Project Data Operations

​

Overview

Each project row on the Admin Projects page has a process icon (gear icon) that opens a dropdown menu of data operations. These operations manage the project’s data, configuration, and lifecycle. The available options depend on whether the project is active or locked.

---

​

Activating and Deactivating Projects

Use the Project Visibility button (eye icon, top right of the Projects page) to control which projects are live.

​

Activating a Project

Opening the Visibility modal shows all projects in two columns — Active and Inactive. Check a project on the Inactive side to activate it. Activation makes the project visible to non-admin users in all project selectors across every module.

​

Deactivating a Project

Uncheck an active project in the Visibility modal to deactivate it. Deactivation immediately hides the project from users and queues a background archiving process (InActivateProjectDataBackgroundService) that archives the project’s reporting data. The archiving runs asynchronously — the project is hidden immediately but the archiving job may take time to complete. You can deactivate multiple projects at once from the Visibility modal.

---

​

Process Menu Operations

​

Set as Default Project

Designates this project as the one that pre-selects when users open Dash360. Only one project can be the default at a time. Setting a new default clears the previous one.

​

Set / Remove as Favorite

Marks the project with a heart icon. Favorited projects appear at the top of project selection dropdowns across all modules, making them easy to find in large project lists. Selecting this option again removes the favorite designation.

​

Calculate Earned Value

Triggers a recalculation of earned value metrics for the current reporting period. Use this after updating percent-complete values in Quick Status or after approving schedule status updates, to ensure the CPR and EV Curves reflect the latest data.

​

Download IPMDAR Files

Exports Integrated Program Management Data and Analysis Report (IPMDAR) files for this project. IPMDAR is a government-standard reporting format for earned value data.

​

Copy Cost Class

Copies data from one cost class to another within the project. This is a multi-step wizard:

1. Criteria — Choose the scope: Total Project, a specific WBS element, or a specific Work Package.
2. Source — Select the cost class to copy data from (e.g., Budget).
3. Target — Select the destination cost class and the action:
   • Replace — Overwrite the target cost class data with the source
   • Add — Add the source data to whatever already exists in the target
4. Date Range — Limit the copy to a specific period range:
   • All periods
   • After the current reporting period
   • A custom date range

Optionally enable Clear Target Before Copy to wipe the destination cost class clean before applying the copied data.

​

Copy Project

Creates a full duplicate of the project — settings, configuration, and optionally cost estimate data.

1. Enter a name for the new project.
2. Choose whether to copy the project’s code files:
   • If yes, select which code files to copy (creates new independent copies) versus which to share (the new project references the same file as the original).
   • If no, the new project has no code files assigned — you will assign them manually.
3. Confirm. The new project is created as inactive; activate it when ready.

Use Copy Project to create a new project phase, set up a parallel estimating scenario, or use a configured project as a template.

​

Backup Project

Creates a point-in-time backup of the project as an Excel file. The backup captures all resource assignments, cost estimates, time-phased data, schedules, notebooks, and settings. The backup runs as a background Lambda job. A notification in the bell icon tracks progress and provides a download link when complete. Completed backups are also listed on the Backups page.

​

Backup Project to Another Server

Creates a backup file intended for migrating the project to a different Dash360 instance. Options:

• Include Users — embed user records in the backup so they are recreated on the destination server
• Remove Users — strip user references from the backup (useful when the destination server has different users)

Use this when moving a project between environments (e.g., from one client’s server to another).

​

Backup Project (New)

A Lambda-powered backup that uses the newer async export architecture. Provides step-based progress (25% → 50% → 75% → 100%) tracked via the notification bell. Preferred over the standard backup for large projects.

​

Recalculate Project

Rebuilds computed data for the project. Two modes: Entire Project — Rebuilds all EV metrics, subtotals, and reporting data across the whole project. Custom Recalculation — Limit the recalculation to a specific scope: The project row shows an alert color if a recalculation is needed (e.g., after data imports or configuration changes).

​

Recalculate Contingency

Recalculates contingency values for all resource assignments in the project. This option is only shown when both contingency-at-RA-level and show-risk-factors are enabled in the project’s registry settings.

​

Shift Project Dates

Moves all resource assignment dates for the project forward or backward. A two-step wizard:

1. Filter Criteria — Optionally limit the shift to a specific WBS, Work Package, Resource Type, or Cost Class.
2. Shift Method — Choose how to shift:
   • By number of months — enter a positive (forward) or negative (backward) number
   • By specific date — enter the new project start date and Dash360 calculates the shift

The dialog previews the new calculated project start date before you confirm.

​

Respread Resources Linearly by Activity Dates

Redistributes the time-phased cost values of resource assignments using a linear spread across their linked activity dates. Use this after schedule dates change to realign the cost curve to the new schedule timeline.

​

Copy Budget RA Notebook Entries to Earned Resource Assignments

Copies all notebook entries from Budget cost class resource assignments to their corresponding Earned cost class resource assignments. Use this when the Earned RAs need to inherit the same basis-of-estimate documentation as the Budget RAs.

​

Assign All Activity Subtotals as Weights

Automatically assigns the activity subtotal value from each schedule activity as the weight percentage on the linked resource assignment. Use this to initialize the EV weight structure when setting up a new project that has an imported schedule.

​

Assign All Activities and Resource Assignments that Overlap

Scans the project for schedule activities and resource assignments whose date ranges overlap, then marks those relationships. Used during schedule integration setup to identify which activities and RAs are connected by date proximity.

---

​

When to Use Each Operation