Can I use workgroup email in project 2003

A

ALEE

I have just loaded Project 2003 and found one of the most useful features of
previous versions has gone - or has it??

The Workgroup features allowing eMail (with attatchments) to be used for
task acceptance/rejection and task updates is VERY useful for projects
involving external resources who we do not allow or do not want to have
access to a central system.

This feature seems to be replaced now solely by Project Server.

Does any one disagree or know of how to use the old style workgroups in
P2003 with out using Project Server??
 
T

Tony

Once the add in has been installed the workgroup feature works as previous.
According to Microsoft the next version will not have the email capacity at
all. Backward step in my view as many small businesses can't afford to run
Project Server
 
P

Peter Day

I have exactly the same proble, I'm running project 2003 professional. I
downloaded the file, altered my registry settings and I can't find the
Workgroup tool anywhere in my menus or tools options.
 
J

JulieS

Hi Peter & Eva,

It's been awhile since I used the workgroup email features but see if any of
these work:

You'll need to set the collaboration options in Tools>Options Collaboration
page. Make sure you also set your name under User name on the General tab.

Ensure your resource's email addresses are listed in the email field on the
resource sheet.

Once you have assigned your resources - to inform the resources of their
assignments, choose Collaborate> Publish> All Information. This will send
the email to the resources with their assignments. To update resources of
any changed assignments, choose Collaborate> New and changed assignments.
To request tracking information, choose Collaborate> Request Progress
Information.

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie

When you are ready to
 
J

John Bailey

Okay, it can be used for now, but it is idiculousthat this feature is being
removed. I have a license for project server, but have no intentions to use
it since it does not get me significant benefits over using the email feature
and when working with external resources requires a public facing web server
(which I do not plan to implement at this time).

If this thread is monitored by Microsoft, I hope they listen to this feedback.

Thanks for finding the answer for me.
 
Z

zygr

I'm experiencing 2 problems when I receive a reply to a "Request Progress
Information" email (in which a user enters the # of hours worked). When I
click the "Update Project" button, 2 things happen. First, I receive a
message "An import error occurred. Check row x column -1". Second any
actual hours that were stored are deleted and the only ones that remain are
the ones specified in the email.

Any ideas?

John
 
A

Aries Badrus S.

I also have problems to run with it. The exactly same problem which have been
discussed in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263444, except Microsoft
Outlook 2003. There is no explanation to overcome this trouble in this
article. I still can't open the file with extension .mxm or .mtm, and the
recipients I send this email can't find the file in their attachment. Anyone
has experiences?
 
M

Mike

Bob,

Did you resolve this issue?

I've just posted to this newsgroup yesterday explaining my symptoms under
the subject, "Problem Updating Actual Work Thru Collaboration". I posted a
similar question a few weeks ago, but didn't include much detail since I
couldn't quite pinpoint what was happening. In neither case have I gotten
any responses.

I'm not getting the import error that zygr did, but the cumulative Actual
Work hours being replaced with only the current hours I am seeing. It's a
repeatable problem, and I can recreate it with a simple test project.
 
B

Bob

Mike,
I have not resolved the issue and right now I have no idea what is going
wrong and no prospects to resolve. I am at a client who will not purchase
Project Server and/or Sharepoint. I have used Workgroup Messaging for many
years fairly successfully (I have also used Central and Server). I am in
quite a bind with no options except to start using paper timesheets :(

I know it's something stupid but I can't figure it out.

Good Luck,
Bob
 
M

Mike

Thanks for your reply, Bob.

Specifically, are you getting the same two errors as zygr? Since you have
many years of experience with this feature, did these errors appear with
Project 2003 or with an earlier version?

I'm considering buying some support from Ingenio, which is available through
the MS Project Web site, so any particulars about the issue would be helpful.
If a solution is found, I'll post it here. Thanks.
 
M

Mike

Bob,

As I mentioned in the last post, I called Microsoft for assistance in
resolving the Actual Work issue. It took time to demonstrate the problem,
but the tech support rep did see the error and was able to follow the steps.

Unfortunately, this is an unsupported feature in MSP 2003, so the standard
answer is that they won't resolve the problem. He did, however, take the
extra steps of recreating the scenario on their computers. He had Project
Pro 2003 installed on a fresh machine, installed and setup the workgroup
tools and was able to duplicate the issue.

This tells me that the problem exists out-of-the-box. If there is a
configuration or other post-installation setting that is causing the problem,
I don't know where to find it. I suspect, however, that this is a bug.

It just amazes me that this has been a problem since 2003 and there is no
reference to the issue either online, including this forum, or in any
documentation at Microsoft. However, the rep said that any calls for
unsupported features would be closed without any further information
recorded. Also, he did look in his records for MSP 2002, which is the last
version that the workgroup feature is supported and found no reference to
this issue.

The problem remains unresolved...
 

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