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Organization sync lets a platform administrator copy an organization’s configuration to another environment and keep the two configurations aligned over time. It is designed for a source organization and a target organization that may both change after the initial copy.

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What Sync Includes

Sync works with organization configuration:
  • sites, site groups, units, unit groups, and unit conversions
  • activity definitions
  • datasets and dataset items
  • forms, form elements, form-site assignments, and disabled-element settings
  • indicators, benchmark entities, and benchmarks
  • dashboards, widgets, and targets
  • source adapter definitions and export definitions
  • report templates, sections, choices, and examples
  • record table views and their contribution mappings
  • cron jobs and non-encrypted variables
  • transferable organization settings, which are handled as manual-review items
Users and their assignments can be included during an initial import, but they are not updated by sync preview and apply.

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What Sync Never Changes

Organization sync is not a backup or data migration. It does not copy, update, or delete collected data, including:
  • form submissions and submitted field values
  • activities created from collected data
  • imported data and import run history
  • cron job execution history
Configuration changes can affect how future data is collected or calculated, so the preview marks especially sensitive changes as Data-affecting. It still does not rewrite the collected records themselves.

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The Sync Lifecycle

  1. Export the source organization. The export file contains the source configuration.
  2. Import into an empty target organization. This creates the initial copy and records a link for each imported entity.
  3. Continue working in either environment. Source and target configuration may now diverge.
  4. Preview sync. The preview compares the current source export, the current target, and the state recorded at the last import or sync.
  5. Apply selected changes. New and source-only changes can be applied while target-only changes remain untouched. Conflicts stay unresolved until an administrator chooses an outcome.
  6. Repeat. Each successful apply becomes the comparison point for the next preview.
If an organization was imported before sync tracking existed, or matching entities were created manually on both sides, use Adopt Existing Entities before applying changes.

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How Matching Works

After an import, adoption, or sync, Azalt remembers two things for each matched entity:
  • which source entity corresponds to which target entity
  • what that entity looked like on both sides at the last comparison point
This history enables a three-way comparison. Azalt can distinguish a source change from a target-only change, instead of relying only on names or treating every difference as an overwrite. Names and other identity fields help propose matches during adoption. Once a match is adopted, the stored entity link is used for later previews. For a new target, follow Export and Import. For an existing target without sync links, start with Adopt Existing Entities. Use Preview and Apply Changes for ongoing synchronization.