P6-Loader 6.0.0.4 Released

IMPORTANT UPDATE - Emerald's P6-Loader 6.0.0.4 has been released, this is a patch release and has the following features and fixes.

New Features

Released on June 28, 2018

This is a major release version that consolidates the following additions to the P6-Loader:

• New User Interface:

• The buttons were separated in four groups:
  • Extracting from P6 - everything related to extracting the data from P6;
  • Uploading from Excel - self-explanatory, for when you are uploading an Excel file into P6;
  • XML/ XER Options - options for the XER/ XML conversions and XER cleanup;
  • XML/ XER Conversions - to convert the XER/ XML files, and also to cleanup XER files.
• Additional XER Cleanup Options:

• These options allow you to change the data in the XER file, and also to remove unwanted data from it;
  • The option to remove the POBS data is not listed because the POBS data is always removed from the XER file;
• XML Conversion:
  • Analog to the XER conversion, the XML conversion allows you to convert P6-Loader XML or ZIP files (XML with layouts) to be converted into P6-Loader formatted Excel files.
• Column Grouping:
  • Extraction sheets are grouped by logical fields; The groups can be collapsed so that it is easier to find specific columns in the Excel file that was exported with the P6-Loader;
    • The P6-Loader still accepts file in the old or new formats. Any format that worked in a previous version of the P6-Loader still works on this version;
    • The grouping can be customized through the Excel file templates.
• Custom Date Formats:
  • The P6-Loader now allows the date formats that it generates, and the date formats that it recognizes, to be customized by the user. All date formats can be customized, including the ones used in column headers.
• Last Modification Fields:
  • The last modification fields have been added to all the sheets that support it - Added By and Added Date, and Modified By and Modified Date.
• Notebook Import/ Export:
  • This feature is officially released on this version - notebooks can now be exported and imported with the P6-Loader.
• Calendar Rolldown:
  • The Calendar Rolldown feature allows the rolldown of Global Calendars into Project Calendars. A Project Calendar is only created if necessary:
    • If the global calendar is not used in a project, then the rolldown is not performed;
    • If the global calendar is used but the project calendar already exists and is identical to the global calendar, then the activities will be modified to use the project calendar;
    • And finally, if the global calendar is used in the project, and a project calendar doesn't exist or is not identical to the global calendar, then a new project calendar is created. If a project calendar already exists, then the new calendar will be suffixed with -1, and then -2, and so on.
  • The Calendar Rolldown utility can be executed multiple times against the same set of calendars and projects, it will only do the rolldown and calendar creation when necessary.
• More Permissive Code/ UDF Columns:
  • If a Code/ UDF column refers to a code or UDF that doesn't exist, the load is not aborted;
    • If the code or UDF column is never used, the P6-Loader records just a warning for that load;
    • If the value being set refers to a code or type that doesn't exist, other values will still be set, and the load continues normally; The P6-Loader will flag the load as a failure since it couldn't set the value for the codes and UDFs that don't exist, but every other code and UDF in the sheet would have been loaded properly.
• Other Improvements:
  • The list of databases shown during in the log dialog is sorted alphabetically;
  • A feedback is displayed to the user while Codes and UDFs are being saved in the database - for example, while activities are being loaded, a feedback message is shown to the user while the codes and UDFs are being saved.

Bug Fixes

• Resource Assignment Manual Spread handling - the P6-Loader has been modified in how it loads the Resource Assignment Manual Spread when the API or WS generate errors for the data being loaded, making it more reliable;
• Better row number reporting - improvements were made to the P6-Loader for better row number reporting when error occurs while loading a file;
• Less confusing error messages;
• Fixed problems with EPS Code columns in the Team Member options sheet.