Linked File Read/Write Property - Intermittent Changes

[Henry Thompson]

Hi everyone

I've an intermittent problem with the read/write properties of linked plans.

We use master projects which contain read/write links to a number of
detailed product plans, editing of the product plans is done via the master
project.

On occasions within the master project when expanding the detail of the
linked product plan the properties of the link are seen to change to read
only and hence the PM can not amend the content of product plans via this
route.

On these occasions upon examination of the Advanced tab of Inserted Project
Information the Read-only box is unchecked.

Examining the properties of the linked project file itself reveals it still
has read/write properties.

Previously when this same problem was experienced it appeared to be possible
to resolve by checking the Read-only box, clicking Apply, unselecting the
Read-only box and again clicking Apply.

This time around however this course of action does not resolve the problem.

The arrangement of file locations is as follows:

08-09 Projects Folder
Programme Folder
Project Folder
Product Schedule Folder
Master Project File

08-09 Projects Folder
Product Plans
Product Plan File 1
Product Plan File 2
etc.

Previous postings here when I experienced failure of save operations
advised of the “flaky†behaviour of MS Project experienced when the master
project and linked product plan files are stored across different drives but
the above folder structure is contained on a single drive.

Any assistance or guidance in resolving this would be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

Henry.

 

[John]

Hi everyone

I've an intermittent problem with the read/write properties of linked plans.

We use master projects which contain read/write links to a number of
detailed product plans, editing of the product plans is done via the master
project.

On occasions within the master project when expanding the detail of the
linked product plan the properties of the link are seen to change to read
only and hence the PM can not amend the content of product plans via this
route.

On these occasions upon examination of the Advanced tab of Inserted Project
Information the Read-only box is unchecked.

Examining the properties of the linked project file itself reveals it still
has read/write properties.

Previously when this same problem was experienced it appeared to be possible
to resolve by checking the Read-only box, clicking Apply, unselecting the
Read-only box and again clicking Apply.

This time around however this course of action does not resolve the problem.

The arrangement of file locations is as follows:

08-09 Projects Folder
Programme Folder
Project Folder
Product Schedule Folder
Master Project File

08-09 Projects Folder
Product Plans
Product Plan File 1
Product Plan File 2
etc.

Previous postings here when I experienced failure of save operations
advised of the “flaky†behaviour of MS Project experienced when the master
project and linked product plan files are stored across different drives but
the above folder structure is contained on a single drive.

Any assistance or guidance in resolving this would be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

Henry.

Henry,
The most common reason that a subproject file, (or any Project file for
that matter), is read only is that someone else has the file open. This
may not always be obvious. For example, if someone else is creating a
master file when you open your existing master, all the subproject files
in that new master will register as open even thought the person
creating the master may not specifically open the subprojects. Or, a
user may have opened a project file and then started doing something
else without ever closing it. It happens.

The best directory structure for master files is that all files are not
only on the same drive but also in the same folder. According to your
example, you have two identically named folders on a single drive. Not
sure how you do that but something looks awry. For the best performance
and least chance for corruption I'd restructure your file to get
everything in a common directory folder.

Hope this helps.

John
Project MVP

 

[Henry Thompson]

Hi John

Many thanks for your quick and detailed responses.

You made several points which I believe I understand however I don’t think
they necessarily apply in this case, let me explain further.

Firstly for clarification regards the file structure we’re using, apologies
but I was trying to illustrate this with plain text and didn’t really know
how to do this clearly, obviously I didn’t succeed!

The folders which appear to have the same name “08-09 Projects Folder†are
in fact a single folder within the structure, the next level folders below
this being the “Programme Folder†and “Product Plans†folder, then the
successive levels below that are as described.

I understand your concerns for keeping things simple in terms of this folder
structure however right now as we’re part through the financial year we don’t
have the luxury of amending our folder structure as it’s in constant use by
some 30 different PM’s each of whom maintains a Master Project linking to a
set of product level files which number approx 2,500 in total.

Relating to your remarks about files having read only properties due to
being in use etc. then essentially due to our way of working I don’t believe
this happens in practice.

The set up we have is that each PM has their own individual Master Project
which contains links to a set of product level schedules.

Each set of these product schedules is specific to a given project i.e. no
single product schedule is linked into more than one Master Project.

Also the way in which we guide our PM’s to access and edit the product level
schedules is via the Master Project, hence any files linked into a given
Master Project would only ever be opened via that route.

In the same way all of those product level schedules with links into a given
Master Project will be closed down when the Master Project is exited.

This raises one query I guess, do you believe is it in any way possible that
some of the linked product level files could somehow be appearing to remain
open even though they have been closed?

My other suspicion, as a layman in terms of IT, remote drives and file
servers etc., is that possibly whilst the PM has their Master Project open,
with or without actually having the linked product level schedules expanded,
somehow a glitch can occur in the system whereby the connection to the remote
disk where all files are stored is temporarily lost and when this connection
is restored the files appear to be open by another route and hence show up as
read only.

