Exporting Data from Visio to Microsoft Project
by Teresa S. Stover
Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Inside Out
- Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Inside Out
- SPECIAL OFFER: Upgrade this ebook with O’Reilly
- A Note Regarding Supplemental Files
- Your All-in-One Resource
- Acknowledgments
- About the CD
- Conventions and Features Used in This Book
- I. Project Fundamentals
- 1. Introducing Microsoft Office Project 2007
- 2. Understanding Projects and Project Management
- II. Developing the Project Plan
- 3. Starting a New Project
- Focusing the Project Vision
- Creating a New Project Plan
- Entering Tasks
- Sequencing and Organizing Tasks
- Organizing Tasks into an Outline
- Setting Up Your Work Breakdown Structure
- Adding Supplementary Information to Tasks
- 4. Viewing Project Information
- 5. Scheduling Tasks
- 6. Setting Up Resources in the Project
- Understanding the Impact of Resources in the Project Plan
- Adding Resources to the Project
- Removing a Resource from the Project
- Identifying Tentative, Generic, or Budget Resources
- Setting When Resources Are Available for Work
- Adding Detailed Resource Information
- 7. Assigning Resources to Tasks
- 8. Planning Resource and Task Costs
- 9. Checking and Adjusting the Project Plan
- Working with the Critical Path and Critical Tasks
- Bringing in the Project Finish Date
- Reducing Project Costs
- Balancing Resource Workloads
- Changing Project Scope
- Reviewing the Impact of Changes
- Obtaining Buyoff on the Project Plan
- 3. Starting a New Project
- III. Tracking Progress
- 10. Setting a Baseline and Updating Progress
- 11. Responding to Changes in Your Project
- IV. Reporting and Analyzing Project Information
- 12. Reporting Project Information
- Establishing Your Communications Plan
- Using Views to Report Project Information
- Generating Text and Visual Reports
- Running Reports for Your Requirements
- Summarizing with Overview Reports
- Focusing on Tasks with Schedule Progress Reports
- Using the Unstarted Tasks Report
- Using the Tasks Starting Soon Report
- Using the Tasks In Progress Report
- Using the Completed Tasks Report
- Using the Should Have Started Tasks Report
- Using the Slipping Tasks Report
- Using the Baseline Report in Visio
- Using the Baseline Work Report in Excel
- Using the Task Status Report in Visio
- Using the Budget Work Report in Excel
- Analyzing Budget Status with Cost Reports
- Using the Cash Flow Report
- Using the Cash Flow Report in Excel
- Using the Cash Flow Report in Visio
- Using the Baseline Cost Report in Excel
- Using the Budget Report
- Using the Budget Cost Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Cost Summary Report in Excel
- Using the Overbudget Tasks Report
- Using the Overbudget Resources Report
- Using the Earned Value Report
- Using the Earned Value Over Time Report in Excel
- Evaluating Resource Allocation with Assignment Reports
- Using the Who Does What Report
- Using the Who Does What When Report
- Using the To-Do List
- Using the Overallocated Resources Report
- Using the Resource Availability Report in Visio
- Using the Resource Work Availability Report in Excel
- Using the Task Usage Report
- Using the Resource Usage Report
- Using the Resource Work Summary Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Remaining Work Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Status Report in Visio
- Revising a Built-In Report
- Building a Custom Report
- Saving Project Data Fields
- 13. Analyzing Progress Using Earned Value
- 12. Reporting Project Information
- V. Managing Multiple Projects
- 14. Managing Master Projects and Resource Pools
- 15. Exchanging Information Between Project Plans
- VI. Integrating Microsoft Project with Other Programs
- 16. Exchanging Information with Other Applications
- 17. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Excel
- Copying Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Embedding Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Linking Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Importing and Exporting with Excel
- Producing a Visual Report of Project Data in Excel
- 18. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Outlook
- 19. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Visio
- VII. Managing Projects Across Your Enterprise
- 20. Understanding Enterprise Project Management
- 21. Administering Your Enterprise Project Management Solution
- Logging On and Off
- Managing Users and Permissions
- Administering the Enterprise Resource Pool
- Establishing the Enterprise Portfolio
- Standardizing Enterprise Project Elements
- Setting Up Team Member Work Pages
- Managing Pages, Views, and Reports
- Managing and Maintaining the Server
- 22. Managing Enterprise Projects and Resources
- Connecting to Your Project Server
- Working with Enterprise Projects
- Building Your Enterprise Project Team
- Finding Resources to Meet Your Needs
- Adding Enterprise Resources by Name
- Identifying Resource Attributes Using Custom Enterprise Fields
- Using Generic Resources as Placeholders
- Adding a Team Assignment Pool to Your Project Resource List
- Finding Enterprise Resources That Meet Specific Criteria
- Replacing an Existing Project Resource with an Enterprise Resource
- Matching an Existing Project Resource
- Matching and Replacing Generic Resources
- Proposing Tentative Resources
