How to Create a Copy of a Dataset for Practice

A practice dataset can be very useful, it can be used for testing new procedures or training new employees. If you copy the live dataset, you will have your current settings and documents.
***EVERYONE ELSE MUST BE OUT OF AGRIS BEFORE BEGINNING THIS PROCESS***
To copy the live Dataset go to Utilities>Copy Dataset

Select the dataset you wish to copy

The next screen will tell you how much disk space you have available. It will give you the option to copy spooled items, and their size.

Hit yes, it will flash all the files that it is copying. When complete, you will get a message similar to this.


Your dataset is now available to use, but you will want to edit a few things first.
Hit yes for make copied Dataset the current Dataset. If you had a password on the live, it will be the same for the copy. You will still be in copy dataset and need to back out to the main menu.

Go to Maintenance>Dataset Maintenance. You can see that the copied dataset fills in the first available dataset number. Because I had deleted dataset number 8, this copy went into that slot.

Make sure you mark N for live accounting. Change the name to whatever you want. My example is below. I also suggest changing the background picture so there is a visual reminder that people are not in the live dataset.

When setting up a copy dataset for month end or yearend you will want to restrict access to make changes. You can do this by going to Customize>Security settings>Select all the people who will have restricted access>#4 security levels>All Packages. You will want to set it so they can run reports, but not edit data. Since this is a practice dataset, you will want to leave security as it is. You might grab one individual and check that their security matches the security they have in the live. It should match, but I have seen it reset to full access for some strange reason when copying. When you go into security settings and you are looking at the list of individuals, hit the print button, this will bring up the option to print an individual and their security settings. You can do this in both your live and copied set. You don't have to examine every setting, just glance overall that there are no big changes. If one person is good they should all be ok.