Refresh a Previously Imported Project
Resfresh schedule
 
"Refresh" refers to the process of updating a Milestones presentation schedule's dates and column fields with the latest information from one or more Microsoft Project schedules.

Typically, the same Microsoft Project schedule which which is used to build the schedule with the Project to Milestones Wizard is used for the "refresh" phase.    Advanced users: it is also possible to refresh a presentation milestone schedule from several Microsoft Project schedules
 
How the Refresh Process Works
 
When the Milestones Project Wizard creates a presentation schedule from a Microsoft Project schedule, task start and end dates are tagged with a Unique ID number from Microsoft Project and the word "start", "finish", "baselinestart","baselinefinish", or other date type. Microsoft Project fields such as task name, percent complete, BCWP, and so on are similarly tagged on the Milestones presentation schedule.
To view an example of a symbol's tag, click the symbol on the schedule.  The toolbar changes to Current Object Symbol.  Then select the Symbol Links tab in the Incoming Link and Automation Tag section and view the Automation Tag box.
 
During the refresh process, tagged items in Milestones are matched to their counterparts in the selected Microsoft Project file. All tagged items are replaced with the latest data from the Microsoft Office Project file. Thus, if a start date changes in the Microsoft Office Project file, refresh will update that same start date in the Milestones schedule.
 
How to refresh a Milestones schedule's data with updated Microsoft Project schedule dates:
 

  1. Open the Milestones Project Companion or Milestones Professional schedule that was created by importing an Microsoft Office Project schedule.

  2. Choose the Connections tab in the Microsoft Office Project section.  Then choose Refresh Previously Imported Project.

  3. Browse to find the Microsoft Project schedule that generated this Milestones schedule.

  4. Click once on the Microsoft Project file and choose Open. This dialog box below appears.
 
Refresh dialog box  
  • Refresh Using Unique Identifiers
 
Unique ID
Text 1-30
Project Server Guid
WBS
Enterprise Text 1-40
Enterprise Project Text 1- 40
 
If, when the Milestones schedule was created, symbols were tagged with a Microsoft Project field other than UniqueID, it's possible to select that field and use it to refresh the schedule.
  • Refresh Symbol Text: Updates text/values attached to symbols with the source field's text/values
    Don’t update if no symboltext tag: Use this option when you have entered symbol text in Milestones.
  • Refresh All Columns: Updates column text/values with the source field's text/values.
  • Refresh Percent Complete: Updates each status symbol, according to the latest percent complete values. The status symbol controls the fill-to-status for connectors and symbol.
  • Ignore Times When Refreshing: Do not update the time when updating the date.  Only change the date of the symbol.
  • Create Report:  Generates a report of fields which were updated.  Report is both placed 1) on the clipboard and 2) saved to the user's My Documents folder.  The name of the report is milesrefreshfile.  (milesrefreshfile.txt)
  • Highlight obsolete milestones: Symbols in the Milestones schedule which are no longer in the Microsoft Project file will change to a question mark symbol. Avoid using this option if refreshing from more than one Microsoft Project schedule.
  • Append Tasks: Choose to add tasks to the presentation chart.  Note that if a number of tasks have been added, re-importing is usually best.
    Flag: If you choose to append tasks, Milestones uses a flag filed during the refresh function.  Make sure the flag in the drop-down box menu is an unused flag field in your Microsoft Project file.
  • Create Report: Generates a report of fields which were updated. Report is both placed 1) on the
    clipboard and 2) saved to the user's My Documents folder. The name of the report is milesrefreshfile.
    (milesrefreshfile.txt)
  • Highlight changed dates: Causes any dates which are changed during the refresh process to be highlighted.  Once highlighted, it's possible to toggle the display on and off by checking or un-checking the Refresh Highlighting option on the Connections tab (Other section)
  • Reset Date Range based on changes: Check this if the date range (start/end dates) of the Milestones chart should be changed to reflect the changes made during the refresh process.
  • Minimize Microsoft Project: Minimizes the Microsoft Project window during the refresh process.
  • Constraint Field: Add Constraints to symbols in your schedule. First choose the date field in MS Project that holds the constraint date. The Constraint type and Add constraint to this boxes will appear. Now the selection of a constraint type and to what date field the constraint will be applied can occur.
 constraint
 
 Refresh Example

Milestones, Task 1's start symbol is tagged as "24,Start" because the matching task in Microsoft Project has the unique ID number 24. If Microsoft Project Task 1's start date changes, and the refresh feature is applied in Milestones, then the Task 1 start date will change to match the change in Microsoft Project.
 
Which fields are refreshable?
 
The following Microsoft Project date fields are refreshable by the Milestones refresh process:
start  [st] start 1,2,....start 10 [st1 ..... st10]
finish [fn] finish 1,2,...finish 10  [fn1.....fn10]
baseline start [bs] baseline 1 start, baseline 2 start,...baseline 10 start   [b1s ..... b10s]
baseline finish [bf] baseline 1 finish, baseline 2 finish, ... baseline 10 finish   [b1f .... b10f]
actual start  [as] actual finish [af]
early start [es] early finish [ef]
late start [ls] late finish [lf]
deadline [dl] stop (no abbreviation)
resume [rs] created [cr]
constraint date [csd] date 1 ..... date 10 [dt1....dt10]
[abbreviations]—tag is limited to 30 total characters
 
Why won't all schedules refresh?
 
Some schedules are not able to be refreshed with the latest data from the Microsoft Project source file. The initial import wizard path determines if the schedule can or cannot be refreshed.

When refresh is not allowed, re-importing the Microsoft Project file is recommended.

The reasons for preventing refresh of selected schedules include: in some cases, refresh would not respect the initial import of selected tasks; refreshing the schedule would take significantly longer than re-importing.
 
IMPORTANT NOTES:
 
  • Only existing start and end dates, baseline start and end dates, late finish dates, symbol text/
    values, and column text/values are refreshed in Milestones. Time-scaled values found in ValueSets,
    among other schedule areas, will not be updated.
  • Microsoft Project files that have significantly changed after the initial import into Milestones, should be re-imported for the latest Project data.
  • Refreshing does not change the format of the Milestones schedule.
  • Symbols in Milestones can be extensively rearranged (moved to various task lines). Their location is not important, as the Unique ID tag identifies each symbol in Milestones.
  • Symbols can be tagged manually by entering the Microsoft Project tasks' Unique Identifier numbers, along with "start", "finish", or another refreshable date field in the Automation Tag field, as shown above. The tag is case sensitive.
  • If using Microsoft Projects Unique ID as the unique identifier note that when manipulating the Microsoft Project file: Sorting a resource or task list does not change the Unique ID numbers in Microsoft Project. However, cutting and pasting task rows does change the Unique ID numbers, as Microsoft Project sees that as creating new task rows. Those same tasks in Milestones would, therefore, not be identified correctly when the Refresh is applied.
  • Milestones schedules should be saved before refreshing.
 
Using Milestones Professional with Microsoft Project