the item or information you are accessing is in an unopened sharer file

[ronald_yoh]

does anyone know how to solve "the item or information you are accessin
is in an unopened sharer file..." while deleting the resource assignmen
and dealing with resource pool?

How do I track its sharer file if I have hundreds of linked projects?

Cheers

 

[JulieS]

Hello ronald,

If you have the pool file open and want to track down what project
file an assignment comes from, try adding the Project field to the
Resource Usage view.

As the message notes, you cannot delete an assignment from an unopened
sharer file. The Project field should tell you what project file the
assignment comes from.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[ronald_yoh]

Hi Julie.. thanks for that but I've tried that before posting the
question. The issue is the sharer file has been deleted (its mpp file
not in the disk anymore).

The only way to remove the assignment is by opening the sharer file and
delete the task from there. However, I've deleted the sharer file and
the "project" field is now showing nothing!

Any suggestions?

Cheers
R

 

[Rod Gill]

Okay, Resource pool and hundreds of sharer files, almost certainly you have
now corrupted the pool. You may recover by restoring the deleted file and
attaching to the pool again. Then you can unattach correctly before removing
the mpp again. If the mpp file no longer exists, create a new dummy version
with exactly the same file name as before.

Note: Move, over-write or rename any file attached to a pool without first
unattaching the file will lead to corruption sooner or later: it's a
lottery!

With hundreds of files, it sounds like you are ready for Project Server!

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

 

[ronald_yoh]

Hi Rod... It's been such a nightmare managing this resource pool.

Maybe I should re-phrase my situation from the start. Now, I hav
hundreds of projects which contain the same task name (e.g. processing)
I inserted these projects to master project with resource linked t
resource pool.

Now, the resource pool is showing the tasks which will be al
"processing". Only the "project" field (as advised by Julie) can tel
which project that the task belongs to.

For the project that I have deleted (not even in the recycle bin), th
resource pool is now showing "processing" with no value in "project
field.

Based on this situation, I got no clue the original project's name.

Really nightmare!!!! what are you proposing now, Rod?

Cheers

 

[Rod Gill]

Be prepared for this corruption to get worse until the Resource Pool won't
open at all. This may happen tomorrow or next year, but it will happen!

For now all you can do is ignore it or rebuild the resource pool now.

In one scenario I wrote macros that temporarily created a resource pool for
leveling purposes on demand, then after saving results undid the pool. That
way there was no corruption risk. In other places we never used a pool, but
ran a macro that consolidated all projects but without the link option. This
gave a snapshot of all projects and a consolidated resource pool.

What business needs do you have for your pool and consolidated projects?
Safest option is always the one that eliminates links between projects.

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

 

[JulieS]

Hi Ron,

It looks like Rod has stepped in (thanks Rod) with the answer you most
likely do not want to hear. I would *strongly* suggest rebuilding the
resource pool file. As Rod noted, you have undoubtedly created a project fle
which is well on its way to corruption and will will fail at the worst
possible time.

You may try opening the project pool file and check Tools > Resource Sharing
and disconnect any project files you are certain are no longer needed.
However, if you have deleted the orignal project sharer file its unlikely it
will still be listed.

I hope this helps.
Julie

 

[ronald_yoh]

I'm creating a new resource pool now..

while you're still here.. do you know how to change format permanently
through all views? for example, if I changed the font color in gantt
chart and when switched to another view the font color was reset to
black (automatic).

Cheers
R

 

[JulieS]

Hi Ron,

The changes in font color are on a view by view basis. If you change
tables (applied to left side of the Gantt chart view) each table can
have its own font formatting.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[ronald_yoh]

thanks 4 dat.. another thing (always have a question), do you know ho
to locate the overallocation through timescale? I tried th
"Gotonextoverallocation" button but no luck (keep getting "There are n
more allocation starting from..")?

What sort of view you think the most effective to locate the resourc
assignment?

Cheers

 

[JulieS]

Hello Ron,

You're welcome for the assistance. Glad to have helped and thanks for
the feedback.

