Microsoft Project

Schedule Integration - MS Project

Set Up Scheduling Options

Prior to sending information from InEight Estimate to Microsoft Project, you need to make sure the proper settings are in place.

Job Properties Schedule Tab

Microsoft Project scheduling options are configured on the Schedule tab of the Job Properties form.

At the top of the Schedule tab, the Integrated Schedule must be set to Microsoft Project
As a default, the Always use Plug Days when updating InEight Estimate from the schedule checkbox is not selected (on a job by job basis, this box can be checked later for jobs in which an estimator does not want updates from Microsoft Project to change the duration and therefore the cost of your cost items in InEight Estimate)

Schedule Cost Items

Before you can integrate with Microsoft Project, your cost items need to be marked as Scheduled in InEight Estimate. This is done on the Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS) Register. From your Saved Views drop-down list in the CBS, the Schedule Setup View displays all of your schedule-related columns. There are a couple to keep in mind when you schedule your items:

Scheduled: This column tells you which of your items are selected to be included in your Microsoft Project schedule.
Roll Up Schedule: This column lets you check a box to roll up your estimate to the selected level when it imports into Microsoft Project.

In the below example, notice that all of the cost items are scheduled, but the subordinates for Unclassified Excavation will be rolled up to the superior level.

The following steps walk you through scheduling your cost items.

Step by Step — Schedule a Cost Item in InEight Estimate

In the Training Job, from the Estimate tab, select Cost Breakdown Structure.
In the Saved Views drop-down list, select Schedule Setup View.
- In the Scheduled column, you can select the checkbox for each cost item that you want to schedule
- If a cost item has subordinate cost items below it, you will only be able to check the superior cost item, which will automatically schedule the subordinate cost items along with it
Select the Mobilization, Clearing & Grubbing, and Unclassified Excavation cost items, then press Tab.

Step by Step — Schedule a Group of Cost Items in InEight Estimate

In the Training Job, from the Estimate tab, select Cost Breakdown Structure.
From the Saved Views drop-down list, select Schedule Setup View.
- To schedule multiple cost items, you can highlight the row for each cost item that you want to schedule, using the Shift and Ctrl keys to select multiple rows.
Select additional cost items 4-Aggregate base, 5- Asphalt Concrete Hot Mix, and 6- 36-inch RCP Culvert Class.

To schedule all cost items, highlight the JOB row
Right click on the selected rows and select Schedule Selection.
- On the Schedule Cost Items dialog, you can select whether or not you want to roll up the selected cost items to a specific level of the CBS for scheduling purposes
Select Schedule selected cost items and their subordinates without rolling them up, then click OK.
- Your scheduled cost items will import into Microsoft Project the next time you update Microsoft Project from InEight Estimate.

Roll Up Schedule

For cost item 3 – Unclassified Excavation, your scheduler does not need all of your estimate details and wants to roll up your cost items to a higher level when they import into the Microsoft Project schedule.

Follow the steps below to learn how to roll up your cost items for the schedule.

Step by Step — Roll Up Schedule

In the Training Job, from the Estimate tab select Cost Breakdown Structure.
From the Saved Views drop-down list, select Schedule Setup View.
- Review your cost items to decide which cost items need to be rolled up
Select the Roll Up Schedule checkbox on the Unclassified Excavation cost item.

Update Microsoft Project from InEight Estimate

Now that you have set up your schedule to integrate with Microsoft Project in Job Properties and scheduled your cost items in the CBS, you are ready to send your project information to Microsoft Project.

When you first update Microsoft Project from InEight Estimate, Microsoft Project will create a new project automatically and load it with the following information from InEight Estimate:

Data Sent from InEight Estimate to Microsoft Project
Data Type	InEight Estimate	Microsoft Project
Project Data	Job Code	Project Name
Activity Data	CBS Position Code	01 – CBS Position Code
	Description	Description
	Days (Duration Driven)	Duration
Cost Data	Cost Category Total Cost	Cost Category (custom text columns)

The following steps walk you through updating Microsoft Project from InEight Estimate to create a new schedule.

