Phoenix is capable of importing projects from other software formats such as Microsoft Project and Primavera. To import a project from another format click Tools and choose the desired import method from the Import submenu. It is important to note that when you import data from other formats there will be information that cannot be imported or represented perfectly in Phoenix.

Primavera 3.1 Projects

Primavera projects are stored in a database format that requires specific software to be installed on your computer. If you own Primavera, simply having it installed on your computer should be sufficient. If you do not own Primavera, you can install a third-party database engine called Pervasive SQL.

Project Directory

To import a Primavera project, a directory must be selected that contains valid Primavera project files (named with a file extension of .P3). The default location is C:\P3WIN\PROJECTS. You can click the Browse button to select a different directory if you have project files located elsewhere.

Available Projects

Once you have selected a directory the Available Projects list will show you the Primavera projects found in the selected directory. The project name and description are shown just as in Primavera. Select a project from the list and click the Import button to import it. The Schedule immediately when importing has finished option causes the project to be scheduled automatically once it has been imported successfully.

MPX or XML Projects

To import from MPX or XML projects, browse to the location of the file and click Open. You will be presented with an Import Options dialog that shows some information about the project file.

The project title and number of tasks and calendars in the project are shown in the header at the top of the Import Options dialog.

There are two tabs shown in the Import Options dialog:

• Information: Gives information about the import capability for the chosen file.
• Tasks: Lists the tasks found in the project file and allows you to choose whether or not to import tasks and/or relationships from the project.

The Immediately schedule after importing option causes the project to be scheduled automatically once it has been imported successfully.

Comma Separated Values (CSV)

The CSV importer is capable of importing activity data and relationships that have been exported from other software or from Phoenix Project Manager.

Once you have selected a CSV file to import data from you will be presented with the Import CSV dialog. This dialog allows you to map the fields in the CSV file to their appropriate internal data types and select various options relating to the data. In the box used for mapping the fields to their types there are two columns:

• Assigned Type: Lists the supported data fields that can be imported from any given CSV file.
• CSV Field: Each dropdown box contains a list of all fields contained in your CSV file. Select the field from this dropdown box that corresponds to the internal type listed in the Assigned Type column.

In the Options box there are several options you can choose from to change the way the data is imported:

• File includes column headers: Most of the time when you export data from other software in a CSV format the column headers are included as the first line of the CSV file. If this is the case then leave this option checked. If the file contains only raw data, you will want to uncheck this option so that importing will begin at the first line of the file.
• Begin at line: Specifies which line of the file the importer should begin at. If the first line of the CSV file contains a header you will want importing to begin at the second line.
• Text delimiter: Some CSV files for one reason or another may not be delimited by commas. If you are importing from such a file, this allows you to select the character used as a delimiter in the file.
• Schedule immediately after importing: Once importing has completed successfully, this will automatically schedule the imported activities.

The Unit Conversion options allow you to set the default unit settings you have used for the data you are importing. This allows the importer to more accurately convert data (eg. durations) to the default units used in Phoenix Project Manager. Conversions may not work flawlessly so you should verify the data after it has been imported.