We all know what a sandbox is. It's that thing in the backyard our kids play in. The open patch of sand with the plastic shovels and buckets sitting on the surface--and who knows what else buried underneath.
In the world of PostgreSQL database applications and Open Source ERP Software we also have sandboxes. And while they may not be made of sand, they do serve a similar purpose....
The sandbox in our world is a database backup where you can experiment and make mistakes. To follow ERP Best Practices, we recommend that you use a sandbox to play with new things, basically, before you implement them in production.
Here are some things you should try in a sandbox first:
- Database upgrades
- Scripted solutions
- Data imports
- Business process flow changes
- New features you've never tried before
It's easy to make a sandbox copy of your database. You can do it yourself. Or you can sign up for our XTN service and we can do it for you.
Because there's not much worse than making a serious mistake on a production system. Time is lost. Tempers run high. And to think it could have all been avoided if you'd only taken a little time to play.