Importing and Exporting Schedules

A schedule can be built in Amplify, or managed in Excel, Microsoft Project, or Primavera and imported. Importing replaces the schedule's tasks and milestones with those in the file, so you can keep working in the tool your team already uses. A schedule can also be exported to PDF to share.

This article covers both the Advanced and Simple Models. Importing and exporting need permission to update the schedule. For working with the schedule itself, see Schedules. To add or update tasks from a spreadsheet without replacing the schedule, including across several initiatives at once, see Importing Tasks.

Before you start

• Lowest level only — schedules can only be imported or exported on an initiative with no initiatives beneath it, even archived ones. Higher levels show the schedules of the initiatives beneath them, so they're updated through those.
• Save first — save any changes to the schedule before importing, or downloading the Excel template.

How a schedule is managed outside Amplify

Once a schedule is managed in Excel, Microsoft Project, or Primavera, the file is the master copy, and Amplify follows it:

• The schedule is read-only in Amplify, and a message at the top of it says what it's managed in.
• It can't be exported to PDF or Excel, or have schedule templates added.
• A schedule managed in Excel is checked out to the person who downloaded the template. Only they, or an administrator, can import into it.

To manage the schedule in Amplify again, unlock it — see Managing the schedule in Amplify again.

Updating a schedule in Excel

To update a schedule in Excel:

1. On the schedule, click the download Excel template button at the top right. A template of the schedule downloads, and the schedule is checked out to you, managed in Excel.
2. Update the schedule in the template's Schedule Data sheet, following the rules below.
3. On the schedule, click the import button, and drag the file onto the window, or click Choose file... to select it.
4. Review the changes, and save the import — see Confirming the import.

The Excel template

The template has four sheets:

• Read Me — how to fill in the template.
• Schedule Data — the schedule, one task per row, with its ID, Amplify Task ID, Name, Type, Start, Finish, Predecessors, Outline Level, Task Owner, Percent Complete, Display on dashboards, and Assigned Resources, plus any custom fields on tasks.
• User Access — the users with access to the initiative, who can be task owners.
• Reference Data — the options for the tasks' custom fields.

When filling it in:

• Keep the template intact — don't turn off cell protection, change the IDs of existing tasks, or rename custom field columns.
• New tasks — give each one an ID that isn't used by another task, and a Name, which every task needs. Avoid copying tasks from other schedules; where you have to, copy from the Name column onwards, leaving out the ID.
• Type — Task or Milestone.
• Dates — in the format dd-mon-yyyy, such as 05-Jul-2026.
• Percent Complete — a whole number, such as 40 for 40%.
• Outline Level — where the task sits in the tree. Level 1 is a top-level task; a higher number puts it beneath the task above.
• Predecessors — the predecessor's ID and the dependency type: FS (Finish To Start, the default), SS, FF, or SF. For example, 5SF is a Start To Finish dependency on task 5. Separate several with commas, such as 12SF, 4SS. Add a lag or lead in days, such as 3FS+2d for a two-day lag, or 3FS-1d for a one-day lead.
• Task Owner — an Amplify user with access to the schedule, as listed on the User Access sheet.
• Deleting a task — select its cells from column A through J, and any custom field columns, then right-click and choose Clear Contents.

Each template is for one initiative, and only the most recent template downloaded for it can be imported. If you download a new one, import that one instead.

Importing from Microsoft Project or Primavera

To import a project file:

1. On the schedule, click the import button.
2. Drag a Microsoft Project (MPP) or Primavera (XER) file onto the window, or click Choose file... to select it.
3. Review the changes, and save the import — see Confirming the import.

The schedule is then managed in Microsoft Project or Primavera. When importing from these:

• The initiative's start and end dates change to match the project file's, rounded out to whole months.
• Task owners aren't set from the file.
• Tasks with no start or end date take the dates of the task above them.
• Tasks stored in other project files that the file links to aren't imported.

Confirming the import

Before anything changes, Confirm Schedule Import shows what the import will do:

• The tasks and milestones that will be deleted, because they aren't in the file — or a note that nothing will be deleted.
• Any tasks without dates, and any links to external project files.

Check Store schedule document to keep a copy of the imported file on the initiative. Then save the import, or cancel it to leave the schedule as it was.

Where the file has problems, the import stops and lists them, by row, so you can fix the file and try again — for example, a task with no name, a start date after its end date, an unknown predecessor, or an ID used twice. A predecessor that points to its own task is ignored.

Managing the schedule in Amplify again

To stop managing the schedule outside Amplify, click the message at the top of the schedule, and confirm. The schedule becomes editable in Amplify again, and is no longer checked out.

Unlocking needs permission to update the schedule. For a schedule checked out in Excel, it also needs to be checked out to you, unless you're an administrator.

Exporting a schedule to PDF

To export the schedule:

1. On the schedule, click the PDF export button at the top right.
2. Enter a Filename, and choose the Paper Size, Orientation, and Pagination.
3. Click Export.

Limits

An Excel import can't be more than 10 MB, or add more than 500 new tasks at a time, or have more than 1,000 task rows. Its worksheets can't extend beyond 10,000 rows or 500 columns — delete any unused rows and columns below and to the right of your data. Your organization may have different limits.

For building and changing the schedule in Amplify, see Schedules.