Can Power BI Connect to MS Project?

The short answer is yes, you can absolutely connect Microsoft Project to Power BI. Moving your project data out of static files and into dynamic, interactive dashboards is one of the best ways to get a real-time, comprehensive view of your project's health. This article will show you exactly how to do it, covering the most common methods for both the online and desktop versions of MS Project.

Why Bother Connecting MS Project to Power BI?

You might be asking, "Why not just use the reports inside MS Project?" While MS Project’s built-in reporting is useful for a quick status update, connecting it to Power BI unlocks a whole new level of analysis and communication. It turns your project management data from a simple schedule into a powerful business intelligence asset.

Here’s what you gain:

Interactive and Dynamic Dashboards: Instead of emailing static Gantt charts or PDF reports that are outdated the moment you send them, you can build dashboards that stakeholders can explore themselves. They can filter by date, resource, task status, or any other variable to get the answers they need on their own.
Centralized Reporting Hub: Your project doesn’t exist in a vacuum. In Power BI, you can merge MS Project data with financial data from QuickBooks, sales data from Salesforce, or resource information from your HR system. This allows you to see the big picture - like how project costs are impacting profitability or how a delayed project might affect the sales pipeline.
Clearer Stakeholder Communication: Let's be honest, a detailed MS Project plan can be overwhelming for executives or clients. A well-designed Power BI dashboard simplifies complex information into easy-to-digest charts and KPIs. A simple pie chart showing "Tasks by Status" or a traffic light indicator for budget health is far more effective in a board meeting than a 500-line project schedule.
Advanced Analytics and Trendspotting: Power BI empowers you to identify trends and risks that are difficult to spot in MS Project. You can track resource allocation over time, compare budgeted cost versus actual cost across multiple projects, and create custom calculated measures to monitor specific KPIs like deadline variance or resource utilization rates.

Getting Started: What You'll Need

Before diving into the "how-to," let’s make sure you have everything you need in place. The process is straightforward, but a little prep helps ensure it goes smoothly.

A Version of Microsoft Project: This guide covers a few scenarios, so you'll need access to either MS Project Desktop (.mpp files) or one of the cloud-based versions like Project Online or Project for the web.
Power BI Desktop: This is the free application from Microsoft where you will build your reports. If you don’t have it yet, you can download it directly from the Microsoft Store on your Windows PC.
Correct Permissions: If you are connecting to Project Online, you’ll need the necessary permissions to access the project data. Check with your system administrator if you run into any access issues.
A Goal in Mind: It’s helpful to know what you want to visualize. Are you tracking budget? Resource workloads? Task progress? Having a clear goal helps you select the right data from the start and avoid pulling in unnecessary information.

Method 1: Connecting Directly to Project Online

If your organization uses Project Online (the cloud-based version of Project Server), this is by far the easiest and most powerful method. It creates a robust, live connection that updates your dashboards automatically as your project plans change.

Here’s the step-by-step breakdown:

Open Power BI Desktop and click on the "Get Data" button on the Home ribbon.
In the Get Data window, type "Project" into the search bar. You will see an option for Project Online. Select it and click "Connect".
Power BI will prompt you for the URL of your Project Web App (PWA) site. This typically looks something like https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/pwa. Enter the URL and click OK.
Next, you may be asked to sign in. Choose "Organizational account" and sign in with your Microsoft 365 credentials that you use for Project Online.
Once connected, the Navigator window will appear. This is a crucial step. You’ll see a list of all the tables available from Project Online, such as Projects, Tasks, Resources, and Assignments.
Pro Tip: Resist the urge to select all the tables! This can pull in a massive amount of data and slow down your report. Start small. For a basic progress dashboard, you might only need the Projects and Tasks tables. Select the checkboxes next to the tables you need.
After selecting your tables, click the "Transform Data" button at the bottom. This will open the Power Query Editor, where you can clean and prepare your data before loading it. You can remove unnecessary columns, change data types, and filter out irrelevant information.
Once you’re happy with the data in the Power Query Editor, click "Close & Apply" in the top-left corner. Power BI will then load your selected data, and you’ll be ready to start building visuals.

