Using Master Projects in Project Server 2003
Cortokid
environment to Project Server 2003. For reporting
purposes this client has been traditionally using Master
plans. However according to all the documentation they
have read, master plans are discouraged. Can you give me
more information on the exact effects of having Master
plans on the server? Is duplication of data a problem?
Is there a clean mechanism that allows a team to run the
traditional reports from the client version of the
program all while utilizing the data for all projects or
a sub set of projects?
Jason-W
I haven't used all the features of Project Server 2003
(OLAP cubes, sharepoint...), but from my experiences I
haven't had any problems using Master Projects. The only
nuance is that when the Master project is viewed in the
PWA Project Center you only see the summary bars for the
inserted projects. There isn't a direct way to expand
them through PWA. To view the other parts of the schedule
you would have to open the Master in MSP Professional or
view the sub-projects individually in PWA.
Just make sure all the resources are enterprise resources
and not local to each individual project and you should be
okay (using local resources will cause replication).
HTH
--Jason
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Dale Howard [MVP]
The problem with master projects in Project Server 2003 occurs when you
inadvertently publish the master project. Doing so will double the resource
allocations for every resource in every subproject. This is why master
projects are discouraged. Therefore, don't publish the master project.
Hope this helps.
--
Dale A. Howard [MVP]
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"
"Cortokid" <cort...@discovernl.com> wrote in message
news:d50401c410d6$5a484cf0$a001...@phx.gbl...
Jason-W
I have been unable to duplicate the replication problem
using a couple test projects. Here's what I did, maybe
I'm missing something or not looking in the right place to
see the replication.
1) Create a new blank project
2) Add a resource from Project Server (myself)
3) Create a task and assign myself (1day / 8hours)
4) Save the project to Project Server
5) Collaborate -> Publish -> All Information
6) Close that project
7) Create a new blank project for the master
8) Select Insert -> Project -> select the test project
just created
9) Save master project to server
10) Collaborate -> Publish -> All Information
11) Close the project
Then in PWA -> View Resource Availability I check my
assingment work for that task. All I see are the 8 hours
assign myself to.
What steps are you taking to get double the resource
allocation?
Regards,
--Jason
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Sarah
Beyond the potential for duplication of resource allocations, why do
you still need Master Projects? The Project Center view should show
you just about everything you need to view across all of your
projects. You can customize it with flagged fields and a custom view
to basically set up a status report that anyone with access to PWA
could view.
Sarah
Jason-W
projects from multiple disciplines & then create
dependencies between them rather than emailing them to one
person to copy/paste them together (less chance for
error). Since we are still in operating on the pilot
deployment we're trying to figure out the best method for
us to implement this.
Before we make a final decision I would like to see the
replication issue for myself, but right now I can't seem
to recreate the problem (which leads me to believe there
isn't a problem).
Regards,
Jason-W
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Dale Howard [MVP]
--
Dale A. Howard [MVP]
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
Denver, Colorado
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"
"Jason-W" <anon...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:fd0701c411a6$84918870$a601...@phx.gbl...
Dale Howard [MVP]
I hope you and the others will accept my apology for posting an erroneous
answer to the original question about using master projects in Project
Server 2003. In my message, I repeated the warnings about using master
projects in a Project Server 2002 environment, and assumed that Microsoft
had not addressed this issue in Project Server 2003. So, in essence, I
posted an answer without doing the research.
I thoroughly studied master project usage in Project Server 2003 this
morning, including publishing a master project, and have drawn the same
conclusion as you: that master projects can now be used safely in Project
Server 2003 without resource assignment duplication. Sorry about the
confusion.
If you read the Microsoft Project newsgroups regularly, you will see that I
answer a lot of questions and do so every day. In my quest to answer
questions, sometimes I get an answer wrong. Sorry about that! And thanks
for your thorough research on the master projects issue.
--
Dale A. Howard [MVP]
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
Denver, Colorado
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"
"Jason-W" <anon...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:fd0701c411a6$84918870$a601...@phx.gbl...
Jason-W
After looking into this a little more myself, I noticed
the following in the "MS Office Project Server 2003
Administrator's Guide" (chapter 5, configuring project
server, page 101, Pub. Date 10/20/03) from Microsoft:
"Because of the way projects are stored in the Project
Server database, the way projects are added to the Project
Center, and the way this affects project-to-project
interaction, double-counting of resources will occur and
(ultimately) inaccurate Project Web Access views will be
created if a master project is published to the Project
Server database.... NOTE: Saving a master project to the
Project Server database does not cause this behavior".
This confuses me since MS says it is a problem, but both
of us have been unable to make this occur in Server 2003.
I guess MS fixed this problem from the time the manual was
uploaded and the current release of Project Server?
Regards,
--Jason W
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Dale Howard [MVP]
Thanks for the followup on the master projects issue. The double-clicking
in Project Server 2002 is very easy to see in any project containing
resources from the master project simply by appling the Resource Usage view.
It can also be seen in the Resource Center availability and View resource
assignments pages. I studied these locations this morning, using a master
project containing four subprojects, and could see no evidence of double
booking of resources. I have applied two hotfixes to my system, however,
though I am not sure this would account for the system working correctly.
Perhaps if anyone else is seeing problems with published master projects in
Project Server 2003, they could let us know. Thanks for your thorough study
of this situation!
--
Dale A. Howard [MVP]
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"
"Jason-W" <anon...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:12ca501c411d7$10b20700$a501...@phx.gbl...
RP
I am having problems with master projects. The tasks are
duplicated and I can not find away to fix this.
RP
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