In a large or ongoing project you might want to store completed data separately from the live database. For example, you might want to store the data separately while you are cleaning it and setting up weighting, etc. The relational MR (RDB) database and UNICOM Intelligence Data File formats are particularly suitable for this purpose because they support updating the data. For example, you can transfer the data to the new database or UNICOM Intelligence Data File (.ddf) and then use the UseInputAsOutput option when you subsequently clean the data and set up weighting.

Exporting UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Server data to another RDB database or to a UNICOM Intelligence Data File is more straightforward than exporting to Quantum and IBM SPSS Statistics because there are no card, column or alias name issues to consider. In addition, the RDB and UNICOM Intelligence Data File formats can handle changes in the structure of the data, provided there are no changes to the data types of any variables. However, you need to be aware of the version issues described in Understanding versions.

If you want to export batches of UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Server data to RDB or a UNICOM Intelligence Data File, there is no need to use a separate XML file to store the date and time of the last interview in the batch. Provided you include the DataCollection.FinishTime variable in the export, you can use that as a global SQL variable, as shown in the examples in GlobalSQLVariables section.