Importing from Excel - Supposed to be Simple...

[G. Moore]

I'm working how to import Actual Cost by Task from a table in Excel into MSP.

What I'm working towards is an Excel tool to track and summarize project
costs by task, and then be set up to easily pull updated Actual Cost by Task
into MSP. I'm getting nowhere with the Wizard.

I've built a two-field source table in Excel that looks like this (this is
all test data being worked in a sandbox MSP file):

Unique ID Actual Cost
2 $100.00
5 $100.00
6 $100.00
7 $100.00
8 $100.00
9 $100.00
10 $100.00
(etc for 75 or so total records)

I've tried all sorts of paths through the Wizard, none of which work. The
closest I got was with Merging (Prim Key = Unique ID) with Headers a few
lines changed but most did not, and I can't figure out why.

Any suggestions or examples of how this actually works would be appreciated.

Many thanks,

Galen

 

[JulieS]

Hello Galen,

By default, Actual Costs are calculated by Project based upon actual
work or actual duration. In order to directly modify actual cost,
you'll need to disable the option.

Go to Tools > Options and click the Calculation tab. Disable (uncheck)
the option "Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Office
Project."

You may also have better luck exporting data from Project to Excel first
(capturing the Unique ID) and then merging back into Project once you
have the structure and format from Project.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[G. Moore]

Thank you, Julie that worked perfectly.

Galen

 

[JulieS]

You're most welcome Galen and thanks for the feedback.
Julie
Project MVP