One Company & Different requirements per division

[Someone]

Dear all;

We are implementing project server for our company where there are a group
of divisions with different requirements for each; such differences are in
the enterprise fields; reporting; and project methodology used by each.

what would be the best approach to configure the system; how to handle such
difference in the requirements with a single installation of project server?

Also, some of the requirements are to allow the company clients to access
their associated projects; is there anything major we should pay attention to
beside giving the right access rights to the clients?

Many thanks.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Someone --

Because there are different enterprise fields for each group of divisions, I
would recommend that you create a separate Project Server 2007 instance for
each group of divisions. That way, you can specify a set of custom
enterprise fields, Views, and default method of tracking progress for each
group of divisions. The only issue you will face, however, is if there are
common resources that are used across divisions. That need will nullify the
approach I have just recommended. If that is not an issue, you can do
reporting across the multiple Project Server 2007 instances with SQL
Reporting Services or Crystal Reports.

Regarding allowing access to Project Server 2007 by your clients, you will
need to talk first with your network administrators to set up accounts for
your clients. Your clients will probably need to log onto your corporate
network using a VPN connection, and then can access PWA for the Project
Server 2007 instance containing their projects. You will need to set up a
custom PWA Group and Category for each client to control what information
the client can actually see in PWA. Hope this helps.

 

[Ben Howard]

If none of the resources will work for the other divisions, and you don't
need to report across projects or resources across the divisions, then you
can have multiple instances, one for each business unit. If you don't have
this, then you will need to set up a cross business unit PMO to co-ordinate
and standardise on methodologies, reporting and other requirements.

 

[Paul Conroy]

In addition to Ben and Dales post, you can roll up data from multiple
instances of project server into portfolio server for reporting purposes.

 

[dlmckirdy]

My company has a similar situation. We are recieving a lot of push-back from
IT on installing a second server.

1. Can more than one instance be installed on the same server and have high
level access to both instances (ie Div A Administrator can see Div B
projects)?

2. Can only one server be partitioned to handle two or three Divisions run
as separate entities with an overall administrator?

3. If scenario 2 will work, can an executive type group be created who can
see all divisions at once.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

dlmckirdy --

1. It is fairly simple to set up multiple Project Server 2007 instances on
the same server. Based on your third question, however, I don't think that
this option would work for you, given the fact that your executives need to
see all projects.

2. If you use only one Project Server 2007 instance, you will have to
control security access to resources and projects using RBS, plus probably
some custom enterprise Groups and Categories in PWA. And yes, the Project
Server administrator would be able to see everything in each division.

3. By default, your members of the Executives group can automatically see
every project and every resource.

Hope this helps.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

Doug:

To support your requirement in number 3, and still run with several distinct
instances, you can federate data across all of the instances using reporting
tools like SQL Reporting Services from Microsoft, to provide consolidate
data views across the enterprise. Deciding on how best to handle this
requires more than technical knowledge, it also requires careful study of
the business needs and the culture(s) operating within each organization. It
also requires a clear understanding of target processes and resources and
how they relate to each other, or do not relate to each other as the case
may be. Some organizations want to function in their own little worlds when
it would be best for the company for them to share an instance, and just as
often I see people wanting to build a monolithic instance that tries to
cover "everyone" and end up with a rigid and unworkable system as a result.
An experienced EPM consultant can be worth their weight in gold if they
guide you through this properly.

--
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Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
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