Where are fields defined?

N

Naomi Nissen

I'm making a Resource Center view in PWA. Where are all those fields
defined? I looked in Project under tools - customize, but got lost
there.
Thanks!
Naomi
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Naomi --

Assuming your are using Project Server 2003, you must do the following to
define new custom fields:

1. Launch Microsoft Project and log into Project Server with administrator
permissions
2. Click Tools - Enterprise Options - Open Enterprise Global
3. Click Tools - Customize - Enterprise Fields

You can take it from there. If you are using Project Server 2007, you must
do the following:

1. Log into PWA with administrator permissions
2. Click the Server Settings link in the Quick Launch menu (on the left)
3. Click the Enterprise Custom Field Definition link in the Enterprise Data
section of the page

You can take it from there. Hope this helps.
 
N

Naomi Nissen

Okay, I will try that (have to get administration access) but I notice
that in PWA views there are many more fields, such as "flag" and
"number" that I don't see under the enterprise tabs "custom fields", &
"custom outline codes".
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Naomi --

I'm not sure where you are looking, but you can create Task, Resource, or
Project custom fields that are Flag fields or Number fields. Hope this
helps.
 
N

Naomi Nissen

Dale,

I'm still lost. My goal is to pull information into Web Access Views
to report various resource information. When I go into Admin, Views,
Modify, there is a huge list of "available fields" that includes flag,
number, etc. My question is, where do these fields come from? I
assumed they were defined in Project, (open Enterprise Global), tools,
customize, enterprise fields. However, these are quite limited: the
Custom Fields tab has only Enterprise Cost1 through10 and are defined
as dollars only, and the Custom Outline Codes go up to 30, but don't
include formulas, flags, numbers, etc, and seem to be text codes only.

Thanks for any help!

Naomi
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Naomi --

Now I'm confused, too. What version of Project Server are you using? If
you are using Project Server 2007, you do not define custom fields in the
Enterprise Global file. Instead, you define them in PWA by navigating to
the Server Settings page and clicking the Enterprise Custom Field Definition
link in the Enterprise Data section of the page. On this page you can
create custom fields and Lookup Tables.

If you are using Project Server 2003, click Tools - Enterprise Options -
Open Enterprise Global. Then click Tools - Customize - Enterprise Fields.
In the Customize Enterprise Fields dialog, the system allows you to define
Task, Resource, and Project fields and outline codes. If you select one of
those three options at the top of the Custom Fields page, you can then click
the Type pick list to select the type of field you wish to create. The list
SHOULD offer you the following custom field types:

Cost
Date
Duration
Flag
Number
Text

Does the dialog offer you those six types of custom fields? The Custom
Outline Code tab allows you to create custom Task, Resource, or Project
outline codes as well. You must create a Code Mask and Lookup Table for
each custom outline code. So, does this explain what you need to know? Let
us know.
 
R

Raymond Chiu (coronabeach @ gmail)

Dale, I would like to read up on defining MSPS07 Enterprise Outline Codes and
Enterprise Fields. Are there any articles out there you recommend?
 
R

Raymond Chiu (coronabeach @ gmail)

I found this explantion of 2007 Outline Codes on a blog:
http://www.projectified.com/project_server_2007/index.html

Did I hear you ask for more custom fields?
Project Server 2007 makes a major change to the way that enterprise custom
fields are handled. Instead of being tied to a limited set of fields
(Enterprise Text1, Enterprise Text2, etc.) the new system starts with
basically no custom fields and you get to add as may as you want.

The interface allows you to add a new field and that new field has several
attributes that include:

Entity (Project, Task or Resource)
Type (Cost, Date, Flag, Duration, Number and Text)
Summary rollup
Whether the field will use a Lookup Table or a formula or be 'hand entered'
Assignment 'Roll down'
If the field will display it's value or Graphical Indicators
If the field will be required to contain a value
Notice that Type does not include "Outline Code". There will no longer be an
field type called outline code. Since any field can have a hierarchical
lookup table like Project Server 2003 outline codes essentially in 2007 any
enterprise custom field can be an 'outline code'.

Lookup Tables are created independently of the fields themselves which makes
sharing them between fields much easier.

This brings us to the question you are likely asking yourself now: if there
are no enterprise outline codes then how does the OLAP cube get user defined
dimensions? Well I'm glad you asked me that...

Any Project, Resource or Task enterprise custom field can be a dimension!
(Yes ANY!) There is a Cube Configuration page that allows you to pick from
your defined custom fields and decide which ones should be OLAP Cube
dimensions. Ready for part two of that? Any Project, Resource or Task
enterprise Cost, Number or Duration field can be a measure in the cube as
well. These get defined in a central page and then show up as available for
any Data Analysis view (Data Analysis is what Portfolio Analyzer views are
called in Project Server 2007).
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Naomi --

Enterprise outline codes are gone and replaced with enterprise Lookup
Tables. At this point, there is still limited information available about
Project Server 2007. We are in the process of writing our two books for
Project Server administrators and project managers, but we have to learn
virtually everything about the new software by playing, experimenting, and
FIGHTING with it! :)

Several sources from Microsoft that I have found helpful so far are:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Offic...f1bd-40fe-a1e9-25d31e93a2db1033.mspx?mfr=true

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/projectserver/FX100739631033.aspx

There are also several "blogs" on the Internet that are helpful, including:

http://blogs.msdn.com/brismith/archive/tags/Project+Server+2007/default.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/project/

http://www.pptspaces.com/msprojectreporterblog/default.aspx

http://evildoctorporkchop.spaces.live.com/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c02_owner=1

Hope this helps.




"Raymond Chiu (coronabeach @ gmail)"
 
Top