Project Connector Overview

This guide documents the SuiteProjects Pro Project Connector add-on service and SuiteProjects Pro add-in for Microsoft Project.

SuiteProjects Pro provides Project Connector as a tool for exchanging project plan information between the Projects application in SuiteProjects Pro and Microsoft Project. There are two key parts to setting up this relationship: the project plan and project tracking. Each is explained as follows.

• The project plan represents the overall structure and scope of the project, such as what tasks need to be accomplished by whom and when. It can be set up either in SuiteProjects Pro or in Microsoft Project, and basic project plan information can be exchanged between the two applications using Project Connector. However, you must control or modify the project plan in either SuiteProjects Pro or Microsoft Project. You cannot control or modify it in both applications. You must choose one or the other as your primary application. Changing elements of the project plan in both applications could lead to irreconcilable discrepancies, and in some cases, duplicated transactional data.

• Project tracking relies on user-input data, such as the hours each resource works on a task and assigned time associated with the project. Using this information, you can monitor the progress of the project, calculate what percentage of a task or phase is complete, and determine whether the project is on schedule and within budget. This information is drawn from tools such as the Timesheets application in SuiteProjects Pro, where users enter time worked on each task and project, and the Invoices application, where billable hours for each project are calculated.

Project Connector lets you:

• Push to SuiteProjects Pro — Export a project plan from Microsoft Project to SuiteProjects Pro. You can lock the project plan for editing in SuiteProjects Pro after the initial export, if you want to modify the project plan in Microsoft Project going forward and export the changes to update the project in SuiteProjects Pro. Alternatively, leave the project plan unlocked if you want to maintain it in SuiteProjects Pro after the initial export.

• Pull from SuiteProjects Pro — Import a project plan from SuiteProjects Pro into Microsoft Project. You can import company and employee schedules along with your project plan information. You can also import planned hours for resources assigned to task, if you use this functionality in SuiteProjects Pro, as work hours in Microsoft Project. You can lock the project plan for editing in SuiteProjects Pro after the initial import, if you want to modify the project plan in Microsoft Project going forward and export the changes to update the project in SuiteProjects Pro. Alternatively, leave the project plan unlocked if you want to with the Microsoft Project project file without it being linked to your project in SuiteProjects Pro.

• Pull SuiteProjects Pro resources — Import resource information from SuiteProjects Pro into Microsoft Project. You can import company and employee schedules along with your project plan information. You can then assign the resources imported from SuiteProjects Pro to tasks in your Microsoft Project project plan. Project Connector checks work schedules and verifies that there are no work schedule differences between the two applications when you export a project plan with assigned resources to SuiteProjects Pro.

• Map Microsoft Project fields to SuiteProjects Pro fields for tasks and phases — You can map standard and custom fields for tasks to exchange task and phase or summary task information between the two applications when exporting project plan information from Microsoft Project to SuiteProjects Pro or importing it from SuiteProjects Pro into Microsoft Project.

• Check work schedule conflicts — Check for resource schedule conflicts between Microsoft Project and SuiteProjects Pro when you export projects from Microsoft Project to SuiteProjects Pro. Discrepancies are itemized and displayed so that you can synchronize your project plans .

• Update a project in SuiteProjects Pro with changes made in Microsoft Project — Export changes to your project plan made in Microsoft Project to update a linked (and locked) project in SuiteProjects Pro. Only the project plan and task information is locked for editing in SuiteProjects Pro. Information about hours worked, approved, and billed for this project is still tracked in SuiteProjects Pro. Refer to Editing a Project in Microsoft Project.

• Export task dependencies — Export predecessor information, including the type of predecessor relationship and lag times from your Microsoft Project to SuiteProjects Pro. SuiteProjects Pro supports Microsoft Project predecessors – you can create and edit predecessors in SuiteProjects Pro Task grid.

• Track time — Use SuiteProjects Pro to track time against tasks in your project plan. The Timesheets application is typically used by employees to record time worked on each task and project, and by project managers and managers to approve the time submitted by employees. You can import timesheet hours from SuiteProjects Pro into Microsoft Project as actual work hours.