Loomio

Export group data

QG Quentin Grimaud Public Seen by 97

It would be nice if we could export group data (members, conversations, decisions), so that we could import it then in a local loomio instance, or at least have a backup in case of a problem of access with the official loomio instance. We could also process decisions, generate statistics, or browse the history of all decisions more easily.

CT

Chris Taklis Tue 14 Jan 2014 4:44PM

i like the idea!!!

RDB

Richard D. Bartlett Tue 14 Jan 2014 8:09PM

Yep, I couldn't agree more!

We've got a first version of this planned and @mixirving has been working on some of the mechanics behind it. There would be a button on your group settings page for 'export group data', which would then run a background process on our servers and email you with a download link when it is ready. For a first stage, the export would be delivered as an SQL dump that will be really easy to import into another Loomio installation.

DU

Wed 15 Jan 2014 3:52PM

Would it be possible to have an rsync type service so we didn't have to do it manually?

This will be an important service for groups/organisations that depend on Loomio for their operation.

RDB

Richard D. Bartlett Thu 16 Jan 2014 8:07PM

@neilmorris I'm not sure, perhaps @robertguthrie can weigh in.

As I understand it, the approach I've described is cheap in development and expensive in computation, so it might be inefficient to run it regularly. At the moment "your data" is not a concept that the database really understands.

Moving to a more computationally efficient process is going to be expensive in terms of development time, and will constrain us as we make changes to the data structure in future.

The whole database is backed up regularly though, so there is not a significant risk to organisations that depend on the service.

DU

Fri 17 Jan 2014 3:37PM

@richarddbartlett :-) I suspect you probably underestimate the risk involved while I probably overestimate the risk. I suspect we'll find a middle way before too long.

I'll be interested in @robertguthrie's comments.

RG

Robert Guthrie Fri 17 Jan 2014 8:09PM

What risk are you talking about Neil? We store our backups on S3, which is a very reliable place to store them. Happy to consider another layer of backup too.

This is backing up the entire Loomio database, which is quite quick and easy to do.

To unwind one group and their users from the rest of the database takes a few hours. You would only do it if you want to move from loomio.org to another loomio installation - not to provide extra redundancy to your group's data.

DU

Sat 18 Jan 2014 5:46PM

@robertguthrie @richarddbartlett It's the fact that only 8% of start ups, such as Loomio, actually succeed in the long term. I'd hate to be in situation where Loomio ran out of money/energy, closed it doors, administrators appointed and we users of it didn't have access to our data, especially in terms of our organisational records if things have all been recorded on Loomio.

While within the Loomio team this is probably an unthinkable scenario, there is a small risk this may happen and therefore I would prefer to have a regular backup of my groups data which I could access, and then restore in my own instance of Loomio.

RDB

Richard D. Bartlett Sun 19 Jan 2014 9:46PM

@neilmorris there is 0% risk that Loomio just switches off one day without warning. In the worst case scenario, we'll be sure to give everyone adequate time to extract their data, using the tool as described above. And of course, if that's unsatisfactory, anyone can always run their own instance.

DU

Sun 19 Jan 2014 10:40PM

If there is a way of manually doing an ‘export of group data’ then there must be a relatively easy way to automate the process of downloading it and exporting it to another server.

RDB

Richard D. Bartlett Tue 21 Jan 2014 8:31PM

@neilmorris yes it could be automated but as I said it is too computationally expensive to be the default for all groups, so I think we could only offer that as a paid service. From a marketing perspective though, I'd hate to advertise that service, because it creates the impression that you're at risk if you don't pay for backups.

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