Project Schedule Bulk Edit

Modified on Mon, 20 Nov 2023 at 05:49 PM

The Bulk Edit functionality offers an easy way to update and manage your project schedule using Excel. Use it to copy a schedule between projects, create new schedule tasks or make updates to an existing schedule plan.

In this article, you will learn:

✔ how to access the bulk edit functionality.

✔ the steps to update your schedule plan.

✔ the rules that are applied when you upload your schedule plan updates.

✔ how to copy a schedule plan from a project to another.

How to access the Schedule Bulk Edit Functionality?

Schedule Bulk Edit is available from:

Project Dashboard/Watchlist pages. Bulk Edit will export only those projects that are in your filtered view, so make sure the filters applied include all the projects you need to edit!
The Project Workspace.
The Project Gantt View page.

Accessing Bulk Edit from Project Dashboard/Watchlist

To access Bulk Edit from a dashboard, select Tools (top right of the page) and select Bulk Edit.

Accessing Bulk Edit from Project Workspace

The Bulk Edit function can also be accessed from the project workspace page by selecting the Bulk Edit option (under the Tools section) on the left navigation menu.

Accessing Bulk Edit from the Project Gantt View:

The Bulk Edit function can finally be accessed from the project Gantt View page by selecting Bulk Edit under Tools (on the top right of the page) .

Steps to update your schedule plan

Step 1: Download the data file

Select Schedule tasks on the left of the Bulk Edit dialog
If you want to download existing data from the project/s into the file make sure the flag is set to Yes. To extract a blank upload file, set it to No.
Click on DOWNLOAD.

Step 2: Edit the data file

Make the required changes to the excel spreadsheet you have downloaded.

The format of the excel file will vary depending on whether the file was downloaded from a watchlist page or a project workspace.

See the table at the bottom of this page for a full description of each column.

Step 3: Upload the data file

When you are happy with your changes select Upload in the Bulk Edit dialog and select the file you want to upload.

The progress bar will indicate when the upload process is completed and if any errors occurred during the upload process, they will be listed below the progress bar.

Schedule tasks upload rules

You can find the description of the file format in the next section but here are the rules that need to be applied in order to successfully create or update schedule tasks.

Creating new schedule tasks

The bulk edit functionality makes it very easy to create new schedule tasks in bulk.
The schedule task title is the only field that is mandatory to create a new schedule task.
If the schedule tasks are being created from a project watchlist page:
- You can only create schedule tasks for projects you have edit rights for, i.e. you must be either a project administrator or the PM or editor of the project.
- Either the project reference or project ID of the project the schedule task applies to must be specified. The project reference value is used first to uniquely identify the project. If this fails then the project ID value is used to retrieve the project to be updated. If both project reference and project ID are incorrect, then the row is skipped.

Setting Start/End Dates and Effort (For new schedule tasks)

If schedule items are uploaded with StartDate falling on a weekend, StartDate will move to the next working day, EndDate will move with this, retaining the Effort (if no effort is stated in the bulk edit file upon upload, effort will be calculated by the system by measuring the number of working days between StartDate and EndDate).
If schedule items are uploaded with EndDate falling on weekend, the EndDate will be pushed back to the Friday before the weekend upon upload, if Effort allows. As an example, If schedule item Effort is 5 days and begins on a Monday and EndDate is set to a Saturday, the EndDate will move back to the Friday before. If schedule items Effort is 5 days, task begins on a Tuesday and is scheduled to end on a Saturday, the task EndDate will be pushed to the next Monday to factor in the effort.
If any schedule items are uploaded with an EndDate falling on a weekend, the EndDate will be automatically adjusted to the Friday before the weekend, as long as it is possible to do so based on the Effort required. For instance, if a schedule item has an Effort of 5 days and starts on a Monday, but the EndDate is set to a Saturday, then the EndDate will be moved back to the preceding Friday. Similarly, if a schedule item has an Effort of 5 days, begins on a Tuesday, and is scheduled to end on a Saturday, the task's EndDate will be pushed to the following Monday to account for the required effort.
When doing a Bulk Edit upload, the StartDate and Effort columns are always taken as the primary data, before EndDate. If EndDate is not equal to StartDate plus Effort, then this is disregarded and the system will generate a new EndDate.
If EndDate and Effort columns are populated - StartDate is calculated by taking EndDate minus Effort.
If StartDate and EndDate columns are populated - Effort will be calculated based on the number of working days excluding weekends.

