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historical-data-manager

Extract, clean, and organize legacy construction data from archives. Migrate historical project data, cost records, and schedules into modern formats.

Install / Use

npx skills add datadrivenconstruction/DDC_Skills_for_AI_Agents_in_Construction --skill historical-data-manager

Installs into whichever agent you are using.

About this skill
📄

SKILL.md

Installable skill definition

Quality Score

91/100

Supported Platforms

Universal

Our assessment of historical-data-manager

historical-data-manager scores 91/100 on our quality scale, 1301st of 4,601 Development & Engineering skills we index (top 29%).

Its SKILL.md is 15 KB long, well organised into 16 sections with 4 code examples: a thorough specification that gives an agent plenty to work with.

It has 333 GitHub stars, a meaningful sign that others use it.

Substance
30/30
Structure
20/20
Description
15/15
Adoption
11/20
Freshness
15/15

Maintenance, license and trust

  • The repository was last updated about 2 months ago, so historical-data-manager is actively maintained.
  • It is released under the MIT license, a permissive license that allows use, modification and commercial use with attribution.
  • Its trust signals score 100/100, with no cautions. These come from repository metadata, not a code audit — read the skill file before letting an agent act on it.

historical-data-manager compared with similar skills

All 4 of these similar skills score higher than historical-data-manager; compare them before choosing.

SkillScoreStarsUpdatedFormat
historical-data-manager (this skill)by datadrivenconstruction9133356d agoSKILL.md
Agent-Reachby Panniantong10098.3k2d agoCLAUDE.md
taste-skillby Leonxlnx10098.1k2d agoCLAUDE.md
headroomby headroomlabs-ai10075.5ktodayCLAUDE.md
ai-job-searchby MadsLorentzen10048.8k1d agoCLAUDE.md

Frequently asked questions

How do I install historical-data-manager?
Run npx skills add datadrivenconstruction/DDC_Skills_for_AI_Agents_in_Construction --skill historical-data-manager. The install tabs above show the steps for each supported agent.
Which AI agents does historical-data-manager work with?
It is written for Universal, as a SKILL.md file. Other agents that read the same format can often use it too.
Is historical-data-manager safe to use?
It is MIT-licensed and scores 100/100 on trust signals. Skills are instructions an agent will follow, so read the file before installing it and do not approve commands you do not understand.
Is historical-data-manager still maintained?
The repository was last updated about 2 months ago, so historical-data-manager is actively maintained.

name: "historical-data-manager" description: "Extract, clean, and organize legacy construction data from archives. Migrate historical project data, cost records, and schedules into modern formats." homepage: "https://datadrivenconstruction.io" metadata: {"openclaw": {"emoji": "📚", "os": ["darwin", "linux", "win32"], "homepage": "https://datadrivenconstruction.io", "requires": {"bins": ["python3"]}}}

Historical Data Manager for Construction

Overview

Manage legacy construction data from archives, old systems, and historical records. Extract, clean, normalize, and migrate data into modern formats for analysis and benchmarking.

Business Case

Construction companies accumulate decades of project data in various formats:

  • Paper records scanned to PDF
  • Legacy database exports (Access, dBase, FoxPro)
  • Old spreadsheet formats (Lotus 1-2-3, early Excel)
  • Proprietary software exports
  • Project closeout documentation

This skill helps extract value from historical data for:

  • Cost benchmarking and trending
  • Productivity analysis over time
  • Risk pattern identification
  • Estimating improvement

Technical Implementation

Historical Data Extractor

from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from typing import List, Dict, Any, Optional
from datetime import datetime
from pathlib import Path
import pandas as pd
import re
import json

@dataclass
class HistoricalRecord:
    project_id: str
    project_name: str
    year: int
    data_type: str  # cost, schedule, labor, material
    original_format: str
    extracted_data: Dict[str, Any]
    quality_score: float
    notes: List[str] = field(default_factory=list)

class HistoricalDataManager:
    """Manage extraction and normalization of historical construction data."""

    def __init__(self, archive_path: str):
        self.archive_path = Path(archive_path)
        self.records: List[HistoricalRecord] = []
        self.normalization_rules = self._load_normalization_rules()

    def scan_archive(self) -> Dict[str, int]:
        """Scan archive and categorize files by type."""
        file_types = {}

        for file_path in self.archive_path.rglob('*'):
            if file_path.is_file():
                ext = file_path.suffix.lower()
                file_types[ext] = file_types.get(ext, 0) + 1

        return file_types

    def extract_from_legacy_excel(self, file_path: str, year: int) -> List[HistoricalRecord]:
        """Extract data from legacy Excel files."""
        records = []

        try:
            # Try different engines for old formats
            try:
                df = pd.read_excel(file_path, engine='openpyxl')
            except:
                df = pd.read_excel(file_path, engine='xlrd')

