Are You Prepared In Case Of An Emergency?

A comprehensive disaster recovery plan is an important part of any business.

The following is a list of necessary components to recover Sage BusinessWorks after a hardware failure, virus, ransomware attack, or natural disaster.

This information is designed to be a supplement to a comprehensive disaster recovery plan you or your IT network administrator create and document for your company.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since a Natural Disaster may limit your access to the internet, it is recommended to save the most current download of the product, service packs, and backups to an external drive. Copies of installation instructions or Knowledge Base articles can be printed and saved to .PDF file and stored on an external drive.

Know your Contact Information and Resources:

1. Know your Sage Account #: (10 digits # that starts with #400__________)
2. Know your login and password to the Sage portal at https://SageKB.com.
   • How to access the Sage Customer Portal
3. Know your contact information if you work with a Sage Partner, or outside technical support company (for your networks, computers, backups, etc.).
4. Information for Sage BusinessWorks Support:
   • Live Chat can be accessed within the program by going to Help, Sage Live Chat. You can also access Sage Live Support Chat by going to SageCity.com/Resources.  In the ‘Contact’ section, select ‘Chat with Sage’.  The standard hours for Sage BusinessWorks chat support are 6 am – 5 pm Monday through Friday Pacific time.

Things to prepare ahead of time:

1. Print and save a copy of your Sage BusinessWorks registration with your Serial Numbers and unlocking keys by selecting Utilities, Registration Information, Registration Report…
2. Know your product code when installing – WG or CS. When installing the program, you will be prompted to enter your Product Code, which corresponds with your registration. NOTE: Use of the incorrect product code may prevent your desired use of the product and ability to use your network licenses. Please contact support if you are unsure of your product code.
3. Download and save a copy of the current product and service packs.
   • How to download Sage BusinessWorks Accounting product releases
   • How to download and install Sage BusinessWorks Accounting service packs
4. Maintain backup copies of your System and company data on a regular basis. Note:  It is recommended to keep copies of your backups at an offsite location.
   • How to backup the system and company files
5. Keep a copy of installation instructions on moving to a new server or location (if stand-alone). The Knowledgebase article below includes a detailed checklist of instructions for moving Sage BusinessWorks to a new location.
   • How to move the current version of Sage BusinessWorks Accounting to a new server, standalone computer or a different location
6. If you are not familiar with your network, work with your IT Professional to understand the layout of your network and how it relates to Sage BusinessWorks. Know where Sage BusinessWorks is located on your network and the location of the Sage BusinessWorks backup files. For the location of the Sage BusinessWorks program and data paths on your server, go to Help, About from your Sage BusinessWorks Launcher menu.

Items you will need to recover for Sage BusinessWorks:

1. If you are installing on a new server and using a network version of Sage BusinessWorks, you will need to create a new network share on your server. If you are unsure how to create a network share for your network, you will need to work with your IT Professional.
   • How to create a Sage folder
   • How to set permissions on the share point (parent folder)
   • How to set NTFS security permissions in Windows
2. Obtain or download the latest version of Sage BusinessWorks installation software/files and the latest service pack.
3. Install Sage BusinessWorks’ latest product.
4. Prior to installing a service pack, restore a backup of the System files first. This restores the Sage BusinessWorks Registration information which is necessary for the entitlement check when you install the service pack. Once the System files have been restored, continue with restoring all the company data files.
   • How to restore company data or system files
     • Restoring data from backup: Sage BusinessWorks Support is unable to assist with restoring data using third-party backup software or restoring from certain types of external media. Be sure to consider this when developing your disaster recovery plan. If using a tape backup or copy of data files, make sure you are familiar with where your Sage BusinessWorks program files and data files are located (typically installed at C:\Sage\BWProg and C:\Sage\BWData) and how to restore them.
   • If you don’t have a BusinessWorks System backup, you will need to manually enter your Sage BusinessWorks registration and set up your users and user security again. Also, any custom forms you may have created will no longer be available and will need to be recreated.
     • How do I register my software?
     • How to set up and troubleshoot security and user access
     • How to create or edit custom forms
5. After restoring a System backup or entering your registration, install the most current service pack for the version you have installed. An entitlement check is performed during the installation of the service pack that uses your registration information. Therefore, the service pack must be installed after the System backup has been restored or the registration information has been entered, otherwise, the entitlement will fail.
   • How to download and install Sage BusinessWorks Accounting service packs
   • Installing service pack is asking for an Entitlement Code

If you have questions or need assistance with your Sage BusinessWorks software at any time, please contact our BusinessWorks support team at 260.423.2414.

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