Format Columns for Custom View

[Colleen]

Hi, I am new to MS Project and I have instructions from someone in my
previous job on how to create custom reports from the main plan. These
instructions say that to start with you have to format the columns in the
plan to appear in a specific way so that the reporting matches exactly to the
external Excel spreadsheet that we copy and paste this info into.

It says to format the columns in the project to have only the following
columns appear and in order:

WBS Code
Task Name
Stage
Days +/- Close/Start
Days +/- Close/Finish
Resource Owner
Task Owner
Baseline Work
Expected Work
Actual Work
Remaining Work
% Work Completed
Start
Finish
Actual Start
Actual Finish

Can you let me know if there is something I am missing, is there a certain
filter or view that I can use to adjust these columns? When I try to insert
a column and choose, for example, Stage; it is not there to pick from on the
drop down list. Am I missing something? Thanks.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

"Someone in your previous job" has customized some fields and renamed them.
If he/she can provide you with a file containing the redefined fields, you
can (through the organizer) copy them into the file and/or into your
Global.mpt

Hope this helps

 

[John]

Hi, I am new to MS Project and I have instructions from someone in my
previous job on how to create custom reports from the main plan. These
instructions say that to start with you have to format the columns in the
plan to appear in a specific way so that the reporting matches exactly to the
external Excel spreadsheet that we copy and paste this info into.

It says to format the columns in the project to have only the following
columns appear and in order:

WBS Code
Task Name
Stage
Days +/- Close/Start
Days +/- Close/Finish
Resource Owner
Task Owner
Baseline Work
Expected Work
Actual Work
Remaining Work
% Work Completed
Start
Finish
Actual Start
Actual Finish

Can you let me know if there is something I am missing, is there a certain
filter or view that I can use to adjust these columns? When I try to insert
a column and choose, for example, Stage; it is not there to pick from on the
drop down list. Am I missing something? Thanks.

Colleen,
Unfortunately what you were given is not the field names, at least in a
few cases. For example there is no field in Project called "stage".
Someone either gave the field a more company friendly title or
customized the fields by re-naming them.

You can do one of two things. First, ask whoever provided the
information to you to give the the actual Project field name. Or two,
open an existing file that was used for a previous report export and
find those columns in the view. Then by hovering your mouse over the
column heading, a pop up will appear telling you what the actual field
name is. Given that information you can go to View/Tables/More tables
and create a view table that contains all the necessary fields as
columns. If that custom table is saved to your Global file, by going to
Tools/Organizer/Tables tab, it will then be available for any new
Project file you open or create.

Hope this helps,
John
Project MVP