            # Detect data type from content
            data_type = self._detect_data_type(df)

            # Normalize column names
            df = self._normalize_columns(df)

            # Extract project info
            project_info = self._extract_project_info(df, file_path)

            record = HistoricalRecord(
                project_id=project_info.get('id', f'LEGACY-{year}-{hash(file_path) % 10000}'),
                project_name=project_info.get('name', Path(file_path).stem),
                year=year,
                data_type=data_type,
                original_format='excel',
                extracted_data=df.to_dict('records'),
                quality_score=self._assess_quality(df)
            )
            records.append(record)

        except Exception as e:
            print(f"Error extracting {file_path}: {e}")

        return records

    def extract_from_csv(self, file_path: str, year: int) -> HistoricalRecord:
        """Extract data from CSV files with encoding detection."""
        # Try different encodings
        encodings = ['utf-8', 'latin-1', 'cp1252', 'iso-8859-1']

        for encoding in encodings:
            try:
                df = pd.read_csv(file_path, encoding=encoding)
                break
            except:
                continue

        df = self._normalize_columns(df)
        data_type = self._detect_data_type(df)

        return HistoricalRecord(
            project_id=f'CSV-{year}-{hash(file_path) % 10000}',
            project_name=Path(file_path).stem,
            year=year,
            data_type=data_type,
            original_format='csv',
            extracted_data=df.to_dict('records'),
            quality_score=self._assess_quality(df)
        )

    def extract_from_database_export(self, file_path: str, db_type: str) -> List[HistoricalRecord]:
        """Extract data from legacy database exports."""
        records = []

        if db_type == 'access':
            # Read Access MDB/ACCDB files
            import pyodbc
            conn_str = f'DRIVER={{Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb, *.accdb)}};DBQ={file_path}'
            conn = pyodbc.connect(conn_str)

            # Get all tables
            cursor = conn.cursor()
            tables = [row.table_name for row in cursor.tables(tableType='TABLE')]

            for table in tables:
                df = pd.read_sql(f'SELECT * FROM [{table}]', conn)
                # Process each table...

            conn.close()

        return records

    def normalize_cost_data(self, records: List[HistoricalRecord], base_year: int = 2026) -> pd.DataFrame:
        """Normalize historical cost data to current dollars."""
        # RSMeans historical cost indices (example values)
        cost_indices = {
            2015: 0.82, 2016: 0.84, 2017: 0.87, 2018: 0.90,
            2019: 0.93, 2020: 0.95, 2021: 0.98, 2022: 1.02,
            2023: 1.06, 2024: 1.10, 2025: 1.14, 2026: 1.18
        }

        normalized_data = []

        for record in records:
            if record.data_type == 'cost':
                year_index = cost_indices.get(record.year, 1.0)
                base_index = cost_indices.get(base_year, 1.18)
                escalation_factor = base_index / year_index

                for item in record.extracted_data:
                    if 'amount' in item or 'cost' in item:
                        original_cost = item.get('amount') or item.get('cost', 0)
                        normalized_item = item.copy()
                        normalized_item['original_cost'] = original_cost
                        normalized_item['normalized_cost'] = original_cost * escalation_factor
                        normalized_item['escalation_factor'] = escalation_factor
                        normalized_item['original_year'] = record.year
                        normalized_item['project_id'] = record.project_id
                        normalized_data.append(normalized_item)

        return pd.DataFrame(normalized_data)

    def _detect_data_type(self, df: pd.DataFrame) -> str:
        """Detect type of data from column names and content."""
        columns_lower = [c.lower() for c in df.columns]

        if any(c in columns_lower for c in ['cost', 'amount', 'price', 'total', 'budget']):
            return 'cost'
        elif any(c in columns_lower for c in ['start', 'finish', 'duration', 'task', 'activity']):
            return 'schedule'
        elif any(c in columns_lower for c in ['hours', 'labor', 'worker', 'crew']):
            return 'labor'
        elif any(c in columns_lower for c in ['material', 'quantity', 'unit', 'supplier']):
            return 'material'
        else:
            return 'unknown'

