Two people open a plan at the same time - How-to-do

[jzis]

Is there a way whereby when I have a Project Server project plan open, that a
coworker can open and update the plan at the same time?

Thanks.

- - - jzis

 

[Rick Roszko]

If a project has been opened by one person, no one else can get in to it
until the project has been checked back in. Another person can open it as a
"read only" but that person will not be able to save that "read only" copy.

 

[jzis]

Thank you for your quick response.
What is the logic behind this? I mean, updating the master plan is going to
be a nightmare. However I see the benefit in only having one person in the
pie at one time.

- - - jzis

 

[Rick Roszko]

Oh, it's like the standard database object locking model. Simply, only one
person can make a change at a time. Let's say two people opened a file and
one person changed "a-b-c" to "a-b-c-d" and the second person changed "a-b-c"
to "a-b-e-f". Whoever saved last will overwrite the intermediate changes.
Basically lets say "a-b-c-d" was saved first but 3 seconds later "a-b-e-f" is
saved. Guess what, "a-b-e-f" is saved and "a-b-c-d" is lost. That's why
it's one at a time so that doesn't happen...

To get the absolute latest information into a master plan, yes, all projects
need to be closed so that you get the latest info, especially for any
cross-linked tasks. How to do this? (a) Stay late (!!!) or (b) Set up a
"Maintenance Window" where everyone must check in their plan so you can have
the master update...

There may be other ways but it escapes me at the moment...

 

[jzis]

Good morning, Rick.
Will you please look at my posting above titled "Updating Plans"? I was
asked to reword the question to the question you responded to. What you wrote
makes sense, however perhaps there is a way for two people to enter the same
plan at once.
Thanks.

- - - Jeff

 

[John Sitka]

What is the logic behind this? I mean, updating the master plan is going to
There is no logic behind it, it is a limitation of Project or any other data centric program
that dosen't exploit the strengths of a transactional database.
Lunar surface

One billion people held there breathe.
The landing strut touched the powdery surface and kicked up a small cloud of the alien substance. 216 parts on each of the four
"feet" groaned under the sudden stress.
The Eagle had landed.

Only a handful of the watching billion was thinking of the DBMS that brought it all together. And only one man thought there was a
better way.

 

[jzis]

My top man is concerned that with people being locked out while someone else
is in the pie, that timely updates will not take place.

 

[John Sitka]

It's a very valid concern.

My top man is concerned that with people being locked out while someone else
is in the pie, that timely updates will not take place.

 

[John Sitka]

There are two solutions
1./
Structure control points within daily operations where individuals have a window of opportunity open/save/and close
their projects and offset the times when Multiproject access is required. (Or a few thousand variations of staggared access and
conflict resolution.)

2./
Exploit the update mechanisms put in place that allow PWA to function. In other words use PWA.
That is an update model which leverages replicated data and batch updates as a queuing mechanism to declare a
moment in time when updates are current. The routine of "Collaborating".

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

jzis:

Keep in mind the complexity of this problem given that one change in one
task can trigger a change to every task in the plan. It sounds to me like
you need to rethink the structuring of your schedules and schedule
components. We've rarely encountered a situation where concurrency became a
show stopper. You may benefit greatly from some expert help with this.