I am keeping two data sets - one "pristine" data set that will be housed within Apex SQL, and the other data - to be manipulated/ trimmed, re calibrated, etc, within SMS.   I am not sure if SMS archives a complete "virgin" data file with imports - without knowing more about SMS data structure I am only guessing.

 This is simply redundancy for me.    Apex is the portal into and - to some degree out of- the desktop.   I am okay with this.  The parsing issue I was having was complex.  It was an "unbound"  data set from G*, new field, and had other areas that were orphaned to another field due to mis-que by the machine operator.   I have an older operator that is not as facile as he could be- but hey who is these days.  

Typically i handle data clean up through a series of merges, copies, delete.  It's is easy to track changes in that scenario.  Much more hands on and time consuming.  My typical Apex export is through archive manager - which does not see merged/copied data as originals and therefore is not able to be exported in same way.  I think after last night all is good.  It simply is a different workflow in SMS - maybe better, but at least different.