Introduction
• This document explains the distinction between client data and Adilas intellectual property.
• It outlines legal and regulatory requirements related to business record retention.
• It explains audit and compliance requirements from federal, state, and local agencies.
• It explains why business records must remain in a meaningful and auditable format.
• It outlines the proper method for long-term data retention and compliance.
• Clients always have access to their data through the Adilas system.
• The purpose is to ensure data is preserved in a meaningful, auditable, and legally compliant format.
Data Ownership vs. Software Ownership
• Clients own their customers, vendors, invoices, payments, inventory, accounting, payroll, sales tax, and time clock records.
• Clients own images, attachments, uploaded documents, and business transactions.
• Adilas owns database structure, schema, table names, column names, and relationships.
• Adilas owns system architecture, accounting logic, inventory costing logic, audit trail systems, and ERP framework.
• Providing a full database dump would expose proprietary intellectual property developed over many years.
ERP Systems Are Not Just Databases
• Adilas is a full ERP system, not just a database.
• Invoices, payments, inventory, accounting, and reports pull data from many related tables.
• Without the application logic and rendering engine, raw database data is not meaningful.
• The database is not the system. The system is the system.
Federal, IRS, and Audit Requirements
• Agencies require books and records in a meaningful and auditable format.
• Audits require financial statements, invoice history, payment history, inventory history, and audit trails.
• Audits require timestamps, attachments, linked transactions, and historical reports.
• A raw database export does not constitute books and records in a meaningful format.
Sales Tax and Time Clock Records
• Local and state agencies frequently audit sales tax records.
• Agencies audit employee time clock records and payroll records.
• Audits require detailed transaction history, tax calculations, and historical reports.
• Time audits require timestamps, edits, payroll calculations, and user logs.
• These records rely heavily on system audit trails and timestamps.
Industry Standard Practice
• Many ERP, accounting, and payroll systems do not provide full database dumps.
• The system itself is the record keeping platform, not the raw database.
• Business records must remain accessible in a reproducible and auditable format.
Audit Trails, Timestamps, Images, and Attachments
• Records include created dates, modified dates, user logs, and corrections.
• Records include images, receipts, PDFs, attachments, notes, and communications.
• These records must preserve relationships, timestamps, and traceability.
• The Adilas system itself is the record keeping system.
Data Storage and Retrieval Considerations
• A database dump alone does not provide a functional record retention system.
• Businesses would still need storage systems, reporting tools, and audit trail systems.
• Rebuilding an ERP system would be required to interpret historical data.
Long-Term Record Retention and Storage Solution
• Businesses must maintain records for multiple years.
• The best way to preserve records is to maintain access to the system that created them.
• Adilas offers a low-cost data storage and archive option.
• This ensures records remain accessible, searchable, reproducible, and auditable.
Summary Position Statement
• Adilas cannot provide a full database dump because it would expose proprietary intellectual property.
• A raw database export would not provide records in a meaningful or auditable format.
• Clients always have full access to their data through the Adilas system.
• The recommended approach is to maintain the Adilas system as a historical archive.
• This ensures records remain accessible, searchable, reproducible, and compliant.
As always, please feel free to reach out to Technical Support at 720-740-3076 or email support@adilas.biz if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions.
