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So you would like to be able to quickly examine your project schedule to see which tasks your team should be working on this week…or…maybe you would like to see which tasks you should work on next week. The following is a dynamic approach, quick to implement, and will meet this need.

1. From within your schedule, click on >View, >More Views, select Gantt Chart, and click on Copy.

2. For Name, type “Date Range View”

3. For Filter, select Date Range…

4. Check Highlight Filter and click on OK. Click on Close to close the More Views dialogue box.

5. Click on >View and select the new >Date Range View

6. A dialogue box will appear asking for you to input the beginning date. Note that this will “Show tasks that start or finish after” the selected date. Always select the first day of the week even if it falls on a Sunday. Click on OK.

7. Another dialogue box will appear asking for you to input the ending date. Note that this will show tasks that start or finish “before” the selected date. Always select the last day of the week even if it falls on a Saturday. Click on OK.

8. Now all of the tasks that are scheduled to be worked on within the selected date range will be automatically highlighted.

1. Open the project in MS Project

2. Click on >File, >Save As. Choose the location where you would like this file to be saved.

3. Click on the dropdown for Save as type and select Microsoft Excel Workbook (*.xls)

4. Click on Save

5. The Project Export Wizard will open, click on Next

6. Choose Selected Data and click on Next

7. Choose New Map. Click on Next.

8. Select Tasks and ensure Export includes headers. Click on Next.

9. The Task Mapping dialogue box will appear. Click on the dropdown in the first row under “From: Microsoft Office Project field” and select ID.

10. Click on the dropdown in the second row and input Name.

11. Continue adding the following fields:

ID
Name
Start
Finish
% Complete
Resource Names

12. Click on Next

13. Click on Save Map (for future reuse)

14. Name this map, then click on Save.

15. Click on Finish

16. Let’s say I am the Project Manager for this project and I would like to get updates from my team on their progress. I could attach this Excel file to an email and send it to the team members.

17. Let’s say that the date is 11/07/08 and Angie Krause (a team member) would like to update the progress on her tasks.

18. Open the file in Excel. Click on >Data, >Filter

19. Click on the dropdown for the Resource Names column, uncheck “Select All” and check Angie Krause. Click on OK.

20. Now Angie sees only the tasks assigned to her.

21. The next step is to update the Start date, the Finish date and the % Complete of these tasks. The objective is to bring this information in line with reality.

22. The first three tasks started and completed as expected, so Angie input 100% on those tasks.

23. The fourth task (Task ID 10: Identify budget requirements) is only 50% Complete and instead of completing on 11/07/08, Angie updates the Finish date to be Tuesday 11/11/08.

24. Angie then saves and closes this file and sends it back to the project manager.

25. To incorporate Angies updates back into the project, we must first open the project in MS Project.

26. Within MS Project, click on Open and browse to where Angies updated Microsoft Excel file has been saved. You will need to click on the dropdown in the bottom right to see “All files”.

27. Select Angies updated file in Excel and click on Open. The Import Wizard will again open. Click on Next.

28. Select Use Existing Map and click on Next.

29. Select the map that we saved earlier (Export to Excel) in step 14 and click on Next.

30. Select Merge data into active project and click on Next.

31. Ensure Task and Import includes headers is checked. Click on Next.

32. All fields should already be mapped correctly.

33. Click on ID and then click on Set Merge Key

34. Click on Next, then click on Finish

35. If we drill into the details of this project file and insert the % Complete field, we can see Angies updates have been applied.

36. By examining the Tracking Gantt view, we can see the impact of Angies updates to our baseline.

*A few Cautions:

1. This approach forces Microsoft Project to impose a Finish No Earlier than constraint on any task that is not 100% Complete. As a work-around, the project manager could modify the Excel file prior to distributing so only current period tasks are included.

2. Because we are exporting Task level information, this approach only works with one resource assigned to each task. If you have multiple resources assigned to tasks, you would want to work with the Assignments table on the Export map instead of the Task table.

