Project Insight makes it easy for users to move tasks, projects, and resources into Project Insight directly from Microsoft Project Online instead of manually recreating these elements one by one. The documentation below will walk you through how to move a tasks and projects.
For a broader scope of how to migrate from Microsoft Project Online in entirety, watch "How to Replace Microsoft Project Online without Rebuilding Everything" and read this article: "Migrating from Microsoft Project Online."
Optional Add-ons
Before exporting projects from Microsoft Project Online and importing them to Project Insight, users will want to confirm that the necessary features and add-ons are installed in your Project Insight workspace.
Project Insight Add-ons that May be of Interest:
Work Status: Enables customizable "work statuses" on tasks which correspond with different levels of task completion/status, i.e. "Almost Done" or "Canceled."
Project Status: Just like the work status add-on but available for projects.
Project Types: Enables fully customizable project types to allow tailored categorization for reporting.
Project Roles: Allows the ability to create and assign your own project roles such as project manager. Different roles can be allowed different permissions and templates can be made to easily assign users to their designated roles.
Resource Types: Assign resource types to users outside of projects such as "Developer", can be used as placeholder roles on tasks and can work with project roles. For example the project manager resource type could automatically get assigned the project manager role on a project.
Project Budgeting: Allows you to track project finances across different levels as well as to create budget reports.
Capacity & Resource Allocation: Allows you to monitor capacity across teams, projects, and departments. Allows you to create resource allocation reports.
I can also make them fully parallel in style if you want them tighter and more polished.
Before you import: confirm your mapping choices.
Before exporting anything from Microsoft Project Online, take a minute to confirm how you want key items to map into Project Insight. This prevents avoidable cleanup after import and helps ensure reporting stays consistent.
1. Resource mapping (people).
Decide how Project Online resource names will match to users in Project Insight. If the import includes a resource sheet, you will be prompted to map imported resource names. Confirm whether you want to map to specific users, or keep some work assigned to generic placeholders.
2. Resource type and role mapping.
Decide whether assignments should map directly to specific users, or map to a Resource Type or Role (for example, Developer, Project Manager). This is useful when you want the plan structure to stay consistent even when staffing changes.
3. Task structure mapping (WBS).
Confirm that your export preserves the task hierarchy so work breakdown structures come in cleanly. If you use phases, summary tasks, or milestones, verify those are included in the exported plan.
4. Dependency mapping.
If your schedule relies on predecessors and cross-task dependencies, confirm those relationships are included in the export so dates and sequencing behave as expected after import.
5. Status mapping (optional but recommended).
If you use custom work statuses or project statuses, confirm the corresponding add-ons are enabled in your Project Insight workspace before you import. This helps your imported work land in the right reporting buckets immediately.
6. Actuals and expense source of truth.
Decide where actuals and expenses will come from after cutover: entered in Project Insight, imported on a schedule, or connected from another tool. Making this decision early keeps budget vs actual reporting consistent.
7. Reporting field alignment.
If you rely on Power BI dashboards, confirm which project, task, resource, time, budget, and expense fields those reports depend on so you can keep those fields consistent during import and setup.
8. Document linking approach.
Decide whether documents will be stored in Project Insight or linked to SharePoint. If you are using SharePoint, decide how folders should be structured and named so projects have a consistent document home from day one.
Once these mapping choices are set, you can move into exporting your project plans and importing them into Project Insight with far fewer surprises.
Exporting Project Data from MS Project Online
Before September, 30 2026, users can export project files as an .xml file for each project. After September 30, 2026, users will no longer be able to export from Project Online.. For more information on its depreciation you can reference this article by Microsoft.
Importing .xml into Project Insight
- Create a new project in Project Insight by navigating to the Projects page on your Home Screen, and then click +Project. Make sure the name and any required fields match those in your Microsoft Project.
2. Navigate to the Task List page on your Project, click +Task and select Import Tasks > Import From Project.
3. Import MS Project XML using the browse button, locate the XML file to be imported. Upload will load the project and open the next step of the wizard.
At the top of the page, above the mapping tabs there will be IMPORTANT INFORMATION that you should review before proceeding. Note that once you save from this page, your changes will be PERMANENT. For a new project this notice will include only new tasks. For existing projects, it might include a message as to how many tasks will be deleted and how many tasks will be changed. You must not save the import if you do not want these changes to occur.
Task Assignment Mapping
The mapping options for imported resources will appear only if the imported file contains resource names in its resource sheet.
Resource Type/Role Mapping
In addition to or instead of using resource to resource mapping, you may choose to map users to a Resource Type/Role.
For a more detailed overview of importing from Microsoft Project see Microsoft Project Import
What's Next
Now that you have your data imported from Microsoft Project Online you'll need to report on it. Project Insight has built-in reporting features to do the work for you or you can bring Project Insight data back into Power BI Tools or Microsoft Power Platform.
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