FluentBooks provides a rich toolset for Microsoft Project Online governance and administration, including granular change management functionality.
One of the use cases is the so-called data download for backup purposes. This is a regular process that you can perform using FluentBooks to download your PWA data to FluentBooks-readable files and save them locally on your PC or to the cloud storage (OneDrive as an example).
Please note: The download of your PWA data using FluentBooks is a manual operation that cannot be automated. When downloading PWA data using FluentBooks, the process will run on your PC (a laptop or a VM), so the Windows session should be active on this PC during data download.
The PWA data is downloaded to the specific format of FluentBooks-readable files:
- FPP files for Projects
- Workspace (.fbwx2) for PWA Configuration and SharePoint data
To restore the downloaded data to your PWA in the future, you should have an active license for using FluentBooks.
Please note: The data download using FluentBooks takes time. Depending on the amount of data you wish to download for backup purposes, in some cases it may take a larger part of the day to have it downloaded.
As an option to back up your PWA data fully automatically, FluentPro offers a separate application called G.A. Suite. Please review FluentBooks for backup and G.A. Suite capabilities in comparison:
|
G.A. Suite |
FluentBooks |
Backup initiation |
Automatic per schedule |
Manual |
Backup schedules |
Multiple adjustable schedules |
Manual |
Data selection for backup |
PWA Configuration, Projects, Sites, and Timesheet selection within the same backup schedule |
PWA Configuration, Projects, and Sites selected and downloaded as several separate manual steps |
Timesheet backup & restore |
Supported |
Not supported |
Several simultaneous PWAs backup |
Supported |
Not supported |
Backup files location |
Dedicated Azure storage (FluentPro default one or custom: AWS S3 bucket or Azure) |
The user chooses the location |
Restore Mode |
Overwrite/Upload a copy |
Overwrite |
Backup processing |
G.A. Suite back-end |
User’s PC |
The steps to download PWA data using FluentBooks for backup usually include:
- Define the day when you need to initiate the download of PWA data using FluentBooks. For example, every Friday to perform a weekly backup or every last Friday of the month to perform a monthly backup.
- Define what data needs to be downloaded for backup: PWA Configuration, Project Schedules and Project Templates, SharePoint settings, and Sites.
- Create a backup storage: a folder on your PC or a cloud storage where the data will be saved.
- Initiate the data download on the selected day manually, downloading all the required elements within the PWA Configuration, Projects, and Sites and saving them to the selected storage.
At the time and for comparison, here's the process of backup using G.A. Suite:
- Create a Daily, Weekly, and/or Monthly backup schedule, and select the content to back up, G.A. Suite service will automatically launch a backup according to these settings on the date and time that you provide.