Automating Project Entry

[Sergio]

To All,

I have a huge list of new projects that i have to have entered into project
server. I'd like to automate this process, is there a way for me to enter
all of this data w/o having to open project. In short, is there a back way
(kind of like in Excel) to make a connection to the server and enter in a
list of projects (inluding meta data fields). The import feature does not
work for meta data fields when I tried it.

Thanks,

Sergio

 

[Rod Gill]

If you have several hundred projects it might be worth developing something.
Otherwise, bite the bullet and do it manually. What meta data didn't import?

 

[Sergio]

It is several hundred projects, and I am aware that I will have to develop
something. I always have the option of creating basic script that would open
a new project and read data from an excel file. However, opening a new
project 400 times will take lots of processing hours for the computer. I'm
just looking if there is a less invasive way of creating new projects.

 

[Sergio]

Sorry, no meta data imported into the new project. I thought it was a
project bug.

 

[JackD]

400 projects shouldn't take that much time if you automate it. Start it
before lunch or when you are going home from work and let it run overnight.

 

[Sergio]

Whats the command to skip any messages that may pop up during the process, I
ran into that problem last time I tried doing a smaller number of projects.
A message was popping up that local table didn't match enterprise table and I
should replace all. Is there a way to automatically answer those types of
messages?

 

[JackD]

Application.DisplayAlerts = False

 

[Sergio]

Thats EXACTLY what I thought as well. But it did NOT work for this
particalur message. "The enterprise global already contains a table named
"Earned Value". Do you want to replace the table with the one from the
enterprise global, replace all items with duplicate names, rename the table
in the project, or cancel opening the project?"

 

[JackD]

If you are just importing the projects, then strip out all the tables in
advance and you won't get an error.
Should be fairly simple I think, though I haven't done it myself. As you
probably know, the table doesn't contain any real project data, it is just
used to display the data.

 

[Rod Gill]

Also make sure you have imported all Resources into the Enterprise Pool and
that the names in your projects reflect the Enterprise names.

Ditto for Filters and Tables. You need to use Enterprise Views, Filters and
Tables from now on and avoid local versions as much as possible.

 

[Sergio]

Thank you, all.

Also make sure you have imported all Resources into the Enterprise Pool and
that the names in your projects reflect the Enterprise names.

Ditto for Filters and Tables. You need to use Enterprise Views, Filters and
Tables from now on and avoid local versions as much as possible.

--

Rod Gill
Project MVP
Visit www.msproject-systems.com for Project Companion Tools and more