Qlik SaaS: Automating QVD Generation from CSV

[Narz]

Hi,
Current approach:
Data is extracted from various regions (e.g., UK, HK, SG) and stored as CSV files. These CSV files are then centralized in one location through FTP. QlikView directly connects to the main location system, where the extractor fetches data from the CSV files and stores it in QVDs. This process repeats daily.

Proposed approach: (migration from QlikView to QS Cloud)
1. All the client machines will have Qlik Data Transfer installed, to aid in uploading the CSV files from local to the Qlik cloud.
2. Main location systems to follow the same process of extracting the data from Oracle into CSV files and later pushed to cloud.
3. The Qlik Data transfer will behave like a file watcher and will automatically upload any new or updated files to the Qlik Data cloud.
4. The Qlik Sense extractor will pick these CSVs and store them in QVDs.
5. The Qlik Sense Dashboard will make use of these QVDs in the respective dashboards.

Please clarify on the below:
1. Should we get all the excel files to one central location via FTP and have Qlik Data Transfer installed on that machine to upload to Qlik Cloud?
2. Should we install Qlik Data Transfer in all the client machines to avoid the step of FTP transfer? If yes, can Qlik Data Transfer be installed on multiple machines pointing to one Qlik SaaS instance?
3. Can we organize the store of QVDs created from all the Excel files in folders/sub-folders like it is usually done in a Client managed instance? For e.g., respective folders/sub-folders for each department related data?
4. Is there a method by which we can take the QVD files out of the Qlik cloud instance? Like in a client managed instance we can copy the QVD using a simple file copy mechanism, if required.
5. Will it be easy to acquire a cloud storage option, so that previous step of copying QVDs can be easier? This was customer will have control on the QVD and the Qlik Sense script (to be placed externally).

Thanks.

[Narz]

I understand that this is an implementation query, however, I just wanted to understand the possibility and we can take it up from there. I did check in the community and didn’t find anything useful. I also tried to explore in the Qlik SaaS subscription we have and only saw, [‘lib://AttachedFiles/*.*] folder here. I can’t find the option to create sub folders here. This is the query the customer has before they move from QlikView to Qlik Sense SaaS.

Thank you.

[Leigh_Kennedy]

For what you want to do, I would use a cloud storage option such as S3.  This should be in the same region as your tenant. 

As to some of your points:

• #3, you can create folders in Qlik Cloud, but they are not properly supported by the UI, which makes it difficult to manage and loses some of the benefits.  This is currently a roadmap item to address.  If you use external storage you do not have that issue. 
• #4, currently, there is no direct way to export files - you would need to load them and then use the store command to write them to the destination.
• #5 - yes, it will be easier with external storage, at least today.

Regards.