Properties for importing from Primavera P6

This article lists the project, task, and resource properties that Gantt supports when importing Primavera P6 files (XML and XER), along with format-specific limitations and properties that require special handling.

Project properties

The properties below are supported when importing project-level data from Primavera P6 files.

AMText	CriticalSlackLimit	GUID	PreserveMinimumFloatWhenLeveling
ActivityIdIncrement	CurrencyDigits	HonorConstraints	PreserveScheduledEarlyAndLateDates
ActivityIdIncrementBasedOnSelectedActivity	CurrencySymbol	HyperlinkBase	ProjectCodeValues
ActivityIdPrefix	CurrentDate	IgnoreRelationshipsToAndFromOtherProjects	ProjectExternallyEdited
ActivityIdSuffix	CustomProperties	InsertedProjectsLikeSummary	ProjectID
ActualCost	DataDateAndPlannedStartSetToProjectForecastStart	LevelAllResources	ProjectIsBaseline
ActualDuration	DateFormat	LevelResourcesOnlyWithinActivityTotalFloat	ProjectTitle
ActualFinish	DateOrder	LevelingPriorities	ProjectWebsiteUrl
ActualStart	DateSeparator	LimitNumberOfFloatPathsToCalculate	RelationshipLagCalendar
ActualWork	DaysPerMonth	MakeOpenEndedActivitiesCritical	RemoveFileProperties
ActualsInSync	DecimalSeparator	MaxPercentToOverallocateResources	ScheduleFrom
AdminProject	DefaultCalendarUniqueID	MaximumNumberOfFloatPathsToCalculate	ScheduledFinish
AutoAddNewResourcesAndTasks	DefaultDurationIsFixed	MicrosoftProjectServerURL	SchedulingProgressedActivities
AutoFilter	DefaultDurationUnits	MinutesPerDay	ShowProjectSummaryTask
Autolink	DefaultEndTime	MinutesPerMonth	SplitInProgressTasks
BarTextDateFormat	DefaultFixedCostAccrual	MinutesPerWeek	SpreadActualCost
BaselineCalendarName	DefaultOvertimeRate	MinutesPerYear	SpreadPercentComplete
BaselineCost	DefaultStandardRate	MoveCompletedEndsBack	StartDate
BaselineDate	DefaultStartTime	MoveCompletedEndsForward	StartVariance
BaselineDuration	DefaultTaskEarnedValueMethod	MoveRemainingStartsBack	StatusDate
BaselineFinish	DefaultTaskType	MoveRemainingStartsForward	SymbolPosition
BaselineForEarnedValue	DefaultWorkUnits	MultipleCriticalPaths	ThousandsSeparator
BaselineProjectUniqueID	DisplayFloatPathsEndingWithActivityUniqueId	MustFinishBy	TimeFormat
BaselineWork	Duration	Name	TimeSeparator
CalculateFloatBasedOnFinishDateOfEachProject	EditableActualCosts	NewTaskStartIsProjectStart	TotalSlackCalculationType
CalculateMultipleFloatPaths	EditingTime	NewTasksAreManual	UniqueID
CalculateMultipleFloatPathsUsingTotalFloat	ExportFlag	NewTasksEffortDriven	UpdatingTaskStatusUpdatesResourceStatus
ComputeStartToStartLagFromEarlyStart	FileApplication	NewTasksEstimated	UseExpectedFinishDates
ConsiderAssignmentsInOtherProjects	FileType	Notes	WbsCodeSeparator
ConsiderAssignmentsInOtherProjectsWithPriorityEqualHigherThan	FinishDate	NotesObject	WeekStartDay
Cost	FinishVariance	PMText	Work
CreationDate	FiscalYearStart	PercentageComplete	Work2
CriticalActivityType	FiscalYearStartMonth	PlannedStart

Complex properties

Some properties contain nested properties of their own. When importing files with such properties, you get objects instead of plain values:

• CustomProperties - contains all the custom properties, as well as ProjectCodeValues.
• ProjectCodeValues - includes both codes and values prepared beforehand, as well as custom ones; it can also be used for grouping tasks and projects by categories. Examples of the built-in codes: Business Process, Business Segment, Capacity Analysis, Current Phase, Estimated Project Size, Financial Rating, IT Investment Class, Location, Priority, Product Line, Project Manager, Project Status, Project Type, Resource Rating, Risk Rating, Sponsor, Stage-Gate Gate, Stage-Gate Stage, Strategic Objective, Strategic Rating, Technology Rating.

