Export and import tasks within your Cutover instance. In this article, we'll cover how to export and import runbook tasks, as well as how to import tasks via CSV.

Navigate to the runbook you wish to export. Once inside the runbook, click More Actions located next to the task list view options > Export tasks.

You have the option to select the file type for your download and timezone:

Click Export.

As mentioned in the note above, Output fields is a heading title in the exported CSV file. All columns shown in an exported CSV file after Output fields came from the output and will need to be removed.

Click the cog icon next to the title of your runbook > Import runbook.

Select (or type to populate) a runbook to import. Afterward, click Next.

Tasks, streams, teams, and users that do not already exist in the runbook you are merging will be created.

After the import, you will be able to view the origin of each task within the task list, the task edit panel, and upon exporting tasks.

Runbook-level custom attributes of a merged runbook will be displayed within the task edit panel and can be displayed on the task list if required.

You have the ability to import tasks via CSV. This can be useful when creating a runbook from scratch or appending tasks to an existing runbook.

To import tasks via CSV, click the cog icon next to the title of your runbook > Import tasks from CSV.

Choose your file and then select a timezone for the tasks in the CSV runbook. Any dates and times are imported relative to the timezone selected.

Click Import.

The below consists of fields that can be imported into the CSV file. For a successful upload the Task Title field is mandatory and all others are optional.

Title (Mandatory) - Name of your task, this is critical for anyone looking at the plan and able to understand quickly the task intent. (e.g Migration for X App starts)

▶︎ Allows text and numbers

▶︎ Avoid too much detail (too many words will cause part of the title to be cut out)

▶︎ If you would like to include more details, please add this to the “Description” header column

Assigned Team (Name) (Optional) - This is the name of the team you want to assign the task to. You can assign multiple teams to one single task, please use a comma to separate the team names e.g. IT,Finance,DevOps1

▶︎ This field can be left blank

▶︎ This cannot be individual email addresses

▶︎ Team must exist in the runbook you are uploading the template to

▶︎ You will be able to assign individual users directly from the Cutover platform after the import is complete.

Custom Fields (Optional) - The column header for your custom fields should be located after the default column headers listed above.

▶︎ Custom fields must be available on the workspace where your runbook is being uploaded to before you import your CSV

▶︎ The title of your header column on your import files must match the custom field title

Description (Optional) - More detailed information for each of your tasks. Can be used if you would like to include any links or further details for task owners to see.

▶︎ Allows text, numbers and links

Planned due date (Optional) - Only needed if you wish to indicate to the task owners a specific date the tasks are required to be completed by. This does not trigger tasks to automatically complete, therefore task owners will still need to complete the task and if the actual completion time surpasses the planned due date/time it will cause the tasks to be marked “late”

▶︎ 2022-07-01 (year-month-day) or 01/07/2022 (day/month/year)

▶︎ This does not trigger tasks to automatically complete, therefore, task owners will still need to complete the task.

▶︎ If the actual completion time surpasses the planned due date/time it will cause the tasks to be marked “late”.

Planned due time (BST) (Optional) - Only needed if you wish to indicate to the task owners a specific time the tasks are required to be completed by.

▶︎ The column header requires a timezone code in brackets. E.g (BST), (ET)etc

▶︎ Cannot have a value if the planned due date is blank

▶︎ 24 hour clock format, 2pm should be 14:00:00, 9am should be 09:00:00 hh:mm:ss

Planned Duration (Optional) - Planned duration is required for Normal and Validation tasks. Cutover runbooks automatically calculate forecast time/date based on the durations of your tasks.

▶︎ dd:hh:mm format for all durations

▶︎ If there are tasks that have no duration “0m” is required, this cannot be left blank

Planned Fixed Date (Optional) - Only needed if you wish to indicate to the task owners a specific date the tasks are required to start by. You will see an “F” followed by the date and time left on your tasks in your task list.

▶︎ 2022-07-01 (year-month-day) or 01/07/2022 (day/month/year)

▶︎ This currently does not prevent the tasks becoming startable, therefore, as soon as the predecessor task(s) are complete, it will become startable.

▶︎ If the actual start time surpasses the planned fixed date/time, it will cause the tasks to be marked “late” (the tasks title will turn orange)

Planned Fixed Time (BST) (Optional) - Only needed if you wish to indicate to the task owners a specific time the tasks are required to start. You will see an “F” follow by the date and time left on your tasks in your task list.

