New question about Enterprise Project fields

[Jay Carter]

I have seen many threads discussing how to create custom fields with
graphical indicators that can be displayed in PWA. But I haven't seen this
one...

I want to create a custom field with the red/yellow/green stoplight
indicator to show budget status. I want this to appear in a view in Project
Center. When I create views in PWA for Project Center, the only custom fields
I can select are Enterprise Project fields (like Enterprise Project Cost1) or
non-enterprise task fields (like Number1, Text1, etc.).

Since I want all projects in Project Server to have this budget status, I
would like to use an Enterprise Project field.

The first step then is to open the Enterprise Gobal and open Customize
Enterprise fields and select Enteprise Project Cost 1 and, for the sake of
simplicity, just make a formula and make it equal to the [Cost Variance]
field. (I will worry about the graphical indicators later.) Save it, close it.

Now when I go to a new project and put in some numbers, then baseline it,
then put in some actuals, I don't get the results I want. I either get #ERROR
or 0, depending on the options I select for "Calculation for task and group
summary rows" back in the Enterprise Global.

So, I think that what I am trying to do is not possible. All of the examples
I have seen either have a person creating a non-enterprise custom field or
enter values manually into the Enteprise Project field. But what I am trying
to do seems to me to be logical and viable, but I'm just not getting there.

Any suggestions or comments? It would help even if someone said I was
looking in the wrong place entirely.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jay --

After you created the new custom Project cost field, saved the Enterprise
Global, then closed and relaunched Microsoft Project, and then opened an
existing project, you need to press the F9 key (recalculate all open
projects) on the keyboard to get the values to show up in the field.
Believe me, what you want to do is more than possible in Project Server.
You were just missing one small step to make it work. Hope this helps.

 

[Jay Carter]

Wow, the F9 worked. That's fabulous.

Now, will each of my project managers need to press F9 the next time they
are in their projects in Project Pro, or can they just re-publish their
projects?

With new projects, will the PMs need to press F9, or is it unnecessary
because the custom field was created before the project is created?

Many, many thanks.

Jay --

After you created the new custom Project cost field, saved the Enterprise
Global, then closed and relaunched Microsoft Project, and then opened an
existing project, you need to press the F9 key (recalculate all open
projects) on the keyboard to get the values to show up in the field.
Believe me, what you want to do is more than possible in Project Server.
You were just missing one small step to make it work. Hope this helps.

I have seen many threads discussing how to create custom fields with
graphical indicators that can be displayed in PWA. But I haven't seen this
one...

I want to create a custom field with the red/yellow/green stoplight
indicator to show budget status. I want this to appear in a view in
Project
Center. When I create views in PWA for Project Center, the only custom
fields
I can select are Enterprise Project fields (like Enterprise Project Cost1)
or
non-enterprise task fields (like Number1, Text1, etc.).

Since I want all projects in Project Server to have this budget status, I
would like to use an Enterprise Project field.

The first step then is to open the Enterprise Gobal and open Customize
Enterprise fields and select Enteprise Project Cost 1 and, for the sake of
simplicity, just make a formula and make it equal to the [Cost Variance]
field. (I will worry about the graphical indicators later.) Save it, close
it.

Now when I go to a new project and put in some numbers, then baseline it,
then put in some actuals, I don't get the results I want. I either get
#ERROR
or 0, depending on the options I select for "Calculation for task and
group
summary rows" back in the Enterprise Global.

So, I think that what I am trying to do is not possible. All of the
examples
I have seen either have a person creating a non-enterprise custom field or
enter values manually into the Enteprise Project field. But what I am
trying
to do seems to me to be logical and viable, but I'm just not getting
there.

Any suggestions or comments? It would help even if someone said I was
looking in the wrong place entirely.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jay --

Project managers will need to open each existing project and press the F9
key to recalculate the new custom field, and then save and publish the
project. They will need to press F9 only once for all current projects and
will not need to do it for new projects yet to be created. Glad to know
this helped.

Wow, the F9 worked. That's fabulous.

Now, will each of my project managers need to press F9 the next time they
are in their projects in Project Pro, or can they just re-publish their
projects?

With new projects, will the PMs need to press F9, or is it unnecessary
because the custom field was created before the project is created?

Many, many thanks.

Jay --

After you created the new custom Project cost field, saved the Enterprise
Global, then closed and relaunched Microsoft Project, and then opened an
existing project, you need to press the F9 key (recalculate all open
projects) on the keyboard to get the values to show up in the field.
Believe me, what you want to do is more than possible in Project Server.
You were just missing one small step to make it work. Hope this helps.

I have seen many threads discussing how to create custom fields with
graphical indicators that can be displayed in PWA. But I haven't seen
this
one...

I want to create a custom field with the red/yellow/green stoplight
indicator to show budget status. I want this to appear in a view in
Project
Center. When I create views in PWA for Project Center, the only custom
fields
I can select are Enterprise Project fields (like Enterprise Project
Cost1)
or
non-enterprise task fields (like Number1, Text1, etc.).

Since I want all projects in Project Server to have this budget status,
I
would like to use an Enterprise Project field.

The first step then is to open the Enterprise Gobal and open Customize
Enterprise fields and select Enteprise Project Cost 1 and, for the sake
of
simplicity, just make a formula and make it equal to the [Cost
Variance]
field. (I will worry about the graphical indicators later.) Save it,
close
it.

Now when I go to a new project and put in some numbers, then baseline
it,
then put in some actuals, I don't get the results I want. I either get
#ERROR
or 0, depending on the options I select for "Calculation for task and
group
summary rows" back in the Enterprise Global.

So, I think that what I am trying to do is not possible. All of the
examples
I have seen either have a person creating a non-enterprise custom field
or
enter values manually into the Enteprise Project field. But what I am
trying
to do seems to me to be logical and viable, but I'm just not getting
there.

Any suggestions or comments? It would help even if someone said I was
looking in the wrong place entirely.