Updating a schedule task

The bulk edit functionality can also be used to update schedule tasks' properties.
To update existing schedule tasks, it is recommended to download the Schedule file, make the necessary changes in the excel file and upload the amended file.
The schedule task title must be specified for a row to be processed.
The Id or Guid of the task being updated must also be specified
- If the row being updated has a value for the 'Id' and/or 'Guid' column (column S and U if the bulk edit is accessed from a project workspace or column V and X if accessed from a project watchlist), the upload process first uses the schedule Id value to retrieve the task to be updated. If no value Id is specified or if the Id is incorrect, then the Guid value is used to retrieve the task. If no task is found but a GUID value is specified, then a new task with this Guid value will be created.
If the schedule tasks are being updated from a project watchlist page:
- You can only update schedule tasks for projects you have edit rights for, i.e. you must be either a project administrator or the PM or editor of the project.
- Either the project reference or project ID of the project the schedule task applies to must be specified. The project reference value is used first to uniquely identify the project. If this fails then the project ID value is used to retrieve the project to be updated. If both project reference and project ID are incorrect, then the row is skipped.
- The upload process then uses the Id or Guid column values to retrieve the task within the project (as described earlier). If no schedule tasks are found, then the row will be skipped.

Setting Start/End Dates and Effort (For updating existing schedule tasks)

When doing a Bulk Edit upload, the StartDate and Effort columns take precedence over EndDate. If EndDate is not equal to StartDate plus Effort, then the End Date value is disregarded and the system will calculate the end data based on the start date and effort.
If StartDate and Effort columns are populated - EndDate is calculated by taking StartDate plus Effort.
If EndDate and Effort columns are populated - StartDate is calculated by taking EndDate minus Effort.
If StartDate and EndDate columns are populated - Effort will be calculated based on the number of working days excluding weekends.
If StartDate falls on a weekend, this will be changed post upload to fall on the next working day.
If EndDate falls on a weekend, this will be changed to fall on the Friday.

It is important to note that the file being uploaded does not need to contain the entire schedule plan. Only the schedule tasks listed in the upload file will be updated, all other tasks will remain unchanged.

Copy a project schedule to another project

To copy/recreate a schedule from an existing project onto a new project:

Download the schedule xls from the existing project
Make your changes to the spreadsheet off-line (important: make sure the ID and Guid column values are cleared of all their content so that NEW entries are created as opposed to the original entries being updated. See table below for more info. The Id and Guid values can be found on column S and U if the bulk edit is accessed from a project workspace or column V and X if it is accessed from a project watchlist).
Navigate to the schedule of the new project and follow the same steps to upload the file

Data File Column Description

Remember when populating the excel:

Changes will only be applied if you have the right permissions to the projects to make the data changes. If you do not have permission to edit the projects in your data file the upload will not process the changes.
When entering values that have been predefined in Fluid as selection options (e.g. Status column) please make sure your entries exactly match the available configured entries in Fluid.

