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Importing data from PPM to SPM

Changepoint PPM users may want to pre-populate Changepoint SPM with existing PPM workspace data. These users may also want to periodically update SPM demands with status or date information from PPM. Changepoint SPM supports both these options using a manual CSV-file import process. This article describes how to prepare the file and import it.

Preparing a CSV file for import

In SPM, Demand entities may be equivalent to workspaces in PPM. To import new entities into SPM, you create a CSV file that includes the demand field names as column headers, and the field values in the rows.  

Note: Import files must be use the CSV file format, not CSV UTF-8 file format.

Viewing available demand fields

All of the available field names, descriptions, and values for demand entities are displayed in the Import Entities view.

To view the available fields for demand entities:

  1. From the main menu, click Administer > Bulk Import.

               

    NOTE

    This option is only visible to administrators.

               

  2. Click Import Entities. If this is your first time using bulk import, you will be presented with a tutorial.
  3. In the Select Catalog dropdown, select the Demand.

The list of available fields and all acceptable values for those fields appears.

Lists will differ depending on the custom fields that you’ve created in SPM. However, all demands have a set of native fields, some of which are required (displayed in BOLD text in SPM):

Table 1: Native Demand Fields

BAROMETER_NO

This field is used when updating existing demands

REFERENCE_ID

This field is used for additional linking, and is not relevant for importing workspace data from PPM

NAME (required)

Any text value is acceptable, but the name must be unique to your EAM tenant. If the name is not unique, the demand will not be imported.

DESCRIPTION

This can contain any text values, but should not contain line breaks or commas.

DEMAND_DOMAIN (required)

This is a required field for SPM. Unless you’ve set up your SPM process to use this field, select Default.

TYPE (required)

This is a required field for SPM. Unless you’ve set up your SPM process to use this field, select Project.

DEMAND_STATE (required)

This is a required field for SPM. Your options will reflect the lifecycle states that you’ve chosen for your Kanban board. There are two additional values – Planned and Inactive – that are unavailable on the Kanban Board. Do not use these.

PRIORITY

Three values are available by default – High, Medium, and Low. Other values will not be imported.

BUDGET_STATUS

Use of this native field is optional.

INVESTMENT_SCALE

Use of this native field is optional.

DETAILS

This rich-text field is not supported for SPM Demand import.

INVESTMENT_RANGE

Use of this native field is optional.

START_DATE

Values must be in mm/dd/yyyy format, irrespective of language or culture.

END_DATE

As above, the format must be mm/dd/yyyy.

SCHEDULE_STATUS

Use of this native field is optional.

RISK_LEVEL

Use of this native field is optional.

BUSINESS_VALUE

Use of this native field is optional.

ENTERPRISE_APPROVAL (required)

For initial import, we recommend setting this to either Not Approved or Unspecified. Your process may require different values.

CONTENT_STATUS (required)

For initial import, we recommend setting this to Planned. Your process may require different values.

Your custom fields will appear at the end of the list, along with the acceptable values for each field. 

           

NOTE

Custom weighted fields are unique because they only accept the integer value of each weighted option during import. You cannot use text values of the field options. 

           

Adding the fields and values to the CSV import file

The Bulk Import engine is very precise when importing. The field names, which must be the CSV headers, for example, are case sensitive. Most import errors occur because of mismatches between the headers or field data in the CSV file and the values in SPM. The following rules will help you avoid import errors:

  • The order of the columns does not matter.
  • The custom field types in SPM must match the type being imported from PPM. For example, a PPM text field cannot be imported into an SPM integer field.
  • Number fields, including currency, must not include commas.
  • Decimal fields will only accept two decimal places.
  • Because the import file is a CSV (comma separated values) file, field data must NOT contain commas or line breaks.
  • For bulk import, the CSV header value is the field’s Field ID value, not the field Name, as shown on the Custom Field creation dialog.

Importing a CSV file

Once your import file is prepared, you can import the CSV data into Changepoint SPM.

To import the CSV file:

  1. From the main menu, click Administer > Bulk Import.

               

    NOTE

    This option is only visible to administrators.

               

  2. Click Import Entities.
  3. In the Choose a CSV file to upload field, click Choose File and then locate and select the CSV file.
  4. Click Import Entities. A message appears to confirm that the entities were imported.

Updating existing items

Once you’ve imported demand information, you may want to periodically update that information with data from PPM. We recommend limiting updates to status or date changes in order to provide a clear separation between planning and management processes.

To update existing items, you can use the same process as the one-time update listed above. You can use a single CSV file which can include both new and updated items.

Preparing a CSV to update existing SPM Demands

If you want to update existing demands during a bulk import, you must include the unique Barometer Number value for each demand. Once you have that number, enter it into a column called BAROMETER_NO. Fields in SPM will be updated to match any new values in the CSV file.

           

NOTE

In an update import, if the Barometer Number is not included a row, a new Demand will be created for that row. If you do not want to duplicate existing demands during a bulk import, you must have a Barometer Number for each existing demand.

           

You can find each demand’s Barometer Number by opening its detail card in SPM. The number is in the upper-left corner of the detail card.

To obtain the Barometer Number values for multiple existing demands, you can export a list from SPM and use a v-lookup function to add them to your SPM field.

To export a list of Barometer Numbers for your demands:

  1. Select the Demands list from the upper right menu.
  2. Click the Summary button to open a summary view table. The summary view table contains all the demand names and barometer numbers.
  3. Click Export CSV.

Once you have exported the table to a CSV file, it can be used for a v-lookup source.