A Guide for Deleting Program Submission Data
Whether you want to free up database space or simply ‘clean house’, you can delete submission data following the steps in this guide. Before deleting your data, you will likely want to download the data for recordkeeping. Consider what data is important to your organization. For instance, while you may want submission data and the judge scores, you might have no need for the additional scores report. In general, for each program’s data you wish to delete, you will want to
Detailed instructions on how to perform these steps are below. If your goal is to free up storage space, programs with the most fields and submissions will be the ones taking up the most space, so these programs are where you want to concentrate your efforts.
As a courtesy, OpenWater will delete your data for you once per contract renewal. Reach out to your Account Manager to take advantage of this service. You should perform the first 3 steps of this guide prior to requesting data deletion.
Download Submission Data
To download submission data, navigate into the program, then to Submissions > Reports.
In most cases, you will want to download a report with the Complete Submissions data. Feel free to download the report for All Submissions or those marked winners in Won Submissions if applicable to you.
For a standard report, your options are to download them to CSV or XLV:
and the media files will be linked in the reports. However, you can also upload the media files to your organization’s Dropbox. There are numerous report customizations that are possible; this help article explains in more detail how you might customize your report.
Download Judge Scores Data
Next you may want to download the Judge Score Data. To do so, navigate to your program and then to Judges > Reports.
There are a few customization options for the judge scores report, but the default options will give you a report of each application’s scores, rank, winner status, and its assigned judges.
Utilize the other options to generate a more detailed report if desired.
Download Score Data
While the Judge Scores report described in the previous step contains some scoring information, you may want to download the more detailed Scores Report to get your full scoring data. This report will be found under Tools > Scores/Results. Click “Judging Results” beside View All Categories.
On the next screen, click the Export button to download your full scores report.
Delete Submissions
Now that you have your program’s data, you can delete the submission data and clear up storage space. Start by going to Submissions > View All Submissions.
Next, click the checkbox at the top of the list to select all the submissions in the list. Click the “Bulk Actions” button.
Once you click the Bulk Actions button, you will see the option to Delete All Checked Items. Check this option, then click “OK”. On the resulting warning message, click “OK” again.
While you have just deleted your submissions from this program, they are not truly gone; they are moved into a sort of ‘purgatory’ for deleted submissions. There is one more step to truly delete these submissions.
Purge Deleted Submissions
Go to Program Settings > Deleted Applications
You’ll see all the submissions you deleted from your program – they have been moved to this area. To free up storage space, you will need to purge the applications from this area.
Click the box at the top of the list to select all the applications. When you do, a button appears: Purge Checked. Click this button.
Click ‘OK’ on the resulting warning message. You have successfully deleted this program’s data! It’s time now to archive the program so you no longer see it on your dashboard.
Archive Your Program
To archive your program, go to Program Settings > Overview.
Alternatively, from the dashboard, click “Configure Program” to get to the same place.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page, then click the “Archive this program” button.
Repeat these steps for any other programs that you’re ready to delete from the system.
Please note that you may see an increase in the amount of storage your organization utilizes while the system processes the data deletions. These upward fluctuations are known, and you will not be penalized if they push you above your storage limit. The number will settle with time.
Request Purge of Archived Program
Lastly, you can reach out to your support rep with OpenWater. They can make use of the "Program Deletion" tab under "System Settings" to completely purge the program after all applications have been deleted.
Note: "Program Deletion" is only accessibly by OpenWater Staff, so you will have to reach out to have this step completed.
