Importing projects

Projects behave like an umbrella in Scoro. A project includes information on client communication, done and planned activities, as well as financial information. 

When you start using Scoro, you can import projects and want to transfer past and ongoing projects to Scoro, you can simply import them. This article explains how to prepare your project import file and import it to Scoro.

1. Preparing your project import file

1.1. Downloading the example file

To ensure a successful project import, we recommend using the example import file – here's how you can download it from Scoro:

1. Navigate to the Import data module > Projects tab.
2. Click on the Example file (CSV) or Example file (XLS) button based on which file format you prefer to use. The example file contains an example row with all the columns filled out.

Once you've downloaded and opened the example file, you can modify it to include all the projects you want to import into Scoro.

Pro tip! You can also export projects from your site and use that export file as a basis for your project import file.

1.2. Key things to know about preparing the project import file

Here's what you need to keep in mind when filling out the import file:

• One row = one project: Insert data about each project on a separate row.
• Import essential data first: Make sure to first import the key information about the projects (name, client, date, etc.). All other details (e.g., actual time spent on the project, actual revenue, and cost) should be imported after the project import as separate data files (e.g., first import tasks, then invoices, etc.). This lets you associate the imported data with the correct project.
• Include only basic project information: Project import is used to include only the basic information about the projects (name, deadline, duration, etc). You need to do additional data imports to link other information to the projects:
  • All financial details should be imported by importing other items (quotes, invoices, bills, purchase orders).
  • The actual time spent on a project should be imported separately with the task import. 
  • Delete the columns you do not need before the import.
• For more general tips on preparing import files, see our Importing data - an overview article.

1.3. Filling in the project import file columns

Below is an overview of the columns on the project import file and how to fill them out (the mandatory columns to fill in on your import file are marked with an asterisk):

• Project name* – Enter the name of your project.
• Project number – Enter the project number, using only numerical values.
• Contact name* – Enter either the name of the company or the person the project is related to. If the company/person already exists in your Scoro contact list, the project is linked to the relevant contact. If the contact does not yet exist in Scoro, a new contact is created during the import.
• Contact type* – Enter "person" if the contact you provided is a person, or "company" if it's a company. This field is required so that Scoro knows what type of contact should be added/searched for (a person or a company). 
• Project type – Enter "regular" for one-off projects and "retainer" for retainer projects.
  • Make sure to add the correct project type, as you cannot change it once the project is created.
  • Internal projects cannot be imported and can only be created in Scoro.
• Is personal – Set to 0 for standard work-related projects, or 1 for personal projects.
• Description – Enter a general description of your project.
• Tags – Specify tags you want to add for the project to easily segment and filter the project list and reports. 
  • You can use multiple tags for each project.
  • Separate the values with vertical bars (e.g. Tag1|Tag2|Tag3).
  • Tags need to be predefined in Scoro before project import.
• ID – Enter Scoro's internal project ID (numbers only). This is needed and relevant only when updating existing projects via project import, but not when importing new projects.
  • You can find a project's ID number in the URL of the project view – for example, https://yoursitename.scoro.com/projects/view/10/.
• Project manager – Assign the team member responsible for the project by entering their first and last name exactly as it appears on their Scoro profile.
  • The person you're entering as a project manager must have a user account on your site.
  • If left blank, the person importing the file will be assigned as the Project Manager.
• Project members – Enter the first and last names of all project members, separating multiple members with a vertical bar (e.g., Jane Doe|John Smith|Lisa Jones).
  • If you don’t specify the project manager, or you don’t import this column, the person importing the projects is selected as the Project Manager.
• Is private –  Set to 0 (default) to allow all users with the relevant project access rights to access the project, or set it to 1 to restrict access strictly to assigned project members.
• Related contacts – Link any customer-side contacts involved in the project by entering their full names, separating them with a vertical bar (e.g., Jane Doe|John Smith|Lisa Jones).
  • Contacts that match existing contacts in your database will be linked; all non-matching contacts will be added to the database as new ones.
• Date – Enter the project start date (Format: YYYY-MM-DD).
• Due date – Enter the project deadline or expected end date (Format: YYYY-MM-DD).
• Estimated duration – Enter the total hours planned for the project to compare actual time spent against your estimates later on.
• Budget type – Specify how to handle the project budget – enter "simple" to manually fill in the estimated cost, or "quote" to derive the budget from a linked quote.
  • Keep in mind that any financial detail specification must be done manually in Scoro (or via quote import) after the project import.
• Revenue model – specify the project's revenue model using one of these exact values:
  • "fixed fee" – Fixed fee
  • "tm_capped" – Time & Material capped
  • "tm_not_capped" – Time & Material uncapped
• Status – Enter the current status of your project.
  • The statuses must be configured  before the project import.
  • If left blank, the system's default starting status for new projects is applied.
• Price list ID – Enter the ID number of the specific price list you want to apply to this project.
• Is role based – Enter 1 if the project uses role-based prices for budgeting and billing, or 0 for user/service-based pricing.
• Fields relevant for retainer projects:
  • Retainer frequency type – Select what frequency type to use for the retainer period setup (day, week, month).
  • Retainer frequency amount – Enter the number of days, weeks, or months (the frequency type) a single retainer period should last.
  • Retainer number of periods – Enter the number of retainer periods in the project.

2. Uploading the project import file to Scoro

Once you've prepared your project import file, you can import it to Scoro.

Now to the mapping phase. Map the columns you filled out in Excel to the fields in Scoro. If you have used the column headers from the template file, most fields are mapped automatically.

You can either update already existing items or add new ones. If you are importing new projects (or just doing the very first import) just deselect the option Update already existing items.
Scoro will notify you once the import is complete. If some import lines contained errors, the lines with errors are not imported. You will get an error report indicating what the issues were. Just download the file, make corrections and import it again.

Note! The projects you import in Scoro can be linked with the related documents only directly in Scoro after the import. Through the import you can add only project related data.

Frequently asked questions

Can I assign all project members to a project in bulk?

Yes, you can assign all the project members to a project or multiple projects at once by exporting and importing projects if you have the necessary data import and export permissions:

1. First, export all projects from your site, then open the export file.
2. In the Project members column of your export file, enter all the necessary project members, separating them with the | character, and save your file.
3. Upload the project import file and enable the Update already existing items checkbox at the data mapping stage. Click Import to finish the project import. Once done, you should see all the users added as project members in the project view.