Guild of Project Controls: Compendium | Roles | Assessment | Certifications | Membership

Tips on using this forum..

(1) Explain your problem, don't simply post "This isn't working". What were you doing when you faced the problem? What have you tried to resolve - did you look for a solution using "Search" ? Has it happened just once or several times?

(2) It's also good to get feedback when a solution is found, return to the original post to explain how it was resolved so that more people can also use the results.

How to import WBS into P5 from Excel

7 replies [Last post]
Maya C
User offline. Last seen 15 years 15 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 19
Groups: None
IS there a way to import just WBS codes into P5?

I am trying to import a huge project with many WBS codes. When I try to import activities, the import kind of lumps all the activities together and ignores the WBS codes I have in my input (import) file.

However, if I go into P5 and MANUALLY create the WBS and re-import, it recognizes the WBS and imports it correctly.

I am trying to avoid Manually creating WBS since I have so many of them, and I think it is a big waste of time to create it manually.

Any pointers?

Thanks much!

Replies

mimoune djouallah
User offline. Last seen 4 years 36 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 14 Oct 2006
Posts: 388
Mauricio Reyes-Qu...
User offline. Last seen 12 years 30 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 2 Dec 2008
Posts: 5
Groups: None

Can you give those steps tp create a new wbd in excel and the  export it to primvara P6.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Cheers

Rodel Marasigan
User offline. Last seen 1 day 1 hour ago. Offline
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 1699
Hi All,

WBS in P3e/P5 can be import using ODBC connection into PMDB database. For those who are familiar in the structure of PMDB database and using ODBC should not have any problem importing or creating WBS thru SQL or ODBC using PROJWBS table.

Another way for those who don’t have access to ODBC and not familiar PMDB database I can teach you step by step using Excel spreadsheet to import your WBS but it requires some knowledge on the database structure because P3e/P5 database are using ID code and not name. It also needs a practice to understand how it works but I guarantee you that it works and worth of learning it.

For those interested send me a PM with your email address so I can send you also the sample file.

Regards,
Rodel
Andrew Podolny
User offline. Last seen 37 weeks 3 days ago. Offline
Joined: 16 Nov 2004
Posts: 130
I’ve used to use Excel macro which takes data from Excel spreadsheet and emulates keystrokes in P5 (through Windows API). Unfortunately it requires some programming skills but it’s worth it.
David Kelly
User offline. Last seen 1 year 34 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 19 Oct 2004
Posts: 630
OOOPS,

Santosh Bhat is right, its our toolkit we use for WBS. The P3 route is the one.
Santosh Bhat
User offline. Last seen 51 weeks 1 day ago. Offline
Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 381
Dictonary.xls doesn’t let you modify the WBS structure for a project - unfortunately.

Another option, thats rather long winded is to:

1) Create the WBS using P3 (and its corresponding dictionary.xls file)
2) Import this into P5 as a flat WBS structure
3) Manually adjust each flat entry to suit your hierarchy.

David Kelly
User offline. Last seen 1 year 34 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 19 Oct 2004
Posts: 630
The rule in P5 is explicit and absolute, if a data item CAN come from a pick list, it MUST come from a pick list.

So the WBS must exist in the project before you import activity data in Excel.

Two choices.

Download Dictionary.XLS from the Primavera Support Centre. This uses the SDK to allow dictionaries to be updated.


Import your spreadsheet into P3, and migrate the P3 project.