WSS folder access for non EPM users

[datatape]

Hello,

The idea is to implement a Project 2007 EPM solution relatively "normal"
with regard to process and roles (administrator, project managers,
executives).

To tell the truth it is not so normal because:
- each project is created by a super-user with administrative rights
(projects like "test", "test1", etc. are unwanted) and then granted to
several project managers through categories
- for each project there is therefore a collaborative (multiple) management
(the use of master projects and subprojects is not expedient because there
are many projects and a few activities per project)
- there are no published resources
- the cost is not determined by resources allocation but is a number typed
into a custom field
- users access Project Pro 2007 and Project WA 2007 by means of Citrix.

The issue regards, however, WSS sites: the system automatically creates one
for each project in which there is a shared document library, i.e. folder
(permissions defaults for said folder are useless because there is not an
unambiguous project manager owner and there are not resources in the pool).

The intent is to create a number of other folders (permissions managed by
the administrator) so that, in varying degrees, non EPM users can access
these folders: it is not strictly necessary that each of those "minor" users
(which are anyway numerous, approximately 300), can access the whole project
site; it is enough they can access their dedicated folder with read/write
rights and manage their documents using WSS documents related functionalities
(that is check-out, attributes).

I heard from Microsoft that WSS is free with Windows Server 2003 and that
users (domain users, I presume) who access anyway Windows Server 2003
features must pay a CAL.

So the question is: how can a non EPM user access (only) a WSS folder of a
project site via Internet?
How licensing plays?

It has also been envisaged the possibility to use the Citrix terminal
server: my doubt is that, this way, checked out documents are not stored
locally but remain on the server.

Any clarification will be useful...

Angelo

 

[Jonathan Sofer]

Angelo,

I'm not sure if this will clarify things but I had a similar situation in
the past and when speaking with certain Microsoft reps at the time (this was
in PS 2003), they stated that as long as the user did not hit the project
databases like they do when using PWA, then they would not be charged a CAL.
As long as they went directly to the WSS sites, they would not be counted as
a CAL.

A non-EPM user can be added (their windows account) to any SharePoint site
by a site administrator. To make it even easier, you can add a group
instead and this will grant all users in the group the access you specify
for the group.

To access WSS, they would need to go to the site or the document library
directly. Be aware that if there are any web parts on the page that are
"Project" web parts such as "Project Center", "Resource Center" etc, the
user will receive an error page if they are not an EPM user. However, if
you are using MOSS, you might be able to get around this issue by using
something called an "Audience" in the web part advanced tab to hide those
web parts based on which user accessing the site.

 

[Kevin M]

Hi Datatape,

I can help you out with your question on Citrix, unless the checkout
procedure has changed dramatically from 2003 (which I'm on) to 2007 opening a
file off Project Server from a client tunneling to Project on the Citrix app
server will check out the file to the app server, not the client. It will be
the same user but if they lose the connection while the file is checked out
it must be forced to check in and non-saved changes are lost.

If there is a way to check out a file to a client tunneling in through
Citrix so they can go offline I'd be very interested to know it, as well.
Right now I have users "save as file" and navigate to their local machines to
get the file "offline" but the "original" project file has to be deleted from
the server when the "offline" file is re-imported to avoid duplicating
project data.

Let me know if this helps any, I've only applied it to MPP files, not WSS
documents, but I think the behavior would be similar.

Thanks,
Kevin