PRJ98: Errors Importing Data When Using Selective Data Option (193309)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Project 98, when you import data into Microsoft Project using the Selective Data option, you may receive error messages or other unexpected symptoms. For example, when opening a project from a database you may experience the following problems.

NOTE: After these symptoms occur, the project opens but it may have incorrect tasks, resources or assignments.

Symptom 1: Repeated Open Dialog Box

You receive an Open dialog box titled "Cannot Find Inserted project - 0", which may be repeated many times.

Symptom 2: Error Messages

NOTE: The following are two examples of the many error messages that you may receive.

Error Message 1:
No Assignments could be created from the imported data.

To selectively import assignment data, you must include at least one of the following fields: Task Name, Resource Name, Task ID, or Resource ID.
-or-
Error Message 2:
You cannot create a link between these tasks because it would create a circular task relationship with other tasks

You are trying to link a task to another task that has a series of task links back to the first task.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when the following conditions are true:

You import a project, and choose the Selective Data option.
The map you use to import data has one or more fields in the database mapped to fields in Microsoft Project, and the database fields being mapped contain invalid data that Microsoft Project does not recognize.

NOTE: The following causes are for the example symptoms listed in the "Symptoms" section. Other symptoms may also occur because of incorrectly mapped fields.

Cause for Symptom 1

The SubProject field in the Task_Information table of the database is mapped to the Subproject File field of the project. The Subproject field in the database is a Boolean property with 0 or 1 values. The Subproject File field in Microsoft Project is supposed to contain text data, specifically the name of a subproject, if applicable. Because of this, Microsoft Project loads "0" as the name of the subproject for every task. If there is no such file, then you will receive the dialog box described earlier.

Cause for Symptom 2, Error 1

This error message occurs when one or more of the following fields are missing from the import map for assignment mapping: Task Name, Resource Name, Task ID, or Resource ID.