Step by Step — Update MS Project from InEight Estimate

From the Estimate tab, select Schedule>Update Project from InEight Estimate.
- Your job automatically opens in Microsoft Project
- The Work Breakdown Structure Layout displays for the project
- You can see the breakdown structure imported from InEight Estimate with durations, rolled up as specified by the Roll Up Schedule option in InEight Estimate
- Initially, the start date for your activities is the start date defined on the Job Properties > Cover Sheet tab (these will change as activity relationships are defined)

Update InEight Estimate from Microsoft Project

You can also bring information back from Microsoft Project into InEight Estimate. When you update InEight Estimate from Microsoft Project, the following information updates:

Update InEight Estimate from Microsoft Project
Data Type	Microsoft Project	InEight Estimate
Activity Data	Start Dates	Start Dates
	Finish Dates	Finish Dates
	Hours	Hours

Walk through the following steps to practice updating InEight Estimate from Microsoft Project. You will create a scheduling relationship in Microsoft Project and then import the updated dates and relationships into InEight Estimate.

Step by Step — Update InEight Estimate from MS Project

Open your version of the Training Job project in Microsoft Project.
- In the real world, it is likely that you would have overlapping activities or your activities would be out of order, however for this example you will link all activities from finish to start
Click on the Link Tasks icon to link all activities.
- Ensure the Auto Schedule button is selected
To update InEight Estimate with this change, go back to InEight Estimate and from the Estimate tab, select Schedule>Update InEight Estimate from Project.
- On the Schedule Setup View, you can see the Start and Finish dates updated from MS Project.

Export Copy of MS Project File

If your project’s schedule is integrated with MS Project, you can export a copy of your MS Project file. This can be advantageous if a preliminary schedule is needed for a starting point schedule, as the project goes into execution. Recreating the schedule from scratch can be time consuming and error prone, as the existing schedule details might not be properly captured in the beginning stages.

Manage Changes Between Estimate and Schedule

As changes to scope, resources, and costs come up in your estimate, and changes to relationships and dates occur in the schedule, you can continue updating your estimate and schedule as needed.

Plug Days

The Schedule Plug Days option allows you to define the duration in the schedule separate from the duration defined for your cost items on the Production tab. For example, your 10” PVC Pipe activity may have extra days in the schedule due to the delivery date of the pipe material, but you don’t want those extra days to drive the costs in your estimate, since your crews won’t be working on the activity on those extra days.

All superior cost items are hard-coded to use Schedule Plug Days.

Step by Step — Schedule Plug Days

Look at the Days (Duration driven) column in the CBS where it shows 4.65 days for Excavate RCP Trench.
Make sure the Schedule Plug Days checkbox is selected on the Excavate RCP Trench cost item, and then enter a Plug Days duration for the number of days the item will be scheduled in Microsoft Project (7 days).
- This allows you to maintain your duration of 4.65 days in the estimate and 7 days in the schedule.
  
  Any duration changes made in Project will import into InEight Estimate as Plug Days automatically so that they can be reviewed by the estimator before making any changes to production in InEight Estimate.

Update Microsoft Project with InEight Estimate Changes

The following steps will walk you through updating the schedule with a scope change in your estimate.

Step by Step — Update MS Project with InEight Estimate Changes

In the InEight Estimate Training Job, from the Estimate tab, select Cost Breakdown Structure.
- In this scenario, there is a scope change for your Excavation requiring you to change all of your quantities

Change the quantity in the Forecast (T/O) Quantity field in the CBS as specified below.

Quantity Change for Cost Item
CBS Code	Description	Old Quantity	New Quantity
5	Asphalt Concrete Hot Mix Type A	35,000	25,000

As you make your changes, take note of how your duration changes in the Days (Duration driven) column for these items.

If prompted about changing Total or Unit Cost, select Change TOTAL cost, so that your unit costs stay intact

From the Estimate tab, select Schedule>Update Projectfrom InEight Estimate to send the changed hours to Microsoft Project.
Go back to the Training Job in Microsoft Project.
- The Microsoft Project scheduled duration should have changed from 4.65 days to 7 days to match the updated duration in InEight Estimate for Excavate RCP Trench
- You can also see that the days for Asphalt Concrete Hot Mix Type A and its subordinates adjusted because you adjusted the Forecast T/O Quantity in InEight Estimate
Your Start and Finish dates are different now. In InEight Estimate, from the Estimate tab, select Schedule >Update InEight Estimate from Project to update InEight Estimate with the new dates.