Rebuilding Report Db / View Availability Problems

[David F-H]

MS Project Server 2007 (SP1 + IU updates + Aug cum hotfixes)
MS SQL 2005

We are having some problems with the "View Availability" view not matching
what is in our published project plans. Eg. A resource is clearly allocated
in a given week for a project (and confirmed in Resource USage view in PP, as
well as "View Assignments" in PWA), but shows zeroes in the same week /
project under "View Availability". We had hoped that applying the IU updates
and cumulative August hotfixes may have fixed this, but it hasn't (at least
not for existing problem tasks).

I thought perhaps that a full rebuild of the Reporting database may fix this
(as I assume that "View Availability" derives its info from here), and have
found how to do this at Projectserverblogs.com (from Sharry Herberer MSFT).

My questions then are :
1) Firstly, do you know what could be causing the problem?

2) Would rebuilding the Reporting DB in Proj Server fix this and/or be a
useful exercise regardless? (it has never been rebuilt since original
install prior to SP1 and hotfixes).

3) I initiated a restore on our test server (by backup / restore custom
fields as suggested in blog). This spawned hundreds of jobs just for a small
test DB, so am worried about potential for errors, as the error messages are
not that informative, and how to go about fixing if there is a corruption in
the db ?

4) I believe that once initiated, that the job queue should prevent
inconsistencies due to people publishing jobs at the same time (although I
would do it late at night) ?

Any advice welcome.

 

[Mike Mahoney]

MS Project Server 2007 (SP1 + IU updates + Aug cum hotfixes)
MS SQL 2005

We are having some problems with the "View Availability" view not matching
what is in our published project plans.  Eg. A resource is clearly allocated
in a given week for a project (and confirmed in Resource USage view in PP, as
well as "View Assignments" in PWA), but shows zeroes in the same week /
project under "View Availability".  We had hoped that applying the IU updates
and cumulative August hotfixes may have fixed this, but it hasn't (at least
not for existing problem tasks).

I thought perhaps that a full rebuild of the Reporting database may fix this
(as I assume that "View Availability" derives its info from here), and have
found how to do this at Projectserverblogs.com (from Sharry Herberer MSFT).

My questions then are :
1)  Firstly, do you know what could be causing the problem?

2)  Would rebuilding the Reporting DB in Proj Server fix this and/or bea
useful exercise regardless?  (it has never been rebuilt since original
install prior to SP1 and hotfixes).

3)  I initiated a restore on our test server (by backup / restore custom
fields as suggested in blog).  This spawned hundreds of jobs just for asmall
test DB, so am worried about potential for errors, as the error messages are
not that informative, and how to go about fixing if there is a corruptionin
the db ?

4)  I believe that once initiated, that the job queue should prevent
inconsistencies due to people publishing jobs at the same time (although I
would do it late at night) ?

Any advice welcome.

David

Are your resources proposed or committed? By default availability view
does not include proposed resources.
What information does your data analysis report display?

regards

Mike

 

[David F-H]

Hello Mike,
The resource is committed, and indeed other tasks within the project that he
is assigned to are reflected in the Availability View.

I created a view on the Assignment Timephased cube, and it also shows the
resource correctly assigned in the weeks in question.

So, Project Professional agrees with "View Assignments" view and agrees with
the Data Analysis view - but the "View Availability" view does not agree.

 

[Mike Mahoney]

Hello Mike,
The resource is committed, and indeed other tasks within the project thathe
is assigned to are reflected in the Availability View.

I created a view on the Assignment Timephased cube, and it also shows the
resource correctly assigned in the weeks in question.

So, Project Professional agrees with "View Assignments" view and agrees with
the Data Analysis view - but the "View Availability" view does not agree.





- Show quoted text -

David

Can you narrow the issue down to a specific task(s)?
Also remember the availaibility view includes timesheet data for non
project tasks (as does usage view).
Otherwise out of ideas

regards

Mike

 

[David F-H]

Hello Mike,

Yes, the problem does appear to be related to specific tasks. The
particular example I am looking at does not show any time in the Availability
View for a specific task (it is the only task against the resource in that
project for the weeks in question), though this time shows up in all other
views.

What about my questions regarding rebuilding the Reporting database - would
this help ?

 

[Mike Mahoney]

Hello Mike,

Yes, the problem does appear to be related to specific tasks.  The
particular example I am looking at does not show any time in the Availability
View for a specific task (it is the only task against the resource in that
project for the weeks in question), though this time shows up in all other
views.

What about my questions regarding rebuilding the Reporting database - would
this help ?





- Show quoted text -

Hi David

I don't think its an issue with the reporting database, particularly
as the data analysis views are behaving.. I suggest its an issue in
the published database. I would delete the problem task and recreate,
and republish it, and check that resource is behaving correctly
generally.

regards

Mike