Retrieving Actuals from Project Management (Shared Control Mode)

You can update the Microsoft Project file with actuals data retrieved from the associated Project Management work plan when Project Management and Microsoft Project share control of the plan. The integration will show you the tasks in the Microsoft Project work plan that will be updated with new actuals, and gives you the option of cancelling the update if the changes are not what you expected.

Microsoft Project maintains internal rules that determine the way field values are calculated in actuals fields. This will lead to situations where the data in each application does not match exactly. To manage the transfer of actuals information, use the Microsoft Project Integration policy for the project. See Transferring PPM Information to Microsoft for more information.

Caution: Do not filter out all tasks in Microsoft Project before you retrieve actuals from Project Management.

To update the Microsoft Project work plan with actuals from Project Management for a plan using shared control:

  1. Open the project in Microsoft Project.

  2. Select PPM > Retrieve Actuals from PPM.

    The integration retrieves the actuals specified in the Transfer actuals information setting in the Microsoft Project Integration policy.

  3. The Accepting PPM Actuals dialog box opens, displaying the tasks that have changed and the nature of their changes. If the changes are not what you expected, you can click Cancel to cancel the update.

    Click Continue to accept the changes.

  4. The integration is completed when the Integration Complete dialog displays.

    From the Integration Complete dialog, you may choose to remove the association between the Microsoft Project work plan and the Project Management project.

    You can also click Show Info to view any informational messages, errors, or warnings that occurred while sending the work plan to Project Management. See Enable synchronization logs for information on how to enable full information tracing.

    Click Done to close the dialog.

  5. The Microsoft Project work plan is updated with new actuals from Project Management, and a new table opens in Microsoft Project identifying both tasks whose actuals changed (changed actuals) as well as tasks whose schedule information changed as a result of Microsoft Project's internal field rules (impacted actuals). See Impact of Microsoft Project Rules on Fields for more detailed information.

    By default, tasks with changed actuals are displayed in red, while tasks with impacted actuals (changes as a result of automatic calculations performed by Microsoft Project) are displayed in blue. These colors can be configured in the Microsoft Project Integration policy in the project settings. See Project-Level Settings for Integration for details on its settings.

    You can also use custom filters and data table views provided by the integration for Microsoft Project to view changed actuals. See Custom Microsoft Project Filters and Tables for more details.

    To return to the normal Gantt chart view in Microsoft Project, select View Entry.