When you import an Excel file into Microsoft Project, it also lacks any of the indenting (Figure 1) and summary tasks that make Microsoft Project a valuable roll-up tool.
Creating the hierarchy in Excel usually involves grouping and indenting in Excel or using a custom macro to build the hierarchy. When you export data from Microsoft Project into Excel, the data file doesn’t maintain the hierarchy. Faced with the poor usability in scanning hundreds of tasks using Excel, I developed an import map that will properly import the Excel sheet that builds the task hierarchy in Microsoft Project. Ironically, my vendor extracts this information from his Microsoft Project schedule and provides an Excel file that I can scroll through to find key milestones and due dates. In my case, I typically receive an Excel file with tasks and start and finish dates. If you’ve worked with outsourcing vendors, then you’re familiar with some vendors who don’t consistently use Microsoft Project as a scheduling tool. The obvious solution is to have the vendor provide its Microsoft Project schedule the reality is some vendors are reluctant to hand over their detailed schedule because it contains cost data, notes, custom macros, and other private data. One challenge in jointly delivering a project with an external vendor is obtaining the vendor project schedule in a format that can be integrated with Microsoft Project. The following is a brief tutorial on how to import an Excel spreadsheet project schedule into Microsoft Project.įor the past four years, I’ve worked for companies that outsource the majority of their IT work to external vendors using fixed-price contracts. In other cases, it is a set of dates described in an email or it is developed in every non-MS Project user’s favorite tool – Excel or a spreadsheet variant.
In some cases, it is a formal MS Project schedule. If you’ve worked with external vendors for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve noticed the variety of formats vendors use for a project schedule.
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