User Profile
Dale_HowardMVP
MVP
Joined Jan 25, 2018
User Widgets
Recent Discussions
Re: Project Server Error when exporting to a Pivot Table using Visual Reports
Brett -- If I had a dollar for every time I have seen that error dialog, I would be retired by now. I even got that error dialog during a live webinar where I was presenting how to use the Excel Visual Reports feature in Microsoft Project. Totally embarassing! In that webinar, I tried a second time, and got the error dialog again. Fortunately, I had saved a copy of the Excel file with the exported Excel Visual Report, so I simply opened the Excel file and continued with the webinar. The truth is that the error message you are seeing is quite common in Microsoft Project. I suspect there is some kind of bug that causes the message to appear intermittently, but Microsoft has never admitted this is a bug, and thus, has never fixed it. So, you and your PMs are not doing anything wrong. What I have done in the past is to keep exporting the Excel Visual Report until I get no error message. That's the only workaround I have discovered with this annoying "feature" in Microsoft Project. Hope this helps.7Views0likes0CommentsRe: Link Procurement Tasks to deliver Just-In-Time without using up slack?
Brett -- Good question. In a situation like this, I would first increase the Duration of the Order Material task by one week, and then I would apply a SNET constraint on the Material Delivery task that shows the new delivery date. When you set the initial Start to Finish task dependency, you could manage the risk for the possibility of the order taking longer by adding Lead time (Negative lag) to the dependency, such as by adding 1 week of Lead time. I realize this is not a perfect solution, then I hope this helps.52Views1like0CommentsRe: Link Procurement Tasks to deliver Just-In-Time without using up slack?
Brett -- I will be a bit of a "contrarion" on this situation. In your example, the Predecessor (aka Driving task) is the Material Delivered task. What I mean by this is that the Start date of the Material Delivered task determines the Finish date of the Order Materials task. In a situation like this, in spite of the fact that some people recommend against this, I would recommend you use a Start to Finish dependency (that weird "backwards" dependency) with the Material Delivered task as the Predecessor and the Order Materials task as the Successor. Yes, I know this this seems to be backwards scheduling, and yes, I know that some companies FORBID their PMs from using Start to Finish dependencies, but in your situation, I think this dependency accomplishes exactly what you want. Using this dependency, you can determine the Start date of the Order Materials task, based on its Duration, and on the Start date of the Material Delivered task. In the end, I am a pragmatist, breaking all the "rules" to give you a solution that actually works in your situation. Hope this "contrarion" solution helps. 😁32Views1like2CommentsRe: How to visualize data desktop projects after PWA retirement?
Bella-Puella -- If you want to stay in the Microsoft family of project management tools, you could use Project Server Subscription Edition (SE) and achieve the same results. You would need to migrate the setup of your Project Online system to Project Server SE, as well as all the resources and projects in Project Online. Your Power BI report authors would need to modify the report to connect to Project Server SE instead of Project Online. There are also a number of PPM Partner organizations that offer their own "replacement" for Project Online as well. So, you DO have some choices, but you will need to move away from your Project Online instance before September 30, 2026 to avoid losing all of your data. Hope this helps.46Views1like0CommentsRe: People Picker in Project Detail Pages - Not Working for Already Created Projects
Bhatia -- I have no idea why your are experiencing this problem. Are the BA and SME fields custom enterprise Project fields WITH a lookup table of names? I have a number of fields of this type, and when I open an existing project for editing in PWA, in the PDP I can see the ... (pick list) button displayed to the right of the field, so I can select a new value easily. Let me know and I will try to help you.70Views0likes1CommentRe: Project Server - Print Project Center Gantt Chart?
Brett -- There are plenty of YouTube videos "out there" that could help you get started with creating Power BI reporting. However, is you are "newbie" at this point, you might find it difficult to create the exact kind of report you want, and to make the report professionally looking. If your company has a Power BI report author on-staff, I would recommend you enlist their aid on this project, as that would be a huge time saver for you. Hope this helps.60Views0likes1CommentRe: People Picker in Project Detail Pages - Not Working for Already Created Projects
Bhatia -- This is very odd behavior. Are you SURE you are checking out the project in PWA before you attempt to edit the Expert field? If this field is available in Microsoft Project, you should be able to edit it there by checking out the enterprise project, clicking Project > Project Information, and then editing the field in the Project Information dialog. Just a couple of thoughts. Hope this helps.83Views0likes2CommentsRe: Project Server - Print Project Center Gantt Chart?
I have bad news for you, my friend. The Print functionality for the Project Center page will only print the data grid on the left side of the page, and will NOT print the Gantt Chart screen on the right side of the page. For a situation like yours, this is why I recommend using Power BI reports. For example, you could create a Power BI report that looks like the Project Center page, which could then be printed as needed. Hope this helps.63Views0likes1CommentRe: Change Print Page Order
I am not aware of any way to change the print order in Microsoft Project. If it were me, I would export the project to PDF, then open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat (requires a subscription) and drag the pages into the desired display order. Sorry I cannot be of more help.74Views0likes1CommentRe: Data access after Project Online (PWA) retirement
Leandro -- There is nothing unreasonable about your request, but at this point, I cannot imagine that Microsoft will ever grant that. They appear to be in a big rush to abandon Project Online, as well as the Project Online community of users. For years, they have assumed the world will migrate to Project Online, which later became Planner Premium, which has not happened. So, if I were you, I would come up with a plan to move to a another PPM tool, such as Project Server SE, and then execute that migration as soon as possible. Hope this helps.227Views0likes0CommentsRe: Data access after Project Online (PWA) retirement
Leandro -- To add to the excellent answers already shared, I think you need to assume that all of your Project Online data will be GONE after Microsoft "pulls the plug" on this tool. So, in other words, begin your planning immediately to move your Project Online data to another application, such as to Project Server Subscription Edition. In addition, I believe you will find that Microsoft IS NOT offering any of us help in migrating to Project Server SE, nor are they publishing any kind of official guidance. Hope these additional thoughts help!267Views2likes0CommentsRe: Use Save for Sharing for Colleagues who Don't have Project Pro?