To your new question: I use the Resource Allocation view which you
can easily display by using the left most button on the Resource
Management Toolbar. Before using the "Go to Next Overallocation"
command, you need to set the timescale to the beginning of the
project. The easiest method I think is to click first in the upper
left quadrant of the Resource Allocation view and press CTRL + Home.
That should select the upper left "cell" in the Resource Usage view.
Then click in the top row of the right side of the Resource Usage view
and press CTRL + Home again. That should scroll the timescale back to
the beginning of the project. Then you make sure you catch all of the
overallocations.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[ronald_yoh]

Hi Julie.. it's not working to me. when you said "click in the top row",
did it mean select the row? coz i'm pretty sure I have set the timescale
to the beginning.

It still says no more allocation after ....

Any thoughts?

Cheers
R

 

[JulieS]

Hi ron,

When you are looking for the overallocation, what project file are you
in -- the pool file or one of the sharer files?

Julie

 

[ronald_yoh]

I was looking at the resource pool.. from what I understand, the
appropriate manner in managing resource is from resource pool.

Any suggestions?

Cheers
Ron

 

[JulieS]

Okay, so you have the resource pool file opened. Are you looking at
the Resource Allocation view? You've selected the top resource
(Unassigned) in the pool and scroll the right side (timescaled)
portion of the view back to the beginning of the project. When you
click on the go to next overallocation, you get a message saying there
are no overallocations? You see a resource's name in red in the
resource usage view? Can you manually scroll the timescale and find
dates in red? If you add the Peak Units field to the left side of the
table do you see peak greater than max?

Julie

 

[ronald_yoh]

Okay, so you have the resource pool file opened -Yes. Are you looking
at
the Resource Allocation view? - Yes

You've selected the top resource
(Unassigned) in the pool and scroll the right side (timescaled)
portion of the view back to the beginning of the project - Yes.

When you click on the go to next overallocation, you get a message
saying there are no overallocations? - Yes

You see a resource's name in red in the
resource usage view? - Yes

Can you manually scroll the timescale and find
dates in red? - Yes

If you add the Peak Units field to the left side of the
table do you see peak greater than max? - Yes

Julie

 

[JulieS]

Hi Ron,

My comments are in-line

Julie

Okay, so you have the resource pool file opened -Yes. Are you
looking
at
the Resource Allocation view? - Yes

[Julie] When viewing the resource allocation view, do the
overallocated resources have a indicator in the indicator column
saying "this resource should be leveling based on a day by day
setting?"

You've selected the top resource
(Unassigned) in the pool and scroll the right side (timescaled)
portion of the view back to the beginning of the project - Yes.

When you click on the go to next overallocation, you get a message
saying there are no overallocations? - Yes

[Julie] Okay, well it sounds like for whatever reason the Go to Next
Overallocation is missing overallocated resources. You're not giving
me much more information to go on here, so it's tough to troubleshoot
from afar. Have you rebuilt the pool file and reconnected each of the
sharer files? If you have not done so, it's very likely you have a
corrupted file and any oddities you see are a result of that.

You see a resource's name in red in the
resource usage view? - Yes

[Julie] Once you scroll the resource allocation view, can you discover
what assignments are causing the overallocation?

 

[ronald_yoh]

Hi Julie. yes it does tell me the indicator. btw, does the go to over
allocation button also show the past date? how do you change the rule of
over allocation (e.g. looking at the actual work - not the work value)?

Thanks
R

 

[JulieS]

Hi Ron,

Overallocation which occur due to actual work are not included in the
overallocation calculation. I don't believe it is possible to "change
the rule" of overallocation to look at actual work. Project does not
look at work nor actual work to determine overallocation. A resource
is overallocated if his/her peak units is greater than his/her max.
units. You said earlier you added the peak units to the view and saw
that peak was greater than max. That is the sole definition that
project uses.

Are you working with a rebuilt pool file or are you still working with
the pool that is questionable?

Julie