Backing up data is a very important process that should never be neglected. Should a computer disaster ever happen, the chances of recovering from that data disaster are greatly improved when backups are readily available. Backing up data also provides a handy method for transporting league and program data from one computer to another. This is especially convenient when moving to a new computer.
A thorough backup consists of 4 separate sets of data as follows:
- Leagues - This is your core league info.
- If the league is closed, go to Maintenance > Backup > League. Select the league and click backup. When prompted for a location to save the backup file, please choose the drive assigned to an inserted USB Flash Drive. Saving to the same hard drive as the original data will not help if there is a hard drive failure.
- If the league is open, go to Weekly > Backup > Backup to Drive/Network. When prompted for a location to save the backup file, please choose the drive assigned to an inserted USB Flash Drive. Saving to the same hard drive as the original data will not help if there is a hard drive failure.
- System Files: This option will backup various system related files such as font set, templates, customized styles and other program specific settings. This should initially be performed after making program specific adjustments while setting up the league. Subsequent backups should be made after making any changes that would apply to any leagues managed by the program.
- With league's closed, go to Maintenance > Backup > System Files. When prompted for a location to save the backup file, please choose the drive assigned to an inserted USB Flash Drive. Saving to the same hard drive as the original data will not help if there is a hard drive failure.
- Local Awards: This option will backup prize configuration for local and bowling center prizes. Perform this backup any time changes are made to the local and bowling center awards.
- With league's closed, go to Maintenance > Backup > Local Awards. When prompted for a location to save the backup file, please choose the drive assigned to an inserted USB Flash Drive. Saving to the same hard drive as the original data will not help if there is a hard drive failure.
- Common Addresses: These are the addresses that are entered in Bowler Maintenance under the 'Contacts, Centers, Bank, Associations' section. This backup should be performed any time after changes have been made to contact names and addresses that are globally available to all leagues managed by the program.
- With league's closed, go to Maintenance > Backup > Local Awards. When prompted for a location to save the backup file, please choose the drive assigned to an inserted USB Flash Drive. Saving to the same hard drive as the original data will not help if there is a hard drive failure.
We suggest backing up each league managed every week to a USB Flash Drive. If you have to recover from a hard drive failure or get a new computer, you would just restore the most recent week backup for each league and the data for all the weeks to that point will be restored.
We also encourage backing up at the end of a split and at the end of season. Make a backup of the league to a separate USB Flash Drive. Following this extra step each season will add an additional means of recovery.
Another convenient method of backing up league data is to upload the standings to LeagueSecretary.com. In addition to the league standing sheets, BLS-2023 will also upload a backup of the league. The LeagueSecretary.com site will maintain backups from the 3 most recent uploads. As such, even if backups are not performed from the program, you are still protected if you upload the league to LeagueSecretary.com. Access to these backup files requires logging onto the LeagueSecretary.com site, so they will only be available to the secretary uploading the league. For more information on recovering the backup from LeagueSecretary.com, please see the section on restoring leagues discussed later in this chapter.
For more information on uploading to LeagueSecretary.com, please see the manual section on Web Uploads on page.
Automatic Backups: This feature can be configured under File > Preferences and Program Setup > Program Operation Defaults tab. Change the Automatic backup when a league is closed option from No to Backup.
From within the league, go to UTILITIES > BACKUP > LEAGUE (or if the league is closed, MAINTENANCE > BACKUP > LEAGUE) and save the backup on a USB Flash Drive.
If emailing the league to the center, use your Email program and attach the backup file to the email to send to the center. Otherwise take the flash drive to the center.