Project Export Templates (System Administration)

 The ProjectDox maintenance plan must be in place on the database server to ensure successful use of the Project Export feature. Failure to have the maintenance plan in place can result in deadlock errors within the application because the indexes are not properly managed and that creates long running queries.

The Project Export Templates screen allows System Administrators to manage project export templates. These templates are set to export specified portions of a project including groups, users, permissions, roles, metadata, incoming email and attachments, discussion board markups and document versions. This feature is useful for exporting projects or project file contents to a permanent archive system, on or off the ProjectDox server.

Project and System Administrators have access to export project content using defined project templates when in the projects Edit screens. From the Export tab, administrators can perform any of the below actions:

·         Export from a template; requires selecting folders to be exported, using the Advanced tab.

·         Export without a template; requires selecting folders to be exported using the Advanced tab.

·         Create and manage export templates.

 Exporting a project does not include the export of eForms and workflows, they are two independent actions.

To create or edit a project export template:

  1. From the Admin dropdown list, select Project Export Templates.

  2. Select an existing template to edit, or assign a Template Name to create a new export template. This is the name that will appear in the list of available templates to use in the Edit Project -> Export tab.

  3. In the Include in Export section, select what you would like to export:

    1. Groups - All of the project groups defined in the project will be exported.

    2. Users – Includes users in both the groups and on the Permissions tab.

    ·    Notification designations for the users are included.

    ·  SAs within the project are exported as PAs for security purposes.

  2.    Owner designation in the Permissions tab is exported.

    1. Permissions - All permissions for groups and users.

    2. Roles- All roles.

    3. Metadata – All the file metadata for each exported file.

    4. Incoming email and attachments - All incoming email and attachments for the project.

    5. Discussion Board (Project & Files) – All project level discussions, as well as any discussions on any files selected.

    6. Markups - Export will burn in markups that exist on the files.

    7. All Versions – Use this option to export all versions of the selected files. You cannot specify only certain versions.

  1. Destination folder – This is the location where the exported project will be placed. The path can be a driver/folder on the on the web server (E:\ProjectExport) or a network file share (\\servername\sharename). The ProjectDox PD_USR account must have appropriate permissions to the destination folder.

  2. Output Format. You can choose a combination of these options. Keep in mind that only Direct File System Export can be imported back into ProjectDox.

    1. Select Direct File System to export the files into a flat file system. If the Destination folder is C:\Temp, the files will be exported to C:\Temp\ProjectName\Foldernames, for example. The XML data file will be located in the root of the ProjectName folder.

    2. Select Zip File to compress the folder and file structure to a single ZIP file in the destination folder (C:\Temp) with the project name as the ZIP file name.

     When selecting the output format, consider that project import will work only with a direct file system export, not a zip file.

  3. Click Save Template if you would like to save your settings for future use.

 

Exporting Project Content

Exports are performed from the individual projects using export templates or by selecting values from the Advanced tab of the Export feature. To export project contents (groups, users, permissions, roles, metadata, files, incoming emails, and markups) a user must access the Export tab of a project by clicking the Edit button in the project.  Two tabs are available for exporting:

Basic Tab

The Basic tab is enabled when at least one export template has been created. This tab is a shortcut, allowing the administrator to select the desired folder(s) for export and then apply a previously defined set of standards in the template to the select folder(s).

To use the Basic tab:

  1. From the Select Template dropdown, select the template to apply.

  2. From the Select Export Folders section, select the checkboxes for the folder(s) to archive. This view shows all the folders of the current project.

  1. Click the Export button.

  1. A message will display indicating an email will be sent to the user to notify them when the export has been completed.  Click OK to initiate the export.

Advanced Tab

The advanced tab allows for configuration and management of export templates, including the ability to temporarily alter an existing template or perform an export without the use of a template.