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Service · Run & Improve
ERP maintenance — the work that prevents the 3 a.m. phone call
Support reacts to problems. Maintenance prevents them. It is the routine, unglamorous work — applying patches, testing restores, archiving old data, reviewing access — that keeps a business-critical system running quietly for years.
Overview
What erp maintenance involves
Most ERP outages we are called in to fix had warning signs weeks earlier: a disk filling up, backups that had silently stopped, a scheduled job failing every night. A maintenance plan catches them.
01The problem
Where things usually go wrong
01
Backups nobody has tested
Backups run every night, but nobody has tried restoring one in two years.
02
Unpatched systems
Operating system, database and platform updates fall months behind, accumulating security risk.
03
Database bloat
Logs, attachments and old records grow unchecked until performance degrades.
04
Access creep
Former employees still have accounts; current employees have rights they no longer need.
02Our approach
How we handle it
We agree a maintenance calendar covering weekly, monthly and quarterly tasks, and work through it with a written checklist. Results go into a short monthly health report: what was checked, what was found, what was fixed and what needs a decision.
Restore tests are part of the routine. At least quarterly, we restore a production backup to a separate environment and confirm the system starts and the data is complete. A backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a plan.
03Capabilities
What the work covers
01
Patching
OS, database, platform and dependency updates applied on staging, then production.
02
Backup verification
Backup monitoring and scheduled restore tests to a separate environment.
03
Database housekeeping
Vacuuming, index maintenance, log rotation and archiving of old data.
04
Job and log review
Scheduled tasks, error logs and integration queues reviewed for recurring failures.
05
Access reviews
Quarterly review of users, roles and API credentials with your managers.
06
Capacity planning
Storage, CPU and memory trends tracked against growth forecasts.
04Technical considerations
Details that decide whether it holds up
01
Recovery objectives
Agreed recovery point and recovery time objectives, with backup frequency and retention set to meet them.
02
Off-site copies
Backups stored in a separate location or account from production, protected against accidental or malicious deletion.
03
Dependency hygiene
Third-party modules and libraries tracked for security advisories and end-of-life.
04
Certificate and secret rotation
SSL certificates, API keys and integration credentials rotated before expiry.
05Process
How the engagement runs
- 01
Baseline
Initial health check of infrastructure, database, backups and access.
- 02
Calendar
Agreed maintenance tasks, frequency and windows.
- 03
Execute
Tasks completed and logged against the checklist.
- 04
Report
Monthly health report with findings and recommendations.
06Outcomes
What you should expect afterwards
Fewer outages
Problems are caught while they are still warnings.
Proven recoverability
You know backups work because they have been restored.
Lower security risk
Patched systems and tidy access reduce exposure.
Where it applies
Industries and systems we commonly see
Relevant industries
Relevant integrations
Related services
Often delivered alongside
ERP SupportA named team that knows your configuration, handling issues, questions and small changes.ERP Performance OptimizationFind and fix slow screens, reports, batch jobs and integrations with evidence, not guesswork.ERP UpgradeMove to a current version with custom code ported, tested and cleaned up along the way.ERP AuditAn independent health check of configuration, data, custom code, integrations and governance.
Insights
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between support and maintenance?
Support responds to issues and requests as they arise. Maintenance is scheduled, preventive work that reduces how often issues arise. Most clients combine both.
Do you maintain cloud-hosted systems as well as self-hosted ones?
Yes. For SaaS platforms the infrastructure work is handled by the vendor, so maintenance focuses on configuration, data, access and integrations.
How often should backups be restore-tested?
At least quarterly for most businesses, and after any significant infrastructure change.
Next step
When did you last test a restore?
Start with a health check. We will tell you what we find.