If you’d like to connect your Master Schedule in P6 or MS Project to your Aphex project, then this guide is for you!
We'll cover what file you'll need, how to get your data into Aphex, and how to allocate the imported tasks to your team.
We also have an example import file if you'd like to do a dummy run first.
Things to know before you start:
You must export your Master Schedule to .XML format
You must be a Project Admin to run an import
Your Organisation must be on the Pro, Pro+ or Enterprise Plan
Preparing your Master Schedule
Before importing your Master Schedule, you’ll need to create your .XML file first.
To save time, you can pre-assign some information to tasks in your Master Schedule, such as Location, Owner and Subcontractor. You can also choose what activities you'd like to bring in by creating a UDF. These are optional steps.
Filter (Optional)
UDFs allow you to filter to the specific data you want to import into Aphex:
In your master schedule, create a User Defined Field (you might want to name this something straightforward: Aphex Filter)
In this UDF assign a consistent value against the activities you would like to import and ones you would not (this could simply be "Yes" and "No")
Project Assets (Optional)
Save time during your import by including Owners and Project Assets in your import file.
You can add the email address of the user’s you’d like to assign imported work to automatically, and the subcontractor and location of each task.
Create a UDF for each attribute (i.e. Subcontractor, Location and Owner) you wish to pre-populate.
Name each UDF something memorable, like “Aphex Subcontractor”.
In each UDF (eg. Subcontractor or Location), insert the field (Subcontractor, location etc.) for each activity. This should be consistent with the name in your Aphex project (if not, Aphex will create a new one)
In the Owner UDF, insert the email address of the activity’s owner. Check that this matches the email address the team member uses for Aphex.
If not, the address entered will receive an invite to join the project.
Importing your Master Schedule
Great! You've exported your .XML import file. Let's begin the import process:
Step 1 : Upload
Click the Aphex icon in the top left, above the Gantt
Click Master Schedule Imports
From the Master Schedule Imports page, click Import and select the .XML file you'd like to upload
Step 2 : Filter [Optional]
If you created a UDF filter in your master schedule, select the UDF and value from the two drop-down lists.
Step 3 : Timeframe
Select the timeframe of data that you’d like to import. You can see the number of tasks each timeframe will import from your .XML file.
Step 4 : Map Fields [Optional]
To import your WBS tree, select the WBS option from the drop-down list.
If you've chosen to pre-assign project assets, you’ll need to select the correct field on each drop-down list so that Aphex can correctly map your UDFs to your imported activities.
Only data associated with activities you are importing will be included. i.e WBS codes unrelated to any imported activities will not be brought into Aphex.
Step 5 : Review and Import
The final import page summarises the data you will be importing, including the number of tasks, WBS codes, Owner, Subcontractors, Locations and Calendars.
Once you’re happy with your options, click Next to import your Master Schedule.
Distributing Work to the Team
Before your newly imported work appears on the Gantt, your next step is to distribute tasks to the team. Then, once tasks have been assigned to an owner, the user will be notified that they have newly imported work waiting for them to add to the plan.
Here's how to allocate activities to the users responsible:
Click the Aphex icon in the top left, above the Gantt
Click Master Schedule Imports, then navigate to the Project Data page using the side-menu
Open the Unassigned tab
Select an owner for each task with the drop-down menu
Click Move Tasks to Backlog
💡 You can assign in bulk using the checkboxes on the left of the table, and you can multi-select by holding the SHIFT key.
Adding Imported Tasks to the Gantt
If you're a user who has been assigned new tasks from an import, they'll appear in your Backlog. All you need to do is pull them onto the Gantt:
Click the Aphex icon in the top left, above the Gantt
Click Master Schedule Imports, then navigate to the Project Data page using the side-menu
Open the Backlog tab
Click Move Tasks to Gantt
Running a Test Import
If this is your first time running an import, we'd recommend running a test import, using our example file, on a sandpit project to help you get the hang of things.
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