Batch Create Project Records

[Brian Lukanic]

Our project lifecycle starts with an "approved" project via a separate system
(our CRM) which the projects team then takes the particulars from and creates
blank project schedules with a number of required project fields. The
Portfolio manager then publishes the blank Project schedule and assigns an
owner to the schedule so that they can begin to build out their schedules.

The portfolio manager's process of creating blank schedules with a bunch of
required fields, publishing it and assigning an owner can be tedious. What
I'd like to do is somehow create a form macro that populates the required
Project fields, saves and then publishes in a quicker process via the UI or
the backend. I bet it's a question that Rod Gill might have some ideas on.

 

[Marc Soester [MVP]]

Hi Brian,

Yeap, Rod will be the best to answer this one, but I'll give my 2 cents
worth too

I actually believe that a Macro will not be enough. I believe you will need
to think about an integration path between your CRM and Project Server. We
have done this in the past already and it is actually not so hard.

The first and most important part is the definition of your business rules
which can form the basis of your development. After you defined the business
rules and requirements, you can start thinking abou the best way to integrate
( Sorry I dont know your CRM system). Make sure that your CRM has an
integarrtion / export capabillity ( maybe even web services) which can be
hooked to the Project Server Interface ( PSI ). Essentially a trigger goes
off once your project is approved in CRM which automatically creates the
project in Project server and should you have the owner already captured in
CRM can even assign the owner to the Project. These are typical tasks when
deploying PRoject Server.

Anyway, I hope this helps you defining the best possible integration. Let me
know if you have any questions.

 

[Brian Lukanic]

Hi Marc,

Very helpful, thank you. The "poor man's version" I was thinking of would be
to take let's say a CSV export from the CRM and then manually run a macro to
do the initial creation. But what you're suggesting sounds like much better
use of my time. Our CRM, by the way, is Salesforce.com. We have a flag in the
CRM called "PMO" If the flag = Y, then we want that record created in Project
Server. Right now all it does is fire off an email to me with the fields I
need to create a project schedule manually. If we can use web services to
hook into the PSI then we're there. We have one single Project template and
one single business rule that would tell us when it's time to create a
schedule.

What else can you point me to so that I can get started? Or, will you be at
the conference next month in Phoenix? Or, can you give me your contact info
so that I can engage your services to develop this?

Thanks much
Brian