Integrations Tab: Microsoft Project

Overview

By integrating Fieldwire with Microsoft Project, you can manually import and update your Fieldwire tasks based on a MS Project planning (.mpp) file. This guide will walk you through how to use the new connection between Fieldwire and MS Project ensuring you can efficiently import task information from your MS Project.

Note: For general questions and bug troubleshooting related to MS Project, please contact their support team, directly. The Fieldwire Support team can assist with issues related to any issues occurring directly within Fieldwire.

Fieldwire Requirements

• Requires a Business or Business Plus license
• Must be an Admin on the Fieldwire project

How to Import Tasks from MS Project

To use this integration, simply go your project and click on Import tasks. By doing so, your task title, start date, and finish date will be imported in Fieldwire.

If you want to use this integration to its full extent, please watch the video Microsoft Project - Setup below.

You need to:

1. Create three columns "Fieldwire email", "Fieldwire category", "Fieldwire status".

   Important: 

   • Make sure to use these exact English names and pay attention to capitalization.
   • Do not just rename the display title of an existing column. Fieldwire reads the internal field name, so you must create the columns from scratch as shown in the setup video below.
2. Create a lookup table for these three columns in Microsoft Project > Project > Custom Field. That way, you can quickly pick the email, category, and status
   • When creating the Custom Field, for the Type dropdown, please select "Text"

Note: If a Task is deleted or inactivated in MS Project, then the associated task in your Fieldwire project will also be deleted and put in the Trash. If you restore the task in MS Project and import the upload the MS Project again, then the associated task will be restored.

Note: The parent task in MS Project will not be imported.

Microsoft Project - Setup

Once you have configured your MS project, you will need to import your tasks into your Fieldwire project. To do so, you will need to take the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Tasks tab
2. Click + Import Tasks
3. Select Microsoft Project file (.mpp)
4. Click Select file or drag and drop your .mpp file
5. Click Next
6. Check the recap of what will happen to your tasks
   • The pop up could say "Create 125 new tasks", "Update 20 existing tasks", "Delete 20 existing tasks".
   • Check out the demo video below for more details on what this looks like
7. Click Confirm, if the changes/updates look correct

Microsoft Project - demo

How to Export Tasks from Fieldwire to MS Project

1. Navigate to the Tasks tab
2. Click Generate reports
3. Export tasks from Fieldwire as a CSV file
4. Open the CSV file and verify the Unique ID column
   • Ensure there is a column named Unique ID.
   • This ID matches tasks between Fieldwire and Microsoft Project.
     • If the ID exists → the task already exists in MS Project.
     • If no ID → a new task will be created in MS Project.
   • If the column does not exist, create one named Unique ID.
5. Prepare the file for import into MS Project
   • Remove the first three columns from the CSV file.
   • Save the file as an Excel (.xlsx) file.
6. Import the file into Microsoft Project
   • Open Microsoft Project.
   • Click Open, then Browse, and select the Excel file you saved.
   • Click Next.
7. Select or create an import map
   • Choose an existing map or create a new one to link Fieldwire data to MS Project fields.
   • Click Next and select Merge data at the end of the active project.
   • Save the map for future use if desired.
8. Complete the import
   • Click Finish.
   • Your Fieldwire tasks will now appear in Microsoft Project with:
     • Task ID
     • Unique ID
     • Fieldwire category
     • Fieldwire status
     • Assigned person
9. Make changes and sync back if needed
   • Edit tasks in Microsoft Project as required.
   • You can upload the updated data back into Microsoft Project later.

Microsoft Project - demo

Test the Integration!

If you would like to test out the integration between MS Project and Fieldwire, we have a couple of demo files you can use! Here are the links:

• Upload First
• Upload Second

Note: There is now preview for either of these links when you click on them, so you will need to download the file to your computer.

To test the integration using the files, here are the steps we recommend after you have downloaded both test files:

1. Navigate to your Project Dashboard
2. Create an entirely new, untouched project
3. Go to the Tasks tab
4. Click on + Import tasks
5. Select Microsoft Project file (.mpp)
6. Drag and drop the downloaded file that you received from "Upload First" into the upload box. (The file name, itself, should be MS Project demo - Step 1)
7. Confirm the action by clicking Confirm
   • Notice that there are now several tasks on your project in Priority 2 status
   • Feel free to click into the tasks and take a look at what was created from the .mpp file
8. Drag and drop the downloaded file you received from "Upload Second" into the upload box. (The file name, itself, should be MS Project demo - Step 2)
9. Confirm the action by clicking Confirm
   • Notice that there are now some tasks that have been deleted, other have been added, and some of the existing ones changed status to Priority 3, Priority 1, Completed, and Verified!

Step 1:

Step 2:

FAQs

What information can be uploaded?

The following information is synced with Microsoft Project:

Note: "Fieldwire email", "Fieldwire status" and "Fieldwire category" are custom columns that need to be created in MS Project. More information about these fields can be found in our demo videos.

How does this integration handle hierarchy and relationships?

Parent tasks and relationships are not imported in Fieldwire.

Can this integration update and delete my Fieldwire tasks?

Yes. If you update a task in MS Project, it will be updated in Fieldwire. 

If you archive or delete a task in MS Project, it will be deleted (trash) in Fieldwire. 

If you restore it or unarchive it, it will be restored in Fieldwire.

I changed one of the tasks in Fieldwire. Will that information be erased?

If the information is different in Microsoft Project and you import a new .mpp file, then yes, the information in Fieldwire will be erased. 

Only the task name, start date, end date, assignee, status and category of a Fieldwire task can be erased, and only if there is a non-null value to that column in Microsoft Project.

For example:

Your Fieldwire task is:

• Title = “Title 1”
• Assignee = assignee@email.com
• Category = “Category 3”
• Start and end date = 1/1/2025 - 1/1/2025

If you import a .mpp where this task is:

• Title = “Title 20”
• Assignee = (null)
• Category = (null)
• Start and end date = 3/3/2025 - 3/3/2025

Then the result will be:

• Title = “Title 20”
• Assignee = assignee@email.com
• Category = “Category 3”
• Start and end date = 3/3/2025 - 3/3/2025

How frequent is the refresh?

This is not a live sync. The refresh will only occur when you upload a new .mpp in Fieldwire. You can upload 10 .mpp files per day per Fieldwire project.

How many tasks can be imported from MS Project?

1,000 tasks per import.

I made a mistake, what should I do?

Correct or use an old version of your .mpp file, and upload it back to Fieldwire. We will restore your tasks back to their previous state. If a task is deleted in MS Project, it will be deleted in Fieldwire and vice-versa.

My task’ Start date in Microsoft Project is null, yet, I see a date in Fieldwire. Why is that?

In the rare case where a Start date is null in Microsoft Project, we use the Early Start column.