Tekla PowerFab Archiving Jobs

Tekla PowerFab

Not version-specific

Tekla PowerFab Tekla PowerFab GO

archiving jobs

tekla epm archiving

tekla epm archive

Discussion

After prolonged use you may experience a long listing of jobs in the program. It is rare that this will actually affect the performance of the program, but can make it more cumbersome to select jobs in several areas of the program. The number one way to deal with this issue is the use of job status to be able to close jobs which would restrict the list of displayed jobs. Another way to open jobs is through the use of the find job in the drop down menu for the job selection window.

Still there are companies that would prefer to actually remove, archive, jobs from the active database altogether. For those wanting to do this there are a couple of options depending on the level to which you want to be able to retrieve the data in the future.

One method could be the use of exports from estimating, combining and production control to export most of the information from the job using a specialized “.kss” files. These will contain most, but not all of the information available in their respective area of the program. They are individual files and links to other areas of the program are not maintained in them. Also, the project management jobs are not able to be exported in the same manner due to the mini-modules within project management. This method would require the use of multiple files for each individual job being archived.

Note! These files are not in compliance with KISS standards and would not be able to be imported into other software.

To get a more complete and systematic archive for multiple jobs in a given period it could be more effective to utilize a backup file for the purpose of having retrievable information. Still the level to which the information is retrievable can vary. This will be due to how the external files are managed for the document index and drawing log directories and how the restoration is connected to them.

In the vast majority of cases it will be best if the files are left in place and the default directories for the machine/connection are the same for the recovery database. Then the ability to retrieve information will be complete.

In the unlikely event the document index and drawing directories are to be maintained separately for the archive then care must be taken to set the document index category directories from the beginning of the job to maintain the ability to completely recover the data and to have a way to remove it from the active directories. You would also have the added step for each job of saving the heat documents to the appropriate archive directory.

After completing the method of creating the retrievable data the process of removing the jobs can begin. This part is relatively simple.

Creating the KSS Files

From the maintenance menu combining, estimating and production control have job maintenance windows. In the job maintenance window the user can select to export the desired jobs. You can select multiple jobs, but user will be prompted to save each as an individual file.

Note that the production job maintenance window is slightly different and requires the user to select the radio button before jobs are visible.

Creating a Backup File

Create backup:

Close all dialog boxes that you have open in Tekla PowerFab.
Click the File ribbon tab in the upper-left corner of the Tekla PowerFab window.
In the File menu, select Backup Database.
In the Backup dialog box, move the slider to select the desired backup level.
Click Backup.
In the Save As dialog box, browse to the location where you want to save the backup file.
If necessary, modify the name of the backup file, but be sure to leave the db_bak as the prefix.
Click Save.

Tekla PowerFab copies all database information to the selected folder. You can use the saved backup file to restore the Tekla PowerFab database, if necessary.

Retrieving MTRs for Archiving

In order to retrieve the MTRs for the jobs being deleted the user will have to go to each job individually and save the documents to a blank directory.

1. Open the job
2. Go to the Production control drop down menu, review and TFS Detials.

3. Set the desired filters for the material and select details.
4. Select the save documents button and select all or selected items.

5. Select an empty folder to gather the documents and the index report and click the OK button.

6. This will load the documents in the folder and give you an index report for the file names and heat numbers. These can later be combined in a single MTR directory for all the archived jobs.

Archiving the Drawing and Document Directories

Locate the drawing directory and copy all project directories that will be archived and save them to the new location or media. Do the same thing for the document index directories provided they were initially assigned their own directory.

Finalizing Production Jobs

All archived jobs need to be finalized to remove any reservation from existing inventory and any remaining items in requisitions. Finalizing jobs is final and the user will be prompted to ensure that they are aware this cannot be “undone”.

See here for more information.

Deleting the Archived Jobs from Current Database

While some information can be recovered for deleted estimate, combining and production jobs not all links will be available. Use care in deleting jobs.

Project management jobs do not have the ability to be recovered so use extreme care.

Run the Optimize Tables from the Administration Menu

In order to actually remove the deleted records from the database the user would then run an optimize tables from the administration menu. Until then the records place holders will still remain in the database and only be replaced as new data is entered. You would need to log onto the program as an administrator.

Optimize the database.

Recovery Methods

Stand Alone/Local Database Connection

The server installation of the program can be done on any machine, so if the purpose of the second database if for an individual’s use then it is likely that the simplest solution is to run the installer on that individual’s machine, provided it is not the server, as a server install. This would install the database on that machine and the connection for it would be localhost with the default port remaining as 3306. The newly installed database will be incomplete and the program will have to be ran with the user admin and password fab to complete the database installation prior to restoring the archived database backup.

To change to the local database the user would select the connection button prior to logging in. Then select localhost in the IP Address filed and “OK”.

Changing the database connection will require the change of the ODBC connection for the report viewer. Upon login the user will be prompted to make the change with a window much like the below and select yes.

The database connection is indicated in the upper right area of the main page under the order entry module selection button.

Shared Second Database Connection

Should there be a need to have multiple user access to the secondary database another option would be to have it added on the existing server using an alternate port. This requires the installation of an additional service and an additional data set.

Please see the video on the MySQL Service Manager.

Once the additional dataset and service port is added you can connect to it by signing into the correct port. Initially it will contain the data form the original database. You can restore the database backup previously created by going to file, restore database and selecting the desired database backup.

Whenever connected to:

The selection of a port that is not the default 3306 will be displayed with the connection information in the upper right area of the main page. Again, in this sample below the connection would be your server name or IP address not necessarily localhost.

Changing the database connection back will also will require the change of the ODBC connection for the report viewer.