Query and view multiple projects

[Pete Hay]

Assuming that I've defined a user field (text1) as "Task Type"...
Can a user assigned to the executive group (or any group for that matter)
perform a query/grouping like:
Show me all projects where Task Type="foo" and start date is between
01/25/10 and 01/30/10.
Pete

 

[Marc Soester [MVP]]

Hi Pete,

I assume you mean a Project field not a task field. Should this be the case
than the answer is yes. Once the field is created and you associated values
to the field per project, you can incorporate this field into the Project
Center and query it there in combination with other fields like the start
date.

I hope that helps

 

[Ben]

H Pete,
Yes and No...

1st, the task text1 field will need to be an Enterprise Text Field, and this
field will need to be added to the OLAP cube. If the task has work on it,
then you could at least show the start date of the task, and from that you
could get the list of projects.

Another way would be to roll-down this field to assignment level, and then
filter on it in the Assignments view for all resources, and group by Project.


You could export either view ot Excel for more formatting options...

 

[Pete Hay]

Marc,
I'm confused regarding a task vs a project field. I'm trying to design a
building maintenance application using project server where each building is
a year-long project. I need to be able to get a list of all buildings that
are scheduled for window washing next week.
Pete

 

[Marc Soester [MVP]]

Hi Peter,

From what I can read from your post, I would do the following:
Under Server Settings>
Create a Lookup up table and call in something like "Building". Within the
lookup table I would name the buildings ( e.g. building 1, building 2 .....)

Create a Project Custom field called Building and associate the lookup table
you created to the custom field.

Now when you create a new project you can associate a building to a project
by navigating to the Project Inforamtion dialog window. Save and publish the
project. You are now able to do several things:

- In the project center you can group / filter by the building custom field
- As Ben suggeseted you can also utilise the Cube should you want to report
against work or cost
and lastly, you could also ustilise something like reporting services to
report against the Project Server Reporting Database to get the information
you are after.

Just a follow up question, how do you determin within the project which
building should have a windows washed? Do you have a task within the schedule
to determine that?

Hope that helps

 

[Pete Hay]

I might be going about this all wrong, or trying to use Project Server for a
task better solved another way but here is what my company wants to achieve:

Each building supervisor creates a project for their building (using a
template that includes a custom field for "Task Type" to keep things
consistant) listing re-occurring tasks that happen on a monthly, quarterly,
or semi-annual basis. These are things like window-washing, floor care,
high-dusting that would not be handled by the daily janitorial staff.
Building supervisors publish their individual building projects to Project
Server.
Now I need to be able to have a "bird's-eye view" of all of these published
projects (buildings) that I can report against. ie; How may buildings have
scheduled window-washing tasks coming up next week? Can this be done within
Project Server?

It seems like your suggestion involves somehow importing all of the
individual building projects into some sort of master project to report and
assign resources from.
Pete

 

[Pete Hay]

Can everything I'm trying to do here be done with a "consolidated" project?
Pete

 

[Marc Soester [MVP]]

Hi Pete,
No I think you can do what you want to do in Project server and I am sure
that would work fine and it also confirms that you can achieve this with a
combination of Project Custom fields and task custom fields.

As per my last post, create the project custom fields. The building
supervisor can associate the building to the project he/she manages. That
will allow you to have a consolidated view of all buildings in Project
Center.

The next step is now that the supervisor manages the recurring tasks in the
schedule. Based on this information you are able to create a report that
groups the project ( or buildings ) and the tasks ( window wahsing tasksk
that need to be done in a given week. I think the best idea is to create a
reporting services report that outlines the start date of all tasks accross
your projects and grouping them by the project custom field ( building ).
That will allow you to see what tasks need to be done when.

As an alternative, you could also create a Master project where you simply
import all projects and then group them by the start date of tasks. That will
give you the same view.

I hope that makes sense. Please let me know if you require more info.
Marc

 

[Pete Hay]

Marc,
Thank you for all of your suggestions. I have been evaluating Project Server
for our Buiding Maint. application foe awhile and will present my initial
findings to the executive commitee tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure I'll come
away from that meeting with many more questions, so I look forward to hearing
from you in the future
Where might I find introductory info on using Reporting Services against the
Project Server database and also maybe an intro to OLAP cubes?
Pete

 

[Marc Soester [MVP]]

Hi Pete,

I would start at the MSDN or simply google it. You will see that there is
heaps of information regarding reporting services and the Project Server
Reporting Database.

I hope your meeting goes well