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Dale_HowardMVP
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Joined 8 years ago
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Re: 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.42Views0likes1CommentRe: 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.34Views0likes1CommentRe: 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.68Views0likes2CommentsRe: 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.41Views0likes1CommentRe: 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.48Views0likes1CommentRe: 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.89Views0likes0CommentsRe: 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!125Views2likes0CommentsRe: 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.78Views1like1CommentRe: 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. :(29Views0likes0CommentsRe: 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!66Views0likes0CommentsRe: 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.106Views0likes1CommentRe: 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.151Views1like0CommentsRe: 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.57Views1like0CommentsRe: 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.75Views0likes1CommentRe: 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.93Views0likes3CommentsRe: 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.87Views1like1CommentRe: Team member unable to access the Project site in project online
Anil -- From your description, it sounds like your Project Online app admin mistakenly left your Project Online system in SharePoint Permission Mode, which is a huge mistake. I would strongly recommend that he/she change the system to Project Permission Mode. After doing this, he/she will then need to add each user to their proper security Groups, based on their usage of the system. In essence, all of the PMs will need to be added to the Project Managers security group and all of the Team members will need to be added to the Team Members security group. Once this is done, your PMs will need to open and check out their enterprise projects in Microsoft Project, and republish them. At this point, team members will automatically be able to access the SharePoint project site for each project in which they are a team member. Hope this helps.84Views1like0CommentsRe: PWA - Timesheet that is not approved not showing in Approvals
Andyman -- Have you been able to approve timesheets previously for this user? Or have you ONLY been approving task updates (task progress) for this user? If your organization wants to you to be able to approve timesheets, such as the situation you describe where the timesheet only includes Administrative time, your Project Online application administrator needs to include you in the default Resource Managers group in PWA. Has that been done already? If not, please ask your app admin to do this and then let us know if that solves the problem. Thanks!60Views0likes0Comments
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