▶︎ The column header requires a timezone code in brackets. E.g (BST), (ET)etc

▶︎ Cannot have a value if the Planned Fixed Date is blank

▶︎ 24 hour clock format, 2pm should be 14:00:00, 9am should be 09:00:00 hh:mm:ss

Predecessor IDs (Optional) - This is very important in order for your task dependancies to import correctly. The runbook dependancies are NOT time based, therefore, if you have tasks that are dependant on other tasks to be completed before it can be started, you will need to make sure they have predecessor IDs in place. *Predecessor is the task that comes before a task.

▶︎ Format should be the same as Task ID

▶︎ A single tasks can have multiple predecessors and also the same predecessors

▶︎ If you want a task to be a standalone task with no dependancies, leave the field blank

Stream (Optional) - Stream is a way of grouping your tasks, this could be by stages of your plan e.g (pre-check, approval, go-live, post go-live check etc). Or by departments (HR, finance, IT etc) If a stream does not exist during the upload, it will be automatically added to “Primary Stream” which is the default stream name.

▶︎ Allows text and numbers

▶︎ Avoid any special characters that requires the press of your “shift keys”, such as @, %, &, *, ( )

Sub Stream (Optional) - Sub Stream is a way of further categorising your tasks within a stream if required.

▶︎ Allows text and numbers

▶︎ Avoid any special characters that requires the press of your “shift keys”, such as @, %, &, *, ( ), etc

Task ID (Optional) - Each task is required to have an ID assigned and will be displayed in your runbook.

▶︎ Must be numerical numbers only e.g 10, 11, 12, cannot contain any characters, 123-23, DR123…etc

▶︎ All tasks ID must have # in front of the numbers e.g #1, #2, #46

▶︎ Tasks ID does not need to be sequential as your runbook structure is based on dependancies between tasks

Task Level (Optional) - Task level is often used to determine the severity or importance of the task. Task level is a default available filter within your runbook filter list.

▶︎ Three available levels to choose from: Level_1, Level_2 and Level_3

Task Type (Optional) - Task type is a unique feature to Cutover platform, there are seven default task types and each of them have their own attributes and behaviours.

▶︎ Only use the existing task types, if you required custom tasks to be set up prior to the upload, please contact your Customer Success Manager

▶︎ If you are unsure which tasks to choose from, select one that is the closest aligned to the attributes of your tasks, you can always amend this directly on the platform after

If your CSV import has failed, you will be notified of issues that must be amended in order to successfully re-upload your file.

The following instances may be the reason why your CSV upload has failed.

Cutover’s importer does not accept non-UTF-8 characters, such as 'ñ' and 'î. We recommend ensuring characters are in compliance when an excel spreadsheet is converted to a .CSV file, or when copying and pasting characters. If an unknown character is included, the upload is stopped. In this instance, we recommend checking the task that caused the failed upload for unknown characters.

The task importer requires an exact string to read the column titles. When creating tasks in a CSV, the suggested approach is to download the .CSV file for a blank runbook at first and use this as a template in order to ensure the correct format is used. This can be done by selecting settings and clicking 'Download all'. In order to upload, the spreadsheet should be saved as a .CSV file (The format should be UTF-8).
*Please see our Things to Note section above which explains what you will need to do if you have a Custom Field with an identical name to an existing field.

Task IDs and predecessor IDs must be written as "#1". Predecessor ID(s) must be valid. Any values entered in this column must align with the ID of other tasks that are being imported as part of your CSV. If not, an error will be returned.

Dates should be written as Nov-10-2023, 10-Nov-2023, or 10/11/23. Other date formats, for example, Thu 22 Dec, will be accepted, but may not properly upload.

Times should be written in 24-hour time notation, for example, 14:00:00 or 14:00. Other time notations, for example, 5 pm, will be accepted but may not properly upload.

Task duration can be written in a variety of formats, for example:
​

While the modal states that a duration format of 1d 1h 1m should be used, the aforementioned formats will also work.

Cutover does not currently support the upload of CSV data that contains non-UTF-8 characters. Please ensure your spreadsheets only use valid UTF-8 characters encoded.

Mac users: When using Excel, you can export the spreadsheet as a correctly formatted UTF-8 CSV file by selecting the CSV UTF-8 (comma-delimited) (.csv) file format option. For Apple numbers, you can export as CSV > Unicode (UTF-8), which is the default setting.

Windows users: Export your file as a CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv) file type.

Please ensure your CSV file is not using semicolon delimiters. In some countries and PC configurations, the comma is reserved as a decimal separator. This can result in your commas in CSVs being replaced with semicolons. To change this, follow the steps below: