Importing and Exporting Activity Uncertainty Data

You can export uncertainty values for all in-progress and planned activities to an Excel spreadsheet.

You might do this if you want to send the spreadsheet to someone for review, or if you want to edit the values in a spreadsheet format instead of in Acumen.

When you have completed your edits, you can import the data back into Acumen. When you reimport the data, you have the option to import either the absolute or percentage values. The value type that you select is imported and the other is calculated after import. For example, if you elect to import the absolute values, then after the import completes, the percentage values are calculated.

The Activity Uncertainty Spreadsheet

You can use the spreadsheet to change values, activity descriptions, and uncertainty types. If you change an absolute value, the equivalent percentage value field is automatically recalculated.

In addition to the three distribution types (triangle, normal, and uniform), the spreadsheet includes a None option in the Uncertainty Type column. Select this option to disable uncertainty for the selected activity. This has the same effect as clearing the check box in the Use Duration Uncertainty column in the Activity view in Acumen.

In order to prevent errors when importing the spreadsheet back into Acumen, note the following:
  • The Min Duration, Most Likely Duration, and Maximum Duration fields must be ascending amounts/percentages.

    For example, Min Duration % = 90, Most Likely Duration % = 100, Max Duration % = 103.

  • The columns and column headings must remain the same. Do not remove or add any columns or edit any column headings.
  • Keep the column format the same. For example, don't replace the numbers in the Min Remaining Duration column with letters.
  • Don't change any of the activity ID's.

If you want to create a new activity uncertainty spreadsheet in Excel, Deltek recommends renaming an existing activity uncertainty spreadsheet and deleting the data so that the formatting is correct and errors are prevented when you import the data into Acumen.