Working with Projects Using a Microsoft Project Server

When working with a Microsoft Project Server-based project, Project Management functions slightly differently, in the following ways:

• In Project Management-controlled mode, the Plug-in for PPM must be configured to use a calendar on the Microsoft Project Server. The calendar is used by the Plug-in for PPM to synchronize task information during integration. By default, the calendar used is PPM Calendar (for the English language). This calendar can be configured from the user preferences of the Plug-in for PPM (see Setting the Microsoft Project Server Calendar for the Plug-in for PPM). If a calendar is not configured and the default calendar does not exist on the Microsoft Project Server, integration fails.

• Work plans that are controlled by Project Management cannot be directly opened in Microsoft Project from Project Management.

• If actual effort is supplied by Microsoft Project, PPM calculates the percent complete of a task. If actual effort is not supplied, PPM uses the percentage completed supplied by Microsoft Project.

• Backup files are not created for Microsoft Project Server-based projects.

• If a temporary project file that is created for Microsoft Project Server is integrated with PPM, after the temporary Microsoft Project file is closed, it cannot be re-opened from PPM. The temporary Microsoft Project file is never saved and does not exist on the Microsoft Project Server. Therefore, PPM cannot find the Microsoft Project file to which it was integrated.

  You may import the existing PPM project into Microsoft Project. However, any information specific to Microsoft Project (such as extra columns) that was part of the temporary Microsoft Project file is lost. Information specific to Microsoft Project is not included in the integration with PPM. Therefore, during the initial integration with the temporary Microsoft Project file, the information was not integrated with PPM.