Use copy and paste to easily import new and updated resource absences into Meisterplan from spreadsheets. This helps you plan your portfolio with the most up-to-date data.
- Prerequisites
- How To Find
- Step 1: Choose Type of Data and Prepare
- Step 2: Copy & Paste
- Step 3: Assign Fields
- Step 4: Validate & Edit
- Result
Prerequisites
Required User Rights
For importing resource absences as described in this article, you need to have the following rights:
- Edit Resource Pool and Absences
- 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 Sheets.
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:
Step 1: Choose Type of Data and Prepare
Click Resource Absences:
You can add new resource absences and update existing ones. In both cases, the people for whom you want to import absences must be set up as resources in the Resource Pool and there should only be one resource per name and email address.
Download Sample Absences List
If you don‘t have a spreadsheet of resource absences on hand, download our sample list. This sample serves as an outline for configuring your absence related data. You can also use the sample list to run a test import in your Meisterplan system.
Your existing resource absences will not be overwritten or deleted by the test import. You can delete the imported sample absences at any time.
To successfully import your resource absences, your spreadsheet should contain one line per absence, and a column for each data field you would like to import.
Fields That Can Be Imported
These are the required fields that your spreadsheet should contain:
- Resource Name: e-mail address or name of existing resource (format “first name last name” or “last name, first name”)
- Capacity in %: capacity for the time period (for example, during a vacation the capacity is 0%); for the correct format see here
- Start: first day of the absence; for the correct format see here
- Finish: last day of the absence; for the correct format see here
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 resource absences 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 absence) from being imported.
Once you’ve corrected all errors, click Import. Your data is now available in Meisterplan.
Update Existing Absences
Exact Matching of Resources
Importing new and updating existing absences is only possible if the resource names in your spreadsheet exactly match the names of the resources in Meisterplan.
Identical Names
Please note that, while Meisterplan generally supports having multiple resources with the same name and email address, updating them through the Quick Import is not possible.
Here are some examples of when resource absences can be imported or updated:
| Example | Data in Spreadsheets | Existing Data in Meisterplan | What Will Happen in Meisterplan |
| Case 1 | "Saunders, Tim" | - | Meisterplan will neither update nor import this resource, because there is no resource with this name in Meisterplan. |
| Case 2 | "Saunders, Tim" | "Saunders, Tim", "Saunders, Tim" | Meisterplan will neither update nor import these resources, because there are two resources with the same name in Meisterplan. |
| Case 3 | "Saunders, Tim" | "Saunders, Tim" | "Saunders, Tim" will be updated in Meisterplan. |
Updating Existing Resource Absences
If your spreadsheet contains an absence for the same resource on the same day as in Meisterplan, the newly imported absences will overwrite the existing one. However, only the absence period listed in the spreadsheet will be updated. Existing resource absences outside this time period will remain unchanged.
Example:
The absence of "Smith, Mary" was updated only for the time period specified in the table (red), and the time periods before and after remain unchanged.
Result
Imported Resource Absences
Once you've clicked Import, your resource absences will be available in the Resource Pool.
