Tutorial Info
- Program: Primavera P6 Professional
- Version: all versions
- Difficulty: Advanced
- Time to Complete: 20 minutes
Occasionally we revisit some of our reader’s favourite posts from the annals of the PlannerTuts tutorial library, and today we’re revisiting a topic that is always hot – importing updates from excel. This video tutorial was first published on September 30th, 2011 and was very popular. Let’s take a look!
Often large projects demand many sub-teams or subcontractors update a portion of the master project plan on an on-going basis.
If your subcontractors are not up to speed on their primavera skills, you may need a solution that simplifies gathering updates and getting them into Primavera.
Enter Excel….and Primavera’s export- to-excel feature.
This video tutorial will walk you through the process of filtering and exporting a subcontractor’s activities to excel and reimporting the updated spreadsheet into P6.
18 Responses
Your Comments
Hi Micheal
When building a new project in P6, I will usually will receive my data in Excel format. I create a project in P6 with 1 activity then export the fields that I need to Excel. Next I copy and paste activity names etc. (trying to save key strokes) from the Excel data. I can import the names etc. but the dates/resource qty’s will not import properly to P6. I watched your tutorial and appear to be doing what you have done. I input the qty’s as a text file but it still does not import properly….help
Paul
Paul,
One thing to note is that not all fields can be updated from Excel. If you look at exported data in Excel, you’ll notice that in Row 2 (the 2nd header row), some fields have an asterisk (*) in the column name. Those fields with an asterisk can’t be populated with Excel data. “Start Date” and “Finish Date” or two likely candidates that can’t be updated. That’s because Primavera calculates those fields and populates them. So, my first question is – Are you trying to populate data into a field that is non-updatable?
If the answer to the above is “no”, then I would probably ask if every cell that has data in it in the excel import file has a leading aspostrophe? EG: ‘A1020 or ’4 or ‘Paul McCartney . Those leading apostrophes need to be there for the import to work. In the tutorial, I mentioned a free excel plug-in called ASAP tools that has a feature to help with this.
One last mention would be about import the right data on the right excel tab. For example, to import resource assignments, the resource must specified on the TASKRSRC excel tab. If you don’t have this tab in your file it might be because of the options you picked on the first export. You have to make sure to check the appropriate data on the “Export Type” screen when running the export wizard.
Paul, hopefully, some of these suggestions point you in the right direction. Please reply back if you’re still having problems and I will see if I can dive in some more to help you out.
Happy planning!
Michael
Hi Michael,
Greetings from Brazil !
I try to use the SDK in Primavera. My version is 8.1.
I already conclude the installation process, but when I need to enter the name and password I can´t stablish a connection with the database.
Can you help me ?
I need to solve this situation very quickly because I need to convert my WBS into a activity-code basis, using the tutorial displayed in this website.
Regards,
Bruno.
Hi Bruno,
You’ll need to send me more information – are you getting an error message? What is happening on login?
Before you can login using the SDK, the user you are logging in with (most likely “admin”?) needs proper security privileges – make sure the user has the Global Profle .
FYI: Bruno’s question relates to another post here -> http://www.plannertuts.com/tutorials/how-to-convert-a-projects-wbs-to-activity-codes-in-oracle-primavera-p6-464/
Send me more info Bruno…and would you mind posting your next comment on the other tutorial…thanks!
Michael
Dear Michael-
Thanks for your Tutorials.
Question->
As per Comment above-
For Updating via Excel-Should not the following be “Editable” in Excel-
Actual Start/Actual Finish/Percent Complete/Remaining Duration/Expected Finish?
Just as an Example-the Expected Finish when Exported has an Asterisk in the Column Header->Which should not be.
expect_end_date
(*)Expected Finish
Could you please confirm in your reply which of the above Fields are “Editable” In Excel by Sub-Contractors-that is not having an Asterisk in the Column Headers?
Thanks Very Much-
Aftab Khan
Hi Aftab,
Unfortunately, many fields that you think would be editable in Excel for reimport are not. I do not know why Expected Finish has an asterisk and is not editable.
However, for me there is no asterisk on
- Actual Start / Finish
- Activity % Complete
- Remaining Duration
- Activity Status
Meaning that these ARE editable in Excel for re-import.
Hope that helps,
Michael
Thanks Michael-
Question->Did the Field for “Expected Finish” Give You an Asterisk in concerned “Column” when Exported from P6 to Excel?
Thanks.
Aftab Khan
Hi Aftab,
Yes there is an asterisk on Expected Finish when exporting that field to Excel. It cannot be updated through excel export / import in P6.
Michael
Hi,
I tried importing to Excel. I have a small problem when I do it.
Some of the activities that primavera imports from excel loose their place on the WBS and move to the top of the program. Is there a way to fix this?
Thanks,
Vijay
Hi Vijay,
Not completely sure. The only thing I can think of is that the data in the wbs_id column in excel was edited so that on the import, P6 doesn’t know the data in that field or can’t link it to an existing WBS. I would check that field before you import to make sure it has valid data in it before you import.
Let me know how it works out,
Michael
Hi
I have a question about WBS UDF in P6 . How can i write thise kind of fild with excel import and export or excel sdk?
Hi Javad,
The only way to import WBS is either using the xer parser http://www.plannertuts.com/tutorials/using-primaveras-xer-file-parser-import-wbs-from-excel-without-the-sdk-840/ or using the SDK http://www.plannertuts.com/tutorials/how-to-import-wbs-from-excel-to-primavera-p6-using-the-sdk-722/ . I would try either of those to import a UDF for WBS.
Hope that helps!
Michael
Michael, It is my first time viewing your website. It is very helpful. It unlocked the export update door for me. Can I highlight rows and add text to make it easier for my subs to know the locations they are updating.
Hi Bob,
I’m sure you can highlight rows by changing cell colors, but adding text is not recommended. P6 is finnicky and won’t import if you edit the column headers, tabs, and add text around. I would do some testing to make sure.
Let us know how you make out.
Michael
Hi Michael,
I’ve problem with the import process from excel to Primavera 6.2.1. The total number of activities that will be imported is around 10.000 – 30.000 activities with 21 fields for each activities.
Currently I’ve to split the data into small number around 2000 activities with 10 fields data and it took around 20 minutes per excel import. I’ve to conduct the process twice a week.
kindly need your advise, may be you have a better way to do this.
Thanking you in advance.
Dear Michael,
Iam trying to import percentage to P6 but i cant , what i did before is exporting xls sheet from P6 then i load the required data including percentage ( physical & duration ) then import to P6 but no percentage come out .
So can you help me ? I just want to know how to transfer percentage from xls to P6 ?
Thanks alot
@Mohamed,
Unfortunately both Physical and Duration % complete can’t be imported from Excel (look for the asterisk in the column name in Excel – indicates that it can’t be updated). The workaround is as follows:
1) Create a User Defined Field for each column and export them to Excel
2) Update the %’s in Excel and re-import
3) Create a Global Change (Tools-> Global Change) to copy the UDF imported-values back to the original fields.
Hope that helps!
Michael
@Michael:
Would this UDF workaround work for setting predecessors and successors?
What about non asterisk fields not importing? In my case, activity codes are not importing.
Thanks.