JobBOSS and JobBOSS² data: export and licensing guide

What does JobBOSS actually store?#

JobBOSS stores the operating history of a job shop from the first quote to the final invoice. Classic JobBOSS and JobBOSS² both organize that history around a few anchors: the quote number, the sales order, the job number, the part number and the operation sequence on each routing. Almost every other record points back to one of them.

The table below is a working record map. Module names and field labels vary by version and by how your shop configured the system, so treat it as a checklist to confirm with whoever administers your install, not as a database schema.

How do you export JobBOSS data without breaking the links?#

A usable JobBOSS export keeps every record family with its original identifiers, so a quote can still be joined to its job, the job to its time tickets and the job to its shipment. Built-in reports are convenient, but they tend to flatten those links, so most shops pair report exports with a full database copy made by IT or their software provider.

Treat the export as a project with a named owner, not a favor from the one person who knows the system. The steps below work for most installs.

• 1Confirm the product and deployment: classic JobBOSS or JobBOSS², on-premises or hosted, and how many years of history the live database still holds.
• 2Ask IT or your software provider for a full database backup, then confirm it can be restored on a different machine.
• 3Export each record family to flat files such as CSV, keeping quote, order, job, operation, part and PO numbers as columns.
• 4Export the lookup tables: work centers, operation codes, customer and vendor codes, part masters, employee IDs and status codes.
• 5Copy the attachments folder separately and keep the path that ties each file to its job or part.
• 6Check the export: compare record counts by year with the live system and confirm that a few closed jobs still join from quote to shipment.
• 7Write down what was exported, when, by whom and from which version, and store the set in company-owned storage.

Does JobBOSS² change the export path?#

JobBOSS² usually changes where your history lives more than what the history is. Shops that have run more than one of these products, for example classic JobBOSS or E2 Shop System before JobBOSS², may have older history in a retired database, newer history in the current system, and a conversion in between that carried some records but not others.

Hosted deployments add a contract question. If the vendor or a partner runs the database, your ability to get a full copy depends on your agreement and the vendor's documentation, not on what the screens allow. Read the data return and termination terms before you plan a migration or cancel support.

Look for that older database before anyone wipes the old server. It often holds the deepest estimate-versus-actual history the shop has, and its codes may differ from today's, so export its lookup tables too.

Which JobBOSS records hold up best?#

The JobBOSS records that hold up best are closed jobs whose routing, time tickets and shipment are all present, because together they show estimate against actual, operation by operation. A quote says a part needs a certain setup and run time on a given work center; the time tickets say what it took; job notes often say why the two differ.

Years in the system matter less than how the shop used it. The checks below need only the person who knows the database, and they tell you which years are worth exporting carefully and which need a note in the coverage log. AI developers building quoting and scheduling tools look for the same plan-versus-actual pairing, which public data rarely shows.

What to leave out: customer drawings, controlled work and pricing terms#

Customer drawings and models attached to quotes and jobs are left out of a JobBOSS data license because they belong to the customer, not the shop. Purchase order terms and NDAs commonly limit their use to quoting and making that customer's parts.

Export-controlled work needs its own pass, and it reaches further than the drawing. Under the ITAR, technical data includes information required to design, manufacture, assemble, repair, test or modify a defense article, including blueprints, drawings, plans and instructions. A routing, setup sheet or job note for a defense part can therefore be controlled even with the drawing removed. Jobs tied to ITAR- or EAR-controlled programs are identified with whoever handles export compliance and removed whole, with their routings and notes. The rest of the preparation list is shorter but just as firm.

• 1Customer drawings, models and specifications stored as attachments or linked files.
• 2Jobs, parts and notes tied to export-controlled programs.
• 3Customer names and contacts, replaced with consistent codes.
• 4Employee names on time tickets, replaced with pseudonymous IDs, and individual pay rates.
• 5Negotiated pricing covered by customer or supplier confidentiality terms.

Illustrative: scoping a job shop's JobBOSS archive#

Illustrative: the fictional owner of a contract machining shop wants to know what part of a long JobBOSS history could be licensed. The office manager fills in the record map above with the person who administers the database and finds three complications.

Older quotes live in estimating spreadsheets rather than in JobBOSS. Labor was posted by operation only after data collection terminals went onto the floor; before that, time was booked to the job as a whole. And the attachments folder mixes customer drawings with the shop's own travelers and setup sheets. One long-standing customer is a defense prime whose jobs carry export-control markings.

The owner sets a narrow scope: quotes, jobs, routings, time tickets and shipments from the years with operation-level labor, for commercial customers only. Spreadsheet quotes are matched to JobBOSS job numbers where possible and listed as excluded where not. The whole attachments folder stays out, because sorting drawings from travelers file by file is not worth the risk, and every job for the defense customer is removed with its notes. Employee names become IDs and pay rates are dropped. The shop then requests a metadata-only fit check describing that scope, while the export stays on its own server.

How SourceX handles a JobBOSS archive#

SourceX treats a JobBOSS archive as one supplier package moving through the SourceX five-step transaction: Supply, Rights, Preparation, Approval and Delivery. During Supply, the fit check asks for the version, years of history, record families and known restrictions, never the files themselves.

If the shop proceeds, preparation strips customer drawings, controlled jobs and personal details, and the owner approves the final scope before Delivery. The records are licensed, not sold, so the shop keeps ownership, and large archives stay on the shop's own storage or ship on encrypted drives. A SourceX Evidence Packet records provenance, licensing rights, permitted use, the privacy record and release authorization for the package.

Typical fit is a company with 50+ full-time employees at peak and several years of operating history. Smaller specialized shops may be reviewed when a buyer requests a specific kind of record.