Mission critical systems are integrated systems used to store critical information for a company or business. The fact that they are mission critical denotes the use of advanced complex technology in processing, storage and maintenance of the data systems. Various adjustments ranging from mechanical cooling processes or efficient electrical infrastructure to advanced software architecture are often used to enforce integrity (Dwivedi, Y. K., Wade, M. R., & Schneberger, S. L, 2012). Levels of management in an organization also play a critical role in updating the data in a timely organized fashion. Often using one or more remote storage backup copies, mission-critical data can be easily recovered. The main examples of such mission-critical data are as defined below.
At the very top of every business is the financial system. The records indicating transactions for a company provide a lot of information regarding the health of the business. They can be used to virtually track any loss or profit the company makes hence the most important decision-making tool. Consequently, financial data is the most crucial mission-critical type of data generated by both user and company information system (Dwivedi et. al., 2012)).
Secondly, most multimillion dollar companies boast of a large user base. Often they have accounts which are maintained by the business. It is the responsibility of the business to ensure that their client’s services are readily available on request even in the event of an accident involving data loss. Thus protecting user profiles for user accounts created on the business platform makes it a mission-critical process for protecting user data (Curtis, P. M., & Wiley, 2011).
Lastly, for all information systems, data or event logging is key to ensuring critical actions like troubleshooting an error or instituting a restoration procedure. The process involves configuring the information systems internally to provide log data of the activities performed on it. Incas of any interference, investigation using the log data provides insight into what really happened (Curtis et. al., 2011).
In summary, three main different types of mission-critical data for an information system exist. This includes data generated by the user as in user account information, data generated by the information system as in logs or data generated from the interaction between the user and the system for instance financial transactions.
- Curtis, P. M., & Wiley InterScience (Service en ligne). (2011). Maintaining Mission Critical Systems in a 24/7 Environment. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-IEEE Press.
- Dwivedi, Y. K., Wade, M. R., & Schneberger, S. L. (2012). Information systems theory: Explaining and predicting our digital society. New York: Springer.