Entity Serializer and Log System working together, dream in angels... sleep well
Elephant was providing a Log System, widely used by the whole set of modules. The Log System had also a view where we could see what was going on on our web site. Who entered the system, how many times a file was downloaded, which document was saved or deleted and so on and on. Quite useful, really, because we could follow up the moment something was created, modified or deleted. And who did the action. Yes, and then what? You might think... you go and ask the one who did it what was the deleted content?
We knew what happened but, if this was the case, could scarcely do something to repear it.
Serializers are complex, they have to convert data to another format and be able to restore it in other systems. Elephant provides now an Entity Serializer. More accurately, an XML Entity Serializer. Entities are transformed into human readable content. Add this to the Log System and serialize entities into log entries. You would be able to see entity content when was modified or deleted.
Conclusion, backups wont save you from user mistakes, but XML Entity Serializer plus Log System will do. Dream in angels... sleep well.