Personal Data Storage Options

When you install the Process Dashboard, the installer will ask you to select a directory where your personal data will be stored. Time and defect log entries, task completion dates, and all other personal data you enter will be saved into this directory. You can find out the exact location of your data directory by choosing "≡ → Help → About Process Dashboard," then clicking on the Configuration tab.

The installer will suggest a reasonable default location for your data directory, which you may accept. But there are many different possibilities, which are described below.

  Local
Hard Drive
Network
Directory
Cloud
Storage
Enterprise
Server
Ease of setup and ongoing use Easy Hard Moderate Easy
Fast access to personal data
Access personal data while offline
Personal data backed up automatically   ?
Access data from multiple computers
Built-in data sharing controls
Automatic software upgrades
Time machine for historical data

Local Hard Drive

By default, the installer will suggest a data directory location on your local hard drive. This option is the simplest. Here are some of the tradeoffs of this approach:

PRO: Your personal data is always accessible on this computer. You can open your personal dashboard and collect data at any time, even if you have no network connection.
PRO: Local storage helps with data privacy: other people cannot look at your detailed personal data if they cannot read your data files.
CON: Your personal data is only accessible from one computer. If you regularly work on different computers throughout the day, you'll have to select one computer where you will run the Process Dashboard. If you are away from that selected computer, you won't be able to collect data.
CON: Your data can be lost if your hard drive crashes, because your data directory is the only place that contains a complete copy of all your personal data. (It's a common misconception that the data you collect for a team project might be stored in the WBS Editor or the Team Dashboard; but that is incorrect. Those locations only contain the summaries they need to generate team rollups.) You can mitigate this risk by configuring an automatic, external backup of your data.
NOTE: Mac OS X provides special operating-system protections for the Documents directory. Depending on the version of Mac OS X you are running, the dashboard may not be allowed to read and write files that appear under Documents. As a result, you may need to place your personal dashboard data somewhere under ~/Library/Process Dashboard. The installer will suggest this as the default; if you choose another location, be aware that Documents and its subfolders are probably off-limits.

Network Directory

If access from more than one computer is important to you, you can create a personal data directory on a network file server. The general steps are:

  1. Obtain access to a folder on a network file server.
  2. Map or mount the network file server so it is visible to your local computer (for example, as a new lettered drive in Windows, or as a folder under Volumes in Mac OS X).
  3. Create a new, empty folder in that area for your personal data.
  4. When installing the dashboard, enter the path to that folder as the location of your personal data.

This approach is much more complex than using the local hard drive. Here are some of the tradeoffs of this approach:

PRO: Your personal data can be accessed from more than one computer. You can collect data from various computers throughout the day (but note that the dashboard can still only be running on one computer at a time).
PRO: If the network server is managed by your IT department, and they are performing periodic backups, your data will be protected from loss in the case of a local hard drive crash. (But make sure to verify this with your IT department; if they aren't performing backups your data still isn't protected.)
CON: You can only access your personal data when your computer is connected to the same network as the network file server. It will be inaccessible if you don't have a network connection, or if you're traveling and don't have access to a VPN.
CON: File sharing protocols often have very slow performance - especially over a VPN. The dashboard stores data in a large number of fine-grained files, so if your network is slow, it can take an exceptionally long time for the personal dashboard to open or shut down.
CON: The network folder must be mapped/mounted on all the computers you use. These connections can time out and may need to be reestablished manually (especially after changes in network connectivity).
CON: File permissions can be tricky to configure. The files you write from one of your computers must be readable/writable by the other computers you use. And for data privacy, you'll need to make sure the permissions forbid read/write access by other people.
CON: If you use a mix of Windows, Mac OS X, and/or Linux computers, you may encounter insurmountable problems stemming from their differing support for file-sharing protocols. (This could manifest itself as a startup error stating that the dashboard was unable to lock files for writing.)
CON: Network file servers are a 1990's style technology that many IT departments are reluctant to support. With the modern preference toward zero-trust architectures, many organizations are eliminating their network file servers completely.

Cloud Storage

Many cloud storage providers - such as OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, and others - offer desktop sync clients you can install on your computer. These sync clients copy files from your computer to the cloud, and vice versa. They generally work by creating a dedicated folder on your computer's hard drive, then keeping the contents of that special folder synchronized with the cloud.

This functionality provides an easy way to automatically backup your personal data. The general steps are:

  1. Create an account with a cloud storage provider, if you don't already have one. (If you already have a Microsoft 365 or Google account, it comes with cloud storage included. If you don't have one, it's easy to create a free account.)
  2. Download and install the desktop sync client offered by your cloud storage provider. Configure the sync client to start automatically each time you log in to your computer.
  3. Find the dedicated folder that your sync client is managing. Create a new, empty directory somewhere under that folder for your personal data.
  4. When installing the dashboard, enter the path to that new, empty directory as the location of your personal data.

This approach is fairly simple to set up (especially if you've already been using cloud storage). Here are some of the benefits of this approach:

PRO: Your personal data is protected from loss if your hard drive were to crash. The dashboard is writing your personal data into the directory you've chosen, and the sync client is keeping it backed up to the cloud automatically. (But this protection only happens if you keep your sync client running in the background. It the sync client pauses, shuts down, loses its connection, or needs you to log in again, your data won't be protected.)
PRO: Your personal data is always accessible on this computer. The sync client keeps a copy of the files locally, so you can open your personal dashboard and collect data at any time, even if you have no network connection. (Note: some sync clients may have an option to move files to the cloud to save space on your hard drive, then download them on-the-fly they are needed. This option isn't recommended for the directory containing your personal data, because it will result in extremely slow performance.)
PRO: The major cloud storage providers offer robust, zero-trust architectures to protect your data from unauthorized access.
CON: Special steps are required to protect your data if it is being synchronized to more than one computer. See the section below for more information.

