Importing P4 Plan XML data

You can import data from a XML file into a P4 Plan project. This helps you quickly add existing data and start working it in P4 Plan.

Keep in mind that actions that automatically occur in P4 Plan do not occur as the result of imports. For example, normally, when you assign an item, the user is added as a watcher and gets email notifications when the item is updated. This does not occur when importing XML files.

An import overwrites any current data in P4 Plan. No undo is available.

1. Make sure you are a main manager in the project you are importing data into. See Managing projects.

2. Go to the project view (Planning, Backlog, or QA) to import the data to.

3. Right-click and choose Import > Import from Excel.

If you are a main manager, you can also access this option from the More menu. Select More > Export and import > Import from Excel

4. Select the file to import. Only .xml format is supported.

5. Click Open.

If the import file does not include items that are already in the project, the import is performed and no other steps are required.

If the import file includes items that are already in the project, you are prompted to update existing items or create new items. Continue with step 5.

6. Choose how to import the existing items.

  • Click Update existing items to only update the existing items in the project without creating new items.
  • Click Create new items to ignore the existing items in the project and create new items, which results in duplicate items.
It's good practice to create new items to verify the integrity of the import. After the import is complete, you can delete the new items, import them again, and click Update existing items instead.

Fields affected when updating existing items

The following fields are updated if you import items that are already in the project and click Update existing items before the import starts.

  • ColorR,ColorG,ColorB
  • ColorR,ColorG,ColorB (for milestones)
  • Completed
  • CustomColumnDatas
  • CustomData
  • Date (for milestones)
  • DateZones
  • FlaggedAsUserStory
  • GeneralLinkedTo
  • Hyperlink
  • LockedToBeSubProject
  • LongText
  • MilestoneName
  • PercentCompleted
  • PreCreatedColumn_BugPriority
  • PreCreatedColumn_Category
  • PreCreatedColumn_ComplexityPoints
  • PreCreatedColumn_Effort
  • PreCreatedColumn_ItemStatus
  • PreCreatedColumn_MainBacklogPriority
  • PreCreatedColumn_Risk
  • PreCreatedColumn_SprintPriority
  • PreCreatedColumn_WorkRemaining
  • QABugSeverity
  • QABugState
  • Resources
  • SecondLongText
  • SetDurationHours
  • StartHourOffset
  • TaskName
  • VacationFlags
  • Work (-> Budgeted work)

Fields not affected when updating existing items

The following fields are updated if you import items that are not already in the project and click Update existing items before the import starts.

  • AutoGeneratedWorkflowPipelineContainerID
  • AutoGeneratedWorkflowStatusID
  • CCCommentsTo
  • CommentPostings
  • Comments
  • Committed to sprint
  • DefaultSubItemWorkflowID
  • DelegatedTo (security reasons)
  • IDHistory
  • Linked to milestones
  • PlannedBy
  • ResourceUsage
  • Scheduled connections
  • VisibleTo (security reasons)
  • WallCustomGroupPosition
  • WorkflowPipelineContainerID
  • WorkflowStatusID