How to import Rally Objectives
Article ID: 255216
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Issue/Introduction
This article explains some details on how to import objective using a CSV. This article will only discuss the fields contained within the template which are the minimum required fields for importing.
Resolution
The first step is to download the template from the Objective import screen, which lays out the pattern for the Objective import. This shows the minimum required fields to import either an object or a key result.
The file that is downloaded will contain 3 lines; a header row, an Objective example row and a Key Result example row. The header row is always required, however depending on what type of data you are importing, you may only need Object rows, Key Result rows, or both. The thing to bear in mind is that if you are importing Key Results, they must be for Objectives that already exist since you must specify a reference to an existing Objective.
The type of work item you are importing is determined by the first column which is "Object Type".
Importing Objectives
To import an Objective, use the keyword "Objective/" coupled with the Objective type. The Objective type can be found in the dropdown on the Objectives page
For this example, that will look like "Objective/Team Objective"
The second column should be left blank as it only pertains to Key Results
Start Date and Target Date must be entered in the format that your workspace is configured for. Excel tends to want to apply its own formatting to date fields when it detects them, so special care needs to be taken to ensure the dates in the CSV maintain their proper formatting.
The last column in the template is Name. This is the name of the Objective and can be up to 256 characters.
So a complete example may look like this in your CSV:
Object Type,Objective,Start Date,Target Date,Name
Objective/TeamObjective,,2022-12-01,2022-12-30,"This is an objective to import"
Importing Key Results
To import a Key Result, you will use the "Key Result" keyword in the Object Type column.
In order to import a Key Result, you will need to associate it with an Objective. There are two ways to do this in the CSV.
If you want to import an Objective in the CSV and have a Key Result immediately associated with it, you can use the line[n] keyword in the Objective column. For example, if you have the following objective import in your CSV, then you would have a Key Result line reference line[2].
Object Type,Objective,Start Date,Target Date,Name
Objective/TeamObjective,,2022-12-01,2022-12-30,"This is an objective to import"
So the Key Result line would look like this:
"Key Result",line[2],,,"Sample Name"
Conversely, if you have an existing Objective you'll need to know the object ID of the parent objective. One way to get the object ID of the target objective is to access the objective details in a browser and then examine the URL and get the numeric portion after "teamobjective%2F" as shown below. Be sure not to get any of the %2F as that is not part of the ID
Then you'll take that number and format it as a Rally reference like this: /objective/638161668611
In this case your Key Result line would look like this:
"Key Result",/objective/<OBJECTIVE_OID>,,,"Sample Name"
Start and Target dates don't apply to key results, so you'll skip those.
The last column is the Key Result name, and you can give it a short descriptive name of up to 256 characters
Conclusion
With this information, you should be able to import both Objectives and Key Results using CSV files. You can add additional fields that you require into the CSV, however, this document should help you get started initially.
Additional Information
If you are working in Excel, it is important to save the CSV file type as CSV (MS-DOS) and not just CSV. Other CSV formats can add hidden codes to the beginning of the file that can interfere with the import process and cause validation errors.
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