Microsoft Project conversion to P3 expectations

There is a technical paper on my web site www.eh.com.au on converting P3/STW to and from MSP.

Regards

Paul E Harris
Director
Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd

Uh oh!

This is going to be difficult especially of you want to be organized about it. One of your major problem would be activity coding, expecially if you need to convert multiple MSP schedules into a P3 project group.

I anticipate that you would have problems with most if not all the items under the Data Menu.

Too long to expound here.

Jorge

I have tackled this conversion many times. It is not too bad to do, just make a cup of coffe, get comfortaable and allow sufficient time without interruption.

Topic activities in P3

Can anyone help? I have converted a MS Project 2000 programme to P3 but forgot to outdent all the activities before converting. The result is that now I keep getting Topic activities showing in P3 but can’t change them. If I create new tasks to replace the topic activities, and then delete the topic activities, P3 then changes the activity above from a task to a topic activity. Does anyone have a fix for this? Unfortunately I can’t re-do the import conversion because I have made many changes to the programme since.

I still suggest to re-do the import, then use some tools, like ClaimsDigger, PrimaPlan Project Investigator, etc to compare the 2 projects to list the differences. Then input those difference to the new one. I assume the difference are major your previous effort.

Dear All!
Please, kindly do me favor pls. I have tried all the instructions from you on this site. Thanks a lot. But since I tried to download this MPPtoMPX.exe from Primavera site, I can not register my P3 software, because its said my software is old in version, although my software is licensed officially ordered from Primavera itself by my company. Pls. kindly suggest how to solve the problem with convertion of MS Project 2000 files to P3. It is extremely important for me. May someone can forward me MPPtoMPX.exe utility already downloaded or there is another clue? My e-mail address guseinm@hotmail.com , corporate GMamedov@mqs.az

You can also try:

• saving your MSP2000 project in MSP98 format and use MSP98 to generate an .MPX
• the free MPX2000 applet from Sciforma Corp.
• the (commercial) MPX Translator plug-in from Bluewater Project Management Services, LLC

I would suggest you contact Primavera directly with any licensing issues you may be experiencing with their software.

Bernard Ertl
InterPlan Systems Inc. - Project Management Software, Project Planning Software

THNX!!

I CONVERTED MSP IN TO P3 BUT THE PROBLEM NOW I AM FACING IS THAT P3 IS NOT TAKING MSP’S WBS DIRECTLY...
ANY SOLUTION ...PLZ.

THNANK YOU.

You can fill a text field in MSP with the value of your WBS before you convert, and during conversion it can be made an Activity code. After that you can make the WBS equal to the Activity code you created with a global change.

Regards Alphons

If I remember correctly P3 imports the WBS codes but not descriptions.

On the Primavera webs site Solution ID: 200252492644 supplies an Excel spreadsheet that can be used import the WBS codes and descriptions from MSP to P3.

You should be able to copy & paste the MSP WBS codes and summary task descriptions from MSP to the Excel Spreadsheet and then upload them to P3.

I have not specifically done this operation myself, but I often import Activity Code and Activity ID descriptions. If I had many WBS descriptions to upload, then this would be my approach.

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

P3’s import facility can only be used to import activity data. You can’t use this facility to modify dictionaries (e.g. WBS structure). To do this, you will need to either input it manually in P3 or use Batch Processing.

Please refer to the documentation included in your software for this.

Note: It’s quite difficult to use WBS in P3, but it’s a breeze in MSP and P3e. This is the reason you’re having quite a hard time importing from MSP. The technical process is easy. It’s the rework that’s a pain. Consider using P3e.

Jorge

Hello Jorge, There are two import utilities, You make use of activity.xls. There is also dictionary.xls. With this tool you can indeed fill WBS and also Resources, Custom data items,Cost account information. Regards.

Hi Alphons,

I didn’t know that. I use Batch File to do it. Thank you very much for the information. This should make things much easier.

Do you have the utility? Or can you tell me where to get it?

Cheers,

Jorge

hi all!

i just converted msp programme in to mpx to convert in p3,
the problem i am facing is that, earlier the duration of the activities were in days & now they have automatically converted in hours in mpx programme which i want to be in days.
2nd problem is thatwhn i am conerting mpx programme in p3, the main task is coming as TOPIC & NOT AS HAMMOK.

IF ANY BODY CAN HELP IN THAT.

THNX & REGARDS

DURGESH MISHRA

SIEMENS-ETA CONSORTIUM

hi all!

i just converted msp programme in to mpx to convert in p3,
the problem i am facing is that, earlier the duration of the activities were in days & now they have automatically converted in hours in mpx programme which i want to be in days.
2nd problem is thatwhn i am conVerting mpx programme in p3, the main task is coming as TOPIC & NOT AS HAMMOK.HOW TO CHANGE IT AS HAMMOK ACTIVITY TYPE.

IF ANY BODY CAN HELP IN THAT.

THNX & REGARDS

DURGESH MISHRA

SIEMENS-ETA CONSORTIUM

Durgesh,
1. Topic activities are specific to SureTrak; they "summarize informations about the activities that are subordinate to it", they have no duration of their own, their duration is the elapsed time between the start of the 1st of their subordiante activities and the end of their last subordinate activities, i.e. they are very closed to hammock activities, the main difefrence being that a hammock is created by the user and a topic by the software.
2. I have just tried once again to convert a small mpp file with duration in days to mpx to p3 (by using sciforma mpx2000 utilitiy) and my p3 plan is well in days.
Alexandre

Durgesh,

1. Activity Durations: You may want to do a global change to divide all durations by 8 to convert from hourly durations to days. Or you may want to export Act ID and OD to excel, divide all ODs by 8, and import back into P3.

2. MS Project uses sub-activities to handle WBS. Primavera handles it differently. Since you’re moving to P3, you have to decide if you’re going to use Activity Coding and/or WBS. In any case, you may delete these topic activities from MSP. But you’ll have to create a project structure (Act Coding or WBS) to categorize your detailed activities.

This is what I meant by "doing some work" when converting from MSP to P3. It’s never a straighforward thing. One time I converted a small schedule from MSP to P3 and it took me a loooong time. I should have just done it in P3 from scratch instead of importing the schedule.

Goodluck.

Jorge