Import Action Items from a Spreadsheet
This topic offers guidelines on creating a spreadsheet template in Microsoft Excel for importing existing action items into Project Center.
You can access the sample action item spreadsheet template supplied with Project Center in its default location: C:\Program Files\Newforma\Tenth Edition\Project Center\Templates\Import_ActionItems_Template.xlsx.
1 You must be a Project Center administrator to perform this procedure.
Action item fields
The import spreadsheet has the following fields:
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Action Item Id – Unique IDs are required.
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Subject – Required.
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Status – Required. Must be one of the statuses defined for the project.
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Priority – Required. Must be one of the priorities defined for the project.
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Discipline – Not required.
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Due Date – Not required.
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Assigned To – Not required. If you are sending notifications, then this field is required. Must be a valid email address format or project team member. You can use a fake email address if necessary and delete it later or create the contact first if an email address cannot be used.
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Assigned By – Not required. If used, must be in a valid email address format or project team member name. You can use a fake email address if necessary and delete it later or create the contact first if an email address cannot be used.
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CC – Not required. If used, must be in a valid email address format or project team member name.
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Description – Not required.
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Keywords – Not required. A list of keywords for the action item, delimited by semi-colons (;). It must match the keyword list if the user is not allowed to edit the keyword list.
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Email Log – Not required. List of full UNC paths to .MSG files separated by asterisks.
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Supporting Docs – Not required. List of full UNC paths to any file type separated by asterisks.
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Source Descriptor – Data source. Leave blank. For internal use only.
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Source Primary Key – Source primary key of the item. Leave blank. For internal use only.
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Send Notification – Not required. If used, enter Yes to send a notification to the Assigned To email address. If No, do not send notifications.
To create an import file for action items and import it
1. |
Make a backup copy of your existing spreadsheet with the data. |
2. |
Edit the spreadsheet and fill in the required data:
1 To import action items correctly, you must format your Excel spreadsheet to the exact format as the template supplied above. |
3. |
Copy your data columns to the Import_ActionItems_Template.xls file, replacing the sample columns with your own information. |
4. |
The Draft Status - Delete, Priority - Delete and Discipline - Delete tabs include the keyword list values for the Draft Status, Priority and Discipline fields. Change any of the existing values by simply typing a new value in the same cell. 1 For information on extending the list with additional values, please refer to Add Keyword Values to a Spreadsheet Template. |
5. |
Edit the fields based on the information given in the Requirements section, shown above. |
6. |
After you finish editing the spreadsheet, import it into a Project Center project by clicking Utilities > Import Spreadsheet from the Tasks panel of the Action Items activity center to open the Select Spreadsheet dialog box. |
7. |
Locate the spreadsheet, then click Open to start the import process. |
8. |
After importing, the Import Log dialog box opens showing any import errors. Fix any errors that appear in the spreadsheet, then re-import it. 1 The import will not succeed until all errors are addressed. |
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After the spreadsheet is imported, each row in the spreadsheet becomes an action item, and the action items appear in the appropriate categories. |