When the system you rely on breaks: what to do first

Stop, write down what you see, and call the person who looks after the system. Leave everything else alone until you know more. Calm notes and the right phone call matter more than speed, whether you have application support and maintenance in place or not.

In short: For an ordinary fault, stop, write down what you see, and call whoever looks after the system. Do not delete, reinstall or restore anything until they say it is safe.

Stop and look before you act

Take a breath before you press anything. A system that has just failed is easy to make worse by trying fix after fix. Your first job is to understand what is wrong, not to repair it.

Check whether the fault is yours alone. Ask a colleague to try the same thing on another device. Note who is affected and where.

What should you write down?

Write down what you see, in plain words, as it happens. Notes taken now are worth more than memory later. Include the exact wording of any error message and the time you saw it. A photo of the screen is enough.

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) publishes small business guidance on responding to cyber incidents, with ten questions to answer as soon as you suspect something has gone wrong. It is UK guidance written for security incidents, not for every ordinary fault, but several of its questions suit any failure.

Its questions include which services, programs or hardware are not working, and when the problem first came to attention. They also ask whether customers have noticed, and who designed the system and who maintains it.

Add anything that changed recently, such as an update, a new person with access, or a power cut. It may help whoever assists you.

Who should you call?

Call the person or company that looks after the system first. Give them your notes. If you do not know who that is, say so plainly. That is useful information too.

If nobody looks after it, start with whoever set it up or sold it to you, or your web hosting provider or IT support if you have them. If you suspect someone has got into your accounts, or that customer information has been lost, get qualified help straight away. This advice is for ordinary faults and does not cover that.

If you have nobody to call, write down what you know and send your notes to us at info@vvwsoftware.com. The NCSC guidance is written for UK organisations, so use it for ideas and not for contacts.

The same NCSC guidance suggests keeping a list of outside people who can help, such as your web hosting provider or IT support, with details of what each one covers and when to involve them.

It also notes that your normal ways of communicating may be disrupted, so contact details should be stored where you can still reach them.

Support & improvements, listed on the Services page, is help with a system you already use, including one that is broken.

Tell your staff what is happening and what to do in the meantime, for example how to take orders or bookings by hand.

What should you not touch?

For an ordinary fault, hold off deleting anything or reinstalling the software. Do not put an old copy back over your current data until someone who knows the system says it is safe. Do not let several people try fixes at once, because then nobody knows which change did what.

The NCSC also warns that care should be taken before acting on advice found online, because it may be unverified.

For an ordinary fault, leave passwords and settings as they are unless the person helping you asks for a change. If you think someone else has got into an account, a password change may be the right step, so say so when you call and ask before you decide.

Why is software maintenance important?

Some software services companies explain that maintenance means regular updates, bug fixes and security patches that keep software working. They say this regular care helps businesses avoid disruption. These are sellers describing their own services.

Maintenance will not make a breakdown impossible. It is still worth deciding who you would call before one happens.

The UK National Cyber Security Centre advises small organisations to keep a backup copy of the data the business needs to operate, and to know how to restore it and check that it holds everything important.

What is the difference between software support and maintenance?

One software services company describes support as helping the people who use and administer the software, by troubleshooting problems and answering questions. It describes maintenance as work on the software itself, such as fixes and updates. The same company also lists applying patches and updates under support, so the line is not sharp and suppliers draw it differently.

In plain words, support is help when something goes wrong, and maintenance is regular care so that less goes wrong. A business may need both. It helps to ask any supplier which of the two is being offered.

After it is fixed

The National Cyber Security Centre recommends reviewing what happened and what you learned once the problem is over, and updating your plan. It also says staff and customers should be kept informed of anything that affects them.

Keep your notes. They become the start of a simple plan for next time, with names, phone numbers and who decides what.

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