How to Archive Projects


This guide is designed to help you manage your total location counts by moving old or particularly large projects from live data to an archive or "Cold Storage" state.  

There are four primary ways to archive projects, all have their potential pros & cons and the correct solution needs to be weighed for your particular case.

  1. Export Project Data to CSV 
  2. Export Project Data to AGS
  3. Snapshots
  4. API Archiving

The end result for all of them is the same, projects will be moved from live location counts that can easily be queried and utilized to a static format that needs to be re-imported if you ever wish to access that data again. 

In order to decide which projects to archive, the PowerBI connector is the best tool to utilize to explore and quantify creation date of projects, location counts, project statuses, etc. A sample report that provides some of this information can be found on this page. 

Before proceeding with Archiving, consider the impacts that losing ready access to that information will have. The data can be quite useful to help inform other projects in nearby areas, locations with similar geology, or as a reference for the same client.

Solution Overview:

Regardless of method chosen, the steps are essentially the same between options: 

  1. Project Data is exported to the chosen format.
  2. That data is re-imported into OpenGround against the project itself.
    1. Now is also a good time to create out-of cloud backups of critical projects on your organizations own servers, etc.
  3. All Location IDs are deleted 

Export Method Comparison:

Method Pros Cons
CSV Export 
  • Can easily open and explore data in Excel.
  • CSV files are widely accepted as valid input format.
  • Can easily handle any customized fields that were added to OpenGround.
  • Can create out-of cloud backups of files.
  • Generates a large amount of files contained in a single .zip file.
AGS Export
  • Standardized file type commonly used in certain regions.
  • Generates fewer files overall, and most data is contained in a single .ags file.
  • Can create out-of cloud backups of files.
  • Harder to utilize in software that doesn't accept AGS files.
  • Because AGS is standardized, it can be hard to account for Customized fields.
Snapshot
  • Fewer Steps then above.
  • Doesn't involve data leaving OpenGround.
  • Not able to readily review data before import, files need to be imported to OpenGround again to review data.
  • Not able to create out-of cloud backups of critical files.
API Tools
  • Can be quickest & simplest for end users as most tasks are done via API to limit manually handling of data.
  • Depends on programming and API knowledge to setup and implement.

 

Tactical Rundown:

Step 1 - Export Project Information

Choose Data -> Export Data on the Project Ribbon.

Step 2 - Export Options

Choose the desired file format (For most cases we recommend CSV for ease of importing and out-of-cloud review for North America, while for other regions AGS may be more appropriate).

Make sure to check the box "Export Associated Documents", this will include any attached photos, test certificates, logs, etc. that may be attached within OpenGround.

Step 3 - Reimport Data

Re-import the exported files using the Project -> Upload Documents button. This will upload the documents to the project itself rather then a specific location.

Step 4 - Delete All Locations 

The final step involves deleting all of the locations stored within OpenGround. Before doing so, be sure as that backup was successful as this step is unrecoverable once the Location IDs are deleted. 

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