XML Exchange

XML Exchange

XML file types are used to hold project information as well as transferring Sciforma element information from one system to another.

Export Scenarios enable users to customize the pattern Sciforma uses when team members export Sciforma data via XML.

Defining custom export scenarios enables users to tailor Sciforma's output to the requirements of a third party application or repository. A tree view is used to specify which individual nodes (fields) are included or excluded in the exported XML file, and for fields included in the output, the scenario specifies whether those fields are populated with existing Sciforma data.

XML Update

Customers using Sciforma as their Project Portfolio Management (PPM) tool might be required to exchange schedule information with third parties that do not use Sciforma as a PPM tool.

These third-parties could use, for instance, Microsoft Project (MSP).

Sciforma provides some capabilities which Microsoft Project does not support, and vice-versa. For example, soft assignments in Sciforma are not supported by Microsoft Project.

Because these are two different tools with different capabilities, it is not possible (nor intended) to schedule a Sciforma project in Microsoft Project, nor to schedule a Microsoft Project project in Sciforma.

For this reason, the procedure for exchanging data between Sciforma and Microsoft Project does not consist of transferring task objects between both systems; rather, it consists of transferring task field values from one system to another.

Task information is exported from Sciforma to Microsoft Project in an XML file. The XML file is then imported in Microsoft Project and can be used for visualization or it can also be edited.New or updated schedules in Microsoft Project can be sent to Sciforma in an XML file to update an existing Sciforma project. The values in the XML file will be used to update task fields in Sciforma as determined by a predefined update scenario.

Tasks in both systems are matched by the # Task field which is common to Sciforma and Microsoft Project. This means that Task data of a given # value from Microsoft Project will be imported to its corresponding task in Sciforma with the same # value. Microsoft Project also provides project update capabilities via XML files, and the # field is also used for this purpose. Once data is copied into the Sciforma task fields, it is saved in the Sciforma project and can be used in Sciforma for comparison purposes. The data now belongs to Sciforma and follows the rules of any other task field.

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