While the backup policy contains numerous instructions on how to perform your backups, the system policy also contains several values that bear directly on your backups. The system policy provides process information to BRMS at the highest level of the policy structure that is described in Introduction to IBM Backup Recovery and Media Services for i (BRMS). System policy values are particularly important because they establish the default values in several functional areas. Thus, unless you change them in another policy or in a control group, BRMS applies these values to your backup activities. Following is a list of the backup-related fields for which the system policy provides default values: