Introduction to Data Recovery in Xero
Restoration of data directly into Xero is a complex issue. While there are claims in the market about restoring data, extensive testing has proven these claims to be false.
Definition of “Restore” – means to bring something back to its original or former state.
Restoring a Xero org to its original or former state is technically NOT possible. The word ‘restore’ in the following document simply means to push back data either via the standard Xero UI importing options available, and worst case, potentially through the API. There are limitations.
Background:
The ‘nitty gritty’ – Understanding the ‘Journal’ in Double-Entry Accounting
The Journal is a critical component in a double-entry accounting system. It serves as the first place where transactions are recorded, using debit and credit entries. Maintaining its integrity is paramount because:
- It provides a chronological record of all financial transactions.
- Every entry affects at least two accounts, ensuring the books remain balanced.
- It acts as a precursor to posting ledger entries which summarize financial data across various accounts.
Tampering with journal entries can lead to a drastic compromise of account integrity, potentially violating auditing standards.
The Bitter Truth About Xero Restoration
Xero’s API does not allow writing to the Journal, sometimes incorrectly referred to as the General Ledger, preventing a full restoration of accounting history. Attempting to alter past journal entries can lead to inconsistencies akin to revising history, which is against accounting principles and violates auditing standards.
It is important to know that Xero have a daily limit on their API – this translates to “you can only push back or pull out so much data a day before the limit it hit. For example, if it takes 7 days to backup your Xero org (this is a common duration due to the daily data limit), it will take at least that plus more to push it back into Xero. This is not an acceptable Recovery Time Objective (RTO).
Using our free application, Backapp offers a superior alternative that can reconstitute your financial records with a RTO of less than an hour (viewing within backapp), where others may take significantly longer, fail completely or yield inaccurate results.
Our Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) are 24hrs, and a complete library for every day since you joined our service, for the lifetime of your subscription i.e. you could go back to day #1 or day #x. We also allow delta only downloads as well as daily full’s, should you need to see what changed on any given day. We retain a full history of all your backups.
Manual Restore Procedure:
Recovering from a Xero Organization Failure
Should the need arise to restore data, we offer assistance in several key areas, handling specifics on a case-by-case basis. Our recommended strategy might involve steps such as starting a new Xero account using backed up opening/closing balances and importing critical elements like Contacts and Payables/Receivables, Chart of Accounts etc.
This is only a guide to outline some high-level steps for manually restoring data after a Xero organization failure using Control-C backups.
What you’ll need:
- Latest dataset downloaded from Control-C
- A copy of our free app ‘Backapp’ for viewing your Xero data
- Xero report with closing balances for the day before the failure
Basic Steps:
- Create a New Xero Organization: Set the opening balances based on the closing balances from your backed-up report.
- Import Backed Up Data: Import contacts, chart of accounts, and outstanding invoices (both receivables and payables), bank transactions, products etc into your new organization.
- Configure Additional Settings: Manually set up bank accounts, feeds, multi-currency options, and other not so important settings not covered by the standard backup (e.g., themes, users, templates).
- Resume Operations: Once everything is configured, you can resume your normal business operations.
Business Continuity:
Benefits of Including this in Your Business Continuity Plan (BCP):
- Improves Preparedness: Having a documented runbook (specific set of instructions) within your business continuity plan ensures you’re prepared to act quickly in case of a failure.
- Alignment with Compliance: This process may align with your internal compliance requirements or best practices.
- Customization and Testing: Your runbook can be tailored to meet your unique needs and tested to ensure it functions smoothly during a real-world recovery situation.
- Immediate Data Access: backapp allows near instant RTO to your data
- Contingency Invoicing: backapp portal allows issuing of Invoices while you recover your Xero org.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Control-C provides a remedy that is both ethical and efficient. Although we cannot claim to restore data directly into Xero (technically not possible for anyone), our product and procedures offer a responsible way to mitigate the impact of data loss or user errors allowing you to import your data back into a new Xero org or another product.
If you wish to discuss this further, or need assistance with a rescue plan (run-book) we would be happy to help.
Transparency and safeguarding your financial data remain our top priorities.
Like more information on our generic runbook for your BCP or data recovery?
Disclaimer: This document is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as accounting advice. For specific accounting guidance, please consult with a qualified professional. We aim to provide a clear explanation for those curious about the intricacies of Xero data backups and the Journal, and why a seemingly simple “undo” function isn’t implemented.
