Embedding Excel Data into Project

[Barb K]

I would like to embed an Excel 2007 spreadsheet into MS Project 2007 and am
running into some issues.

1. Project does not like the .xslt extension. I must save the worksheet in
2003 format. Is this always necessary?

2. I saw a discussion post from 2006 that said this is prone to error. Have
there been any strides made in the last couple of years?

3. Is there a resource available (online, book, etc) that might provide some
details on how this should be set up, best practices, etc?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Jack Dahlgren]

I would like to embed an Excel 2007 spreadsheet into MS Project 2007 and am
running into some issues.

1. Project does not like the .xslt extension. I must save the worksheet
in
2003 format. Is this always necessary?

At this point yes.

2. I saw a discussion post from 2006 that said this is prone to error.
Have
there been any strides made in the last couple of years?

No and I don't expect that there will be.

3. Is there a resource available (online, book, etc) that might provide
some
details on how this should be set up, best practices, etc?

The only best practice I know about this is to avoid it completely. Have you
tried using the visual reports in Project 2007? What problem are you trying
to solve by embedding a spreadsheet?

-Jack Dahlgren

 

[Barb K]

Ok, here is what I am trying to accomplish.
I have a tool that we use to track defects, estimated times, actual times
and remaining times. From that tool we have no easy way to create a gantt
chart or any way to determine how long a group a tasks will take to complete.
I have been manually taking that information and putting it into MS Project.
I have been able to come up with all the information that our executive
management wants to see. The problem is that it takes me ~8 hours per week
to accomplish this task manually. I would like to automate it.

My tool can export into .csv files. So my thought was I could export into
Excel and then link those fields into Project so I can get the gantt chart.

Any thoughts on a better way to accomplish my goal?