Hello 3D Users,

Do you have a Business Continuity Plan? Disasters happen and its important to try to minimize the impact to your business. Whether it's something as simple as a local internet outage or as serious as a natural disaster it’s important that you can keep your business operating smoothly. Of course, no matter how prepared one is there is always some level of disaster that will be beyond ones plans. However, not having a plan is an awful idea since the things more likely to happen can be prepared for. At that point it's up to you to decide what level of preparedness is important for your business. Below we'll go over several ways you can plan ahead to keep your business running.

A. Local Internet Outage or Unstable Internet Connection
Local internet outages are one of the most common interruptions to businesses. Unstable internet connections are also common and harder to recognize. When you have an unstable internet connection often times your internet will seem to be operating just fine as you can check your email and browse the web, but things that require a stable connection might not always work like downloading a report to mobile.
So what should you do in this situation?
-You should try resetting your modem. This often resolves local internet issues.
-You should have another internet connection to fall back on. Cell phone networks can be a great solution for this. Most cell phone providers have something called hotspot. By turning the hotspot on you can connect your computer or other devices to the hotspot for your internet needs. Please be careful to watch your data usage when doing so. It's also important to disconnect from WiFi on your phone when using hotspot. Phones will automatically use the WiFi connection instead of the phone network if it is connected to WiFi. If you do not have hotspot you can also choose to just turn off WiFi for the phone to have internet access through your cell phone network. You can also connect your phone to your computer using a charger and turn on tethering. This will allow your computer to use your phones internet connection without using hotspot.
-If you can't use your usual WiFi or your phone connection then you can try using public WiFi at a local place that provides it.
-Contact your Internet Service Provider. If you're continuously having connection problems with your WiFi only your Internet Service Provider would be able to help solve the issue permanently.

B. Other Outages
Although they are rarer there are other types of outages. For example the cloud servers could go down or there could be a local power outage.
In this situation it's important to have an alternative way of doing the report at the time of the inspection. Here are several backup plans for such an occasion:
-Have a laptop or similar device on hand for doing the report.
-Do the report on paper. You can print your forms out so you can do the report on paper in a emergency. To do this open a report using the desired form group. Then select file on the top toolbar and select Preview/Print Check Sheet. This will create a preview of your forms with their narrative options. Then you can use the print button to print it to PDF or send it directly to your printer.

C. Computer Crash or Hard drive Failure
Computers usually only last for 3-5 years. It could be less if you're unlucky. As a business owner you should always plan ahead for when computer problems occur. Here are several things you can do ahead of time:
-Create a 3D backup! Don't wait until it's too late! Create 3D backups regularly. Make it a planned part of your business operations. Depending on your business you may backup as regularly as every day or only once a month, but it's important you do it. If you don't you risk losing your custom forms, contacts, reports, and more. You should also try to store the backups on a flash drive or external hard drive so you have extra copies in case of a computer crash or hard drive failure. Please refer to this article on creating a 3D backup: https://3dinspection.com/tips-and-tricks/safeguarding-your-important-3d-inspection-system-data.html
- In addition to creating a 3D backup you should keep a copy of your 3D installer file. When you first download 3D it should save a file to your downloads folder. The name varies depending on your version and edition of 3D but typically the name will be something along the lines of setupfocus1202, setupstandard1202, or setuppremier1202. This is the file used to install 3D. You should keep a copy of it on an external flash drive or hard drive so you can immediately install 3D on another computer should the need arise.
- Have a backup computer already set up and ready to go. The main reason 3D software initially comes with two licenses is so you can set 3D up on a backup computer ahead of time. Restore a 3D backup to the backup computer so it matches your existing setup. Then if your computer does crash you won't have to cancel an inspection while you're busy setting up a new computer. A new computer usually takes hours to setup between windows updates, installing software, restoring files, etc. You can also choose to store the backup computer in a separate location. This can be useful if you wish to be prepared against other types of disasters such as a fire or flood!