Task properties

The properties below are supported when importing Activity tasks from Primavera P6 files.

Active	ConstraintType	LongestPath	RemainingEarlyFinish
ActivityCodeValues	ConstraintName	Milestone	RemainingEarlyStart
ActivityID	Cost	Name	RemainingLateFinish
ActivityLevelingPriority	CostVariance	Notes	RemainingLateStart
ActivityPercentComplete	CreateDate	NotesObject	RemainingWork
ActivityStatus	Critical	OutlineLevel	RemainingWorkLabor
ActivityType	Duration	OutlineNumber	RemainingWorkNonLabor
ActualCost	DurationType	OverAllocated	ResponsePending
ActualDuration	DurationVariance	OvertimeCost	Resume
ActualFinish	EarlyFinish	PercentComplete	SecondaryConstraintDate
ActualStart	EarlyStart	PercentCompleteType	SecondaryConstraintType
ActualWork	EffectiveCalendar	PercentageComplete	SequenceNumber
ActualWorkLabor	Expanded	PercentageWorkComplete	Start
ActualWorkNonlabor	ExpectedFinish	PhysicalPercentComplete	StartSlack
Baseline	ExpenseItems	PlannedCost	StartVariance
BaselineCost	Finish	PlannedDuration	Steps
BaselineDuration	FinishSlack	PlannedFinish	Successors
BaselineFinish	FinishVariance	PlannedStart	Summary
BaselineFixedCost	FixedCost	PlannedWork	SuspendDate
BaselineStart	FloatPath	PlannedWorkLabor	TaskMode
BaselineWork	FloatPathOrder	PlannedWorkNonlabor	TotalSlack
CalendarUID	FreeSlack	Predecessors	Type
Calendar	GUID	PrimaryConstraint	UID
CalendarUniqueID	HasChildTasks	PrimaryResource	UniqueID
CanonicalActivityID	ID	PrimaryResourceUniqueID	UpdateNeeded
ChildTasks	IgnoreResourceCalendar	Priority	WBS
CompleteThrough	LateFinish	Recurring	Work
Confirmed	LateStart	RemainingCost	WorkVariance
ConstraintDate	LevelingPriority	RemainingDuration

Format-specific properties

Different Primavera file formats support different sets of properties. A property available in one format isn't guaranteed to be available in another, since this is a limitation of the file format itself. For example, BaselineCost, BaselineDuration, BaselineFinish, BaselineFixedCost, BaselineStart, BaselineWork, CostVariance, and DurationVariance are used in the XML files, but absent in the XER files. Conversely, FloatPath, FloatPathOrder, FreeSlack, and LongestPath are used in the XER files, but absent in the XML files.

ConstraintName property

ConstraintName is a synthetic property - it doesn't exist in Primavera files. The property actually stored in files is ConstraintType. The export module accepts ConstraintType as either a number or a string, but on import it always returns a number, for backward compatibility. ConstraintName lets you import constraints using values that are understandable for humans instead: if it's set instead of ConstraintType, the export module recognizes it and applies the corresponding constraint type.

Complex properties

Some properties contain nested properties of their own. When importing files with such properties, you get objects instead of plain values:

• ActivityCodeValues - includes both codes and values prepared beforehand, as well as custom ones.

