Any way to set project to auto publish all projects?

[Jim]

We have a very large program that currently has 20+ project plans managed by
13 different PMs. In pulling together our weekly status for upper
management, we struggle to get everyone to publish in a timely manner, so
that the PWA is updated appropriately. Is there a way to have the system
auto-republish all projects on a regular basis (i.e. Friday, 2am)? If not,
are stored procedures used to perform the Publish task? If so, what are
they so we can see the work that is occuring when you Publish?

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jim --

For this purpose, you should download the View Populator Tool for Project
Server 2003 at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...d5-3cdb-4a57-a1fd-748bf968d48b&DisplayLang=en

This tool allows you to do a batch publish of one or more projects without
using Microsoft Project Professional. I do believe you will need to run the
tool manually, however, as opposed to an automatic batch publish at 2:00 AM.
Hope this helps.

 

[Jim]

Dale,

Thanks for the tip, this should work. We are currently using Project Server
2003 and have not upgraded to SP1. Is there a limitation on the version?

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jim --

You need Project Server 2003 to use this tool.

 

[icolias]

Hi !

I tried to use this tool, but it doesn't work. It creates an XML in the
ViewDrop folder, Project Server 2003 process this XML file, but the project
it is not published.

Any idea ??

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

icolias --

In the View Populator dialog, what information was displayed in the Results
section of the dialog? Did you see any errors? If the Views Notification
Service processed the XML files, as you stated, then the documentation
states that the projects are published. Let us know.

 

[icolias]

View Populator tools works when project is save in Project Pro. I mean, when
I create a new project, with its tasks, resources.... I MUST open Project
Professional and save it. After that, the tools works fine.

So, if I create a new task in a project, I must save it again, I can't use
View Populator directly.

The tool didn't give me any error.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

icolias --

Now I'm not sure what your question is. There is no way to actually create
or edit a project in Project Server without using Microsoft Project
Professional. To actually publish the project, you can do this within
Microsoft Project Professional or using the View Populator tool.

 

[icolias]

And, is any way to use view populator to validate changes in timesheet ??

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

icolias --

The View Populator tool is used to publish projects without using Microsoft
Project Professional. It is most useful to publish a group of projects as a
batch. If you can figure out how to use it to validate changes in
timesheets, go for it, my friend!

 

[Jim]

Dale,

Thanks. One last question. When it publishes, will it publish the project
under my user account or the owners? We have had issues in the past having
someone other than the owner publish a project, mainly with the time approval
being sent to someone other than the owner. Our current processes provide
for time approval to be done only by the owner even though someone else may
have access to modify the plan.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jim --

I believe it will publish the project under your account, but leave the
original PM as the owner and manager of the project. Hope this helps.