OASIS Database Archive Tool

The OASIS Archive Tool allows users to export historical data from the database to a specific location on a hard drive. This gives users the ability to store projects/ quotes, orders, invoices, and inbox messages outside of the database. Completing this process frees up space within the database.

Many of our customers have been using OASIS for nearly a decade. As they add more information to the database, the database size continuously grows. With some of these databases reaching 500 GB or more, available hard drive space becomes scarce, and backups become difficult to complete in a timely manner. The solution is to archive transactions that have not been updated in a certain number of years.

The tool will complete the following tasks:

• Free up space within the database in the form of "slack space", causing the database to stop growing in size until this space has been used
• Organize the exported data into folders for Projects, Orders and Invoices, Submittals, and Inbox Messages
• Allow a company to have a backup of historical transaction data that is independent of the database itself

The tool will NOT complete the following tasks:

• Delete transactions outright without first backing them up
• Shrink the database file itself

Before proceeding, please consider the following:

• If you are using attachment shortcuts, they will be saved to the folder locations.
• All attachment shortcuts will be lost when archiving the transaction it's attached to.

Using the Archive Tool

1. Navigate to the Configuration page.

2. Select “Software” from the drop-down list.

3. The “Workstation Configuration” page will appear.

4. Select “Tools.”

5. Select “Archive.”

6. A new window will appear.

7. Enter the number of years you wish to keep in the database. Note: the default is five years. (anything not updated in the past five years would be archived).

8. Select a directory to set the output location for the archive.

9. Check the boxes that correspond to the items you wish to archive.

• In Box Messages- this pulls data from the “InBox” application. Note: if you use OASIS to manage certain email accounts, this will archive data from that process.
• Projects & Quotes- this pulls transaction data from the “Projects” and “Quotes” applications.
• Orders & Invoices- this pulls transaction data from the “Orders” and “Invoices” applications. Note: all invoices will be stored int heir respective order.

10. Select the action for the archive process.

• Will be deleted- once the transaction and its attachments have been archived, they will be deleted from the database.
• Will have attachments only deleted- once archived, only the attachments will be deleted. This option frees up space and allows for the transaction to still be included in reports by preserving the historical data.
• Save only- this will copy all transactions from the specified year range, leaving the original data intact in the database.

11. Select “Archive.” Note: this process may take several hours to complete.

12. A progress bar will appear, indicating that transactions are being archived. For a more detailed view, select the “Activity” tab. All information on the “Activity” tab will be logged to a file in the output directory.

13. Select “Close” when the archiving process is complete. Note: in the archive directory that was specified, separate folders for quotes, orders, and messages will appear and will be sorted by a transaction ID.

Removing Slack Space

Once database contents have been archived, and the user wishes to rebuild the database to remove all the slack space created by the archiving process, please contact Ingen Software customer support. We will ensure that minimum disk space requirements are met and that this process is completely efficiently and correctly. 

Recovering Archived Files

To recover a transaction that has been archived, the user will need to go to the location of the archive and do a search for the project/quote number. This file can then be dragged and dropped back into OASIS in the Configuration > Software section which will give you a popup window. You would then check all boxes on the pop window and follow through the dialog, then click OK.