Other Synchronization Considerations

Cutting and pasting a task in Microsoft Project is the same as deleting a task and adding a new task with the same attributes. While the tasks may appear the same, the synchronization process does not recognize the pasted task to be the same as the cut task.

To verify the effects of editing a task (for example, cutting, pasting, or moving), display the Unique ID column in Microsoft Project. If, after editing the task, the Unique ID remains the same, the synchronization process recognizes the task as the same task. If the Unique ID changes, the synchronization process does not recognize the task as the same task.

Baseline information is not synchronized. The project baseline can be captured and maintained in either product, as the project manager prefers.

During the synchronization, all blank lines are deleted from the Microsoft Project file. Notifications and warnings are not displayed nor logged when the blank lines are removed.

The project regional calendar is exported to Microsoft Project in Project Management-controlled mode or any time a Project Management work plan is used to create a new plan in Microsoft Project. Calendar hours-per-day and work days per week are exported, but calendar exceptions are not.

Resource calendars are not synchronized between the two applications. Since both duration and effort are a function of both start/finish dates and resource calendars, the duration values in Project Management and Microsoft Project might not match. (For example, a task spans five days. For that span of five days, the Project Management resource calendar is configured to have two of the days as non-working time. In Microsoft Project, this information is not configured in the resource calendar. Therefore, in Project Management, the actual duration is three days while in Microsoft Project, the actual duration is five days.) Since tasks in Microsoft Project are created as fixed duration in these cases, the total effort will match Project Management data. You do not need to maintain resource calendars in both applications.

When sending information from Microsoft Project to Project Management, roll-up of cost and health calculations is deferred in order to keep the synchronization process as efficient as possible.

Macros, VB scripts, and other extensions should not be affected by the synchronization. However, it may be necessary to disable some extensions during synchronization (because the changes made using the Microsoft Project COM interface can trigger these extensions).

Microsoft Project does not support references therefore Project Management references are not synchronized to Microsoft Project.

A Microsoft Project work plan can be scheduled using a shared resource pool and synchronized with Project Management.

During synchronization, if the shared resource pool is not open, the synchronization may pause. A Microsoft Project dialog appears, asking if you would like to open the shared resource pool. To proceed with the synchronization, respond to the Microsoft Project dialog.

Units are also referred to as resource load percentages. In Microsoft Project, each resource can be assigned to a task with a different load percentage (from zero percent to one hundred percent.) For example, the same resource could be assigned to two different tasks and have a resource load percentage of fifty percent for each one.

Since Project Management does not track assignment units, the load percentage of any resource imported into Project Management will not be recognized.