In this article we will review important details for Project Online <> Planner data synchronization.
Entities that are synchronized
The following entities can be synchronized between Project Online and Planner:
| Project Online | Planner |
| Task Name | Title |
| Start Date | Start Date |
| Finish Date | Due Date |
| Assignment | Assignment |
| % Complete | Progress |
Please note: It is not possible to synchronize Planner tasks created before you set up data synchronization between a plan and a project. The only workaround here is to recreate Planner tasks.
Please note: Master Projects are not supported for integrations.
Please note: If data synchronization from one Project Online project was configured to one Planner Plan, then the same Project Online project cannot be synchronized to another Planner Plan (if you configure data synchronization for such project to a new Planner Plan, only new tasks, created after data synchronization is configured, will appear in this Plan).
Please note: If the "Only allow task updates via Tasks and Timesheets" option is activated in Project Online, the integration will not work. If you are using the Integration Hub to synchronize Actual hours from Planner to Project Online, you will need to switch off the "Only allow task updates via Tasks and Timesheets" option before the integration and switch it back on manually after the integration is completed.
Task progress migration
The scenario gives you a great possibility to work on your tasks, update progress of your tasks in Planner and easily transfer status completion to Project Online and vice-versa
Task progress is synchronized from Planner to Project Online in the following way:
- “Not started” is synchronized as 0% to the "%Complete" field;
- “In progress” is synchronized as 50% to the "%Complete" field;
- “Completed” is synchronized as 100% to the "%Complete" field.
Please note: "Actual work" and "Remaining work" fields in the Project Online project will be automatically recalculated by Project Online after data synchronization according to the new value set for the "%Complete" field.
Multi assignments
This scenario supports tasks with multiple assignments.
Assignments are matched by email so the emails in Planner and Project Online should be identical for successful synchronization of the assignments. For successful migration of the assignments the resource with the correct email should exist on the PWA. If resource exists on the PWA it will be added to the project team automatically and will be assigned to task during task synchronization.
Task deletion
In this scenario, task deletion is supported in both directions.
Deletions of Tasks originated in Project Online using Planner results in no deletion of Task in Project Online but in removing synchronization flag and in marking task as [DELETED]. If the user marks that task again for sync, a new task must be created.
Deletions of Tasks originated in Project Online using Project Online results in no deletion of Task in Planner but in marking task as [DELETED].
Deletions of Tasks originated in Planner using Planner results in no deletion of Task in Project Online but in removing synchronization flag and marking task as [DELETED]. If user marks that task again for sync, new task must be created in Planner and task will be considered as new in planner and originated in Project Online.
Deletions of Tasks originated in Planner using Project Online results in no deletion of Task in Planner but in removing this task from synchronization and marking task as [DELETED].
Allow changing task mode to manual
This setting allows Integration Hub to automatically change task mode to manual to make sure the data are transferred correctly. It’s highly recommended to keep this field always checked to preserve data consistency.
If this option is unchecked, the tasks in Project Online set to auto mode will remain as is. In some cases, this may prevent Integration Hub from correctly transferring the data.
Please note: There are 5 cases when Integration Hub will change task mode to manual regardless of this setting, when tasks in Planner do not have either Start Date or Due Date. This happens because: - Project Online does not allow leaving Start Date or Finish Date empty in auto task mode. - To avoid overwriting Planner tasks with dates set incorrectly during back synchronization.
Please note: The task mode will be changed back to auto again as soon as the missing dates are set.
Cases when tasks remain manual till DueDate or StartDate is specified
Case 1 Task with ‘Not Started” status, without both DueDate and StartDate in Planner will be synchronized to Project Online as manually scheduled task with %Complete=0, both FinishDate and StartDate are blank.
Case 2 Task with ‘Not Started” status and without DueDate but with StartDate in Planner will be synchronized to Project Online as manually scheduled task with %Complete=0, DueDate from Planner will be set to FinishDate and StartDate will be blank.
Case 3 Task with ‘Not Started” status and with DueDate but without StartDate in Planner will be synchronized to Project Online as manually scheduled task with %Complete=0, StartDate from Planner will be set to StartDate and FinishDate will be blank.
Case 4 Task with ‘In Progress” status and without DueDate but with StartDate in Planner will be synchronized to Project Online as manually scheduled task with %Complete=50 and StartDate from Planner will be set to StartDate but FinishDate will be blank.
Case 5 Task with ‘In Progress” status, without both DueDate and StartDate in Planner will be synchronized to Project Online as manually scheduled task with %Complete=50 and ProjectStartDate of the project in Project Online will be set to StartDate but FinishDate will be blank.
Please note: There are 5 cases when tasks are auto-scheduled but dates might be moved. This happens because Project Online does not allow in these cases leaving Start Date or Finish Date empty either in auto or manual task mode and sets missing dates automatically.
Cases when tasks are auto-scheduled but dates might be moved
Case 1 Task with ‘In Progress” status and with DueDate but without StartDate in Planner will be synchronized to Project Online as the auto-scheduled task with %Complete=50 and DueDate from Planner will be set to FinishDate and StartDate.
Case 2 Task with ‘Completed” status, without both DueDate and StartDate in Planner will be synchronized to Project Online as the auto-scheduled task with %Complete=100 and ProjectStartDate of the project in Project Online will be set to FinishDate and StartDate.
Case 3 Task with ‘Completed” status and with DueDate but without StartDate in Planner will be synchronized to Project Online as the auto-scheduled task with %Complete=100 and DueDate from Planner will be set to FinishDate and StartDate.
Case 4 Task with ‘Completed” status and with StartDate but without DueDate in Planner will be synchronized to Project Online as an auto-scheduled task with %Complete=100 and StartDate from Planner will be set to FinishDate and StartDate.
Case 5 If either StartDate or DueDate in Planner is set on non-working day (weekend) then in Project Online auto-scheduled task will be created but StartDate or FinishDate will be moved to the next nearest working day.
Start/Due dates are not migrated for sub-tasks.
'Could not read Resource by Uid. Action: Skip Assignment' warning
The 'Could not read Resource by Uid: 'unique resource UID number'. Action: Skip Assignment' warning may appear when running the Project Online <> Planner integration.
If you get such a warning, it means that a user was deleted for an assignment in the Planner plan that is synchronized with the project in Project Online. There is an assignment on the task, but Integration Hub cannot find the user for it.