Primavera P3 Import and Export

Transferring data between Primavera P3

®

and Asta Powerproject

Asta Development plc Kingston House 5 Goodsons Mews Wellington Street Thame OX9 3BX

T

F

W

E

+44 (0)1844 261700

+44 (0)1844 261314

www.astadev.com

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Transferring data between Primavera P3® and Asta Powerproject

Page 2 of 10 Asta Group Ltd

Transferring data between Primavera P3

®

and Asta Powerproject

Table of contents

Introduction ............................................................................ 3

Exporting projects to Primavera P3® ...................................... 3

Exporting a project into Primavera P3® format where

Primavera P3® is installed on your computer .................. 3

Exporting a project into Primavera P3® format where

Primavera P3® is not installed on your computer ............ 5

Importing projects from Primavera P3®.................................. 7

Importing a Primavera P3® format project into Asta

Powerproject where Primavera P3® is installed on your

computer .......................................................................... 7

Importing a Primavera P3® format project into Asta

Powerproject where Primavera P3® is not installed on

your computer .................................................................. 8

Sorting/grouping tasks in an imported project ...............10

Copyright

Copyright © 2011 Asta Group Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trademarks

Primavera P3 is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.


Asta Group Ltd Page 3 of 10

Introduction

This document explains how to transfer projects between Asta Powerproject and Primavera P3

®. You can export Asta

Powerproject projects to P3B files so that they can be opened in Primavera P3

® and you can import P3B files into

Asta Powerproject.

The procedures for exporting and importing projects differs, depending on whether Primavera P3

® is installed on the

same computer as Asta Powerproject. If the two software applications are installed on the same computer, the procedures are simpler – especially so in the case of the import process – as much of the process can be automated.

Note that due to the limitations of the P3B file format, some of the information from your Asta Powerproject projects may be lost as much of the data cannot be exported to P3B format. Refer to the Asta Powerproject Help for further details of this.

Exporting projects to Primavera P3®

You can export Asta Powerproject projects to P3B files so that they can be opened in Primavera P3

®. Asta

Powerproject converts projects into P3B files. These P3B files are then converted by the Primavera

® Batch system into

files that can be opened in Primavera P3®.

The procedure for exporting a project into P3B format differs, depending on whether Primavera P3

® is installed on the

same computer as Asta Powerproject:

If Primavera P3® is installed on your computer, Asta

Powerproject exports a project to a text file with a .P3B extension, then submits the text file to the Primavera

®

Batch system automatically to create a project that you can open in Primavera P3

®.

If Primavera P3® is not installed on your computer, Asta

Powerproject exports a project to a text file with a .P3B extension. You must then move this file to a computer on which Primavera P3

® is installed and submit the text file

to the Primavera® Batch system manually to create a

project that you can open in Primavera P3®.

Exporting a project into Primavera P3® format where Primavera P3® is installed on your computer

1. Launch Asta Powerproject and open the project that you want to export.

2. If you want to export a particular branch of the project rather than the whole project, navigate through the project hierarchy so that the top level of the branch you want to export is displayed in the bar chart.

For example, in the project illustrated below you could click on Site 1 to export just the Site 1 branch, Site 2 to export just the Site 2 branch, and so on:



3. On the Project tab, in the Import/Export group, click Export Primavera P3 (this command only appears if Primavera P3

® is installed on the same computer). The

Primavera P3 Export dialog appears.

4. In the Export group, select the Natural order hierarchy radio button if you want to create a work breakdown structure in the exported project based on the natural order hierarchy of charts and summary groups, or select the WBS hierarchy radio button if you want to create a work breakdown structure in the exported project based on the WBS in the Asta Powerproject project.

5. Projects in Primavera P3® are identified by a four-

character alpha-numeric name, for example TTR6, AP32 or 45GJ. Enter the name by which the project will be known in Primavera P3

® in the Project name field. The

project name must not contain any characters other than letters or numbers.

6. Enter a user name with which to open the project in Primavera P3

® in the User name field. The user name

can be up to eight characters in length.

7. Unlike Asta Powerproject, which supports multiple time units in a project, all durations in Primavera P3

® projects

must be expressed in a single time unit. In the Planning unit group, select the Day radio button if you want all durations to be expressed in days, or select the Hour radio button if you want them to be expressed in hours. All of the time units in the project will be converted into days or hours during export, depending on the choice you make here.

8. In the Scope group, select the All radio button if you want to export the entire project – from the root chart downwards – or select the Branch radio button if you only want to export the current view and any subordinate tasks.

9. Primavera P3® moves tasks that have no incoming links

to the start date of the project, unless they have a start constraint flag that constrains them to a specific date. Select the Add constraint flags to tasks with no incoming links check box if you want to add a start constraint flag to all tasks with no incoming links in the exported project to prevent them from being moved to the start date of the project.



10. Click the Change button in the P3 Location group to specify the folder in which to export the project. Once you have specified this the path of the resulting P3B file is displayed in the P3 Project Directory field.

11. Click OK to export the project into a text file with a .P3B extension. Any warnings that are detected during the export process are displayed in a dialog. The resulting text file is then submitted automatically to the Primavera

®

Batch system, which converts it into a project that you can open in Primavera P3

®.

