There is the temptation to think that because you can export a data field from Primavera P6 to Excel that you can import the same data field back to Primavera P6 after manipulating the field’s data in Excel.
If you have ever imported data into Primavera P6 using Excel, you would have experienced instances where despite getting the familiar message of a successful import, some of the changes you made in Excel were not reflected in Primavera P6.
The reason for this is that Primavera P6 uses a relational database (e.g. Oracle XE or SQL Server Express) to store data. In relational databases, not all data you see displayed are stored in the database, some are calculated and these calculated fields cannot be imported into the database.
So to help planners and schedulers identify fields that cannot be imported, Primavera P6 attaches the prefix “(*)” before the title of these fields in the Excel Import file.
From the screen shot above, the following fields cannot be imported into Primavera P6:
- WBS Name
- Start
- Finish
Therefore do not make any changes to the data in these fields as they will not be imported or reflected in Primavera P6 even if you get the message below.
So if you see the prefix “(*) “in the field title in Excel, it is P6 for “Do Not Import Me”.
Thanks for the tutorial and this has been noted.
Tnx Jerome,
but when i put %progress in resource assignment sheet in excel file to unit % com , i change activity status field according to % com field(in exported excel),so if one activity got 100% progress and completed i change the activity status(in resource assignment sheet) from Not started or In Progress to Completed.is this wrong way to do ?
Tnx Jerome,
but when i put %progress in resource assignment sheet in excel file to unit % com , i change activity status field according to % com field(in exported excel),so if one activity got 100% progress and completed i change the (*)activity status(in resource assignment sheet) from Not started or In Progress to Completed.is this wrong way to do ?
Hi Reza,
You should only change “Activity Status” in Activity tab (sheet) as it does not have (*) in its header in Activity tab.
Changing “Activity Status” in Resource tab will not update the activity status.
Kind regards,
Jerome
Very good information for me , Thanks !
Dear Jerome,
I am trying to import activity code from excel but I cannot as the columns have * . Is there anyway to go around this or I cannot import it anyway?
Thanks
Hi Folads,
The Asterisk (*) means you cannot import using traditional Spreadsheet import.
Either use P6 SDK or enter activity codes manually.
I had to import an sheet with activities, durations and start/finish dates from excel. To my astounding I found I out that all activity starts are set at the project start date, not the start date in excel. Is there really no way around this? (NB: I tried to set the primary constraint date to the start dates, but this didn’t work either…)
Hi Walter,
There is no way around this that I know of.
Why would you want to import start and finish dates? Your schedule dates are determined by schedule logic (relationships) and activities duration.
Kind regards,
Jerome
Thank you, Jerome!
I realise I would have to enter links myself, but I wanted to start with a replica of what my colleagues had put into their spreadsheets.
Never mind, I’ll have to do it ‘the proper way’.
Best regards, Walter
Hi Jerome,
Thanks.. My project starts with determining the budgeted labor units… How do I import those as it does not seem to be an importable field?
Chris
Hi Chris,
You can’t import Budgeted Labor Units using the TASK (activities) tab but you can import Budgeted Units using the TASKRSRC (Resource Assignment) tab.
=jerome
I have a revised baseline where i changed a lot of relations, dates, sequence. I want to update the new version using the old version’s last update so here is what I do:
1- Export the new revision to and Excel Sheet
2- Export the old updated revision to a different excel sheet
3- Using Vlookup on Excel, I update the actual dates and Duration % Complete on sheet 1 from sheet 2.
4- I import the excel sheet back to the new revision.
Is there anything I’m missing or is there a better way to do it?
Hi Sir,
How can i import excel budgeted labor units with p6 sdk ??
I do not use SDK so cannot advise on its use but I know that budgeted labor unit is a calculated field so cannot be imported.
=jerome