Home → Techniques and Tips → @RISK 6.x/7.x with Projects → Transferring Edits in MPP File to Excel Workbook via ProjectFieldVal
Applies to: @RISK 6.x/7.x, Professional and Industrial Editions
I'm using @RISK to simulate a project. I distribute the MPP file to our consultants, and they update Duration and other fields. When I select Project » Sync Now in @RISK, isolated numbers in the Excel workbook are updated, but numbers that are part of formulas are not updated. How can I structure my project so that all changes in the MPP file are reflected in the workbook?
Use the ProjectFieldVal property in your @RISK distributions. It tells @RISK to pick up the current value for this field in the MPP file and use that value in your formula. The field value can be changed in the MPP file while @RISK is not running, or even on a PC where @RISK isn't installed. Later, when the Excel file is reopened in @RISK, it gets the new value from the changed MPP file. @RISK will use that new value when simulating.
Here are three examples of Excel formulas using ProjectFieldVal.
Example 1. Sample values between 10% below and 10% above the value in the MPP file. (By default, RiskVary( ) uses a triangular distribution.)
=RiskVary(ProjectFieldVal,-10,10)
Example 2. Create a triangular distribution with the most likely value in the MPP file. The minimum possible is 10% below that (100%–10% = 90% = 0.9), and the maximum is 50% above the most likely value (100%+50% = 150% = 1.5). When a simulation is not running, display the field value from the MPP file, not the expected value of the triangular distribution.
=RiskTriang(ProjectFieldVal*0.9, ProjectFieldVal, ProjectFieldVal*1.5, RiskStatic(ProjectFieldVal))
Example 3. The task duration is the duration in the MPP file, plus an additional duration from the risk register in the Excel file.
=ProjectFieldVal + 'RiskRegister'!L6
Last edited: 2016-03-10