Microsoft Project - Refresh a Milestones schedule with changes from Microsoft Project

"Refresh" refers to updating symbols' dates, column text, and column values in Milestones Professional with the latest information in the Microsoft Project file that was used to create the Milestones schedule. Optionally, new tasks in the Microsoft Project file are added to the end of the Milestones schedule.

Summary of the refresh process

When an Microsoft Project file is imported into Milestones, start and end symbols are tagged with a Unique ID from Microsoft Project and the word "Start" or "Finish." Other symbols, column headings, and various schedule areas are similarly tagged.  See: symbol tag contents

To view a symbol's tag, double-click the symbol on the schedule and choose the Symbol Links tab in Milestones Professional.  (Or select the symbol and choose the Symbol Links tab on the Toolbar)

During the refresh process, tagged items in Milestones are matched to their counterparts in the selected Microsoft Project file. All tagged items are replaced with the latest data from the Microsoft Project file.  See: symbol tag contents

Thus, if a start date changes in the Microsoft Project file, refresh will update that same start date in the Milestones schedule.

How to refresh a Milestones schedule's data with new Microsoft Project data

1. Open the Milestones Professional schedule that was created by importing an MS Project schedule.

2. Choose Connections | Refresh Previously Imported Project | Refresh from MPP / MPD file.

3. Browse to find the Microsoft Project schedule from which the schedule will be refreshed.

4. Click once on the Microsoft Project file and choose Open. The Milestones Refresh Options dialog box appears.  Make choices (see details) and click Refresh to continue.

In Milestones, Task 1's start symbol is tagged as "2,Start" because the matching task in Microsoft Project has the unique ID number 2. If Microsoft Project Task 1's start date changes, and the refresh feature is applied in Milestones, then the Task 1 start date will change to match the change in Microsoft Project.

Task 1's finish symbol is tagged as "2,finish,name".  The unique ID is 2, the date field is finish and the Project name field is used for the symbol text.

Task 3's start symbol is tagged as "4,start,name".  (Task 3's unique ID is 4.)

 Refreshing does not change the format of the Milestones schedule.

It's possible to use several Microsoft Project (or XML) schedules to update a single presentation Milestones schedule.  In this case, symbols and rows are tagged using file "nicknames".

Set up a Milestones Professional schedule for multi-file refresh

1. Start with a named Milestones Professional schedule  (a schedule which has previously been saved and given a name).

2. On the Connections tab, Microsoft Project section, choose the arrow beside Refresh Previously imported Project.

3. Choose Create/Edit refresh file list.  This brings up the Refresh File List dialog box.

4. For each Microsoft Project (or XML) schedule, use Add Schedule to locate and add that schedule to the list.

Change the file nickname (once in the Refresh File List dialog box)

1. Click once on the file name in the list.

2. Enter a new nickname for Current File Nickname.

3. Click once on the Press to Update Nickname button.

Common issues

1. Some schedules are not able to be refreshed with the latest data from the Microsoft Project source file. The initial import wizard selections determine if the schedule can or cannot be refreshed.  For example, schedule imported using the Resource import templates can not be refreshed.  When refresh is not allowed, re-importing the Microsoft Project file is recommended.  The reasons for preventing refresh of selected schedules include: in some cases, refresh would not respect the initial import of selected tasks; refreshing the schedule would take significantly longer that re-importing.

2. If the schedule is not refreshed as expected:

   1. Be sure symbols which are tagged are defined as either normal or baseline symbols.  This is done in the toolbox.  Symbols defined as status symbols may be removed as part of the refresh process.

   2. Make sure the uniqueID field used to create the schedule is the same as the uniqueID field used for refresh.

   3. If the schedule is tagged with nicknames for multifile refresh, then the nickname field must be picked on the refresh dialog. 

 It's also possible to manually tag symbols by entering the Microsoft Project tasks' unique ID numbers, along with "Start" or "Finish" in the Automation Tag field, as shown above. The tag is case sensitive.   See: symbol tag contents