    def _normalize_columns(self, df: pd.DataFrame) -> pd.DataFrame:
        """Normalize column names to standard format."""
        column_mapping = {
            r'proj.*id': 'project_id',
            r'proj.*name': 'project_name',
            r'desc.*': 'description',
            r'qty|quantity': 'quantity',
            r'unit.*cost|unit.*price': 'unit_cost',
            r'total|amount': 'amount',
            r'start.*date': 'start_date',
            r'end.*date|finish.*date': 'end_date',
            r'dur.*': 'duration',
        }

        new_columns = {}
        for col in df.columns:
            col_lower = col.lower().strip()
            for pattern, new_name in column_mapping.items():
                if re.match(pattern, col_lower):
                    new_columns[col] = new_name
                    break

        return df.rename(columns=new_columns)

    def _assess_quality(self, df: pd.DataFrame) -> float:
        """Assess data quality score (0-1)."""
        if df.empty:
            return 0.0

        scores = []

        # Completeness: % of non-null values
        completeness = 1 - (df.isnull().sum().sum() / df.size)
        scores.append(completeness)

        # Column quality: has meaningful column names
        meaningful_cols = sum(1 for c in df.columns if len(c) > 2 and not c.startswith('Unnamed'))
        col_quality = meaningful_cols / len(df.columns)
        scores.append(col_quality)

        # Row count: more data is better (capped at 1.0)
        row_score = min(len(df) / 100, 1.0)
        scores.append(row_score)

        return sum(scores) / len(scores)

    def _extract_project_info(self, df: pd.DataFrame, file_path: str) -> Dict[str, str]:
        """Extract project info from data or filename."""
        info = {}

        # Try to find project info in data
        for col in df.columns:
            if 'project' in col.lower() and 'id' in col.lower():
                info['id'] = str(df[col].iloc[0]) if not df[col].empty else None
            if 'project' in col.lower() and 'name' in col.lower():
                info['name'] = str(df[col].iloc[0]) if not df[col].empty else None

        # Fallback to filename
        if 'name' not in info:
            info['name'] = Path(file_path).stem

        return info

    def _load_normalization_rules(self) -> Dict:
        """Load rules for normalizing legacy data."""
        return {
            'unit_conversions': {
                'M': 1000,  # Thousand
                'C': 100,   # Hundred
                'LF': 1,    # Linear Foot
                'SF': 1,    # Square Foot
                'CY': 1,    # Cubic Yard
            },
            'date_formats': [
                '%m/%d/%Y', '%m/%d/%y', '%Y-%m-%d',
                '%d-%b-%Y', '%B %d, %Y'
            ]
        }

    def generate_migration_report(self) -> str:
        """Generate report on migrated data."""
        report = ["# Historical Data Migration Report", ""]

        # Summary
        report.append("## Summary")
        report.append(f"- Total Records: {len(self.records)}")

        by_type = {}
        by_year = {}
        for r in self.records:
            by_type[r.data_type] = by_type.get(r.data_type, 0) + 1
            by_year[r.year] = by_year.get(r.year, 0) + 1

        report.append("\n### By Data Type")
        for dt, count in sorted(by_type.items()):
            report.append(f"- {dt}: {count}")

        report.append("\n### By Year")
        for year, count in sorted(by_year.items()):
            report.append(f"- {year}: {count}")

        # Quality Assessment
        report.append("\n## Data Quality")
        avg_quality = sum(r.quality_score for r in self.records) / len(self.records) if self.records else 0
        report.append(f"- Average Quality Score: {avg_quality:.2%}")

        low_quality = [r for r in self.records if r.quality_score < 0.5]
        if low_quality:
            report.append(f"\n### Low Quality Records ({len(low_quality)})")
            for r in low_quality[:10]:
                report.append(f"- {r.project_name} ({r.year}): {r.quality_score:.2%}")

        return "\n".join(report)

Legacy System Connectors

class LegacySystemConnector:
    """Connect to various legacy construction systems."""

    @staticmethod
    def read_timberline_export(file_path: str) -> pd.DataFrame:
        """Read Sage Timberline (now Sage 300) export files."""
        # Timberline exports typically have specific format
        df = pd.read_csv(file_path, encoding='cp1252')

        # Map Timberline columns to standard
        

Truncated for display — read the full file on GitHub.

Related Skills

View on GitHub
GitHub Stars333
CategoryDevelopment
Updated1mo ago
Forks82

Languages

Python

Trust signals

100/100

From repository metadata: license, adoption, age and documentation. Not a code audit — see the Safety scan above for what the skill file itself contains.

No cautions
historical-data-manager — Universal Skill: Install & Safety Check | SkillAgent