A data project or configuration data project contains configured data entities, their source data format (Excel, CSV, and XML), mapping, and default processing options (execution sequence or dependency). Configuration data packages are created by using the data import and export projects in the data management workspace. Data projects support the following scenarios:

• Export of configurations: Create configurations of entities and use the data management framework to export them into a package.
• Import of configurations: Upload a configuration package and use the data management framework to import the package.

To export data packages, you simply click on the Export tile in the data management workspace, which opens the configuration data project page, as shown in the following screenshot. You can name the project and add entities to create the data project:

As highlighted and numbered in the preceding screenshot, there are a number of ways you can add data entities to your export data project:

1. Add one entity: Enter the first part of the name of the entity until it appears in the lookup.
2. Add multiple entities: Enter any part of the entity name, use the lookup for the module, enter any part of the tag name, or use the lookup for the entity category to show a list of entities. Press Tab to move the focus away from the lookup field and activate the filter. In the grid, select the entities to add.
3. Add a file: Browse to a file that contains a name that matches the name of an entity and a file name extension that matches the file name extension that is in your data sources.
4. Add a template: Select from a list of templates that you've loaded in your instance.
5. Open in Excel: Another option is Open in Excel, which you can use to edit and publish it back.

After you have added the list of entities in your configuration and sequenced them, you can click on the Export button to export the data project and create a data package. During the export, you can view the execution history of the data project, as follows:

After the export has completed, you can download the packages locally by clicking the Download package button.

Once the configurations have been exported in a data package, they can be imported into another company or environment. The following screenshot shows the setup of such an import project:

As highlighted in the preceding screenshot, to import a data package, you need to simply create the import project and click on the Add file button, then click Upload and add and locate the package file, and finally click the Import button. The import process will begin asynchronously and you can monitor the execution progress on the summary page.

As you've learned, exporting a data project generates the output as a data package that can be imported back into another environment. Details around the data packages concept are explained in the next section.