Saving and exiting

[EPMuser]

During a recent training session, a Microsoft professional indicated that
Project and Project server had, at one time, a problem with data integrity if
the red x in the upper right hand corner of the screen was used to exit the
application. He recommended that we use the file menu options of
save-close-exit in sequence to be sure that the open data were handled and
stored correctly during closing.

Does this problem still exist? Is there any concern with using the red x?
I can find no documentation of such a current problem in any other training
or support literature, and it appears that the red x kicks off the same
sequential steps as save-close-exit.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

EPMuser --

In the future, please post your Project Server questions in the
microsoft.public.project.server newsgroup, as this newsgroup is dedicated to
the Microsoft Project desktop application only. To answer your question,
the problem with clicking the red X button is not data integrity. The
problem is that causing the big red X to close the current file(s) and exit
Microsoft Project can cause the projects you current have open to get
"stuck" in a checked out condition in the Local Project Cache. This has
been a problem even every version of Project Server, including the 2002,
2003, and 2007. We document this problem fully in our Managing Enterprise
Projects... book for Project Server 2007, along with our best practice
recommendation that you always close projects using File - Close and exit
the application using File - Exit. To purchase our book, if you are
interested, refer to the following:

http://www.projectserverbooks.com

Hope this helps.

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

It depends on who you ask. Officially, this problem no longer exists as
of the August '08 Infrastructure Update. That being said, a lot of folks
"grew up" when it was an issue, and continue to avoid the dreaded red "x."

It's kind of like a superstition. In some countries you're not supposed
to travel on a Tuesday as it's bad luck. I know that has no grounding in
reality, but I also avoid traveling on a Tuesday just to hedge my bets.
Who knows, maybe that makes my travels that much more smooth.

Using MPP is like project management, it's all about maximizing the chance
of success whether or not there's a firm observable relationship between
success and the action in question.

The other issue that's similar these days is to clear the cache using the
MPP interface vs. Windows Explorer. Some folks insist on Windows Explorer,
although MSFT says they've fixed the bug in the interface to clear the cache.

- Andrew Lavinsky
Blog: http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/epm

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

That being said, I'll always defer to Dale on any question such as this....


- Andrew Lavinsky
Blog: http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/epm

 

[Jack Dahlgren MVP]

Andrew,

I think the word "superstition" is overloaded with meaning and is too
strong.

I think that following those long established practices is a good thing
because as has been seen many times, bugs do persist even after they have
supposedly been fixed. The problems with caching were "fixed" multiple
times, but relying on those "fixes" would still leave you with a problem.

I guess my point is that accepting a "fix" at face value is perhaps more
superstitious than relying on a practice which has been proven to work.

I hope that upcoming versions will reverse my fears in using features which
"should" work, but 2007 was a minefield and going off the beaten path was a
risky thing to do.

-Jack