Availability All Editions
Use copy and paste to easily import new and updated projects into Meisterplan from spreadsheets. This helps you plan your portfolio with the most up-to-date data.
- Prerequisites
- Where to Find
- Choose Type of Data and Prepare
- Step 1: Copy & Paste
- Step 2: Assign Fields
- Step 3: Validate & Edit
- Result
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 projects as described in this article, you need to have the following rights.
- These rights are required for the import to be available under Quick Imports:
- Import Data
- Add Projects and Programs
- Change Project Schedule
- Under Project Field Rights, you need to have Edit Rights for the Project Key
- Under Edit Projects and Programs, you need to have at least the Projects with Logged-In User as Project Manager
- To import your projects 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
- To import programs, you need to have the Change Project Rank right
Supported Formats
For the quick import, you can simply copy data and paste it into Meisterplan. You can therefore use all file formats in which you can copy data.
Where to Find
In the left Sidebar, click Import and Export:
If you would like to import your projects into a different scenario than the one currently selected, switch to that scenario by clicking Scenario or Plan of Record in the top left of the header:
Selected Portfolio
For the import, it is not relevant which portfolio you have open. A portfolio only displays a filtered part of the scenario or the Plan of Record. The projects are imported into the scenario or Plan of Record, and they will only be displayed in the selected portfolio if they match the portfolio filters. Learn more about the relationship between portfolios and scenarios here.
Choose Type of Data and Prepare
Click Projects and then Start Import:
You can add new projects and update existing ones. Find a detailed overview of when projects can be updated here.
Download Example Spreadsheet
If you don‘t have a spreadsheet of projects on hand, download our sample spreadsheet of projects. This example serves as an outline for configuring your project related data. You can also use the example spreadsheet to run a test import in your Meisterplan system.
Your existing projects will not be overwritten or deleted by the test import. You can delete the imported sample projects at any time.
To successfully import your projects, your spreadsheet should contain one line per project, and a column for each data field you would like to import.
Updating Projects Quickly
To quickly update existing projects in Meisterplan, simply export the relevant data using the Export to Excel. This ensures your data is up to date and includes details such as the Project Key.
Fields That Can Be Imported
These are the required fields that your spreadsheet should contain:
- Project Key: to uniquely identify a project;
- enter an existing Project Key in Meisterplan to update a project
- enter a new Project Key to add a new project with this key
- leave the project key field empty to add a new project with an auto-generated key
- Name: name of the project
- Start: start date of the project; for the correct format see here
- Finish: finish date of the project; for the correct format see here
Fields that are configured as required in the "Add Project" form are not required here (except for Name, Start and Finish).
These fields are the optional fields you can import:
- Project Manager (Resource Key): Enter the Resource Key of the resource you want to select as project manager
- Project Type: if nothing is selected, the default type will be assigned to new projects
- Status
- Business Goal
- Notes
- Program Name: name of a new or an existing program
- Cost Type: only CapEx or OpEx are allowed
- Approved Budget: for the correct format see here
- Approved CapEx Budget: for the correct format see here
- Approved OpEx Budget: for the correct format see here
- Approved Total Effort: for the correct format see here
- Project Fields: All fields for which you have edit rights; fields of the checkbox type allow only “yes”, “no”, “1”, “0”, “true” or “false”; fields of the resource type require you to input the Resource Key of the resource you want to select for the custom resource field
- OBS units: Only OBS units of the first level; you can import OBS units even without Resource Pool rights; you can add new OBS sub-units in Meisterplan using “>”
Meisterplan cuts off text that exceeds the character limit. For an overview of the character limits for various project fields, see the Manage Project Fields article.
Rank and Rank Changes
It is not possible to import the rank or rank changes using the Quick Import.
Date and Number Formatting
In the Date and Number Formatting for Quick Imports article, you can find all details on how to format dates and numbers in your spreadsheet to ensure they are imported correctly.
Step 1: 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 2: 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 project field.
If your spreadsheet contains columns that cannot be matched with Meisterplan fields, they will simply be ignored and the data from the unassigned columns will not be imported.
Step 3: Validate & Edit
Validation and Error Correction
In this step, you can validate and edit your projects 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 project) from being imported. Fields highlighted in light red indicate an error that will prevent the field from being imported, but not the rest of the line.
Once you’ve corrected all errors, click Import. Your data is now available in Meisterplan.
Line breaks in multi-line text fields can lead to the text being distributed across several columns and therefore not imported correctly. In this case, the line breaks must be removed before copying the data. You can open the file in a CSV format and remove the line breaks using search and replace.
Adding New Projects
When adding new projects, you can add the desired Project Key in your spreadsheet to import it alongside the new project. Or you can leave the Project Key field empty in your table, and Meisterplan will automatically generate a new Project Key for the new project.
Update Existing Projects
If projects from your spreadsheet already exist in Meisterplan, they will be updated on import. This is possible only if the Project Keys of the projects in your spreadsheet exactly match the Project Keys in Meisterplan.
Possible Data Loss by Shortening the Project Duration
If a project is shortened by changes to the start or finish date, milestones and allocations that are thereby shifted to after the project finish date will be deleted. This happens if
- the start date is moved into the future and the finish date remains the same.
- the start date remains the same and the finish date is moved to an earlier date.
- the start date is moved into the future and the finish date is moved to an earlier date.
If a project is extended, there will be no changes to the milestones and allocations.
Result
Imported Projects
Once you've clicked Import, your projects will be available in the Plan of Record or the selected scenario. Where the imported projects are placed in the portfolio depends on your user account's access rights.
If you have the Change Project Rank right, they are placed right above the red Cut-Off line. Otherwise, they are placed right below the Cut-Off line.
The imported projects will only be displayed if they match the filters of the view, the portfolio filters and the date range.
Importing Programs and Associated Projects
To add projects to programs and remove them, as well as adding new programs, simply add a column to your project spreadsheet and enter per project the program that it belongs to:
This is how you import or update your programs and associated projects:
What You Would Like to Do |
How You Can Do It |
Adding a new or an existing project to an existing program |
Enter the name of the existing program in your spreadsheet in the same row as the project. |
Adding a new or an existing project to a new program |
Enter the name of the new program in your spreadsheet in the same row as the project. |
Moving a project from one program to another |
Enter the name of the target program in your spreadsheet in the same row as the project. |
Removing a project from a program |
Leave the respective spreadsheet cell empty for the project row. |
When you import a program with an existing project, the program will be placed above the project and the project will be moved into the program. If you import a new program with a new project, it will be placed right above the Cut-Off line.
You can only create new programs with at least one project, either a new one or an existing one. You cannot delete programs with the quick import, only remove all assignments to projects.
Newly Created Custom Project Field Options
If you assign project data to a “single-select” project field during import, the option not yet in Meisterplan will automatically be added during import.
For example, let's say your Meisterplan has a project field called “Status” with single-select options “No issues”, "Needs attention" and “Critical”:
If you then import a project with “Watch List” as its status, “Watch List” will automatically be added as a new Single-Select Option for the “Status” project field in Meisterplan.
Project Values for New Project Fields
If you want to import project data that doesn’t yet have a corresponding project field in Meisterplan, you’ll need to add the project field before importing the data. The Manage Project Fields article shows you how to do this.