How does Proj Server Connect to the resources in the project plan

[Mike Kleiman]

If a project manager edits a project plan offline and manually enters a
resource, what information will they have to provide so the resource in the
project plan file matches up with the one in project server which is tied to
Active Directory?

One assumption is that the resource does exist within project server.

Thanks,

Mike Kleiman

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mike --

The project manager can name the tempoary local resource anything he/she
wants. For example, he/she might describe the role for the resource, such
as DBA or Software Developer. When the PM takes the project back to Online
mode, he/she will need to use the Build Team dialog and replace the
temporary local resource with a human resource in the Enterprise Resource
Pool. Hope this helps.

 

[Jonathan Sofer]

The resource will stay local until such time as the resource is created with
the exact same "Resource Name" in the Enterprise Resource Pool. Once the
resource exists in the Enterprise Resource Pool and has the same name as the
local resource on your project plan, you will get prompted whether you want
to replace the local resource with the server version on the next project
save you perform.

Jonathan

 

[Mike Kleiman]

Currently, our resources get added to plans via a vba form that pulls the
resource list from our hr system. I have control over the hr system and the
vba form so I could make sure the resource information will jive with project
server but I want it to be seamless for my project managers.

From your previous answer, it sounds like I need to make sure the vba form
provides the exact same resource names as exist in project server. Can the
prompts be avoided when syncing with project server and can project server be
configured to match resources on a different field than name?

Thanks for your time and help.

Mike Kleiman

 

[Jonathan Sofer]

I am curious, how will you know the resource information that exists in the
Enterprise Resource Pool to make sure it jives with your HR data without
being able to query the database directly?

As for you other two questions.
1) Can the prompts be avoided when syncing with project server?:
No, the prompts can probably not be turned off but you can instruct your PMs
to just hit "Yes to All" on the save when they get prompted to replace local
resources with enterprise resources that match.

2) Can project server be configured to match resources on a different field
than name?:
No, the internal code that checks for matching local resources on projects
only looks at the name field

Jonathan

 

[Mike Kleiman]

Jonathan,
I appreciate your help. As for your question, my assumption is that I
would implement a batch job (or something) that queries the Enterprise
Resource Pool and updates the HR system. If project server relies on name and
gets it's names from Active Directory, I may sync my HR system with AD, etc..
That's the concept - just need to peel away the layers and detemine how
feasible it is.

Mike