it takes to restore the data. Therefore, we encourage customers to first attempt the data restore themselves using NetFirm Utilities or their own interim backups.  Code these calls using RESTR \ CLNT.
  • If the User is calling to restore files that they are unable to restore on their own,  this would be an administrative action and would not be billable.  Some examples would be restoring an instance of a client which is more than 14 days old,   Restoring specific files such as Office Documents or single files from an Engagement,  SQL restores, if they are affected by IT# 285610 and cannot restore due to multiple data locations,  or if they are affected by IT# 291109 and their large list of clients to restore never loads.    Code these calls under ADMIN \ RESTR.
  • If a restore is necessary due to a service disruption, this would not be billable. Examples of restore requests due to server issues include but are not limited to the following: Key file restores & SQL database restorations. Code these calls under ADMIN \ RESTR.

Note: If a VO firm is frequently requesting monthly backups or multiple month end backups for SQL products and are not moving off of VO, this is not something we should be providing unless the firm has a valid reason why they need this. They are on VO and don’t need to worry about backups. We can provide the most recent backup on occasion but when it comes to providing them with month end backups and multiple month end backups, this is very resource/time consuming. If the firm is still insisting that they want this, you can submit a Professional Services request and they will have to pay for the time involved in doing this.