Column Title	Description	What happens if the field is left blank when uploading the file?
The below three columns are only present if the bulk edit functionality is accessed from a project watchlist. The file must contain a value in the ProjectID column or Project Ref column to uniquely identify the project to be updated. If no values are set or if they are incorrect, the row will be skipped. In addition the user uploading the file must have rights to edit the project.
Project	The project name or title.	This field is for information only and is not used by the upload process.
ProjectId	The project unique ID in Fluid.	If ProjectRef is blank too or if there are no projects in the database matching the ProjectRef value, then the row will be skipped.
ProjectRef	The project external reference.	If ProjectId is blank too or if there are no projects in the database matching the ProjectId value, then the row will be skipped.
The below columns are always present regardless from where the bulk edit functionality is accessed.
GanttOrder	Use numbers to specify the nested ordering of the schedule items. For example 1 / 2 / 3 - for a Tier 1 entry 1.1 / 2.1 / 3.1 - for a Tier 2 entry 1.1.1 / 2.1.1 / 3.1.1 - for a Tier 3 entry... etc.	The schedule item will be loaded as a tier 1 entry onto the gantt chart.
Title	The title of the schedule item.	This is the only mandatory field to complete in order to add a new entry to the schedule. The value is also required when updating an existing record.
Description	Include a detailed description of the schedule entry if required.	The field will be left blank.
Type	What is the schedule item? Specify between an action, phase, workstream, deliverable or milestone. If any other value is specified, then the type will be set to Milestone.	The schedule item will default to a Milestone.
Status	Specify the status of the schedule item – Not Started, In Progress or Completed. If any other value is specified, then the status will be set to Not Started.	The item will default to Not Started.
AssignedTo	The full names of the assignees.	It is not necessary to populate this column on upload. Assignees full names are included in extracts to help you better identify who is assigned to an item - because the User ID (which is the proper identifier - column G) can be cryptic!
AssignedToID	The username of assignees (visible in Fluid in brackets after a persons name when you search on them).	This is the unique identifier Fluid will use to set the assignees - if this field is left blank, no assignees will be added to the item.
FlexHours	The amount of hours allocated to the resource.	The value will be set to 0.
FlexBooked	The amount of hours booked by the resource on their timesheet. Note the that this value cannot be edited (as driven from timesheets) and is displayed for information only.	N/A
FlexBusiness	The line of business activity associated with a task.	The field will be left blank.
Promoted	You can specify for each entry how far up the hierarchy it should be reported. Select from NotPromoted (schedule entry will not be reported anywhere), ToDashboard (the schedule entry will be reported on the project dashboard), Parent (if the project is a sub-project the entry will be reported up to the parent) and Program (if the project belongs to a program the entry will be reported up to the Program dashboards). If any other value is specified, then the Promoted flag will be set to ToDashboard.	The promoted flag will default to ToDashboard.
Priority	The priority of the schedule item – high, medium or low. If any other value is specified, then the priority will be set to Medium.	The priority flag will default to Medium.
PercentComplete	% complete of the item – include any numerical entry between 0 and 100.	The item will default to 0% complete.
AutoCalculate	Set Yes if the item should auto-calculate to respect the duration of it's children. The start will adjust to the first date of any child items and the end to the last date of any child items. Set No if the item should keep the start and end dates defined in the upload.	AutoCalculate will default to No.
StartDate	The start date of the schedule item. If an invalid date is specified in the file being uploaded, then the row will be skipped. Not that if exclude weekend is turned on, the duration of the task will exclude weekends as working days.	The start date will be set to the date of the upload.
EndDate	The end date of the schedule item. If an invalid date is specified in the file being uploaded, then the row will be skipped. Note that if exclude weekend is turned on, the duration of the task will exclude weekends as working days.	The end date will be set to the date of the upload - regardless of the start date set for the item.
Effort	The effort in days of the schedule task.	The effort will be calculated and setby the system based on the task start & end date.
AlternateDate	If the item is slipping and will be completed on a date other then the recorded end date then it can be recorded here. If an invalid date is specified in the file being uploaded, then the row will be skipped.	No alternate date will be set for the entry.
RAGStatus	The RAG status of the entry - specify between Red, Amber or Green. If any other value is specified, then the RAG status will be set to Green.	Fluid will default the item to Green.
Strapline	A brief descriptive reason of the RAG status value. This value is mandatory if the RAG status has been set to Red or Amber.	The strapline will be left blank.
StatusDate	The date of the RAG status entry.	Fluid will default to the date of upload.
Predecessors	The list of tasks that precedes this task and therefore control its start and end dates. Predecessor tasks are listed as [task short id, dependency type, lag].
Id	Fluid unique ID for the schedule item in Fluid. If EDITING EXISTING entries on an extract do NOT change this field. Leave the field blank if you want to add a record as a new entry, or if you are uploading a schedule that has been extracted from another project to a new project.	The record will be added as a new entry on the gantt if the Guid column value is blank too.
ShortId	Unique identifier for the schedule item.	Identifier is auto-defined according to the short code defined under project settings.
Guid	Fluid Global Unique Identifier for the schedule task. If EDITING EXISTING entries on an extract do NOT change this field. Leave the field blank if you want to add a record as a new entry, or if you are uploading a schedule that has been extracted from another project to a new project.	The record will be added as a new entry on the gantt if the Id column value is blank too.
Schedule task custom properties	If schedule tasks custom properties have been set by your system administrator, there will be a column for each custom property that has been set to Reportable.	The properties will be left blank.
DeleteRecord	Enter Yes if you want the entry deleted from the schedule. The schedule record Id or Guid must not be empty.	Fluid will not delete any entry.