Field Mappings in Microsoft Project
You can customize how data is mapped between Microsoft Project and Team Foundation Server (TFS) by modifying the Microsoft Project Field Mapping File. The mapping file associates the reference name of a work item tracking field with a Project field. Before you change the Microsoft Project field mappings, you should review the information provided later in this topic to understand how TFS copies data from Project to the work item tracking database.
Important
The supported set of Project field names may be different for different versions of Microsoft Project.
Calculated Fields
Generally, you do not want to refresh calculated fields from the work item database. For example, start and finish dates are typically calculated based on task duration and dependencies. If a team member were to change the start date of a task in Team Explorer, the change could introduce errors in Office Project when the field is refreshed. Therefore you can configure calculated fields so that they are publish only, meaning that Office Project will publish changes for those fields to the work item database, but not update them. For more information about how to configure fields as publish only, see Upload or Download the Microsoft Project Mapping File [TFSFieldMapping].
You can also prevent team members from changing calculated field values in Team Explorer by using the READONLY attribute in the work item form definition. For more information about the READONLY attribute, see All FIELD XML Elements Reference.
Note
The Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) for Agile Software Development and MSF for CMMI Process Improvement process templates already configure the start and finish dates as publish only mappings, and read-only in Team Explorer.
Mapping Field Types
When you publish tasks from Project to TFS, Team Foundation copies the data to the work item database. Also, when tasks are refreshed, the field data is copied from the work item database to your Project plan. For the field data to be copied correctly, the field types in TFS and Project must be compatible. The following table lists which Project field types are compatible with TFS field types:
TFS Work Item Field Type |
Microsoft Project Field Type |
|---|---|
DateTime |
Datetime. |
Double |
Work, units, percentages, fractions, and any field type with a range of ±5.0 × 10−324 to ±1.7 × 10308. |
History |
Not Supported. |
Html |
Not Supported. |
Integer |
Work, units, numbers, and any field type with a range of -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647. |
PlainText |
Not Supported. |
String |
Text (maximum of 255 characters.) Important Office Project does not populate the Resource Names field list with names of team members. Therefore, you must manually add names to the list. When you assign a work item to a resource in Office Project, you should specify the resource by its display name from Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or the Address Book. If you assign a work item to a resource by alias or other shortened form of the name, you introduce an inconsistency that can cause validation errors. |
TreePath |
Custom outline codes. |
For more information about work item field types, see Working with Work Item Fields. For more information about Project field types, see the help about the pjField constant in the Microsoft Office 2007 Software Development Kit. This kit can be accessed from the Microsoft Web site: Project 2007 SDK: Software Development Kit.
Project Field Names
In Project you can map any field name that starts with pjtask to a field in TFS. For example, you can map pjTaskText10 to a TFS String field. These field names are used in the ProjectField attribute when you specify which TFS work item field maps to a Project field. For a complete list of the Microsoft Project field names, see the help about the pjField constant in the Microsoft Office 2003 Software Development Kit.
Note
If you are using Project Server, there are additional fields that have "Enterprise" in the name, such as pjTaskEnterpriseCost1. TFS does not publish or refresh data to Project Server, unless you integrate it as described in Enable Data Flow Between Team Foundation Server and Microsoft Project Server. Therefore, these field names are not supported with the Team Foundation add-in to Project.
See Also
Reference
Upload or Download the Microsoft Project Mapping File [TFSFieldMapping]
Concepts
Create your schedule, backlog, and tasks using Microsoft Project