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Exporting activity codes via an .XER file

10 replies [Last post]
Kevin Matthews
User offline. Last seen 14 years 49 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 57
All,

I have exported a P5 schedule as an XER file but when the file is reimported the activity codes (which were originally global) are not there.

I assumed they would become project codes but would still transfer with the .XER file.

Any ideas..?

Keep Planning,

Kevin.

Replies

Peter Gable
User offline. Last seen 4 years 6 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 9 Mar 2007
Posts: 17
Groups: None
Guys. Have you heard of the XENA .xer utility? It's a 3rd party utility that allows you to view and edit a .xer file before importing. For example, the .xer may have activity codes set to global, but you want to import them as project. The XENA utility allows you to view the codes and change them before re-importing. There are more details on our website... http://www.rpc.uk.com/pages.php?sectionid=35&categoryid=119&subcategoryi... Let me know if is helpful or you need any more information. Pete
Rodel Marasigan
User offline. Last seen 5 weeks 14 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 1699
Kevin,

Activity Code for Responsibility is Enterprise level and Activity type = 7364
Activity code for Area/Department is Global and Activity Type = 7365

Based on the data provided, Responsibility should be imported as Enterprise level and not Global.

You will notice on the TASKACTV table shown as 7364 which is under Enterprise.

Hope this help,
Rodel
Kevin Matthews
User offline. Last seen 14 years 49 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 57
Codes as requested......

ACTVTYPE
%F actv_code_type_id actv_short_len seq_num actv_code_type proj_id wbs_id actv_code_type_scope
%R 7364 4 16200 Responsibility # 705 7678 AS_EPS
%R 7365 8 16191 Area/Department AS_Global

%T ACTVCODE
%F actv_code_id parent_actv_code_id actv_code_type_id actv_code_name short_name seq_num
%R 14995 7364 Chevron CVX 10
%R 14997 7364 Anton Rogers ARO 20
%R 14999 7364 Clive Rawson CRA 40
%R 15000 7364 Callum Wardlaw CWA 50
%R 15001 7364 Ellen Coenra ECO 60
Santosh Bhat
User offline. Last seen 31 weeks 2 days ago. Offline
Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 381
One other thing to bear in mind is that only Activity code values that are USED get exported with the XER file. It does not export the code dictionary in its entirety
Rodel Marasigan
User offline. Last seen 5 weeks 14 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 1699
Kevin,

Did you check the ACTVTYPE table if present on your XER?

If you can post also your ACTVTYPE and ACTVCODE data I can check what’s wrong with your XER. The data you posted is the TASKACTV table which are the assignment of ACTVCODE and not the ACTVCODE table.

HTH,
Rodel
Kevin Matthews
User offline. Last seen 14 years 49 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 57
Hi Rodel,

I have attached a part of the exported .XER file showing that the activity codes were exported. The import configuration file is set up right....but still no joy ?

Kevin.?

%F task_id actv_code_type_id actv_code_id proj_id
%R 113373 7364 15013 854
%R 113373 7366 15035 854
%R 113373 7367 15094 854
%R 113373 7535 20937 854
%R 113373 7733 23524 854
%R 113374 7364 15013 854
%R 113374 7366 15035 854
%R 113374 7367 15094 854
%R 113374 7535 20937 854
%R 113374 7733 23524 854
Kevin Matthews
User offline. Last seen 14 years 49 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 57
Thanks Rodel,

I’ll have a look.

Keep Planning.

Kevin.
Rodel Marasigan
User offline. Last seen 5 weeks 14 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 1699
Kevin,

You can easily check the activity codes if present to XER. XER is a tab delimited text files contains the archive history of your Project. You can open it using WordPad or any text editor file that can handle large file. Press Ctrl+F to activate Find dialog box and search for "ACTVTYPE" if present to your XER. Your cursor should find "%T ACTVTYPE" correspond to ACTVTYPE table. The data under this headings are the fields name and records. %T represents table, “%F” represent fields and “%R” represent records. When you copy and paste it in Excel spreadsheet by highlighting the data from “%T” to the last “%R” before reaching another “%T” (table) you will noticed that under actv_code_type fields indicates whether AS_Global for global, AS_EPS for Enterprise and AS_Project for Project activity codes.
The next table that you need to search on your XER is the ACTVCODE table if present to your XER. This are the values of activity codes defined on activity type.

Hope this help,

Rodel
Kevin Matthews
User offline. Last seen 14 years 49 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 57
Hi Kevin,

Checked the import configuration file and tried various different options but all failed ?

Thanks,

Kevin.
Kevin Button
User offline. Last seen 3 years 6 days ago. Offline
Joined: 16 Jul 2003
Posts: 112
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The only thing I can suggest is to check the Import Configuration and see that the Activity Codes item is not set to ’Do Not Import’.

I imported an XER from an external database only yesterday and the activity codes came across OK as Global, so I don’t think it’s a P5 bug.

Cheers