SQL Server ODS XML Export#

Critical Manufacturing offers a Database XML export functionality for all its entities (Core and User) as well as entity specific exports. This feature is useful for meeting legal and business data long-term archival requirements, storing the database contents in a human readable flat file.

Critical Manufacturing uses an XML based data format. By default, the XML export files generation is triggered when a Material is terminated, and the file contents are stored in a user defined directory with its contents compressed. These files contain all the entities history associated with the respective Material entity.

Also, Critical Manufacturing has a custom report that reads from the generated XML file structure and rebuilds its history.

After Critical Manufacturing installation, and if the end-user needs this functionality, both import and export directories need to be configured in the following Critical Manufacturing configuration entries:

• /Cmf/System/Configuration/Reporting/HistoryArchiving/XMLImportBaseFolder/
• /Cmf/System/Configuration/Reporting/HistoryArchiving/XMLExportBaseFolder/

Both these paths define the base location to where Critical Manufacturing will generate the exports and also from where it should read the files. Usually they both point to the same directory, but the end-user might have a custom backup solution that later moves them to a different location for reading.

By default, the installation process will also setup a Database job that will trigger the XML file generation. This job is called “Critical Manufacturing Export Terminated Materials XML” and it’s scheduled to run daily at 1AM. The used might also deactivate the XML file generation by disabling this job directly at the ODS Database instance.