• Baseline - Primavera handles baselines differently from Gantt and MS Project: a task itself has no baseline. Instead, Primavera keeps a full snapshot of the project, and its values serve as the baseline. On import, all available baselines are taken from this snapshot and added to the project. This works only in the XML files, as only files of this format contain projects' snapshots.

• ExpenseItems - a complex object with many properties, including two nested objects: Account and Category. Its full property list: Account, AccountUniqueID, AccrueType, ActualCost, ActualUnits, AtCompletionCost, AutoComputeActuals, Category, CategoryUniqueID, Description, DocumentNumber, Name, PlannedCost, PlannedUnits, PricePerUnit, RemainingCost, RemainingUnits, UniqueID, UnitOfMeasure, Vendor.

  • The Account object contains the following properties: ID, Name, Notes, NotesObject, Parent, ParentUniqueID, SequenceNumber, UniqueID.

  • The Category object contains the following properties: Name, SequenceNumber, UniqueID.

• NotesObject - an array with note objects. Each object has the following properties: Notes, NotesTopic, TopicID, UniqueID.

• Steps - represents the stages of a task's execution, an enumeration used later for calculations. It's an array of objects, each containing the following properties: Complete, Description, Name, PercentComplete, SequenceNumber, UniqueID, Weight.

WBS-tasks

Primavera P6 also has WBS-tasks (projects in Gantt, Summary Tasks in MS Project), with their own set of properties, separate from those of usual Activity tasks. Still, this is a Primavera behavior that Gantt supports: properties with matching names can be defined on both Activity tasks and WBS-tasks.

Resource properties

The properties below are supported when importing resources from Primavera P6 files.

Active	CostRate	Name	ResourceID
ActualCost	CreationDate	Notes	RoleAssignments
ActualOvertimeCost	Currency	NotesObject	SequenceNumber
ActualOvertimeWork	CurrencyId	OverAllocated	Shift
ActualWork	DefaultUnits	OvertimeRate	ShiftUniqueId
Availability	EmailAddress	Parent	StandardRate
AvailableFrom	Enterprise	ParentResource	Start
AvailableTo	ExpensesOnly	ParentResourceUniqueID	TaskAssignments
CalculateCostsFromUnits	Finish	PercentWorkComplete	Type
Calendar	GUID	PrimaryRole	UniqueID
CalendarUniqueID	Generic	PrimaryRoleUniqueId	UnitOfMeasure
ChildResources	ID	RemainingCost	Work
Code	MaterialLabel	RemainingWork
Cost	MaxUnits	ResourceCodeValues

Complex properties

Some properties contain nested properties of their own. When importing files with such properties, you get objects instead of plain values:

• Availability - an array of objects with the following properties: Start, End, Units.
• CostRate - an object with the following properties: CostPerUse, StandardRate, OvertimeRate, StartDate, EndDate.
• Currency - an object representing the specified currency, with the following properties: UniqueID, CurrencyId, Name, Symbol, ExchangeRate, DecimalSymbol, NumberOfDecimalPlaces, DigitGroupingSymbol, PositiveCurrencyFormat, NegativeCurrencyFormat.
• ResourceCodeValues - includes both codes and values prepared beforehand, as well as custom ones. Examples of the built-in codes: PMO_Yes, Location, Contractor, Classification, Plant, PMO_Deps, Department.
• RoleAssignments - contains roles that represent personnel job titles or skills needed to execute projects. Gantt has no standalone array for roles, so all role data is stored in RoleAssignments on import; on export, the export module rebuilds roles from this same property. Its objects contain the following properties: Name, Proficiency, ResourceID, UniqueID, Notes, SequenceNumber.
• Shift - defines work hours spanning a period of time, applied to specific resources. On import, you get an object with the following properties: Name, UniqueID, Periods.
  • The Periods array includes objects that contain the following properties: Duration, Start, UniqueID.
• TaskAssignments - an array of objects representing the assigned tasks, each containing the following properties: task_id, start_date, end_date, uid, units.

Related sample: Gantt. Import and export Primavera P6 files with additional project, task and resource properties and entities