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Exporting to Microsoft Project

The Project Management application enables you to export project and work package actions to Microsoft Project. These actions are exported in a file format that Microsoft Project can read.

To export to Microsoft Project, you select the Import/Export tab from the Management Console. You can access the Management Console from Process Navigator tasks for the Plan, Procure, or Execute processes.

After exporting the actions, you can easily import the project/work package into Microsoft Project and edit the actions using Microsoft Project. There are several guidelines outlined below that you should follow while editing exported files in Microsoft Project if you intend to re-import the files back into Project Management. If you do not intend to re-import a project back into Project Management, you can merge the exported files with other Microsoft Project files.

For information on importing the Microsoft Project file back into Project Management, see the Importing from Microsoft Project task.

Exported Data

When you export project actions, you are exporting actions to an .xml file that is readable by Microsoft Project. You can either export all of a specified project's actions or only the actions for a specified work package. When you export an action, you are exporting a subset of the action item fields. When you export to Microsoft Project, an .xml file is uploaded to the Activity Projects table doc_acts_xfer field or Work Packages table doc_acts_xfer field, depending on whether you are exporting a project's actions or a work package's actions. This file is also copied to your workstation so that the file is available when you want to import it into Microsoft Project for editing.

For information on the database tables used for exporting projects and work packages to Microsoft Project, see the Exporting to Microsoft Project Tables topic.

The following table displays the ARCHIBUS field values that are exported and how they map to the Microsoft Project values. In addition, in cases where entries must be entered as days, (days) is specified.

Note: It is only possible to export from project/work package actions that have one of the following statuses: N/A, Requested, Planned, Scheduled, or In Progress.

Note: The Project Management Export to Microsoft Project action now preserves predecessor information through a round trip to Microsoft Project.

Exporting Project Actions

One option available to you is to export all the actions in a project.

To export actions for an entire project to Microsoft Project:

1. Access the Management Console by selecting a Management Console task in the Process Navigator. For example, select the Execute/Management Console - Plan task in the Process Navigator.

   The Management Console appears with Select Project as the active tab.

2. Select the project that contains the actions that you want to export to Microsoft Project.
   
3. Select the Import/Export tab.

   The Export Project tab becomes active. All of the actions for the specified project are displayed.

4. Click the Export to MS Project button.
   A message informs you that the file has been saved to the Document Management System. This means the file is available in a selection list on the Import tab. The file is saved as <projectname>.xml.
5. Click OK to dismiss the message.
6. Import the file into Microsoft Project and edit the file.

Exporting Work Package Actions

Another option available to you is to export only the actions in a specific work package.

To export actions for a single work package to Microsoft Project:

1. Access the Management Console by selecting a Management Console task in the Process Navigator. For example, select the Execute/Management Console - Plan task in the Process Navigator.

   The Management Console appears with Select Project as the active tab.

2. Select the project that contains the actions that you want to export to Microsoft Project.
   

Select the Import/Export tab.

The Export Project tab becomes active. All of the actions for the specified project are displayed.

3. Select the Export Work Package tab.

All of the work packages for the selected project are listed.

4. Select the work package you want to export.
   All of the actions within the work package that are Scheduled or In Progress are displayed in the right panel.
5. Click the Export to MS Project button.
   A message informs you that the file has been saved to the Document Management System. This means the file is available in a selection list on the Import tab. The file is saved as <projectname-workpackagename>.xml.
6. Click OK to dismiss the message.
7. Import the file into Microsoft Project and edit the file.

Working with Exported Data in Microsoft Project

You will often want to round-trip your data to Microsoft Project and then back to ARCHIBUS, where the task statuses for all projects can be collected and rolled up. To do so, make certain you use a Microsoft Project .xml file created by Web Central. The project file uses a particular naming convention for the tasks that lets ARCHIBUS track existing tasks back to their projects and work packages and identify newly added tasks.

If you choose not to re-import the project file back into Project Management, you can merge the project data with other MS Project files.

Importing the File to Microsoft Project

Use the File/Open command to load the Project Management .xml file in Microsoft Project, and choose the "Import as a new project" option.

Editing Guidelines if Re-importing to Project Management

If you are planning to re-import your project into the ARCHIBUS Project Management application, you must follow the guidelines outlined below while you are editing the project in Microsoft Project.

You can use the following features of Microsoft Project to edit the project:

• Add new tasks. These will be inserted in the ARCHIBUS database when you import and post your changes back to Project Management. New items created in Microsoft Project will have an Activity Type of "PROJECT - TASK", although you can change this to anything you'd like inside ARCHIBUS. (This Activity Type must exist in the validating table before re-importing projects with new tasks into Project Management; the Activity Type field is validated and a required one.)
• Delete items.
  • If work had not yet begun on this action, the task's status will be adjusted to Deleted when you import and post your file to Project Management
  • If work on this action was in progress, the task's status will be adjusted to Stopped when you import and post your file to Project Management.
• Adjust start dates and duration. (Adjusting the End Date in Microsoft Project adjusts the duration.)
• Adjust percentage complete for each task. Tasks marked as 100% complete will be set to Completed when re-imported and posted.
• Assign tasks to personnel using the Resources tab of the Task Information dialog.

Merging Project Management Data with Microsoft Project Files

If you do not intend to round-trip your data and re-import it into Project Management, you can use several other features of Microsoft Project to merge the Project Management data with other Microsoft Project files:

• Use the Project/Insert command to insert the Project Management tasks into another project.
• Use the Import Wizard to append or merge the Project Management tasks with an existing project.
• Use copy-and-paste within Microsoft Project to copy Project Management tasks to another project.