SharePoint Site Project Plan Out of Synch

[burcky]

The issue was recently brought to my attention that numerous amount of
project plans displayed on project SharePoint sites do no reflect the
correct project plan that is displayed in Project Center and Project
Professional.

There is a workaround of simply synchronizing the site, but we have
hundreds (potentially thousands) of projects that this could affect,
so I was wondering if there are measures to prevent this from
happening at all.

We have Project Server 2003 SP2a with 1 application server (with
SharePoint on it) and 1 database server with SQL Server 2000 SP4.

Has anyone run into this situation? Any advice would be very
appreciated.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Burcky:

Why are there project plans displayed on your SharePoint sites? You need to
explain how they got there, as this is not the standard for 2003 or 2007.
Project details can be viewed in Project Web Access. If you are looking a
project details inside a project workspace, then somebody put them there in
a non-standard way, and that person needs to update them the same way they
put them there in the first place.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
For Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com

 

[burcky]

Gary,

The project plan display is a part of the template we have
implemented. It's only the project timeline (sorry if my terminology
is off). The purpose of the project plans/timelines being on there is
that we have Non-PWA users who are manually added to the individual
site list that benefit from seeing the plan. That way there is no
license needed for them to see the project site and plan.

I had a funny feeling that the project plan/timeline on the SharePoint
site is static and put on there when the project is first published.
Then when it is updated in Project Pro, there is a mismatch that the
users are seeing.

-Kyle

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Well then you need to put a new plan on the site once a week. This still
seems odd to me as anyone who has a Project License to view the mpp file,
can just as easily view it through PWA. With Project Server installed, it
seems silly to give people an expensive copy of Project to simply "view"
timelines. Of course, you can use third-party viewers. Another option is to
add a project server project view webpart to the Project Workspaces.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
For Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com

 

[burcky]

Sorry for miscommunicating the situation. It's not an MPP file that's
on there as a shared document. I believe it's a web part as it shows
the project plan (stages) graphically underneath the project plan and
contact list. The graphic of the project timeline varies from the
timeline if the project is opened and viewed in Project Center or
Project Professional. So, the people who only have access to the
SharePoint site don't see the correct timeline unless the site is
synchronized.

Kyle

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Burky:

If you're using the SharePoint gantt web part, then you need to write some
code to refresh the contents of the list that it is reading. It is so much
easier to use the Project Server webparts for this purpose. Of course, I
believe this obliges you to have web CALs for the users.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
For Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com

 

[burcky]

Gary,

Is it possible the Gantt web part would be out of synch with the
actual project timeline from the server? I was looking to see where
the web parts are configured but couldn't find it in the SharePoint
setup.

Thanks for you help.

-Kyle

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Not if you're using the Project Server web parts, and your connections are
healthy, as these read only from the Project Server database. Generic web
parts that ship with SharePoint look at SharePoint content. I can't see
what you're looking at, so you need to determine which web part you're
using. You should be able to determine this by putting the page in edit mode
and then open the webpart properties for editing. The webpart panel will
identify the webpart.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
For Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com

 

[burcky]

I think I found the details in the web part I'm looking for. In Edit
mode, I clicked to Modify Web parts and chose the Project Plan web
part. A Content Editor menu appears. I'm not sure how much technical
detail to include, but the code below is under the Source Editor
section.

<script language="JScript">
var sLoc = window.location.toString();
if(typeof(L_Menu_BaseUrl) == 'undefined')
var sPostUrl = sLoc.substr(0, sLoc.lastIndexOf('/')) + "/
_layouts/pwainc/getprop.aspx";
else
var sPostUrl = L_Menu_BaseUrl + "/_layouts/pwainc/
getprop.aspx";

var sRequest = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>";
sRequest += "<XMLFormData>";
sRequest += " <READONLY>1</READONLY>";
sRequest += "</XMLFormData>";

var xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
xmlhttp.open("POST", sPostUrl, false);
xmlhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "text/xml;
charset=utf-8");
xmlhttp.send(sRequest);

var sResult = xmlhttp.responseXML;
if(sResult.childNodes.length > 0)
{
var sMSPWAURL = sResult.selectSingleNode("//PWAURL").text;
var sMSPROJID = sResult.selectSingleNode("//
PWAPROJID").text;

document.write("<iframe src=\"" + sMSPWAURL + "Views/
ProjectReport.asp?_projectID=" + sMSPROJID + "&SimpleUI=125\"
width=100% height=100%></iframe>");
}
</script>

I see it calls the same Gantt chart that is displayed in Project
Center. From a quick glance, this appears to be OK, so I wonder if the
synch problem goes deeper than this.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Burcky:

If it's not pulling current data, then there are two possibilities: 1) The
webpart isn't talking to the server correctly, which I'd expect to throw an
error, or 2) The updated plan hasn't been published.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
For Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com