Historical Overhead Import Notes

For use in project planning, you can import the overhead amounts associated with imported historical labor. Without this data, profitability calculations will not be accurate.

This import process is for project overhead only; it is not intended to handle general and administrative (G & A) overhead. If you want to include G & A overhead, you must allocate it to projects and then import it.

Each time you import historical transactions, the JTD date on the Planning Settings form (Settings > Resource Planning > Plan Settings) is automatically updated to the latest historical transaction date in the DPS database.

Recommendation: If you use more than one of the historical data imports (Historical Labor, Historical Expenses, Historical Overhead), it is recommended that you run all of those import processes on the same schedule and that the import files all include transactions from the same transaction date range.

Import Availability

This import is available if both of the following are true for your enterprise:

• Accounting is not activated.
• Resource Planning is activated.

Preparation

Before you import overhead for a project the first time, use the Project Information import process or the API to bring in the WBS elements for that project with which you want to associated overhead amounts.

Required Fields

To import historical overhead, you must include the following in each import record:

• Date associated with the transaction, mapped to the DPS Transaction Date field
• Valid full WBS element ID, mapped to the DPS Project ID field
• Overhead amount, mapped to the DPS Overhead Amount field

The WBS element ID should be the full element ID that includes the IDs for higher-level elements. Use the delimiter character specified on the Plan Settings form (Settings > Resource Planning > Plan Settings) to separate the levels in the full element ID. For example, if project 01 has a phase 002, the WBS element ID for that phase in a historical overhead record in the import file should be 01.002, not just 002. In addition, the WBS element must be at the lowest level of its branch of the WBS. If this field is blank or the ID does not exist or it is not at the lowest level, the record is not imported, and an error message displays.

Transaction Dates and Periods

You import overhead for specific transaction dates, and the import process automatically assigns overhead amounts to a monthly period based on their transaction dates.

If you have an overhead amount that spans parts of two months, it is recommended that you break down that amount into two import records by month, and make sure each of those two amounts has a transaction date that falls in the correct month. If you instead import it all in one import record, all of the overhead will go to the month identified by the transaction date for that record.

Multiple Currencies

If your company is set up in DPSto use multiple currencies, this import supports overhead amounts in different currencies. Each imported overhead amount is assumed to be in the project currency of the project it is imported for.

Updating Existing Records

Unlike most other DPS import processes, you cannot use this import process to update historical transactions that were previously imported. All historical transactions that you import are treated as new records.

Plan Publication Status

You can import historical overhead for a plan regardless of whether it is currently marked as published or unpublished.