Migration to Project Online is easy and affordable with FluentBooks for Project Server 2013

Many companies nowadays are looking to migrate from Project Server 2010 to Microsoft Project Online. In this post, I will provide the overview and step-by-step guidance of the migration of configuration and data to the Microsoft Project Online from Microsoft Project Server 2010 using FluentPro FluentBooks for Project Server 2013.

We will migrate pretty much entire PWA:

- Enterprise custom fields
- Lookup tables
- Views
- Resource pool
- Settings for Tasks and Time tracking
- Security Settings (Project Server security model)
- PDP
- EPT
- Stages / Phases
- Portfolio related information
- Projects with Team and Resource plans
- Values in custom fields in Projects (Project and Task level)
- Project Templates

Also, there is a possibility to migrate Project Sites (document libraries, risks and issues).

You would not believe - it is easy, requires almost no efforts (4-5 minutes for configuration,  4-5 seconds per resource and 1-5 minutes per project depending on the size of the project) and will costs you only $1,000.

Prerequisites

• Project Server 2010 and administrator account
• Project Online and administrator account
• Project Professional 2010
• Project Pro 2013 / Project Professional 2013
• FluentBooks for Project Server 2013 Cloud Migrator Edition ($1,000; http://www.fluentpro.com/productsfluentbooks2013.html )

Preparation

Step 1: Install FluentBooks for Project Server 2013 Cloud Edition and get a license for your Project Online PWA URL (use File->License->Get PWA Info and send it to FluentPro); Activate a license.

Step 2: Install Project Migrator 2010 (comes with FluentBooks for Project Server 2013 Cloud Migrator Edition); Activate a license.

Step 3: Install Project Migrator 2013 (comes with FluentBooks for Project Server 2013 Cloud Migrator Edition); Activate a license.

Phase 1: Configuration Migration

Step 4: Start FluentBooks for Project Server 2013 and select wizard "Full PWA Configuration and Projects Migration"

Enter Project Server 2010 URL into the source and provide PWA administrator credentials; Click Next and FluentBooks will start the download of configuration from the Project Server 2010.

In my scenario, download of configuration with 41 custom fields and 140 projects with moderate size schedules took approximately 5 minutes.

Step 5: On next wizard step, enter Target Information (your Project Online PWA URL) and credentials:

URL should have format similar to https://yourcompanyaddress.sharepoint.com/sites/PWA; If you use a custom domain - enter the full URL without the page name (default.aspx).

Credentials - it can be in format user@yourcompanyaddress.onmicrosoft.com or user@yourcompanydomain.com.

On this step, FluentBooks will download target configuration to check for possible conflicts (If you already made some configuration edits or have projects there).

Click Next

After the download, you will see the verification summary window where you can switch tabs to see the summary of differences between environments:

In my scenario, download of configuration from blank Project Online PWA took 2 minutes.

Step 6: Click Close in this window and click Next on Wizard Step 3: Upload configuration and Data to PWA.

After the upload, FluentBooks will show the summary screen with all the migration results

In my scenario, upload of the configuration took 27 minutes.

Step 7: Press Finish. The configuration migration successfully completed.

So far I spent for actual migration 34 minutes, directly interacting with software only for couple minutes.

Phase 2: Project Schedules migration

Step 8: Download of Project Schedules

Start the Project Professional 2010, connect to your Project Server 2010 PWA and click on Add-ins tab and click on Import from PWA

Window will appear:

Step 9: Click on Load Projects. Project Migrator will load list of projects in PWA. After that, select a "Import Folder" where export files should be saved; Select projects that you want to move and click on Start Import

Project Migrator will "orchestrate" Project Professional to open all the projects. You may leave Project Migrator working until migration is done - but application requires the control of "mouse focus". After all projects are downloaded feel free to close Project Professional 2010.

This step took 23 minutes

Step 10: Start Project Pro 2013 and connect to your Project Online PWA.

Click on Add-ins tab and click on Export to PWA

Window will appear:

Step 11: Click on Load Files, select folder from Step 9 and select files that you want to import. Click on Select all check box (or select projects that you would like to import, change the calendar in a grid if you want and click on Export Projects. 

Project Migrator will start import. Project Migrator will "orchestrate" Project Professional to upload all the projects one by one. You may leave it working until it is done - application requires control of "focus". After all projects downloaded, close Project Professional 2013.

This step took the longest time-~75 seconds per project and about 3 hours to complete (no interaction required).

Summary

As you can see, it took me 4 hours to move entire PWA configuration and all the data for 140 projects from Project Server 2010 PWA to Microsoft Project Online with about only about 15 minutes of my time directly interacting with the software. I can do other work during migration; Migration is automated.

Based on a feedback from our users, we see that our customers on average spend  between 4 and 8 hours for medium size environments migration; But it is never a 40 / 80 / 160 hours adventure.

Are you working with a EPM Partner and they offer a migration and do not use any tool to automate entire process? Ask your partner to use FluentBooks for Project Server 2013 Cloud Migrator Edition and this step-by-step instruction to be efficient and save big on migration. It is way better to spend these dollars on reporting / workflow development or training for your users.

If you have any questions - do not hesitate to contact us.