Downloading Data Using the Data Exporter Tool / SQL Export Tool

In this article:

• Connecting the Data Exporter
• Using the Exporter 
• Disabling the Data Exporter
• Exporting Emails
• Understanding the File Contents 
• Cost

Actionstep has a SQL Data export tool that can be used to download a simplified schema containing views of the data that would be most useful for business intelligence purposes. The simplified schema and data can be securely downloaded as a SQL file in Microsoft SQL-Server, Azure SQL, or PostgreSQL formats. These files can be run against local or hosted database servers managed by you or your Actionstep certified consultant. 

Connecting the Data Exporter

To activate the service:

1. In Actionstep, go to Admin > Integrations. The Integrations page appears.
2. In the Actionstep Daily Data Export section, click Connect with DataExporter. 
3. When prompted, accept the subscription update by clicking I accept the change to my subscription. 
4. Complete the fields on the form that appears by configuring the database format and setting a password to secure the downloaded file. 
5. Click Save to save your changes and enable the export.

Once you confirm the subscription changes, an email notification will be automatically sent to our accounts team to apply the monthly charge to your account. 

Additionally, once activated, a Download link will become available on this page once the nightly backup process has completed and the file has been generated. The file is updated every 24 hours with the latest data.

Using the Exporter 

To use the Exporter:

1. In Actionstep, go to Admin > Integrations > Actionstep Reporting Data Exporter. The Reporting Data Exporter Setup page appears only after connecting and accepting the charge.
2. Click the SQL file format drop-down list and choose your SQL format. 
3. In the ZIP file password field, enter the password that should be used to access the exported ZIP file. 
4. Click Save. 

Once downloaded, you or a certified consulting partner can refresh the local copy of the data by executing the SQL file in your database server. The file will automatically drop and recreate any required database tables. 

Disabling the Data Exporter

To disable the service:

1. In Actionstep, go to Admin > Integrations. The Integrations page appears.
2. In the Actionstep Daily Data Export section, click Manage. The Reporting Data Exporter Setup page appears.
3. Toggle the Enable option to off. A a confirmation prompt with a warning and additional information is displayed. 
4. Select the required checkbox and click Save to save your changes.

An email notification will be sent to the Actionstep Accounts team to remove the monthly charge from your account.

Exporting Emails

Depending on the mail services your firm uses, Actionstep stores either a full email message file, a JSON file containing email information, or a dynamic reference header that retrieves content from the mail server in your database.

With the reference header option, Actionstep does not store email files in the database, but instead displays email content in Actionstep by pulling (or referencing) the content from the third-party mail service (like Microsoft or Google). This means that when performing an Actionstep backup or export, email content may appear to be 'incomplete' due to this difference in storage locations. When this happens, it's recommended you either download the content from your relevant mail service, or re-assign the emails in your new system.

This setup should not present risks to statutory retention periods since the data is still within the control and access of the firm—just not within the Actionstep platform based on the above-mentioned integration and data storage methods.

Understanding the File Contents 

The download file will consist of table drop/create statements and commands to load the data into the tables. Currently, the following tables are included in the extract (more may be added if needed): 

Cost

The data extract process consumes additional system resources (and cost) for processing power, data storage, and download bandwidth. This service is therefore offered as an optional extra and will be added to clients’ monthly bill from Actionstep. The cost is $99/£99 per firm (not per user) per month.