If you already have a project schedule built in Project 2010, the main reason to view that data in Visio is to present your project information more effectively. You can transfer all tasks in a project or only top-level tasks, summary tasks, milestones, or any combination of these. Then, you can use the shapes and formatting tools in Visio to highlight crucial information. Although Visio includes four templates for schedule-oriented information, only the Timeline and Gantt Chart templates include wizards for displaying the Project 2010 data you export in Visio diagrams.
In Project 2010, you can use the new Timeline view to summarize project information in a timeline to show project phases and key milestones, for example. You can also copy the contents of the Project 2010 Timeline to an e-mail message, a presentation, or another file, such as a Microsoft Word document. With the Project 2010 Timeline, you can select specific tasks to add to the timeline and specify how they appear.
However, a Visio Timeline diagram can still be helpful in a few situations. For example, with the Import Timeline Data Wizard in Visio, you can easily select categories of tasks you want from a Project 2010 file and display them as tasks and events along a horizontal or vertical bar in Visio.
Note
The Project 2010 Timeline displays a project in a horizontal timeline only. By using a Visio Timeline diagram, you can create a horizontal or vertical timeline.
To display Project 2010 information in a Visio timeline, follow these steps:
Make sure that the Project 2010 file that you want to present is not open in Project 2010.
In Visio, create a new Timeline drawing or open an existing one.
To create a new Timeline drawing using the Timeline template, on the File tab, click New. Under Template Categories, click Schedules, click Timeline, and then click Create.
Note
For more information about using the Timeline template, see Using the Visio Timeline Template.
On the Timeline tab, in the Timeline group, click Import Data.
On the wizard’s first page, click Browse. Navigate to the Project 2010 file that you want to display in Visio. Select the file, and then click Open. Click Next to proceed to the next wizard page.
On the page titled Select Task Types To Include, select the type of tasks you want to display in Visio and then click Next.
By default, All is selected, which builds a timeline of the entire project. For presentations, especially to upper-management stakeholders who need a high-level view, you might build a summary timeline by choosing Top Level Tasks And Milestones.
On the page titled Select Shapes For Your Visio Timeline, select the shapes you want to use on the timeline if they differ from the ones selected by default. (See Figure 19-8.) Click Next.
The wizard transfers the overall project schedule information into a Timeline shape. Milestones in your Project 2010 schedule (and any tasks with a duration of zero) become Visio Milestone shapes. Summary tasks in your project schedule become Interval shapes.
If you’re ready to specify the timescale and data settings for the timeline, click Advanced.
However, a better approach is to wait until after the timeline is created to set these options. That way, you can see right away whether the settings in place do what you want.
On the final wizard page, review the import properties you selected. If you decide to change any of the properties, click Back until you get to the appropriate page.
When the import properties are set the way you want, click Finish.
Visio transfers the information from the selected Project 2010 tasks (see Figure 19-9) to Visio shapes. If you opened an existing Timeline drawing, Visio creates the new timeline on a new page.
If you display summary tasks, and the intervals or their annotations overlap, select a shape and drag its yellow control handle to reposition the label.
To change the shape for a task, right-click it and then click Set Timeline Type, Set Interval Type, or Set Milestone Type on the shortcut menu.
To configure other aspects of a shape, right-click it and choose a command from the shortcut menu, such as Set Percent Complete or Change Date/Time Formats.
To display Project 2010 data in a Visio Gantt chart, follow these steps:
In Visio, on the File tab, click New. On the Choose A Template screen, double-click Schedule, click the Gantt Chart icon, and then click Create.
In the Gantt Chart Options dialog box, click OK to close the dialog box. You can configure the Gantt chart after you import the tasks from Project 2010.
You can also import Project 2010 data into an existing Gantt chart drawing.
On the Gantt Chart tab, in the Manage group, click Import Data.
The Import Project Data Wizard launches.
On the page titled I Want To Create My Project Schedule From, select Information That’s Already Stored In A File, and then click Next.
On the page titled Select The Format Of Your Project Data, select Microsoft Project File, and then click Next.
On the page titled Select The File Containing Existing Project Schedule Data, click Browse, navigate to the directory that contains the file you want to import, select the file, and then click Open. Click Next.
On the Time Scale page, specify the major and minor timescale units, as well as the time units you want to use for duration. Click Next.
If you want to specify the shapes for the Gantt chart, on the Time Scale page, click Advanced. You can also change shapes after the schedule is imported.
On the page titled Select Task Types To Include, select the type of tasks (All, Top Level Tasks Only, Milestones Only, Summary Tasks Only, or Top Level Tasks And Milestones) you want to import from Project 2010 to Visio. Click Next.
On the final wizard page, review the import properties you selected.
To change any properties, click Back until you get to the appropriate page.
When the import properties are set the way you want, click Finish.
The selected tasks are imported into tasks in a Gantt chart in Visio. If you import data into an existing drawing, Visio creates a new page for the imported chart.
To configure the chart, on the Gantt Chart tab, in the Manage group, click Chart Options, which opens the Gantt Chart Options dialog box, shown in Figure 19-10.
On the Date tab, you can specify the start and finish dates for the timescale, the units to use for duration, and the time units for the timescale. On the Format tab, you can specify the shapes for task bars, summary bars, and milestones, as well as the text that appears as labels on the bars.
