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Approving Backups

Learn the complete backup review workflow from email import to marking runs as reviewed.

Overview

The backup review process in BackupChecks follows a structured workflow designed to ensure all backup issues are seen and handled appropriately. This page explains the complete lifecycle from email arrival to review completion.

The Backup Review Lifecycle

The review process consists of several stages:

  1. Email Import: Backup report emails arrive in your mailbox and are imported into BackupChecks
  2. Parsing: Email content is analyzed to extract backup job information
  3. Inbox Approval: New jobs appear in the Inbox for initial approval and customer assignment
  4. Automatic Processing: Future emails for approved jobs are automatically processed
  5. Daily Monitoring: Jobs appear in Daily Jobs view based on inferred schedules
  6. Run Review: Jobs with warnings or failures are reviewed using the Run Checks modal
  7. Issue Tracking: Problems are documented using overrides, tickets, or remarks
  8. Mark as Reviewed: Runs are marked as reviewed after investigation

Stage 1: Email Import & Parsing

Backup report emails are automatically imported from your configured mailbox at regular intervals (default: every 15 minutes).

What Happens

See Auto-Import Configuration and Mail Parsing for details.

Stage 2: Inbox Approval

When an email arrives for a job that hasn't been approved yet, it appears in the Inbox.

What Happens

See Inbox Management for the detailed approval process.

Stage 3: Automatic Processing

After initial approval, future emails for the same job are processed automatically:

What Happens

💡 First-Time Setup:
The Inbox approval step only happens once per job. After that, all future reports for the same job are automatically processed. This is why it's important to approve inbox emails promptly when onboarding new customers.

Stage 4: Daily Monitoring

Approved jobs appear in the Daily Jobs view based on inferred schedules. This page provides an informational overview of which jobs are expected to run on a given date.

💡 Daily Jobs is Informational Only:
Daily Jobs is not part of the daily backup review workflow. It's purely for viewing which jobs are scheduled to run and their most recent status. The actual daily review work happens in the Run Checks page. Daily Jobs may be deprecated in a future version.

What Happens

See Daily Jobs View for details about this informational page.

Stage 5: Run Review

When a job shows a warning or failure, you review it using the Run Checks modal.

What Happens

  1. Click on a job with a warning or failure in Daily Jobs
  2. The Run Checks modal opens showing:
  3. You investigate the issue by reviewing:
  4. You determine the appropriate action (see Stage 6)

See Run Checks Modal for detailed review instructions.

Stage 6: Issue Tracking

Based on your investigation, you choose how to handle the issue:

Option 1: Mark as Reviewed (No Action Needed)

If the issue doesn't require followup:

Action: Click "Mark as reviewed" in the Run Checks modal, then the run disappears from the Run Checks page.

Option 2: Create an Override

If the issue is expected and will occur repeatedly:

Action: Create an override on the Overrides page. Future matching runs will automatically show as success with a blue override indicator. Then mark the current run as reviewed in the Run Checks modal.

See Overrides & Exceptions for details.

Option 3: Create a Remark

If the issue needs documentation but not formal ticket tracking:

Action: Click "Create Remark" in the Run Checks modal. The remark is linked to the job and shows 💬 in Run Checks. Then mark the run as reviewed - otherwise it will remain visible and can appear incorrectly as failed/warning the next day.

Option 4: Create a Ticket

If the issue requires external followup and tracking:

Action: Click "Create Ticket" in the Run Checks modal. The ticket is linked to the job and shows 🎫 in Run Checks. Then mark the run as reviewed - this is required even when creating a ticket, otherwise the run stays visible.

See Remarks & Tickets for tracking issues.

⚠️ Always Mark as Reviewed:
Regardless of which action you take (override, remark, or ticket), you must always mark the job as reviewed afterwards. If you don't, the run will remain in the Run Checks list and can show the wrong status the next day (only the first unreviewed status is displayed).

Stage 7: Mark as Reviewed

After handling the issue (or determining no action is needed), mark the run as reviewed. This is required for ALL runs, including successful ones.

What Happens

💡 Goal: Empty Run Checks Page:
The objective is to have the Run Checks page completely empty - this means all runs have been reviewed. Even successful backups must be marked as reviewed, because they haven't been looked at, but they still need to be marked to clear the Run Checks page. You can select multiple jobs and mark them all as reviewed at once for efficiency.

Bulk Review

For efficiency, you can mark multiple jobs as reviewed simultaneously:

  1. Open the Run Checks page
  2. Select multiple job checkboxes
  3. Click Mark selected as reviewed
  4. All runs for all selected jobs are marked as reviewed and disappear from the list

This is especially useful for successful backups where no investigation is needed - you can quickly clear them to keep the Run Checks page empty.

Best Practices

Role-Based Review Workflow

Operator Workflow

  1. Open Run Checks page every morning
  2. Review each run in the list (click to see details)
  3. For issues: create tickets, remarks, or overrides as needed
  4. Mark ALL runs as reviewed (including successes and runs with tickets/overrides)
  5. Goal: End with completely empty Run Checks page
  6. Cannot unmark reviewed runs or delete overrides

Admin Workflow

  1. Same as Operator, plus:
  2. Can view reviewed runs and review timestamps
  3. Can unmark reviewed runs if re-investigation is needed
  4. Can delete overrides and tickets
  5. Monitors overall system health and team review performance
  6. Can verify Run Checks page is empty (all reviews completed)

Viewer Workflow

  1. View Daily Jobs to see backup status
  2. Cannot access Run Checks page
  3. Cannot create tickets, remarks, or overrides
  4. Cannot mark runs as reviewed
  5. Read-only access for reporting and visibility

Performance Tips

Next Steps

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