Use the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in With PM Central R1.8 or Newer for SharePoint 2010: Importing Tasks into SharePoint Tasks Lists From Microsoft Office Project 2010

SharePoint Project Management Central R1.8 or newer for SharePoint 2010 includes the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in. With the add-in, you can import tasks from Microsoft Project 2010 into your PM Central project site's Tasks list. You must install the add-in on an environment that already has Microsoft Project 2010 and Visual Studio Tools for the Office system 3.0 runtime installed. The add-in is compatible with Microsoft Project 2010 and with SharePoint 2010.

Note: Before you install the add-in, make sure you only have Microsoft Project 2010 installed. If you have both versions installed, the add-in will fail.

This article has four sections:
1. Installing the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in Using the Setup.msi
2. Installing the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in Using the Setup Screen
3. Allowing Other Users to Use the Add-in
4. Importing Tasks into a SharePoint Tasks List

Installing the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-In Using the Setup.msi 
You can install the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in two ways: running the setup.msi or installing the add-in from the Setup screen. The Bamboo MS Project Add-in Setup.msi file comes with PM Central R1.8 or newer for SharePoint 2010.

To install the add-in using the Setup.msi:
1. Click SA12.R1.x.SP2010.SL.exe to extract the SA12.R1.x.SP2010.SL folder. In that folder, open the msi folder.
2. Copy Setup.msi to the desktop where you want to install the add-in. If you have the 32-bit version of Microsoft Project 2010, select Bamboo.MSProjectAddInSetup.x32.msi. If you have the 64-bit version, install Bamboo.MSProjectAddInSetup.x64.msi.

To find out which version of Microsoft Project you have, open Microsoft Project. Under File > Help, the version is listed under About Microsoft Project.

3. After you copy the file, click it to launch the setup wizard.

4. Follow the prompts in the wizard to install the add-in. Click Close after the installation is complete.

5. Navigate to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features. The Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in is displayed in the list of programs.

Installing the Add-in Using the Setup Screen
You can install the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in two ways: running the setup.msi or installing the add-in from the Setup screen.

1.  Copy SA12.R1.x.SP2010.SL.exe to the desktop where you want to install the add-in. Click the file to extract the contents of the folder.
2. Double-click Setup.bat to open the Setup screen.
3. Click the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in component on the left and click Install.
Note: Choose either the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in (x32) component or the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in (x64) component depending on which version of Microsoft Project 2010 is installed on your system. If you have the 32-bit version installed, select the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in (x32) component. If you have the 64-bit version installed, select the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in (x64) component.

To find out which version of Microsoft Project you have, open Microsoft Project. Under File > Help, the version is listed under About Microsoft Project.

4. Follow the prompts in the setup wizard, then click Close when the installation is complete.

5. Navigate to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features. The Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in is displayed in the list of programs.

Allowing Other Users to Use the Add-in
Note: Users must have at least design-level permissions in order to import data from Microsoft Project.

After the add-in has been installed, new users should not see the Export to SharePoint Task List button under the Add-ins tab the first time that they open a Microsoft application.

 
To allow new users to use the add-in:
1. Log in using their user account. Open any Microsoft application such as Microsoft Excel. A popup is displayed.

2. Click Install. 

The other user accounts are now able to use the Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in without having to perform the full installation.

Importing Tasks From Microsoft Project into a SharePoint Tasks List
Note: Users must have at least design-level permissions in order to import data from Microsoft Project.

The SharePoint Tasks list is used at the project site within PM Central. Before you import task items into the SharePoint Tasks list, make sure that the working hours in the Task Master Web Part and your Microsoft Project file (mpp) have similar working hours such as 9AM-5PM. Remember that the Task Master Web Part does not factor in holidays or lunch hours.

To set work hours in the Task Master Web Part, navigate to your project site and select the Tasks tab. For the All Tasks, Overdue Tasks and My Tasks tabs, click the arrow on the right to edit the Web Part and open the configuration tool pane. Scroll down to Working Hours Setting and make your changes. Click Apply and then OK.

To import tasks into a SharePoint Tasks list:
1. In Microsoft Project, open the mpp file that contains the list of tasks you want to import into SharePoint. Under the Add-ins tab in the top ribbon, click the Export to SharePoint Task List button.

2. Enter the path where the Task list is located and the User Credential. Click Connect.

3. Select Actions > Export Wizard.

4. In the Mapping Fields window, select Manual Map. Under Map Source Fields to SharePoint List Columns, select Tasks from the drop-down menu.

5. Map the SharePoint fields to the Source fields as shown in the table below. Only the fields in the table can be mapped to import data. Click Next.

                                                                                   

SharePoint Field	MS Project Source Field
Title	Name
Priority	Priority
Status	Status
% Complete	PercentComplete
Assigned To	ResourceNames
Start Date	Start
Due Date	Finish
Constraint Type	ConstraintType
Constraint Date	ConstraintDate
Work	Work
Actual Work	ActualWork
Remaining Work	RemainingWork
Parent Task	OutlineParent
Predecessor Task	PredecessorTasks
Milestone	Milestone
Cost (Enter)	Cost
Actual Cost (Enter)	ActualCost
Remaining Cost (Enter)	RemainingCost
Duration	Duration
Project Name	Project

Note: For the Parent Task and Predecessor Task fields, map to OutlineParent and PredecessorTask as shown in the table. Due to the limitation of the Task Master Web Part, only one predecessor can be selected per task item. Constraints with lag time such as +3days are not supported in this version.

Since Bamboo's Task list uses Custom Column for Cost, Actual Cost and Remaining Cost, you can only map Cost (Enter), Actual Cost (Enter) and Remaining Cost (Enter) to Microsoft Project's Cost, Actual Cost and Remaining Cost. The values that you import in will overwrite the values in the custom columns.

6. You can choose between two publish types: Assignment Based or Task Based. 

• Assignment Based should be used when you want to see one assignment per task. This is recommended as the chosen method with PM Central. When importing, the Bamboo MS Project Add-In creates multiple tasks based on how many resources you assign to a particular task. For example, for Task 123 you have Resource A, Resource B and Resource C assigned. The Bamboo MS Project Add-In creates Task 123 with the same title three times and assigns each resource to each task as follows: 
  
  In MS Office Project:
  Task 123 < > Resource A, Resource B, Resource C
  
  In SharePoint List:
  Task 123 < > Resource A
  Task 123 < > Resource B
  Task 123 < > Resource C
  
  Note: Unlike MS Project, the Start Date, Due Date and Duration are exactly the same for all three tasks.

• Task Based is not a recommended selection with PM Central. When importing, the Bamboo MS Project Add-In creates one task only and assigns the first resource to that task. For example, for Task 123 you have Resource A, Resource B and Resource C assigned. The Bamboo MS Project Add-In creates Task 123 and assigns the first resource to that task as follows: 
  
  In MS Project:
  Task 123 < > Resource A, Resource B, Resource C
  
  In SharePoint List:
  Task 123 < > Resource A

7.    Select the resource from the Microsoft Project Resources list to map to the SharePoint Users & Groups list and select Add Mapping. Note that this is a one-to-one mapping only. Click Next.

8.    In the Import Data window, select Import. 

If the import is successful, you see the following popup asking if you would like to exit.

If the import is not successful, the Results window displays the error. Click Back to go back and review the mapping fields and make sure the fields are mapped correctly. Go through the import steps again. Your mapped fields will be available for re-use with the future import.