Good question. When Microsoft introduced this feature, it was meant to do exactly what you want to do. At the time, I found that people receiving the shared file MUST HAVE the same version of Microsoft Project as is currently used with Project Online or Project Server. The MPP file that is generated will contain all of the custom enterprise objects from your Project Server system, however, the people using Microsoft Project Standard will NOT be able to see those enterprise objects, nor will the objects be lost in the round trip process. Before you proceed with implementing this with all Microsoft Project Standard users, I would recommend that you run multiple tests with one or two users to make sure that the process actually works, and does not damage or corrupted the shared enterprise project. Hope this helps.135Views1like1CommentRe: Schedule Opens in Read-Only Mode from Conference Room Computer
Wow, totally weird. I have NEVER run into this behavior before. There is obviously something different between the user's own computer and the computer in the conference room, but I have no idea what the difference actually is. The best I can recommend is that the user avoid using the computer in the conference room. Sorry I cannot be of more help. :(41Views0likes0CommentsRe: What is a best practice for linking Just-In-Time Tasks?
Yes, absolutely. Years ago I did a couple of training classes for two groups of project managers at NASA. When we talked about the SF dependency, they described how the launch of a rocket is a "sacred event", whose date and time are "etchec in store" so to speak. They have a final milestone in their projects that represents the date and time of the launch. Then the final sequence of activities that must be performed before the launch are all linked from the launch milestone backwards using the SF dependency. So, your use of SF is reasonable, given the situation you describe. As an aside, when I finished my classes with the NASA project managers, I asked them how I could volunteer for the first manned mission to Mars. And they all laughed at me! This was LONG before Elon Musk and SpaceX, by the way. HA!74Views0likes0CommentsRe: What is a best practice for linking Just-In-Time Tasks?
I understand your hesitation in not wanting to use a Start-to-Finish (SF) dependency, because it means you are scheduling backwards. In fact, several of my clients PROHIBIT using an SF dependency. However, I am a Baby Boomer, which means I believe "Rules are meant to be broken." In your situation, the SF dependency is the only dependency that actually models the scheduling behavior your are seeking. Therefore, I would recommend you use the SF dependency in your situation. Hope this helps.122Views0likes1CommentRe: Project Server - All Project Deliverables in One View?
Brett -- Good question. Using the Manage/Edit Deliverables button creates the Deliverable information in the SharePoint Project Site. Thus, if you have multiple deliverables scattered across multiple enterprise projects, those deliverables are also scattered across multiple SharePoint Project Sites. In additionally, one weakness of the built-in Deliverables feature in Microsoft Project (and Project Server/Project Online) is that the Deliverable Start and Finish dates DO NOT move if the project schedule slips. So, you would need to take those two factors into consideration when using the built-in Deliverables feature. My business partner and I handle Deliverables tracking a bit differently. We use a custom enterprise Task field named Deliverable Type, which contains a lookup table with the different types of deliverables that an organization tracks. Each PM is responsible for marking each of the deliverables in each of their projects, which designates these tasks as producing a specific type of deliverables. Once the project is Published, this deliverable information become reportable in a Power BI report, which can show every task producing a deliverable, across all projects in the portfolio, with the names of the tasks, their current Starte dates, and their current Finish dates. I would recommend you follow a process such as this, instead of attempting to use the built-in Deliverables feature. Hope this helps.175Views1like0CommentsRe: Crews in Planner in Planner/Project accelerator
In addition to Rod's excellent answer, if the ability to add and manage crews is necessary for your project management needs, I would recommend you migrate to the Microsoft Project desktop application, and abandon Planner Premium. It is very easy to manage crews in Microsoft Project. Hope this helps.63Views1like0CommentsRe: Baseline fallback formula fails in project center
Knowledgeseeker -- My business partner and I have both encountered the problem you describe in new Project Online instances. The formula you shared should work fine in Project Online, yet it does not. Neither of us have any idea why the test for the "NA" value is failing. In response, I have reached out to my contact within Microsoft Support to see if this is a known problem in Project Online. I will contact you when I get a reply.82Views0likes1CommentRe: PWA Instance not found
I have run into this issue several times. Strange as it might sound, the solution each time was to simply wait 24 hours for the instance to be set up. Have you tried again today? If so, with what result? Please let us know and we will try to help you.124Views0likes3CommentsRe: Expense Tracking
David -- If you are using Microsoft Project with Project Online or Project Server, your app admin could create a custom enterprise Project field with a lookup table that contains the values CAPEX and OPEX. Then a value from that field could be specified for each project. That would allow the expenditures to be separated accordingly in a Power BI report. If you are using Microsoft Project desktop only, first of all, how are you creating reports in Power BI, since the Power BI app does not connect to the Microsoft Project desktop app? Anyway, if you are using the Microsoft Project desktop application only, you could create a custom task Text field with a lookup table containing the CAPEX and OPEX values, and then specify a value from this field for every task. Just a thought. Hope this helps.93Views1like1Comment
Recent Blog Articles
No content to show