Here are the steps I use
Warning: I am not a pro by any means, please test any suggestions I
offer in a development env as I would not want to cause you any issues
with critical data.
Not sure if this helps but we also experienced many corrupt plans here
at our office.
When a plan becomes corrupt the first thing I do to try to repair the
plan is make an offline copy and then import back into Project Server
and use the Scrub feature. I think the import may remove orphan data
and result in a working plan. We have done this for odd spooler errors
and other corruption. I am sure this is not the best practice but it
has saved us in several instances. Below is a copy of the steps we use.
Importing Existing Projects into Project Server
In the case that an existing locally saved project plan needs to be
permanently imported into Project Server for future, ongoing management
in the environment, several steps are required to ensure that the plan
is correctly imported and scrubbed before being turned over to the PM.
Pre-Import Cleanup
1. Before importing, verify on the Resource Sheet of the plan that
the
resources are named using the Lotus Notes naming convention and that
there are no duplicate resources listed. If there are duplicates, the
PM will need to fix this before importing.
Importing
1. Once the plan is ready, open Project Professional and go to
Tools/Enterprise Options/Import Project to Enterprise menu option.
2. A dialog is displayed. Click Next.
3. The standard windows file directory dialog is displayed. Find
the
file to be imported and click Import.
4. Project will open the plan and bring up a dialog to change the
project name and set the custom project attributes for the imported
project.
5. Enter the name of the project/master plan according to the
standard
naming conventions.
6. Select/enter the appropriate Organization, Portfolio,
Sub-Portfolio,
Project Type, IRP Record No (if applicable), Project Code (if
applicable), and Version.
7. Click Next.
8. The next dialog is used to match resources found on the plan's
resource sheet with those in the enterprise resource pool. If the
Lotus Notes naming convention was used on the resource sheet, then
Project Server will automatically match the names of any resources
currently in the resource pool (Map to Enterprise Resource). Take
special care to ensure that resources are properly matched. For any
resources that are not part of the enterprise resource pool, but should
be, you'll need to select to 'Import Resource to Enterprise'. As
you'll find, you will be required later to select the appropriate
custom resource attributes in a later dialog before the plan will
import. The general guideline is that any DS resource and other
resource (TS and business) that will frequently be involved in DS
projects should be added to the enterprise resource pool. Anyone who
does not meet this criteria can be left as a local resource on the
plan.
9. Click Next.
10. The next dialog typically requires no action. It's used to map
the values in local custom fields in the plan to enterprise custom
values. The only action that would be necessary is if the project plan
includes local custom fields, the values of which need to be
mapped/imported to enterprise custom fields.
11. Click Next.
12. The next dialog lists the tasks included in the plan and
whether
there are errors that need to be corrected (typically if a custom
calendar has been used in the local plan but is not included in the
enterprise global template).
13. Click Import.
14. Project Server will import the project plan into the SQL
database
and display a confirmation message when completed. Click OK.
15. Save the project plan and then close it. Proceed to the next
section on further scrubbing the plan.
Scrubbing
1. Immediately after import and before transferring ownership of
the
plan to the PM, open the project plan.
2. You will likely receive several 'error' messages. Click
'Yes' or 'Yes to All' to each where possible. Eventually,
Project will require that you rename certain views, filters, custom
fields, etc. Simply append some unique designator at the end of each
name for which you are prompted to change (I've typically just added
a 99 after each name).
3. Once complete, the plan will open. Go to the Resource Sheet.
4. Click on Tools/Organizer and a dialog will be displayed with
several
tabs. Check each tab for any tables, views, filters, fields, etc. with
the unique identifier you appended earlier (99) and delete them. Once
complete, close the Organizer dialog.
5. Go to Tools/Options, then the Collaborate tab. Check the
'Project
Summary' and 'Full Project Plan' checkboxes and select the 'Any
Task Changes' radio button.
6. On the Schedule tab of the same dialog, verify that Fixed Work
is
the default task type.
7. Click OK on the dialog to close.
8. Save the project plan, then close it.
Transferring Ownership
1. In order to transfer ownership of the plan to the PM, login to
Project Web Access.
2. Go the Projects page and find the recently imported project
plan.
3. Click in the column to the left of the project title and select
the
'Edit Project Details' link.
4. Change the 'Owner' of the plan in the drop down provided (this
list is populated with all users that have been added to the DS Project
Manager group) to the Project Manager expected to own the plan. If the
PM's name is not available in the list of Owners, then you will need
to add him/her to the DS Project Manager group accessible on the
Admin/Manage Users and Groups/Groups page.
Communication to the PM
1. The final step is to forward the standard communication for
related
to plan imports, which includes setup instructions for setting up the
Project Server account in Project Professional, required service pack
installation instructions, and instructions for publishing the plan
when ready.
