Exporting to MS Project
When exporting, keep in mind that there are many differences between NetPoint and MS Project. Items like resources, calendars, codes, and constraints, for example, are all handled slightly differently. An explanation of these difference can be found in the notes below.
Before exporting, if any activities or milestones have been scheduled on planned-dates, make sure to follow the instructions in [bookmark postid=”8705″ anchor=”exporting”]Preparing to Export from NetPoint (GPM)[/bookmark]. Once exported, the XML file must be imported into MS Project to complete the process. Instructions for both are provided below.
Steps
In NetPoint
- Click File > Import/Export from the menu bar and choose
- Enter a new name and click Save.
In MS Project
- Click File > Open from the menu bar.
- Click the button next to File name and choose XML Format (*.xml)
- Browse for the desired XML file and click Open.
- Choose how to import the project and click Finish.
Notes
Supported Fields
NetPoint Objects and Fields
The following NetPoint objects and fields are brought into P6. If a field is not listed, then it does NOT transfer. Some examples of fields that do not transfer are identified where relevant.
| This field in NetPoint | Becomes this field in MSP | Notes |
| Activity, Delay | Task | |
| Milestones and benchmarks (both start and finish) | Task (with 0 duration and set as milestone) | Benchmarks in NetPoint become milestones with Must Start On or Must Finish On constraints accordingly. |
| Hammock | Summary Task | |
| Embedded nodes and link lags | Lag | If both exist in the same relationship, they will be combined. For example, an SS relationship with a link lag of 5 days and an embed lag of 5 days will transfer as an SS with 10 day lag in P6. |
| Description | Name | Any description over 255 characters will be truncated. |
| ID | NetPoint Activity ID (custom field) | ID’s in MS Project are numeric only. |
| Start Date | Start, Actual Start | |
| Finish Date | Finish, Actual Finish | |
| Duration | Duration, Actual Duration | |
| Remaining Duration | Remaining Duration | |
| No-earlier-than Constraint | No Earlier Than Constraint | In MS Project, only one constraint per task is supported. If an activity or milestone in NetPoint has 2 constraints, only the start constraint will be transferred. |
| No-later-than Constraint | No Later Than Constraint | In MS Project, only one constraint per task is supported. If an activity or milestone in NetPoint has 2 constraints, only the start constraint will be transferred. |
| Buffer | Free Slack | |
| Total Float | Slack | |
| Calendar | Calendar | Holidays only export within the project start and completion. |
| Grid Position | — | This field is exported for round-trip purposes only and isn’t used in MS Project. |
| Color | — | This field is exported for round-trip purposes only and isn’t used in MS Project. |
| Shape (milestones/benchmarks) | — | This field is exported for round-trip purposes only and isn’t used in MS Project. |
| Text Formatting | — | This field is exported for round-trip purposes only and isn’t used in MS Project. Includes font, color, alignment, style, size, and line breaks. |
| Text Display | — | This field is exported for round-trip purposes only and isn’t used in MS Project. Includes text fields, date fields, float fields, etc. |
| Resources | Resources | In NetPoint, an activity may have some resources assigned to it “per day” and other resources assigned to it “per duration”. This is called a mixed assignment. In MS Project, all resource assignments are assigned per day. For more on distribution types, see [bookmark postid=”8356″ anchor=”assignment-options”]Assignment Options[/bookmark]. NOTE: Histogram, Color, and Color Intensity are not exported at this time. |
| Name | Resource Name | |
| Cost/Unit | Std. Rate | |
| Category | Type | “Material” and “commodity” become “material”, “dollars” becomes “cost”, and every other type becomes “work”. KNOWN ISSUE: The unit cost for a resource with category “dollars” in NetPoint exports as 0. |
| Rate/Dur, Rate/Day | Work (also Units) | Upon export, all resource assignments are converted to units per day. |
| Codes | Codes | In NetPoint, multiple values per code may be assigned to the same activity. In MS Project, however, only one value per code may be assigned to the same activity. Project codes are not exported if they are set to have multiple values in NetPoint (even if only one value is actually defined for the code or assigned to an activity). Single-assignment codes export to the Custom Fields tab. |
| Name | Custom Field Name | |
| Value | Value |