Import data from Excel with main tasks and subtasks
in [Project]
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From: amycwhitfield on 1 Jun 2010 12:11 I'm new to MS Project and need help with importing data from Excel into Project 2000. The data consists of Work Request numbers, individual phase numbers for the Work Request, name of each phase, and (phase) start and end dates. I can open the Excel file in Project and map the fields, however, the data shows up as individual tasks. I need to have the Work Request number and project name be a main, or top-level, task, and the data related to the phases be sub-tasks. Here's an example of how the raw data appears in the Excel file: WorkReq# ProjectName Phase# PhaseName StartDate EndDate Note there's typically more than one phase per Work Request, just trying to keep it simple in the example. Is there a way to specify this within Project, or do I need to change the data layout in the Excel file? Any help, thoughts, etc is greatly appreciated!!!
From: Andrew Lavinsky on 1 Jun 2010 12:25 Try adding a field to the Excel sheet called Outline Level. Populate it with 1,2,3 or 4 (or more) - then import into the corresponding Outline Level field in MS Project. ....or invest in the upgrade to MS Project 2010 and simply cut/paste it from Excel while retaining the outline structure. - Andrew Lavinsky Blog: http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/epm > I'm new to MS Project and need help with importing data from Excel > into Project 2000. The data consists of Work Request numbers, > individual phase numbers for the Work Request, name of each phase, and > (phase) start and end dates. > > I can open the Excel file in Project and map the fields, however, the > data shows up as individual tasks. I need to have the Work Request > number and project name be a main, or top-level, task, and the data > related to the phases be sub-tasks. > > Here's an example of how the raw data appears in the Excel file: > WorkReq# ProjectName > Phase# PhaseName StartDate EndDate > Note there's typically more than one phase per Work Request, just > trying to keep it simple in the example. > > Is there a way to specify this within Project, or do I need to change > the data layout in the Excel file? > > Any help, thoughts, etc is greatly appreciated!!! >
From: JulieS on 1 Jun 2010 18:24 Hi Amy, Is the work request a project in itself or are you trying to combine multiple work requests into one project file? From your brief description, I'm not sure Project will suit what you need. If there are multiple steps to the "Phase" the start and end date for the phase is driven by the subtasks and you cannot specify the Phase start and end. You can import the other data, but importing dates into Project is going to create constraints which will, in turn, go a log way towards defeating using Project. If you want individual line items, consider creating the Excel file with data for each entity (Work Request) on a single row with the details underneath in another row. There are spare text fields you could import some of the additional information into. Please note, this newsgroup was slated to close on June 1. Please visit the forums: http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/addbuz/threads or http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/projectserver2010,projectprofessional2010 I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along. Julie Project MVP Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information about Microsoft Project On 6/1/2010 12:11 PM, amycwhitfield wrote: > I'm new to MS Project and need help with importing data from Excel into > Project 2000. The data consists of Work Request numbers, individual phase > numbers for the Work Request, name of each phase, and (phase) start and end > dates. > > I can open the Excel file in Project and map the fields, however, the data > shows up as individual tasks. I need to have the Work Request number and > project name be a main, or top-level, task, and the data related to the > phases be sub-tasks. > > Here's an example of how the raw data appears in the Excel file: > WorkReq# ProjectName > Phase# PhaseName StartDate EndDate > > Note there's typically more than one phase per Work Request, just trying to > keep it simple in the example. > > Is there a way to specify this within Project, or do I need to change the > data layout in the Excel file? > > Any help, thoughts, etc is greatly appreciated!!!
From: amycwhitfield on 2 Jun 2010 11:35 Thank you both for your replies! Essentially each Work Request is considered it's own project and the phases for the Work Request is the breakdown of the work necessary to complete the entire Work Request. For example one Work Request is to renovate a specific building, and the various phases are: estimating, general construction, plumbing, electrical, painting, etc. Each phase has it's own start and finish date. My manager wants to see all the Work Requests, and phases, displayed in a Gantt chart to see where the Work Requests are overlapping regarding start and finish times in order to better allocate the resources. So I guess the answer to your question Julie is I'm trying to combine multiple work requests into one project file. The data is originally coming from a Crystal Report which does have a Gantt chart but isn't able to handle the large volume of data. My manager has been exporting the data to Excel and then doing a manual copy-paste to get it into Project. On average there's typically 50+ Work Requests with multiple phases per Work Request. I'd like to automate this process via a custom import map but can't seem to figure out how to set it up so that each work request appears as a summary task and the phases appear as sub-tasks. Presently when I import from Excel into Project both the Work Requests and related Phases all show up as individual tasks. I've been reading about Outline levels, codes, and WBS, but do not seem to be grasping how to make use of those concepts to achieve the above. Hope this makes a bit more sense. :-) Will this work if I create a WBS in Project and specify the Work Request number as Level 1 and the Phase number as Level 2? Also, I did see the note about this forum being closed on the 1st and will use the links provided for future questions. Thank you!
From: amycwhitfield on 2 Jun 2010 12:21
It looks like Andrew's suggestion to add an 'Outline Level' field to the Excel file may be the solution I need. The Work Requests have a value of '1' and the phases have a value of '2' for the Outline Level in the Excel file. I created a custom import map in Project with the following fields: Outline Level, ID, Name, Start, and Finish. The 'ID' field corresponds to the Work Request or Phase number and the 'Name' field corresponds to the Work Request or Phase Title from the Excel file. Thus far everything is looking good. I'm going to send a copy of the Project file to my manager for review. Thank you both again so much for your help!!! |