Create Projects In Dynamics AX Directly From Microsoft Project
Every one knows that you can now edit your Dynamics AX projects directly in Microsoft Project, but the integration gets even cooler then that. If you have an existing project plan that you want to turn into a new project, then you can create it directly from Microsoft Project itself.
This is a super easy way to migrate all of your old projects over to Dynamics AX.
Before We Start…
Just to prove that there was no project in the system before doing this, we can check the current projects.
How To Do It…
Open up your project plan within Microsoft Project and select the Publish New Project menu item from the Publish button within the Update group of the Dynamics AX ribbon bar.
Dynamics AX will then remind you that the project plan is going to be copied over to the server. Just click the OK button.
When the Publish as a New Project dialog box is displayed, although you can change any of the defaults here, you will just need to give your project a Name and then click on the OK button to create your project in Dynamics AX.
How It Works…
Now when you return to the Projects list, you will see that there is a new project that has been created.
If you open up the project, then all of the core information for the project has already been populated for you.
And all of the Work Breakdown Structure has been loaded as well.
How easy is that!
Dynamics AX Tip Of The Day 
Reblogged this on A Tinkerers Notebook.
Dear Mr. Fife,
Is it one way communication? like after publishing it in AX now if i make changes in AX project then can it be synchronized with MS Project?
Regards,
Hamid Rasheed
Hamid, I need to double check, but I think that if you link the project with MS Project, then you need to un-link it in order to update it through the client again – not a big deal though… just a click of the button, and then you can reconnect it back to MS Project. Murray.
The synchronization is bi-directional, can be done in MS Project, Project server or in AX
This synchronization is with just the normal Microsoft Project, which is what makes it so cool 🙂
I have learned from Microsoft AX team that is bi-directional but not for cost yet.
I am having problems in the first client setup, so I open Project and it tries to publish to AX but it opens a connection form in blank (e.g. cannot give me the name of the companies set on the AX, as if it does not know where to look at)
Anyone has a tip on that?
Peter, I’m not quite sure what could be going wrong – it sounds like the default connection is not set for the add-in. May have to be a question for MS… Murray.
Amazing Article it contained depth and was quite unique…
Thanks 🙂
For others that did not succeed with the MS-Project, something I have learned that solves it in some cases:
1) The archive folder in the configuration should not have any strange characters, including “_”; so by changing form c:\ax_files to c:\AxFiles I resolved the first part of connection issues!!
2) Check the add-in installed in your computer to match your MS-Project. AX install does not look what version of MS-Project you have (x64 or x86) but yet what is your computer; so in my case I had AX installing a x64 Office-Addin but I had just an x32 Office; to change my MS-Project to x64 I had to change the rest of the Office too.
With these changes, I have succeed in using MS-Project with a new database and the whole server/client running on Azure. We did not succeed in our in-company AX instalation and we are hoping that the new compilation that is scheduled for next month (with new servers comming to our structure), that problem will be solved too.
Peter.
Hi Murray Fife,
Thanks for sharing this blog.
I have tried this and it works.
However it seems that not all data between Dynamics and Microsoft project can be integrated.
Like data related to cost (resources in microsoft project) cannot integrated each other.
Do you have any information or list maybe on which data that we can integrate seemlessly between these system?
Thanks,
Hasan
Musytaqul, The integration with the desktop version is really just a better way to create the project – you should manage all of the costs ad budgets within AX. Although I wonder if the integration with Project Server shares more of the cost information between project and AX. Murray.