Enterprise Template Security

[anovak]

As a service, I have created some templates for one of the groups here
that they can use for their projects, but the general philosophy I've
had is the PMO manages the enterprise templates.

The challenge is:

1. The PM in the group wants to make their own changes to their
templates and not go through me (although I know there is a chance
something could get screwed up based on lack of due diligence at
times).

2. Updating the enterprise templates is an "all or nothing"
proposition. That is, I understand that if I turn on template editing
for the PMs, then they could all potentially edit all of theirs, which
isn't necessarily cool.

Should I propose we house the group-specific templates in another place
so they can change them and only house high-level generic "enterprise"
templates in the database which are controlled by the PMO?

If so, what would be the best place for the group-specific templates to
reside?

Thanks,
Andy

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Andy --

Yours is not a good idea. Why don't you add your PMO people to the
Portfolio Managers group so that they can modify enterprise templates, and
then set the Save Project Template permission to Not Allowed (neither Allow
or Deny is checked) for members of the Project Managers group? Hope this
helps.

By the way, I thought you abandoned Project Server in favor of another tool
that was easier to use. What gives?

 

[anovak]

Thanks Dale...Actually this a Project Manager who wants to update the
templates, not "PMO People". I'm the PMO and the Administrator of the
system. I'm not sure if I'd want to give this Project Manager
Portfolio Management capability, depending on what they are able to do
vs. myself (Administrator). Please comment.

The reason we were not considering MS before was the lack of Portfolio
Management. Now that Portfolio Server is out and the new 2007 versions
of both are on the horizon, that may prove to be a cost effective
solution that would work for us.

I took one of those "web tours" through one of the MS parter sites, and
Portfolio Server 2006 looks pretty good as well as Project Server 2007.
Problem is the tour doesn't demonstrate the interoperability of both
2007 products. I guess cause Portfolio 2007 hasn't been released yet.

I keep reading that many of the deployment headaches of 2003 will be
resolved with 2007. Do you guys have experience with the 2007 products
yet? Do you concur with the coming improvements?

Thanks,
Andy

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Andy --

If you do not trust the skills of the PM in question, then I wouldn't give
him Portfolio Manager capabilities in a million years. That's a people
decision you must make. If your PM's can't handle managing enterprise
project templates, then you should probably not grant them the permissions
to do so.

Regarding Project Server 2007, yes, we are gaining valuable experience by
the minute. We have done several Project Server 2007 beta implementations
and installed RTM Project Server 2007 the moment it was released. We are
also within a few days from completing our first book in the EPM 2007
series, which is the "Ultimate Learning Guide to Microsoft Office Project
2007." The book focuses only on the desktop application. Other books
specifically on Project Server 2007 are underway. Hope this helps.