Exporting a project into Primavera P3® format where Primavera P3® is not installed on your computer

1. Launch Asta Powerproject and open the project that you want to export.

2. If you want to export a particular branch of the project rather than the whole project, navigate through the project hierarchy so that the top level of the branch you want to export is displayed in the bar chart.

For example, in the project illustrated below you could click on Site 1 to export just the Site 1 branch, Site 2 to export just the Site 2 branch, and so on:

3. Click the File tab, then click Save As. The Save As dialog appears.

4. Specify where you want to save the project, then type a new title for the project if necessary in the File name field.

5. Select Primavera P3 Batch (*.p3b) in the Save as type field.

6. Click Save. The Primavera P3 Export Options dialog appears.

7. In the Export group, select the Natural order hierarchy radio button if you want to create a work breakdown structure in the exported project based on the natural order hierarchy of charts and summary groups, or select the WBS hierarchy radio button if you want to create a work breakdown structure in the exported project based on the WBS in the Asta Powerproject project.



8. Projects in Primavera P3® are identified by a four-

character alpha-numeric name, for example TTR6, AP32 or 45GJ. Enter the name by which the project will be known in Primavera P3

® in the Project name field. The

project name must not contain any characters other than letters or numbers.

9. Enter a user name with which to open the project in Primavera P3

® in the User name field. The user name

can be up to eight characters in length.

10. Unlike Asta Powerproject, which supports multiple time units in a project, all durations in Primavera P3

® projects

must be expressed in a single time unit. In the Planning unit group, select the Day radio button if you want all durations to be expressed in days, or select the Hour radio button if you want them to be expressed in hours. All of the time units in the project will be converted into days or hours during export, depending on the choice you make here.

11. In the Scope group, select the All radio button if you want to save the entire project, or select the Branch radio button if you only want to save the current view and any subordinate tasks.

12. Primavera P3® moves tasks that have no incoming links

to the start date of the project, unless they have a start constraint flag that constrains them to a specific date. Select the Add constraint flags to tasks with no incoming links check box if you want to add a start constraint flag to all tasks with no incoming links in the exported project to prevent them from being moved to the start date of the project.

13. Click OK to export the project into a text file with a .P3B extension. Any warnings that are detected during the export process are displayed in a dialog.

14. Copy or move the resulting text file to a computer on which Primavera P3

® is installed. You must now start the

Primavera® Batch system and submit the P3B file to it.

15. Start the Primavera® Batch system by running the

PRMBATCH.EXE file that is located in the \P3WIN\P3PROGS\ folder. The Primavera Batch System dialog appears.

16. Use the File name and Directories fields to locate the P3B file that you moved to this computer, then click Run. The Primavera

® Batch system converts the text file into a

project that you can open in Primavera P3®.



Importing projects from Primavera P3®

You can import Primavera® projects that have been saved as

P3B files into Asta Powerproject. When importing Primavera®

P3B files into Asta Powerproject, the Primavera® Batch

system is used to convert Primavera® projects into P3B files

that you can open in Asta Powerproject.

The procedure for importing a P3B project into Asta Powerproject differs, depending on whether Primavera P3

® is

installed on the same computer as Asta Powerproject:

If Primavera P3® is installed on your computer, Asta

Powerproject uses the Primavera® Batch system to

convert a Primavera® project into a file with a .P3B

extension, then opens the project in Asta Powerproject.

If Primavera P3® is not installed on your computer, you

must create a batch input file and submit it to the Primavera

® Batch system in order to convert a

Primavera® project into a file with a .P3B extension,

which you can then open in Asta Powerproject.

Once you have imported a P3B file into Asta Powerproject, you are advised to save the project subsequently in Asta Powerproject’s file format – either as a PP or MDB file – to avoid losing information that is not supported by the P3B format.

Importing a Primavera P3® format project into Asta Powerproject where Primavera P3® is installed on your computer

1. Launch Asta Powerproject

2. On the Project tab, in the Import/Export group, click Import Primavera P3. The Primavera P3 Import dialog appears.

3. Select the project you want to import in the Projects field. If the project is located in a different folder, click the Change button to the right of the P3 Project Directory field to specify the folder in which the project is located.

4. Enter the name of the Primavera P3® user with which to

access the Primavera® Batch system in the P3 User

field.

5. A number of files are created during the creation of the P3B file. These are stored in the folder named in the P3 User Directory folder by default. You can specify a different folder if you like by clicking the Change button to the right of the P3 User Directory field.

6. Click OK. The Primavera® Batch system generates a file

with a .P3B extension from the selected project and the Primavera P3 Import Options dialog appears for you to specify the way in which the project should be imported into Asta Powerproject.



Resources in Primavera P3® are not categorised as

‘permanent’ or ‘consumable’, so you need to specify which units of measurement are used for each type of resource to enable Asta Powerproject to divide the resources appropriately during the import process. You must enter all of the units of measurement that are in use in the Primavera P3

® project – including any variations

such as ‘foot’, ‘feet’, ‘ft’ and ‘ft.’ – to ensure that Asta Powerproject is able to categorise all resources correctly.