3. You may want to password protect all columns within the Excel document except Start, Finish and % Complete to keep these fields from being altered.

4. Do NOT add new tasks to your project until after importing the updates. Remember that alignment between the Excel and the MS Project file data is established by the ID column. Inserting a new task will create a new ID thus causing your files to be out of alignment.

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1. Create a view that contains the desired data

2. Select the data you would like to copy within Microsoft Project

3. Click on >Edit, >Copy Task (Ctrl-C)

4. Within Excel, click on Paste

Note that the selected information is pasted accurately, but it lacks the column headings, the WBS or outline structure and it does not retain the bold formatting for Summary Tasks or the Project Summary Task. Also note that the date format now includes the time.

This approach is quick and simple but makes it very tough to decipher the details of this project. Additional work or formatting may be required to get this file in a workable state.

There are a number of ways in which we can get data from Microsoft Project to Excel.  Some are easy.  Some are harder.  Some depend upon the version of Microsoft Project you leverage.  This article will list the different ways and the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.  Future articles will provide detailed steps on the respective approaches.

Note:  This list is built with a maturity model concept.  The items that appear first are relatively easy to produce.  Options near the end are more sophisticated.

1.    Copy and Paste (all versions of Project)
    a.    Develop the view you like in Microsoft Project, copy the data, move to Excel and paste.
    b.    Plus – Easy!
    c.    Minus – Does not retain outline structure or formatting

2.    Leverage Online Tool (2000 – 2007)
    a.    There is a website you can leverage to convert your Microsoft Project data to Excel
    b.    Plus – Easy and maintains outline structure and formatting
    c.    Minus – Limited to preset fields

3.    Save Microsoft Project as an Excel File (2003 – 2007)
    a.    A nice built in wizard walks you through this process
    b.    Plus – You get to decide which fields get exported
    c.    Minus - Does not retain outline structure or formatting

4.    Analyze Timescaled Data in Excel (2003 and maybe 2007)
    a.    There is a built in feature within Microsoft Project 2003 (and maybe your version of 2007) called Analyze Timescaled in Excel
    b.    Plus – Easy to create, great graphs
    c.    Minus – Does not retain outline structure or formatting, selected fields are displayed below each task

5.    Visual Reports (2007)
    a.    A great new feature of Microsoft Project 2007.  Can be found from >Reports, >Visual Reports.
    b.    Plus – Many great pre-configured reports
    c.    Plus – Data can easily be manipulated in Excel using Pivot table
    d.    Minus – To be of real value, you must be good with Pivot tables!

6.    Export Data From Microsoft Project to Excel and Maintain the Outline Structure (2003)
    a.    This is an “old school” work around of saving the file as .html and then converting that to a .xls file.
    b.    Plus – Maintains outline structure and formatting
    c.    Minus – A little tricky if you want to create your own map

7.    Export Data From PWA to Excel and Maintain the Outline Structure (Project Server 2003)
    a.    Simple built in feature of Microsoft Project Server 2003.  Drill into Project Details of PWA and then Export Grid to Excel.
    b.    Plus – Easy
    c.    Minus – Requires Project Server, Lacks Timephased data, Getting the data you desire may require building a new PWA View.

8.    Export Data From PWA to Excel and Maintain the Outline Structure (Project Server 2007)
    a.    Simple built in feature of Microsoft Project Server 2007.  Drill into Project Details of PWA and then click on >Actions, > Export Grid to Excel.
    b.    Plus – Easy
    c.    Minus – Requires Project Server, Lacks Timephased data, , Getting the data you desire may require building a new PWA View.

9.    Export Data From Microsoft Project to Excel, Update It, and Import Updates From Excel Back into Microsoft Project (2003 and 2007)
    a.    Yes, it’s possible!  Requires creating a map.
    b.    Plus – Great for importing updates
    c.    Minus – A bit cumbersome

10.    Macro (2000 – 2007)
    a.    If you are comfortable with macros, then this may be your solution!
    b.    Plus – Retains outline structure and formatting
    c.    Minus – Requires a little knowledge of macros