Basic Project Server Info Help

[Mickey]

Hi,

I am very familiar with Outlook and how it was used in conjunction with MS
Project in terms of updates, etc. At the moment, we are using Project 2003.

I will, in the near future, be using Project Server. (We also have Exchange
Server 2003) My questions are not meant for extreme detail - an overview
with baby steps would be appreciated :

1. From a workstation point of view, how will resources be managed.
2. From a server point of view, how will resources be managed.
3. From a workstation point of view, how will updates be communicated.
4. From a server point of view, how will udpates be communicated.

Any assistance and guidance to online resources would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mickey --

Here's the high level view of things:

1. Using Microsoft Project Professional, you as a project manager will
build a team in each project using the Build Team from Enterprise tool that
draws your resources from your organization's Enterprise Resource Pool.
This Enterprise Resource Pool contains all resources that do project work in
your organization . Using the Build Team tool, you can view each resource's
Remaining Availability across all projects stored in the Project Server
system.

2. From the Project Server point of view, the Project Server administrator
maintains the Enterprise Resource Pool. Using special custom fields set up
to describe resource attributes, the Project Server administrator can
organize resources by skills, role, location, etc.

3. As a project manager, you will use Microsoft Project Professional to
create, plan, and manage your projects. Your team members will submit task
updates using the Project Web Access part of Project Server. You as the PM
must approve all task updates, and can then process the updates into your
Microsoft Project plan. From there you can analyze project variance, revise
the project plan, manage changes, do project reporting, etc.

4. As noted in #3, team members enter their task updates in Project Web
Access.

This is a very high level view of Project Server. Before you implement
Project Server, whether it be the 2003 version or the 2007 version, I would
strongly encourage your company to enlist the services of a Project Partner
to assist you. The money you spend with a Project Partner will save you
money, time, and frustration in implementing a tool that is not intuitive in
the least, nor easy to learn without proper training. Hope this helps.

 

[Mickey]

Hi Dale,

Thanks so much for your response. I'm not sure which level "the powers that
be" have purchased. I do know that Project Professional 2003 is used at the
workstation level. I believe someone mentioned compatibility with Exchange
2003 also - don't know if that makes sense.

We basically have separate departments that will contribute their part to
large projects, have a project manager for each department responsible for
their part. We wanted an easy way to communicate changes between the
managers and to manage resources effectively. Apparently the methods used
prior to Project 2003 are no longer available, so the decision was to go with
Project Server.

I can see that I will have to educate myself in order to get up to speed
with the workstation/server interface/interaction!

I do see Enterprise Options for resources in my Tools menu and assume these
will be used once Project Server is installed, in addition to options in the
Collaborate menu?

Thanks again.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mickey --

There are several new menu items in Project Professional 2003 that interact
with Project Server 2003, such as Tools - Build Team from Enterprise. If
you can't convince "the powers that be" to get you the help of a Project
Partner, I would recommend that you at least purchase books on Project
Server 2003, of which you can find several that we have written at
Amazon.com. Hope this helps.

 

[Mickey]

Thanks, Dale. I have already visited your Web site and will be definitely
purchasing one of your books.

Thanks again.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mickey --

Cool. Thanks for your business. Please feel free to let us know if we can
help you in other ways as well.