The problem I have with this type of scenario is understanding how it occurs
that the read only properties seem to remain associated with those linked
files even after the Master Schedule has been closed down?

Your further feedback and any additional insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

Henry.

 

[John]

Hi John

Many thanks for your quick and detailed responses.

You made several points which I believe I understand however I don’t think
they necessarily apply in this case, let me explain further.

Firstly for clarification regards the file structure we’re using, apologies
but I was trying to illustrate this with plain text and didn’t really know
how to do this clearly, obviously I didn’t succeed!

The folders which appear to have the same name “08-09 Projects Folder†are
in fact a single folder within the structure, the next level folders below
this being the “Programme Folder†and “Product Plans†folder, then the
successive levels below that are as described.

I understand your concerns for keeping things simple in terms of this folder
structure however right now as we’re part through the financial year we don’t
have the luxury of amending our folder structure as it’s in constant use by
some 30 different PM’s each of whom maintains a Master Project linking to a
set of product level files which number approx 2,500 in total.

Relating to your remarks about files having read only properties due to
being in use etc. then essentially due to our way of working I don’t believe
this happens in practice.

The set up we have is that each PM has their own individual Master Project
which contains links to a set of product level schedules.

Each set of these product schedules is specific to a given project i.e. no
single product schedule is linked into more than one Master Project.

Also the way in which we guide our PM’s to access and edit the product level
schedules is via the Master Project, hence any files linked into a given
Master Project would only ever be opened via that route.

In the same way all of those product level schedules with links into a given
Master Project will be closed down when the Master Project is exited.

This raises one query I guess, do you believe is it in any way possible that
some of the linked product level files could somehow be appearing to remain
open even though they have been closed?

My other suspicion, as a layman in terms of IT, remote drives and file
servers etc., is that possibly whilst the PM has their Master Project open,
with or without actually having the linked product level schedules expanded,
somehow a glitch can occur in the system whereby the connection to the remote
disk where all files are stored is temporarily lost and when this connection
is restored the files appear to be open by another route and hence show up as
read only.

The problem I have with this type of scenario is understanding how it occurs
that the read only properties seem to remain associated with those linked
files even after the Master Schedule has been closed down?

Your further feedback and any additional insight would be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks again.

Henry.

Henry,
Wow, lots of info. I'm not sure I can be of much help but let me offer a
couple other ideas.

You mention your folder structure is in "constant use". Does that mean
24 hours a day, 7 days a week? I doubt it but I could be wrong. When I
was an active project manager with multiple users on multiple files, I
did the majority of file structure maintenance after hours or on
weekends. That was the only time I could be reasonably sure the files
weren't in use by the cost account managers. Or you may just need to
establish a certain time period, (e.g. 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm on Friday),
when the all files are unavailable to PMs.

As I mentioned before, the best scenario is to have everything on a
single server and under a single folder. If at all possible (using off
hours), I would restructure your files to give the best chance of
problem free operation.

With regard to the idea of a glitch messing thing up, that may be a
possibility, but unless you are seeing frequent system glitches I doubt
that is the cause of the problem.

You may have already tried this but is it possible to isolate when the
read-only occurs. For example, it occurs most often with certain files
or seems to occur when the PM is doing a particular operation, and so
forth. If you can get a more specific handle on all the variables, then
maybe a solution or at least a work-around can be found.

John
Project MVP

 

[Henry Thompson]

Hi again John

Thanks again for your detailed responses, I understand what you say but I'll
have to leave the file restructure things until next FY I think.

Regards the problem occurance, I described it as intermittant, in actual
fact it's also a fairly rare occurance, over the 25 or so Master Plans we
have, using in total some 2,500 linked product schedules this has occurred
only twice in the current financial year.

Looking for patterns however this does present a problem as there's not so
much evidence to go on and frequently by the time I look at an issue it's
disappeared.

Esentially I think I'll continue to keep an eye on the specific files where
this occurred most recently and take it from there.

Thanks again for your support, possibly I'll be back here soon if I've more
evidence.

Best regards.

Henry.

 

[John]

Hi again John

Thanks again for your detailed responses, I understand what you say but I'll
have to leave the file restructure things until next FY I think.

Regards the problem occurance, I described it as intermittant, in actual
fact it's also a fairly rare occurance, over the 25 or so Master Plans we
have, using in total some 2,500 linked product schedules this has occurred
only twice in the current financial year.

Looking for patterns however this does present a problem as there's not so
much evidence to go on and frequently by the time I look at an issue it's
disappeared.

Esentially I think I'll continue to keep an eye on the specific files where
this occurred most recently and take it from there.

Thanks again for your support, possibly I'll be back here soon if I've more
evidence.

Best regards.

Henry.

Henry,
You're welcome and thanks for the feedback. It sounds like the frequency
of occurrence is low enough that a work-around, (close and try again),
is the best approach. Good luck.

John
Project MVP