Adding tasks to an existing project

[JillAc]

Hi It seems that you can't kickstart import new tasks into an existing project, but I need to do just that for 93 tasks. Anybody have any tips or shortcuts to share that will make this bearable? Or do I have to suck it up and add them one at a time? Jill Ackerman

[skyehansen]

I don't understand why you can't kickstart new tasks into an existing project. Not that I've done that but I've done queue topics into an existing project. Can you not just use the setProjectID column to put in your project's GUID? -skye

[JillAc]

I read previous posts that said you can't do it and I did try exactly what you said and it didn't work, (but that doesn't mean I didn't make some other error, it usually takes me 3 tries) so I thought it couldn't be done. And then I got impatient with all this working from home and being indoors, and all the fun things being cancelled, that I spent the last hour adding the tasks, so, still would like to know because this will come up again. Thanks!

[skyehansen]

I'm definitely not the kickstart expert by any means. What I usually do is download a kickstart that has all the info in my system, and look up the project I want to emulate. I scrutinize all the data that's there and basically try to copy it with a new task (and some fields you can intuitively leave those columns off, of course). If I have tried all that and still can't get it working, I would just dump those tasks into a brand new project, and then move them into your existing project, honestly. It would definitely be worth some remote consultant time to work it out though: they could get one set up for you in about two minutes. -skye

[Heather_Kulbacki]

I've added to tasks to an existing project using Kick-Starts. One thing to check might be, to make sure the project is currently in an open status...? I know our team has struggled to add more tasks to a project using a template if the project is currently in a closed status - so it makes sense to me that the Kick-Start may run into the same issue.

[JillAc]

I read previous posts that said you can't do it and I did try exactly what you said and it didn't work, (but that doesn't mean I didn't make some other error, it usually takes me 3 tries) so I thought it couldn't be done. And then I got impatient with all this working from home and being indoors, and all the fun things being cancelled, that I spent the last hour adding the tasks, so, still would like to know because this will come up again. Thanks!

[LeighHa]

We just went through implementation recently and no, you cannot add tasks by Kickstart to an existing project that already has tasks. It takes a little manual work, but we ended up creating a dummy project and then just moved tasks to the existing project. Leigh Hasty

[JillAc]

Thanks! I think that's a great tip for a workaround and sounds like it would be fairly easy. Does this sound like the right steps: Copy the current project exactly as is, delete all the tasks in the copied project, do the export so you can get the Project ID, and import the new tasks via Kickstart. Then you can just move the tasks from the copied project to the "real" one and delete the copied project.

[Heather_Kulbacki]

Don't let them tell you it can't be done. I just did it to double-check myself. I added tasks 38-44 from a Kick-Start, the other tasks were already in this project.

[JillAc]

Oh wow, so much conflicting information!

[parkerc51788251]

Just jumping in here to give another vote for it can be done. We had a massive project that involved adding a single task to over 500 projects that already had tasks (needed a new milestone). I would look carefully at the kickstart file and try to see what else may be causing the issue. Parker Cantu

[LeighHa]

Good to know, Heather. Thanks. Our implementation specialist was the one who told us it wasn't possible! Leigh Hasty

[Heather_Kulbacki]

Ping me next time you try to do one, I'm happy to try to help. We were going to do a session on Kick-Starts at LEAP, hopefully will still be doing a virtual session.

[JillAc]

Thanks so much Heather. I do have a couple questions that are probably answered on the Help but ... oy that thing is so long and boring my brain dies a little each time!! �� When I get the export for which to base the kickstart on, it has a bunch of other tabs that I don't need. Am I supposed to leave those other tabs when I import, or delete them? Or should I keep the tabs and delete the data in them? Also, can you change the name of the import doc or does it need to remain the same as the export, or does it not matter? I suspect doing one of these things incorrectly is why it didn't work for me.

[Heather_Kulbacki]

So when I do a Kick-Start, the first thing I do is go to Setup > Kick-Starts > Import Data, then generally select the More Options link If I'm just importing tasks, not assigning people to them or anything else, I click the checkbox next to Task and select Download so I only get the TASK tab and a Preferences tab. No need to delete Preferences, I've even added my own notes into that tab just for my reference. If your spreadsheet has other tabs, I would probably delete those other tabs, just to keep it clean if I needed to refer back to it later - but I'm not sure that's really necessary. I have read here in the Community about people exporting existing data from their project or whatever, and using either that file or some of that data to create their import file. I don't, I start with a blank import file. I can get any data that I need such as the Project ID and that sort of thing manually. If I were uploading a task to multiple projects such as Parker mentioned above, I would probably pull a report to get all those project IDs and copy/paste them into my import file. No need to keep the doc named the same as the export, name it whatever you'd like.

[skyehansen]

Heather, did you try to get around that by re-setting your project preferences in the setup area? Most folks do have their project preferences set such that tasks cannot be added to a closed project. But, I would guess if you briefly change this setting you'd be able to run the kickstart and then shut that setting back down again? -skye

[Heather_Kulbacki]

We actually have our project preferences set so tasks can be added to a closed project - but templates cannot - we should change that so templates can also be added. If we re-run an ad already on our website or update a print piece that was created within the last year, we add additional update tasks to the original project rather than opening a whole new project. So adding tasks to a completed project is a frequent thing for us.

[skyehansen]

ohhh, I misread your original comment, you're adding them via template. Then yes, I'd love to hear if changing your project preferences allows for this :) -skye

[Heather_Kulbacki]

There would be a couple ways around it for us. There is a checkbox in that same area of setup to allow Templates to be added to a closed project. We also already allow issues to be added to a closed project - and generally when we are re-running an ad or updating a print piece, there is an issue that gets added to the project which auto-opens the project back up In the case rare case where there's no issue and more tasks are needed, we also have our projects set to auto-close when all tasks, issues, and approvals are complete - we can change that to manually close instead, then just change the status to any open status to add the tasks. and this can be done by any of our project managers since they have manage access to all projects, where the other two I would need to adjust in setup as an Admin But I do think I will check that box to allow templates to be added to closed projects, so no one has to jump through any hoops.