Task Ghosts?

S

Sue C

If I have a project created in MSPro with an enterprise template that I
want to save as a file on our corporate network (to work on), will
there be any problems experienced when we are ready to upload the
project to Enterprise? What I'm most concerned about are ghost issues.
Perhaps any reason to save it with a different name when we bring it
into enterprise? I'm only cautious because we have experienced some
wierd behavior with tasks in projects that were created pre-Project
Server. I believe most of those problems were caused by training
issues with how to handle deleting/reassigning of tasks, but one can
never be sure. :eek:)
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Sue C --

How did you create this project initially? Were you using Microsoft Project
while connected to Project Server? Were you using standalone Microsoft
Project without a connection to Project Server? Let us know.
 
S

Sue C

Dale,

We're experiencing issues with any combination of project creation:

1. Some of the problems are with old projects (created in stand-alone)
then were uploaded to Server when we went live.
2. Some are related to projects created from an enterprise template
but saved off-line and then later uploaded to Server.
3. Some are related to projects that were created 100% while connected
to the server.

We're now starting to get some instances of overdue task emails not
going out to Team Members. As a matter of fact, most issues we've
experienced are with communication to the Team through PWA and also
unexpected results in the Timesheet View.

So, in the event it's a problem being caused by our Plans, I'd love to
hear your best practice on how to create/save/upload a plan correctly.
By the way, the main reason we would prefer to initially save to the
Network, would be that it's a couple of months before we receive a
product #, and ideally we want the project saved onto Server with that
3-digit number as part of the title. Or would it be okay to Save (but
not publish) the project to Server, work on it, then when we receive
the product number, do a Save As and rename the project, then remove
the old project through PWA (that's a no-no too, I believe).

Do you think we are experiencing issues because of problems with
projects, or is it the communication between Pro, Server and PWA?

You're thoughts are greatly appreciated.
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Sue C --

In your situation, I would recommend that you use a custom enterprise
Project field to show the product number, rather than putting the number in
the name of the project. Your Project Server administrator should create
this field in the Enterprise Global file and then add it to each of the
default and custom Project Center views. That way, your executives can see
the product number for each project easily. When you do not have a product
number for a new project, the field should show "NA" by default. When you
get the product number, you could open the project, click Project - Project
Information and enter the number, and then save and publish the changes.

My thinking is that you should start every enterprise project within Project
Server and save all projects there. You should do this for the sake of
consistency so that every project conforms to your company's enterprise
project standards.

When you have a project created or saved outside of Project Server, the PM
of the project should import the project into Project Server using Tools -
Enterprise Options - Import Project to Enterprise. In the Import Projects
Wizard, he/she should pay special attention to the page that deals with
resources, and he/she should match every resource in the project with
enterprise resources in the Enterprise Resource Pool. After importing the
project, he/she should click Collaborate - Publish - All Information. If
the project is in progress and contains actuals, he/she should ALSO click
Collaborate - Publish - Republish Assignments, select the "Overwrite actual
work entered by resources" option, and then click OK. Doing this final step
will "push" the actuals from the Microsoft Project plan to each resource's
PWA timesheet. The lack of this step might explain the unexpected results
you see in the Timesheet view.

Also, when you say "ghost tasks" what are you talking about? Please be more
specific. Let us know if this helps.
 
S

Sue C

Dale,

I do have a Project Enterprise Text Field for "Proj No," that is
populated, when known, in Project Information. I will definitely work
on getting that field in the project center views. Great idea. The
only thing is, is that the PM's identify projects (we have almost 200,
and growing) by the 3-digit number, so they want to see that number in
front of the project's name when they do a File-Open in MSPro (and also
for the reason of consistency in naming convention). That's why I'm
trying to figure out how to get the product number in the title after
the fact.

Ghosts - That's what our IS department refers to as tasks that are out
there in Server-land, and are causing problems because they conflict
(assumably) with current information in a plan. These ghosts seem to
make trouble, and are thought to exist because tasks have been deleted
incorrectly, resources have been assigned/unassigned incorrectly, etc.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

PS - I'm the Administrator :eek:)

Sue
 
S

Sue C

Dale,

Thanks! This is awesome; I didn't know it existed (obviously). :eek:)
Sorry I had to take you through such a long process.

Sue
 
Top