Uploading/Data Mapping Recurring Task Information for MS Project

[Jeff_Hebert]

I would like to upload a number of recurring tasks into MS Project.  How/where do I find the field names associated with recurring tasks?  For example: recurring pattern, number of occurrences, etc. 

[#2]

Jeff_Herbert,
First of all, what version of Project are you using?

The only way I know to upload that kind of information is with VBA. What application has the recurring task information that you want to upload?

John

[#3]

Hello John, I'm using MS Project Professional Online Desktop. I have an MS Access Database of Equipment and associated tasks (recurring preventative maintenance requirements). From Access I can generate a list of tasks with the necessary fields as a table to export that I could then upload to Project. I have Task Name, Duration, Resource information, etc., and I have how often the task needs to recure (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). I want to use project to estimate resource loading for maintenance over a multi year timeframe. I assume there must be defined field names in project that would accept the data needed to generate the recurring tasks. Does this make sense?

[#4]

Jeff_Herbert,
Yes, it does make sense.

I haven't worked with an import from Access for several years, it was done using SQL. However, unless there is some avenue through the Project database tables, Project can only import basic fields such as Task Name, Duration, and Resource information. There is no way to directly import recurrence information but it could be done with VBA.

John

[#5]

When I go through the Upload Wizard in Project there is an opportunity to map the fields in the upload file (excel spreadsheet) to the fields in project. The Project Field list is available in the pull down (it is the same list as the list in the Add New Column" in the Gantt Chart View and the "Recurring" field is available (I can set this to yes for recurring, what I don't see are the fields that would be associated with the Frequency. They must exist in the project file as they can be set in the recurring task window, but apparently they are not exposed for mapping. If anyone knows how this can be done using VBA that would be interesting.

[#6]

Jeff_Herbert,
Yes the Recurring field can be imported but it will come in as a single task (i.e. yes or no will import as no in the Recurring field.

I'm going to have to back-peddle on the VBA idea. After posting, I took a quick look at Project's object model and unfortunately details associated with a recurring task are not available. Sorry for the misstep. But, not to be totally thwarted, VBA could be used to emulate a recurring task's individual elements given a "flag" in the Excel data that initiates the process. It's called "thinking outside the bun".

John

[#7]

Jeff --

Pardon me for bumping into this conversation, as John has already given you some sage advice. My only advice to you would be this: If you know the name of the recurring task, you know the Start date of the first occurrence, and you know how many occurrences you need, I think it would be simpler to manually create your recurring tasks. Just a thought. Hope this helps.

[#8]

Jeff_Herbert,
As a follow-up to Dal's input, if your import is a one time action to produce a maintenance plan in Project then the best approach is to manually create the recurring tasks. If the import is something that will be done on a regular basis (e.g. monthly) then the VBA approach is better.

And as I thought about it more, there is noting magic about a recurring task. It's nothing more than a summary line with subtasks "packaged" in a format process for creating the subtasks. Creating a summary line with multiple periodic subtasks is very doable with VBA.

John

[#9]

Thanks Dal and John, This process would need to be done more than once as this is for different scenario planning. I actually have 1000s of these repeating tasks in the database, with varying frequencies for weekly to every 5,10,15,years etc. So the manual option would not be possible. If I want to look at a ten year plan I will need to populate all of the tasks for a ten tear period. I think I will need to generate each recurrence of the task as part of a report out of Access and then just load the prescheduled tasks into Project. It is an interesting challenge and I'm still building the database of tasks. I suspect the VBA option would be pretty complicated given the volume of tasks that need to be loaded. I need to maintain the base tasks in a db for a number of other reasons. Thanks for you input, it is much appreciated.

[#10]

Jeff_Herbert,
You're welcome and thanks for the feedback.

Actually the VBA option would not be that difficult and it definitely would be a lot easier and more convenient for a large number of tasks to be created on a periodic basis. I could help with the VBA but if you want to give it a try with an Access report and then "loading" prescheduled tasks into Project be my guest.

John

[#11]

Hey John, give me a few days to finish structuring the database then we can definitely give the VBA a try. I have very little VBA experience so I will be happy to work with you to take a crack at it. Talk soon. Jeff

[#12]

Jeff_Hebert,
Although a macro could work between Access and Project I've only written macros between Excel and Project so I'm not "up to speed" with Access's object model. If you can get the info into Excel it will be a lot easier. If that works for you, contact me at the address below. I will ask some questions.

John
jmacprojataticlouddotdotcom
(remove obvious redundancies)