Programs in Project Server

B

bill

Can someone give me the best practice for managing programs within Project
server? Should I customize the outline codes and add programs there so when
the project is created, the program is selected for that project? Or should
one use a Master project and import all the project associated to the
program? I need to be able to report on the progress of the program not each
project?

Your thoughts?
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Bill --

You may want to do both. You could create a custom enterprise Project
outline code and name it something like Program, list all of the programs in
this code, specify a value for every project, and then save and publish
every project. When you do this, the next time the OLAP cube rebuilds, you
can gather vital stats for each program using Portfolio Analyzer views in
PWA.

If you wish to manage projects across a program, then you might want to
create a master project for each program and save the master project in the
Project Server database. Before doing so, you would need to ask your
Project Server administrator to enable the "Allow master projects to be
saved to Microsoft Project Server" permission on the Server configuration
page of PWA. IMPORTANT: Tell your Project Server administrator NOT to
enable the "Allow master projects to be published to Microsoft Project
Server." Setting these permissions as I have specified will allow you to
save the master project but will not allow you to publish it, because
publishing master projects creates duplicate assignments for every resource
in the subprojects.

Hope this helps.

--
Dale A. Howard [MVP]
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
Denver, Colorado
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"
 
M

Mark

Dale,

I am aware of your past cautions about saving Master Projects in the EPM
Repository. Referring to your note below please clarify, as long as we do not
allow the Master Project to be Published we should not have any issues with
duplicate resources / resource assignments showing in individual views of the
sub-projects?

Thank you.
Mark
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Mark --

You can save master projects in the Project Server database, but you should
not publish them.

--
Dale A. Howard [MVP]
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
Denver, Colorado
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"
 
M

Mark

The sub-projects inserted into the Master Project, saved to the Project
Server, do not show in the PWA Project Center views of the Master Project. I
assume this is because we cannot "Publish" the Master Project?

Is there a way to see a group of project schedules (i.e, consolidated) in
PWA without utilizing Proj Pro or Portfolio Analyzer?

Thanks
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Mark --

No. You should not publish a master project because it will create double
task assignments for all of the resources assigned to tasks in the
subprojects of the master project.

No. You must use either Microsoft Project Professional or the Portfolio
Analyzer in PWA to see the data for a group of projects. Hope this helps.

--
Dale A. Howard [MVP]
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
Denver, Colorado
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"
 
M

Mark

You confirmed what I have been telling my manager. They have delayed
implementing Portfolio Analyzer, which is exactly what they need.
Thanks for the help and guidance.
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Mark --

The Portfolio Analyzer is very beneficial to managers who need an overview
understanding of project data across your organization's portfolio of
projects. Proceed with "full speed ahead" to get this feature going in your
system! :)

--
Dale A. Howard [MVP]
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
Denver, Colorado
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"
 
Top