XLS Resource imports in P5

Hi Kevin
As far as I know this was solved by a service pack. In 5.0 "native" it didn’t work.

Regards
Dieter

Hi Kevin,

Yes you can import resource from excel easily. In P3e there are 5 excel sheet names in importing columns from excel. TASK for Activites, TASKPRED for Activities Relationship, PROJCOST for Expenses, RSRC for Resources, TASKRSRC for Resource Assignments. Aside from these sheet names(codes) you also have to assign correct column CODES on every activity. Like for example, the code for Activity ID is “task_code” and for Original Duration is “target_drtn_hr_cnt” and so on.

So if you want to import resources from excel your sheet name should be RSRC, you can name any file name of your file but your excel sheet name should be RSRC. Your column might be; rsrc_short_id or Resource ID, rsrc_name or Resource Name, rsrc_type or Resource Type and so on.

You can check your imported resource by clicking assign resource then find that resource in a search area.

cheers,

Arvin (nivs_sluck@yahoo.com)

Hello Arvin,

I know how it ’should’ work but unfortunately, like a lot of software, what actually happens is quite different.

I am hoping P6 solves this undocumented issue.
Keep Planning,

Kevin.

There is a distinct difference between the way P3 imports and P5. To import Resources, Activity Codes, Calendars etc in P5 the Resource, Activity Codes, Calendars etc has to exist in the database first. P5 will not create these data items on import in the way P3 does.

If you have a large amount of Resources to import then you will probably have to use RA.

Paul E Harris
Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
Planning and Scheduling Training Manual & Book Publishers & Consulting
www.eh.com.au

Hi Paul,

Does P6 address this issue at all ?

Thanks,

Kevin.

In P3 the database index field is the Resource Name or Activity Code and can be created on import.

In Primavera Enterprise the index field is hidden from the user and is created when a data item is created by the user but cannot be imported as part of an activity import. You will see in the log file that the data is ignored.

I doubt there will be no change with version 6, unless other import tools are developed.

Paul E Harris
Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
Planning and Scheduling Training Manual & Book Publishers & Consulting
www.eh.com.au

A way to get around the import problems with Excel is to copy/paste the Excel file into MSP. Then create a dummy activity in the MPP, assign all resources to the dummy activity, and then import the MPP. (make sure you use the resource initials as key and that these are unique).

I’ve used it a lot and it works fine!

When importing from excel you need to have the correct tab name for the table that it is going to aswell as the correct column headers.

In order for you to align correctly, export the already created project to xls, but make sure that you select the resources and resources assignments check box too.

Then go through the tabs and populate the information according to the columns.

Take that same xls file with your updates and import the xls file back into P5.

You should be set at this point, but to be honest, I don’t trust any data going in and out of P5 this way. QA my friend...

Hope this helps...