Populating the Project Phases and Tasks import template

BEFORE YOU BEGIN  Please review the general instructions for importing and updating data in Autotask in this topic: Importing or updating data.

NOTE  You must import project phases and tasks into an existing project schedule.

This topic describes how to import project phases and tasks from a CSV spreadsheet.

You can also import phases, tasks, calendar items, project charges, and team members by using a project template. To learn more, refer to Using project templates.

Keep the following in mind:

• To import project phases and tasks, in the Projects module, search for and open the destination project. In the project menu, click Schedule. On the Schedule page, click Actions > Import from: > .CSV File. When the import has finished, click the schedule Refresh icon to update the schedule.
• You can create phases, tasks, and issues with this import tool, but you cannot update them.
• If your import included multiple tasks for the same phase, upon completion of the import, the status message will include a note that duplicate phases were found and zero were updated. This behavior is to be expected. It indicates that more than one task had the same phase associated with it. Your tasks will be imported correctly.

NOTE  If you see a check mark in the Must be looked up in Autotask instance? column, it means that, in the Autotask user interface, a value is selected from a list. You may use selections that are currently inactive, but they must exist. Navigate to the page shown in the Description column and look up the valid options.

*= required field

Field	Must be looked up in Autotask instance?	Description
Phase: Name*		Tasks that do not have a phase name will be added to the project level. To add the task to an existing phase, enter the name of the phase. To create a new phase, enter a unique phase name. The phase will be created and the task will be added to it. NOTE  You cannot import sub-phases.
Phase: Start Date*		Enter the start date in the date format of your primary internal location. NOTE  Not required if the phase already exists and the import will only add tasks to the phase.
Phase: End Date*		Enter the end date in the date format of your primary internal location. NOTE  Not required if the phase already exists and the import will only add tasks to the phase.
Phase: Description		Enter a description.
Task: Title*		Enter a task title. If you are adding a task to a phase, specify the phase name. If there is more than one phase in the project with that name, the task will be added to the end of the project schedule.
Task: Start Date*		Enter the start date in the date format of your primary internal location.
Task: Start Time*		Enter the start time in hh:mm time format. NOTE  Entering 3 PM will automatically be converted to 15:00.
Task: End Date*		Enter the end date in the date format of your primary internal location.
Task: Description		Enter a description.
Task: Estimated Hours		Enter the number of hours you estimate this task will take to complete. NOTE  Estimated hours on tickets and tasks populate the Workload Availability report.
Task: Department	Yes	You can find departments here: > Admin > Organization Your Autotask instance may be configured to use one of the following terms instead: Account, Business Unit, Client Company, Customer, Site. Settings & Users > Your Organization > Departments.
Task: Work Type	Yes	You can find work types here: > Admin > Features & Settings > Finance, Accounting & Invoicing > Billing Codes > Work Types tab.
Task: Task Category	Yes	Task categories can be found here: > Admin > Features & Settings > Projects & Tasks > Task Categories. If no task category is entered, the default task category will be applied.
Task: Location	Yes	Enter the organization location where the task will be performed. To find a valid organization location, open the Organization page and click the Locations accessory tab.
Task: Primary Resource	Yes	Enter the name of the primary resource for the task. You must select a valid active resource. You can find a list of all your internal resources here: > Admin > Organization Settings & Users > Resources/Users (HR) > Resources/Users
Task: Primary Resource Role	Yes	Valid roles for a resource can be found here: > Admin > Organization Settings & Users > Resources/Users (HR) > Resources/Users. Edit the resource and click the Associations tab.
Task: Priority	Yes	Enter a task priority. Valid task priorities can be found here: > Admin > Features & Settings > Projects & Tasks > Task & Ticket Priorities.
Task: Priority Order		If your administrator has defined an external numeric list of task priorities, enter a priority number here.
Task: Status	Yes	Defaults to New if left blank. Enter a task status. Valid task statuses can be found here: > Admin > Features & Settings > Projects & Tasks > Task & Ticket Statuses.
Task: Purchase Order Number		Enter a purchase order number.
Task: Client Portal Access		This field controls whether the task is available to contacts via the Client Portal. The following inputs are accepted: can see and complete - This option can be used for tasks that give the go-ahead or approval for a project can see cannot complete - This is the default. Client Portal users will see the task, but will not be able to change the task status. cannot view (Internal), cannot view, or internal - This option will hide the task in Client Portal If left blank, this field defaults to the task category's default value or to Internal.
Task: Issue		Determines if the task is flagged as a project-level issue. Enter yes or no. Defaults to no if left blank.
Task: Task Type		Enter Fixed Work or Fixed Duration. If the field is left blank or a random value is entered, it will default to Fixed Work.
Task: Start No Earlier Than		Must be a date between the project start and end dates, entered in the date format of your primary internal location.
Task: Contacts (separate with |)	Yes	Enter the names of one or more contacts associated with the project's organization. The contacts are added to the project team and will receive emails sent using the email team members feature.
Task UDFs		User-defined fields for all entities that support them can be imported and exported, with one exception: UDFs of type List (Multi Select) cannot be exported or imported. Inactive list options can be imported and exported as well. Required UDFs cannot be left blank, or the import will fail. UDFs are identified as such and appear after all system field columns.To learn more about how to set up and use UDFs, refer to Managing user-defined fields