- Assigning Tasks to Enterprise Resources
- Finding Resources to Meet Your Needs
- Collaborating with Your Project Team
- Creating Proposals and Activity Plans
- 23. Participating on a Team Using Project Web Access
- Getting Started with Project Web Access
- Working on Your Assignments and Updates
- Submitting Text-Based Status Reports
- Logging Time Using Timesheets
- Setting Up E-Mail, Reminders, and Calendars
- Managing Resources in Project Web Access
- 24. Making Executive Decisions Using Project Web Access
- Getting Started with Project Web Access
- Viewing Project Portfolio Information
- Working with the Project Portfolio
- Working with Resource Information
- Analyzing and Reporting on Project Information
- Setting Your Alerts and Reminders
- VIII. Customizing and Managing Project Files
- 25. Customizing Your View of Project Information
- Customizing Views
- Customizing Tables
- Customizing Fields
- Working with Outline Codes
- Customizing Groups
- Customizing Filters
- Sharing Customized Elements Among Projects
- 26. Customizing the Microsoft Project Interface
- 27. Automating Your Work with Macros
- 28. Standardizing Projects Using Templates
- 29. Managing Project Files
- 25. Customizing Your View of Project Information
- A. Installing Microsoft Office Project 2007
- B. Online Resources for Microsoft Project
- C. Keyboard Shortcuts
- D. Index to Troubleshooting Topics
- E. About the Authors
- Index
- About the Author
- SPECIAL OFFER: Upgrade this ebook with O’Reilly
Although you’re not likely to transfer data from Visio to Microsoft Project as often, the process is even easier than going from Microsoft Project to Visio. If you build draft schedules in Visio as timelines or Gantt Charts, it’s easy to bring that information into Microsoft Project for further work.
As long as Microsoft Project and Visio are both installed on your computer, you can transfer timeline data from Visio to Microsoft Project or vice versa. For example, consider a simple project you built as a Visio timeline to present at a project selection committee meeting. The project was approved, and now you want to use the Visio timeline to build the basic schedule in Microsoft Project. When you export a timeline from Visio into Microsoft Project, intervals turn into tasks with start dates, finish dates, and durations.
To export information from a Visio Timeline to Microsoft Project, follow these steps:
In Visio, open the timeline drawing and select the timeline shape.
Choose Timeline, Export Timeline Data.
In the Export Timeline Data window that appears, navigate to the folder in which you want to save the exported project file, type the project file name in the File Name box, make sure that the Save As Type box is set to Microsoft Project File, and then click Save.
A message box appears telling you that the project has been successfully exported. Click OK.
Open the exported file in Microsoft Project.
Note
When you export timeline information to Microsoft Project, the start and finish dates that you export set task constraints of Start No Earlier Than for all the tasks. The easiest way to change these to As Soon As Possible is to insert the Constraint Type column into the Task Sheet.
Right-click a column heading in the Task Sheet and then click Insert Column on the shortcut menu. In the Field Name box, click Constraint Type and then click OK. In the Constraint Type column for the first task, click As Soon As Possible. Then, drag that value down through the rest of the tasks.
To export project information from a Visio Gantt Chart into Microsoft Project, follow these steps:
In Visio, open the Gantt Chart drawing.
Select the Gantt Chart frame and then choose Gantt Chart, Export. The Export Project Data Wizard launches.
On the Export My Project Data Into The Following Format screen, select Microsoft Office Project File and then click Next.
On the Specify The File To Enter Project Schedule Data screen, click Browse, open the folder in which you want to save the exported project file, type the project file name in the File Name box, and click Save.
Back in the wizard, click Next.
On the final wizard screen, review the export properties and click Finish to export the data. A message indicates that the project has been successfully exported. Click OK.
If you want to change any properties, click Back until you get to the appropriate screen.
In Microsoft Project, open the project file you just created.
Copy Elements Between Microsoft Project and Visio
As described in Chapter 16, you can copy Visio diagrams and paste them into Microsoft Project schedules or copy portions of a Microsoft Project schedule and paste them into Visio diagrams. For example, you could build a Visio organization chart to show the reporting structure of a team and embed it in the Notes box of the Resource Information dialog box for the resource who acts as the team lead. You could also take a picture of a Microsoft Project view and embed it in a Visio file, for instance, to show the high-level project schedules for each business unit in a Visio organization chart.
Using the Copy command in Visio in conjunction with the Paste Special, Paste As Picture command in Microsoft Project, you can embed a Visio diagram in a vacant area of your Gantt Chart or in the Notes box of the Task Information or Resource Information dialog boxes.
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