A Note on Project for the Web

The newer, lightweight "Project for the web" works a little differently behind the scenes. Its data is stored in Microsoft Dataverse. To connect, you would use the "Dataverse" connector in Power BI instead of the Project Online one. The steps for authentication and selecting tables are very similar.

Method 2: Working with MS Project Desktop Files (.mpp)

What if you’re not using the cloud version and only have MS Project Professional or Standard installed on your desktop? Power BI can't connect directly to a .mpp file, but there's a simple two-step workaround: export the data to a format Power BI understands, such as Excel or CSV.

Step 1: Export Your Project Data

First, you need to get the specific data you want out of MS Project and into a flat file.

Open your project plan in MS Project Desktop.
Go to File > Export > Save Project as File.
For the file type, choose Excel Workbook or CSV (Comma delimited). Excel is often easier to work with. Click "Save".
The Export Wizard will launch. This wizard is your co-pilot for getting the right data. Choose whether you want to use an existing data map or create a new one. Click "Next".
Select the data you want to export. For a task-based report, choose Tasks. You can also export Resource or Assignment data. Crucially, make sure the "Export includes headers" checkbox is ticked.
In the next step, you map the fields from MS Project to the columns in your Excel file. This is where you pick exactly what you need. You might add fields like Name, Duration, Start, Finish, % Complete, and Cost. When you’re done, press "Finish."

You now have an Excel or CSV file containing a snapshot of your project data.

Step 2: Connect Power BI to Your Exported File

This is the easy part. Connecting Power BI to a static file is a core function:

In Power BI Desktop, click "Get Data".
Select "Excel workbook" or "Text/CSV", depending on the format you chose.
Navigate to the file you just exported from MS Project and open it.
Power BI will show you a preview of the data in the Navigator. Select the sheet or table and, as always, click "Transform Data" to open Power Query for any cleanup.
Click "Close & Apply" to load the data.

Heads Up: The big downside of this method is that it’s manual. Your Power BI report will not update automatically. Anytime your project plan changes, you’ll need to re-export the data from MS Project and refresh the data source in Power BI. This method is best for one-off reports or for projects that don’t have frequent updates.

Tips for Building a Useful Project Dashboard

Once your data is loaded into Power BI, the fun begins. Here are a few practical tips to turn that raw data into a compelling project dashboard that provides real insights.

Keep it Simple: Start with the most important KPIs. Use 'Card' visuals to display big numbers like Total Budget, Overall Percentage Complete, or Number of Overdue Tasks. These give an at-a-glance summary.
Find Your Gantt Chart: Power BI doesn't have a native Gantt chart visual, but there are several excellent free ones in the custom visuals marketplace (AppSource). Click the three dots in the "Visualizations" pane, select "Get more visuals," and search for "Gantt." The Gantt chart by MAQ Software is a popular choice.
Track Task Status: A doughnut chart or a simple bar chart is perfect for visualizing the breakdown of tasks by their status (e.g., Not Started, In Progress, Completed). This gives a quick pulse check on progress.
Monitor Your Budget: Use a Gauge visual or a clustered column chart to compare "Budgeted Cost" vs. "Actual Cost." Add a calculated column to show the variance so you can quickly spot potential overruns.
Manage Resources Effectively: Create a table or bar chart to show the assigned work hours for each resource. This can help you identify who is over-allocated and who has availability, preventing burnout.
Use Slicers for Interactivity: Add slicers to your dashboard to let users filter the entire report. Common slicers for a project dashboard include Project Name, Resource Name, Task Status, and Date Range. This turns a static report into an interactive tool for exploration.

Final Thoughts

Connecting MS Project to Power BI is a game-changer for project reporting. It elevates your data from a cumbersome schedule into a strategic asset, providing clear, dynamic, and shareable insights for your entire team and stakeholders. Whether you're using a direct connector for Project Online or a manual export for desktop files, the effort pays dividends in improved communication and data-driven decision-making.

The manual work of exporting files or even configuring data flows can still be bottlenecks, especially when you want to blend project data with information from other marketing and sales tools. We built Graphed to remove this friction entirely. By securely connecting all your tools, from Project to Google Analytics to Salesforce, you can simply ask in natural language, "Compare our project spending this quarter to the revenue generated by each campaign." Graphed generates the live-updating dashboard for you in seconds, letting you skip the hours of manual data wrangling and get straight to the impactful insights.