Use copy and paste to easily use import new and updated allocations into Meisterplan from spreadsheets. This helps you plan your portfolio with the most up-to-date data.

• Prerequisites
• Required User Rights
• Supported Formats
• How to Find
• Step 1: Choose Type of Data and Prepare
• Download Example Spreadsheet
• Fields That Can Be Imported
• Importing Several Allocations Per Project
• Date and Number Formatting
• Step 2: Copy & Paste
• Step 3: Assign Fields
• Step 4: Validate & Edit
• Validation and Error Correction
• Update Existing Allocations
• Result
• Imported Allocations

In this video we will show you the basics of how the Quick Import works, using the project import as an example:

Prerequisites

Required User Rights

For importing allocations as described in this article, you need to have the following rights:

• To import allocations into the Plan of Record, you need to have the Edit Plan of Record right; to import them into a scenario, you need to have the edit rights for the respective scenario
• Add, Change and Delete Allocations
• Import and Export Data

Supported Formats

You can import data from all common spreadsheet formats, such as Microsoft Excel (both the desktop application and the Office 365 version) and Google Spreadsheets.

How to Find

In the Portfolio Designer, click Import and Export and select Quick Import to open an overview of all copy and paste imports from spreadsheets:

If you would like to import your financial events into another scenario than the one currently selected, swith to that scenario by clicking Scenario or Plan of Record in the top left of the header:

Step 1: Choose Type of Data and Prepare

Click Allocations:

You can add new allocations and update existing ones. Find a detailed overview of when allocations can be updated here.

Download Example Spreadsheet

If you don‘t have a spreadsheet of allocations available, download our example spreadsheet of allocations. This example serves as an outline for configuring your allocation related data. You can also use the example spreadsheet to run a test import in your Meisterplan system.

DOWNLOAD EXAMPLE SPREADSHEET

Your existing allocations will not be overwritten or deleted by the test import. You can delete the imported sample allocations at any time.

To successfully import your allocations, your spreadsheet should contain one line per allocation, and a column for each data field you would like to import.

Fields That Can Be Imported

• Project Name: name of existing project
• Resource or Role: email address or name of existing resource or role
• Start: start date of the allocation; for the correct format see here
• Finish: finish date of the allocation; for the correct format see here
• Allocation: allocation value in FTE, hours or person days; for the correct format see here

Importing Several Allocations Per Project

You can import several allocation segments for the same project and same resource or role, but their time periods must not overlap. When a project has been split, the allocation segment in your spreadsheet must be within the date range of one of the project segments in Meisterplan.

Date and Number Formatting

To successfully import date and number fields, follow the formatting standards below:

Date Fields

To correctly import dates into Meisterplan, your spreadsheet and browser language or locale settings (e.g., English – United States) must match. Your selected language in Meisterplan is not relevant in this case and may differ.

To import dates successfully:

• Enter your dates in the YYYY-MM-DD format and the date format will be updated based on your browser language settings.
• Or compare the language settings of your browser and your spreadsheet to ensure they are set to the same language. Some browsers distinguish between the language they use to display websites and the language for their own menus - the former is relevant when importing data.

Number Fields

To successfully import numbers with decimals (e.g., 2.5 FTE in English, 2,5 FTE in German), your spreadsheet and browser language also need to match (see above). If they don’t match, the number will not be imported, and you will get an error message.

To import numbers successfully:

• Do not use a thousands separator (e.g., $10,500) because they will not be recognized and could be misinterpreted as decimals separators.
• Enter only positive numbers, negative numbers (e.g., -5 hours) will cause an error message.
• Do not add units such as currency (e.g., $ or €). Your Meisterplan system will automatically use the currency selected in the left Sidebar under General Settings.

Step 2: Copy & Paste

Copy the desired data from your spreadsheet and paste the data in Meisterplan (e.g., using CTRL+V). In this step, you can copy and paste different data as often as needed.

Step 3: Assign Fields

If your imported column name matches an existing field in Meisterplan, Meisterplan will assign it automatically. If you’d like to change or add a field assignment, just drag and drop the Meisterplan field to the desired location. This step ensures your spreadsheet data maps to the appropriate Meisterplan field.

Step 4: Validate & Edit

Validation and Error Correction

In this step, you can validate and edit your allocations before import. Simply edit the highlighted field by clicking on it. Fields highlighted in dark red indicate an error that will prevent the complete line (i.e., the allocation) from being imported.

Once you’ve corrected all errors, click Import. Your data is now available in Meisterplan.

Update Existing Allocations

Exact Matching of Projects and Resources

Importing new and updating existing allocations is only possible if the project and resource names in your spreadsheet exactly match the names of the projects and resources or roles in Meisterplan.

Identical Names
Please note that, while Meisterplan generally supports having multiple projects, resources or roles with the same name, updating them through the Quick Import is not possible.

Here are some examples of when allocations can be imported or updated:

Projects and roles are identified by their name.

Resources are identified by either their email address or, if there is no email address, by their first and last name (written "first name last name" or "last name, first name"). We recommend you use the email address as the identifier to avoid mistakes especially if you have a large number or resources.

Updating Existing Allocation Segments

If there is an allocation for the same resource and the same project during the same time period in Meisterplan, the new allocation from the spreadsheet will overwrite the existing one. However, only the allocation period listed in the spreadsheet will be updated. Existing allocations outside this time period will remain unchanged.

Example:

The allocation of "Watts, Luke" (yellow) was updated for the entire time period. The allocation of "Dixon, Tia" (red) was only updated for the time period specified in the table, and the first half of the allocation period remains unchanged.

Result

Imported Allocations

Once you've clicked Import, your allocations will be available in the Plan of Record or the selected scenario.