In this article, we will review how to import personal Microsoft 365 activities as PPM Express Time entries.
With this new functionality, users from the tenant can seamlessly import their daily activities completed in Microsoft 365 —such as events, tasks, and other items—directly into PPM Express as time entries and log time for them. This feature helps streamline time tracking.
Adding Microsoft 365 connection
To add a personal Microsoft 365 connection, perform the following:
1. Click the 'Connect to Microsoft 365' button on the My Time page.
2. Click 'Add new connection'.
3. Select your Microsoft 365 account for connection.
In the next window that appears, check the 'Consent on behalf of your organization' checkbox and click Accept to grant the PPM Express app with the permissions required.
If you are using a regular account, you might need to request approval from your administrator. In this case, you will see the following window where you need to enter justifications and click 'Request approval':
Tenant Global Administrator consent is required to grant access to the whole Microsoft 365 tenant. Consent should be granted to PPM Express only once before adding Microsoft 365 connections. Once the permission is granted, a connection can be created with any user account credentials in PPM Express, regardless of user account permissions. For more details, refer to this article.
4. Once the connection is added, all available Microsoft 365 Connector Readers are enabled. You can change this selection if needed.
- Completed Outlook emails
- Outlook tasks
- Sent Outlook emails
- Outlook Calendar events
- Tentative Calendar events.
- Recent documents
Importing Microsoft 365 activities as PPM Express Time entries
To begin importing Microsoft 365 activities as PPM Express Time entries, follow these steps:
1. On the My Time page, select Actions -> Import from M365.
In the Import from Microsoft 365 panel, you’ll see a list of all events and activities from Microsoft 365 for the time period currently set on the Timesheet. Activities are grouped by day.
To view activities for a different period, adjust the time period on the Timesheet as needed.
3. Select the activity you want to import.
Each Microsoft 365 activity displays unique icons to simplify navigation and selection.
Use the Search option and filters to quickly find specific activities.
The date filter will display only the dates within the selected timesheet period. To change the date range, update the time period on the Timesheet.
Please note the following:
- Outlook tasks appear based on both the due date and the modified date. For instance, if a task is due on Friday but was modified today, it will be suggested for both today and Friday.
- Outlook calendar events and Tentative Calendar events appear based on the Start Date.
- Completed Outlook emails appear based on the Completed Date.
- Sent Outlook emails appear based on the Sent Date.
- Recent Documents appear based on the Last Modified Date.
4. Next to the activity you need to import, enter the number of hours spent and choose the related project.
The projects added to the timesheet will appear in the projects list at once. If you need to add different projects, click the 'Search globally' button and use the search option to locate them quickly.
Time for Outlook events will be pre-filled (but can be edited if needed); for other activity types, enter time manually.
5. Click Add.
The activity will be imported as a custom task, marked with an M365 icon to indicate that it is an imported task.
You can also access the 'Import from M365' panel from the menu next to a specific project. In this case, the project field will auto-fill with the selected project name for all activities.
Imported tasks can be copied as regular custom time entries. However, if a task is copied, it will lose the M365 icon, which remains only on the original imported entry.