Import and Export Modeler Components

Author: Joyce Zhou

Introduction

Import and export functionality is supported in multiple areas within MODELER.

Dimension Data

• New members will be added
• Attributes of existing members (with the same MemberId) will be updated

Partition Data

• Can choose to append to existing or override existing at import

Form

• Can export/import multiple Forms in the same Model at the same time
• New Forms will be added
• Existing Forms (with the same FormName, which can be found in [dbo].[Forms] table) will be updated

Rule

• Can export/import multiple Rules in the same Model at the same time
• New Rules will be added
• Existing Rules (with the same RuleID, which can be found in [dbo].[Rules] table) will be updated

Dashboard

• Can export/import multiple Dashboards in the same Model at the same time
• New Dashboard will be added
• Existing Dashboards (with the same DashboardID, which can be found in [dbo].[Dashboards] table) will be updated

Dashboard Page

• Can export/import multiple pages in the same Model at the same time
• Selected Dashboard pages will be added - no pages will be overriden

Note: Files exported in All Dashboards node cannot be used for import when trying to import Dashboard pages. Nor vice versa. See this article for more information.

Import / Export at Migration

Import and export are very useful when migrating changes from development to production. Let's look at a few critical perspectives of using import and export during the migration process.

Managing MemberIDs

Have any new Dimension members been created in DEV?

• If so, these members may have a specific MemberID associated with the member in DEV
• When moving the member over to PROD, you'll need to check if the memberID is already in use in PROD
  • If not: Import the new members to PROD and ensure you preserve the MemberIDs.  Please refer to this article for details.
  • If yes: Import the member to Production without preserving the MemberID. You will need to double check if any Forms use the member in the axis definition (row, column, filter) and make manual updates to any imported Forms to ensure the correct members are used.

Images in Dashboard

The Import/Export of a Dashboard will not include image files. Modelers need to manually re-import any images directly to the application in PROD and re-associate the image after importing a Dashboard. Currently, there is no export image functionality, so you will need the original image file.

Import/Export of Metadata

Application Metadata can also be imported and exported. Application Metadata in this context might include: Dimension, Hierarchy, Attribute, Models, etc.

1. Export out the DEV application metadata to an XML file.
2. Export out the PROD application metadata to an XML file.
3. Compare the DEV and PROD export files to see if it has been updated/created/deleted.
4. If everything looks as expected, import the DEV application file directly to PROD.

Be aware that this is going to take all changes in the DEV file and apply it to PROD. The best practice here is to apply these changes manually to ensure full control of changes in PROD environment. Using this feature can save time, but increase testing, and you will need to ensure everything in PROD still works as expected.