Using Cloud Storage to Access Personal Data from Multiple Computers

Cloud storage providers allow you to synchronize your files to more than one computer, if you install their desktop sync client on all computers in question. This approach makes it possible to access your personal data from multiple computers. (But special precautions are needed; see below.) The setup steps are:

  1. Set up a personal dashboard on cloud storage, using the steps described above.
  2. Install the desktop sync client on a second computer. Configure the sync client to use the same cloud storage account as the first computer, and to run each time you log in.
  3. Wait for the sync client to copy all files down from the cloud to this second computer. Find the directory containing your personal data; it will include files like state, pspdash.ini, and global.dat.
  4. Install the Process Dashboard on this second computer. When it asks for the location of your personal data, provide the path to the directory you found in the previous step.
  5. Repeat steps 2-4 for other computers as desired.
IMPORTANT:  You must use extreme caution when using this technique.

When the personal Process Dashboard is running, it expects to have exclusive control over the files in your data directory. (It does not expect those files to be changed by any other program, including the sync client.) To ensure this exclusive control, it locks a file in your data directory on startup, and releases the lock on shutdown. Unfortunately, that lock doesn't work across the cloud storage boundary. As a result, the dashboard can't stop you from opening your personal data on two computers at once.

If you open your personal Process Dashboard on two computers at once, your data is almost certain to be corrupted. The dashboards on each computer will be writing files, each thinking they have exclusive control over the data. One is likely to blindly overwrite changes written by the other. Even worse, if a file is modified in both places at about the same time, the sync client will flag a conflict and create multiple copies of the conflicting file. The dashboard cannot resolve those conflicts (and neither can you).

To avoid these problems, you must faithfully follow the steps below each time you want to change computers where the dashboard is running:

  1. Close the Process Dashboard on the first computer. Wait for all windows to close.
  2. Ensure the sync client on the first computer is active, and wait for it to publish all files to the cloud.
  3. Go to the computer where you'd like to run the Process Dashboard next. Ensure its sync client is active. Wait for it to copy all files down from the cloud.
  4. Open the Process Dashboard on the second computer. Do a quick review to make sure data is as you expect (correct task selected, recent time log entries in place, etc.)

If you only move between computers infrequently, you can follow these instructions fairly easily by keeping your sync client actively running everywhere, closing the Process Dashboard when you're not using it, and being very deliberate about tracking the computer where the dashboard is currently running.

If you're in the habit of moving between computers frequently, the risk of accidentally corrupting your personal data will grow. If you're unable to follow the steps above faithfully, you should consider limiting your dashboard usage to a single computer, or moving your data to an Enterprise Server as described below.

Note: The precautions in this section only apply to the personal Process Dashboard, not to the Team Dashboard. The Team Dashboard can be configured to support cloud-based usage from multiple computers simultaneously.

Process Dashboard Enterprise Server

The Process Dashboard Enterprise Server was purpose-designed to provide specialized storage for team and personal data. It is optimized for fast, reliable access, and eliminates many of the challenges described above. The general steps for using the Enterprise Server are:

  1. Obtain an account on a Process Dashboard Enterprise Server.
  2. Log in to the Enterprise Server in your web browser. After successfully logging in, the main home page is the "My Datasets" view.
  3. Click the "Process Dashboard" link on the "My Datasets" page. This will download a small file with instructions to launch your personal dashboard.
  4. Your server-based personal dashboard will open.
  5. You can open your server-based personal dashboard from as many other computers as you like. Just log in to the Enterprise Server through your web browser and click the "Process Dashboard" link on the "My Datasets" page. If you've installed the Process Dashboard Launcher, you can also use its application icon to open your dashboard.

The Enterprise Server provides a number of benefits:

PRO: Your data is safely backed up to the server at all times, and won't be lost if your hard drive crashes.
PRO: You can access your data from any number of different computers (including a mix of Windows / Mac OS X / Linux computers) without worrying about locks or corruption. It is still only possible to have the dashboard open on one computer at a time, but the server enforces that constraint reliably.
PRO: Dashboard operations are not affected by the speed of your network. Startup and shutdown times remain consistent, even over a slow VPN.
PRO: If you need to let a coach or team leader access your data, you can grant them permissions.
PRO: You don't need to manually upgrade the Dashboard when new versions of the software become available. The server administrator can push software upgrades automatically.
PRO: A "time machine" feature makes it possible to see what your data looked like at an arbitrary time in the past. This can assist with postmortem analysis, data recovery, and more.

Changing the Location of Personal Data

To change your data directory between the various file-based location types (local / network / cloud), follow these steps:

  1. Close the dashboard if it is running.
  2. Manually move your data directory to the new location, using an application like File Explorer / Finder / etc.
  3. Run the Process Dashboard installer again. When it asks you for the location of your personal data, enter the path to the new directory location. Then finish the remaining steps in the installer, and let it recreate your shortcuts. This will update your shortcuts to point to the new location.
  4. Use your shortcut to open the dashboard, and make sure your data is present as expected.

If you wish to move your personal data into the Enterprise Server, just use the computer that is currently hosting your data to open your server-based dataset for the first time. The dashboard will see that your server-based dataset is empty, will notice the existing data on your computer, and will offer to migrate the data in automatically.