7. Enter the units of measurement in the Primavera P3®

project that are used for permanent resources in the Permanent field. Enter the units of measurement in a comma-separated list, for example:

h,hr,hour,d,day,w,week,m,month


project that are used for consumable resources in the Consumable field. Enter the units of measurement in a comma-separated list, for example:

feet,ft,ft.,sqft,yard,yrd,yd,yd.,yrds,yards,yds

9. Enter the number of hours in each working day in the Hours per day field.

10. Click OK to import the project directly into Asta Powerproject.

Importing a Primavera P3® format project into Asta Powerproject where Primavera P3® is not installed on your computer

In order to import a Primavera P3® format project into Asta

Powerproject where Primavera P3® is not installed on the

same computer as Asta Powerproject, you must create and use a batch input file that contains a ‘run stream’, which defines how the project is to be imported. A run stream specifies the following information:

The four-character name of the Primavera P3® project.

The username that is needed to access the Primavera®

Batch system.

The filename of the resulting P3B file and the folder in which it is created.

In order for the Primavera® Batch system to be able to

process a batch input file, it is imperative that you enter the information in precisely the correct location within the file, as specified in these instructions.

Refer to the ‘Sample run streams’ section of the ‘Primavera Project Planner Batch and File Structures’ manual for more information on run streams.

1. Using Windows® Notepad or a similar text-editing

application, create a text file with an extension of INP. For example, you could call it P3IMPORT.INP. This is the batch input file that will be used during the import process.



2. Enter text into the file as illustrated in the following diagram, noting the following important points:

Replace each occurrence of ‘ABCD’ with the four-character name of the Primavera P3

® project you

want to import.

Replace ‘EVERYONE’ with the Primavera P3®

username that you need to access the Primavera®

Batch system.

Replace ‘E:\P3WIN\P3OUT\ADCD.P3B’ with the path and filename into which you want to save the resulting P3B file.

On line 1, the Primavera P3® username must start at

column 51 – that is, there must be exactly 32 spaces between the word ‘GENERATE’ and the username.

On line 2, the project name must start at column 16 – that is, there must be exactly 3 spaces between the word ‘ALL’ and the project name.

On line 2, the ‘INTO’ section must start at column 31 – that is, there must be exactly 11 spaces between the project name and the ‘INTO’ section.

3. Save and close the batch input file.

A copy of the batch input file pictured above is included in the \Documentation\Primavera P3 Batch Input File\ folder on the Asta Powerproject CD. Rather than creating a batch input file of your own from scratch, you may find it easier to copy and edit the sample file from the Asta Powerproject CD; this will ensure that the information within the file appears in precisely the correct location.

4. Start the Primavera® Batch system by running the

PRMBATCH.EXE file that is located in the \P3WIN\P3PROGS\ folder. The Primavera Batch System dialog appears.

5. Use the File name and Directories fields to locate the batch input file that you have created, then click Run. The Primavera

® Batch system converts the stated project

into a file with a .P3B extension that you can open in Asta Powerproject.



6. Launch Asta Powerproject and click the File tab then click Open. The Select dialog appears.

7. Select the P3B file that you created using the Primavera®

Batch system (it will be located in the folder that you specified on line 2 in the batch input file), then click Open. The Primavera P3 Import Options dialog appears.

Resources in Primavera P3® are not categorised as

‘permanent’ or ‘consumable’, so you need to specify which units of measurement are used for each type of resource to enable Asta Powerproject to divide the resources appropriately during the import process. You must enter all of the units of measurement that are in use in the Primavera P3

® project – including any variations

such as ‘foot’, ‘feet’, ‘ft’ and ‘ft.’ – to ensure that Asta Powerproject is able to categorise all resources correctly.


project that are used for permanent resources in the Permanent field. Enter the units of measurement in a comma-separated list, for example:

h,hr,hour,d,day,w,week,m,month


project that are used for consumable resources in the Consumable field. Enter the units of measurement in a comma-separated list, for example:

feet,ft,ft.,sqft,yard,yrd,yd,yd.,yrds,yards,yds

10. Enter the number of hours in each working day in the Hours per day field.

11. Click OK to import the project into Asta Powerproject.

Sorting/grouping tasks in an imported project

When you import a Primavera P3® project into Asta

Powerproject, the tasks within the project are organised by the work breakdown structure (if present in the Primavera P3

® project) and are then ordered according to their

Primavera P3® activity ID. Each task’s activity ID is copied

over during the import process and becomes the task’s unique task ID in Asta Powerproject.

In Primavera P3® projects, tasks are often organised

according to their activity data item. Primavera P3® activity

data items are copied over during the import process and become code libraries and codes in Asta Powerproject.

In order to organise tasks in Asta Powerproject by their Primavera P3

® activity data items – so that the tasks are

sorted/grouped in the same order as they are in Primavera P3

® – you will need to create and one or more sorts/groups

based on the code libraries that were created as a result of importing the Primavera P3

® activity data items.

Documents

Primavera P3 Import and Export