Data Analysis - automatic updates

[Donna]

We have been working with EPM now for ~9 months. ~425 engineers and now we
are looking to get some good reporting.
I like Data Analysis and the ability to export to Excel so that we can have
Project Leads information without getting stuck in CPU cranking on the server
if too many people are access at the same time.
BUT - what i have found is that when you update the information from server
it automatically adds new projects or resources to what I already spent time
in filtering

Is there any way to not automatlcally include new projects into the export -
but allow the data you did select to be updated?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Donna --

Project Server 2007 automatically rebuilds the 14 OLAP cubes on a cycle
determined by your Project Server administrator. At that time, it adds new
project data and new resource data into the appropriate OLAP cubes. One way
to separate out new projects from existing in-production projects and
completed projects is to create a custom enterprise Project field with a
Lookup Table that allows you to distinguish between the different types of
projects. You might call this field something like Schedule Type, and
include values in the Lookup Table like: In Planning, Approved But Not Under
Way, In Production, Completed, and Cancelled. If you include a new custom
enterprise Project field, you will need to ask your PMs to open every
project they manage, click Project - Project Information, and specify a
value for the new field. To force the issue, you can make the field
mandatory. Then, you can create one or more Data Analysis views that filter
out projects whose Schedule Status value is In Planning or Approved But Not
Under Way. Hope this helps.

 

[Donna]

Thanks Dale
We already have a custom field for lifecycle - plus project type - plus
release that it is associated with,etc.
We have 400+ projects in our database. We are constantly planning and
tracking.

I built a great excel workbook that segregates across these - but it only
works that day. Each page of the workbook represents a project - we have
feature schedulesm, SQA schedules, Engineering level (insert of features),
etc. So i

We build our cubes nightly.

We have new projects that get kicked off and published quite frequently.

From what I hear - we have to update and then reselect our filters.

OK - I am willing to do that - can someone then help me add a field that I
can convert to FTE from grand totals - this way as the rows change - I don't
have to keep redoing my calculations? of course - my summary table will
still need to be manually updates that aggregates the data from each
worksheet....

If I do a better filter from Data Analysis - will the new projects still
show up even if they weren't chosen at the export time?
Donna

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Donna --

The filter in the Data Analysis view should always work on the current data
in the OLAP cube containing the data. Hope this helps.

 

[Donna]

Dale -
The filters work - but any new project that has been published is also
automatically checked. So when I update - I get these included. I then have
to go an unselect them.
Is there any configuration or update step I can do to avoid this?
Donna

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Donna --

What Dimension do you have in the Filter Fields drop area? It sounds like
the Projects dimension. If so, that is probably the source of your problem.
You should be filtering on one of your custom enterprise Project fields that
include a Lookup Table. Let us know what you are doing and we will try to
help.