Putting the Proper Hardware in Place Up Front to Avoid Downtime

The time is right to purchase new Management Information System software. You are ready for a fully integrated golf course management system that will help you effectively operate and market your golf course. Wait. Before you jump in, it is imperative you have the right hardware — configured
correctly —to support your new MIS. And get systems in place for backing up information
and computer maintenance.

Get a Properly Configured Server

For a golf course to utilize a fully integrated golf software solution, several components are necessary. The first is a server —the place where the central software resides.

The server’s importance may be overlooked when trying to save money. “Many customers utilize a work station in a server role, and while this is inexpensive, it poses other problems,” Shubert says.

This less expensive approach is acceptable as long as that work station is dedicated to its server role — NOT also used as a regular work station. “I am absolutely personally against anybody using a work station in a server role when they intend to use it as a work station on a daily basis,” Shubert says. He outlines an actual situation. “Somebody got a CD in his cereal box, put it in the computer, booted it up, and it locked the computer up. Suddenly on the resort, no one can use their computer, sell food, anything.”

A “proper” server is a business class system whose only function is running the central version of the management software — 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A properly configured server has less limitations in its operating system, such as the ability to handle millions of web connections, and features like hardware redundancy with disk mirroring or RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) to protect against a top failure point: the disk drive. “Mirroring is when you take two disks and put identical data on them,” Shubert explains, “and if one of them fails, the system tells somebody.”

The ideal scenario is a dedicated server with no other applications hosted on it. However, a properly configured server can certainly handle more than one role. Shubert likens server configuration to buying a four passenger car. “I don’t want to put five passengers in there, because it won’t be comfortable. I also don’t want to put two kids back there that are going to fight. Some roles should not be shared on systems.”

The other top failure point is power supply. Servers should be equipped with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that provides back-up power. “It only takes a small change in incoming power to a computer to affect its operation, and a UPS is both affordable and prudent,” Shubert says. “This allows you to plan a way to shut down a system gracefully instead of suddenly losing power and corrupting all the data.”

Servers have dropped dramatically in price the last few years — a reason to consider a Tier 1 (from one of the major manufacturers) dedicated server from the beginning. “You can purchase a server with redundancy and backup power supplies for well under $5,000,” explains Shubert. “When you compare that to the cost of advertising or fertilizer, it’s not expensive.”

Where to Buy

Where to buy your hardware is a matter of some debate. Local resellers offer the personal touch. National providers offer depth of experience and a breadth of product, as well as available parts, quick turnaround and a warranty you can rely on. However, business is probably done over the phone or Internet. There is a happy compromise. “Many local providers will bridge the gap and provide Tier 1 hardware, as well as local implementation and support,” Shubert says, “which is the best of both worlds.”

Jencess, now part of Active Network, works closely with clients to ensure that the proper hardware is in place. “We have a list of recommended requirements, as well as best practices that we will give to a course with our software agreement,” Shubert says. “For unique things, like a bar code reader, we will specify for them.”

Back Up Your Data

Like the properly configured server, data back-up is an area that is critical, yet often overlooked or not properly implemented.

There are three key procedures regarding backing up data:

1. Back it up using a tape rotation system.
2. Take it off site.
3. Test your back up. 

While there are many ways to back up data, the most established and reliable is a tape drive system that offloads the data to a tape that can be taken offsite. “It’s scheduled and happens automatically,” Shubert says. “The No. 1 problem with back-ups is if you rely on people to do it, it will fail.”

With tape rotation, do not overwrite the same tape every day. “If you leave the tape in there, and somebody deletes a customer with a really long history, then one back-up later, they’ve backed up the accidental deletion,” Shubert says.

There is an industry standard tape rotation method called Grandfather/Father/Son. “The Grandfather is the monthly back-up that gets overwritten once a year, so you have 12 tapes, one for each month,” Shubert explains. “The Father is the weekly back-up overwritten every month. So we have four tapes, and it’s a four-week rotation: Friday 1, Friday 2, Friday 3, Friday 4. Then the sons are Monday through Thursday, and they get overwritten every week.”

Don’t use the same tape over and over. “When you record on it so many times, eventually it loses integrity,” Shubert says. He recommends testing your backup regularly; often when people go to use a back-up, they find that it wasn’t working properly. “Test it every six months — that’s twice a year more than most people.”

At one golf course operation relying on manual back-up with a CD, human error caused the deletion of a directory. “They lost 14 days of historical data, all the accounts receivable generated in those 14 days, any new member profiles created in the last 14 days and any future bookings created in those last 14 days,” Shubert says. “Now they are scrambling not to double book tee times. “If they used a daily rotation tape method, we simply could have restored yesterday’s tape,” he continues. “At most, they would have been out a few hours data. Had they invested in a back-up system, they wouldn’t have an issue.”

Plan for Business Continuance

A Disaster Recovery plan —also known as a Business Continuance Plan — covers different scenarios and how to handle them. “I prefer the term “Business Continuance” because it is more realistic,” Shubert says. “Nobody perceives a disaster will befall them.”

There are several scenarios that can cause business interruption, and a Business Continuance plan helps staff work through them. For example:

• If the Internet is down, we may not be able to process credit cards. How do we deal with this?
• What do we do in case of a virus? How will we recover from it?
• What do we do in the event of a server failure? How will we recover from it?
• If the server was stolen, what would we do to be back in business as quickly as possible?

Having a plan in advance takes out the guesswork. If the Internet goes out, the employee can simply refer to a book that has an 800 number in it and a merchant number so that credit cards can get authorized and customers are not turned away. “A plan reduces the risk of a poor decision by staff under pressure or simply not knowledgeable enough to make the right move,” Shubert says. “The No. 1 cost in IT is downtime.”

Putting the proper hardware and systems in place will help you avoid that No. 1 cost.