Microsoft Office Project 2003 Project Portfolio Management Applications

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1 Daniel B. Stang Product Report 10 December 2003 Microsoft Office Project 2003 Project Portfolio Management Applications Summary Microsoft suspended a two-year product cycle, delivering Project 2003 with Office and SQL Server 2000 releases, adding collaborative features via integration with Outlook and Windows SharePoint Services. Table of Contents Overview Analysis Pricing Competitors Strengths Limitations Recommended Gartner Research Insight List Of Tables Table 1: Project Professional 2003, Project Server 2003 and Project Web Access (PWA): System Requirements Table 2: Features and Functions: Project Professional 2003: Table 3: Features and Functions: Project Server 2003 Table 4: Features and Functions: PWA 2003 Table 5: Microsoft EPM Solution Component Breakdown Table 6: Price List: Microsoft EPM Solution Gartner Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

2 Corporate Headquarters Microsoft Corp. One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052, U.S.A. Tel: ; Internet: Overview In the 2003 release, Microsoft strips Microsoft Office Project Server access from the Microsoft Office Project (MSP) Standard Edition and now provides it only for the Professional Edition. The Microsoft Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution now includes Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003, Project Server 2003 and Project Web Access (PAW), supporting centralized project communication and collaboration and deeper integration with the Microsoft Office System. MSP targets both the novice and power user as well as people within the organization who are tied to a project in some way but who work with applications outside of the traditional PM system. Microsoft continues to develop a horizontal project management tool but also focuses on developing partnerships with key third parties providing vertical iterations of MSP. With MSP 2002, client access licenses (CALs) pre-configured versions of Internet Explorer pointing to Project Server provided access to project data and greatly reduced the need to launch MSP to report time, view project status or otherwise query the project database. The addition of a server and dedicated PM database (a version of SQL Server) all but eliminated a dependency on MSP s *.MPP files as the catch-all files for data about the project team (allocated resources), project calendars and other information. Microsoft transitioned MSP to a centralized data collection system, and the.mpp file itself became a rendering of project data rather than the only source of the project data. Thus, Microsoft shifted some of its focus away from the desktop scheduler and moved its customers more in the direction of project portfolio management (PPM). Table 1: Project Professional 2003, Project Server 2003 and Project Web Access (PWA): System Requirements Project 2003 Professional Hardware Operating Systems Memory and Disk Space Other Requirements Pentium-based 233MHz or higher microprocessor. Pentium III processors recommended. MicrosoftWindows2000withServicePack3orhigher. Microsoft Windows XP or higher. Microsoft Windows XP Professional recommended. 128MB RAM required. 256MB RAM recommended. 130MB hard disk space (may vary based on configuration). 10 December

3 Table 1: Project Professional 2003, Project Server 2003 and Project Web Access (PWA): System Requirements Project 2003 Professional Additional Requirements for Use of Specific Components Project Server 2003 Hardware Operating Systems Memory and Disk Space RAM CD-ROM drive. Super VGA or higher resolution monitor with 256 colors. Microsoft Mouse, IntelliMouse or other compatible pointing device. Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 with Service Pack 3 or higher. Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 with Service Pack 2 or higher. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 with Service Pack 1 or higher (recommended). Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Service Pack 3 or higher; or Oracle 8.0.5, Oracle 8i, or Oracle 9.2 or higher (when using the enterprise features of Project Server 2003, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is required). Project Server 2003 required for enterprise project and resource management capabilities. It has a separate set of system requirements. 14.4Kbps or higher modem. Some Internet functionality may require Internet access and payment of a separate fee to a service provider. Local and long-distance telephone toll charges may apply. Multimedia computer to access sound and other multimedia effects. Windows-compatible network and Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI)-compliant systems required for project collaboration. A network connection of 10MB or higher between Project Professional 2003 and the SQL Server used to host the Project Server 2003 database. Pentium III 550MHz or higher processor required. Pentium-based 700MHz or higher processor recommended. Microsoft Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 3 or higher. Windows 2000 Advanced Server with Service Pack 3 or higher. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard or Enterprise edition operating system. Requirements depend on the number of services installed on the computer. The following are minimum requirements: 256MB RAM for Project Server 2003 (512MB RAM recommended). Additional 128MB RAM minimum for Windows SharePoint Services if desired (192MB RAM recommended). For installing MS Structured Query Language (SQL) Server 2000, additional 64MB RAM minimum (128MB RAM recommended). For installing SQL Server Analysis Services, additional 64MB RAM minimum (128MB RAM recommended). 10 December

4 Table 1: Project Professional 2003, Project Server 2003 and Project Web Access (PWA): System Requirements Project 2003 Professional Hard Disk Space Other Requirements Additional Requirements for Certain Features Hard disk requirements depend on the number of services installed on the computer. The following are requirements for a typical installation: 80MB hard disk space for typical installation of Project Server For installing Windows SharePoint Services, 70MB hard disk space is required, plus 5MB for each provisioned Web site. For installing SQL Server 2000 in this configuration, an additional 250MB hard disk space is required. For installing SQL Server Analysis Services, 130MB hard disk space is required. Installing additional services will require more hard disk space. CD-ROM drive. Super VGA or higher resolution monitor with 256 colors. Microsoft Mouse, IntelliMouse or other compatible pointing device. Programs for data storage and management, including SQL Server 2000 with Service Pack 3 or higher. Windows SharePoint Services required for project collaboration, which requires Windows Server 2003 or higher and the NTFS file system. Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services with Service Pack 3 or higher (included with SQL Server) required for Portfolio Analyzer (online analytical processing [OLAP] reporting). Microsoft Exchange 5.5, Exchange 2000 Server or higher; Internet SMTP/POP3, IMAP 4 or MAPI-compliant messaging software required for notifications. Internet functionality requires dial-up or broadband Internet access, provided separately. A network connection of 10MB or higher between Project Professional 2003 and the SQL Server used to host the Project Server 2003 database. Multimedia computer required to access sound and other multimedia effects. Office XP Web Components (OWC) are required to use the Portfolio Analyzer feature of MSP. If the machine being used to access the Portfolio Analyzer does not have Office XP installed, on the first access, a dialogue box will offer to install a runtime version of the required software. If this software is not installed, the Portfolio Analyzer views will not be available. If the installation is successful, the Portfolio Analyzer views will be available. However, the runtime version of OWC does not support the Interactive mode, which allows a user to modify a Portfolio Analyzer view. Users will require a full installation of OWC to modify or create a Portfolio Analyzer view. Trust relationships must be created between domains when PWA is in a different domain than Project Server 2003, Analysis Services and Windows SharePoint Services. This is required for use of the Portfolio Analyzer and the Project Server 2003 or Windows SharePoint Services integration features. 10 December

5 Table 1: Project Professional 2003, Project Server 2003 and Project Web Access (PWA): System Requirements Project 2003 Professional PWA A computer with the same configuration as that of Project 2003 Professional, except 5MB hard disk space and Microsoft Office Outlook (2000, 2002 or 2003) for importing tasks to Outlook Calendar. Alternatively: Pentium-based, 133MHz or higher processor (Pentium III recommended). Windows 98 Second Edition or higher operating system. (The latest service pack for the operating system is highly recommended.) 24MB RAM or more recommended. Additional memory may be required depending on operating system requirements. Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 with Service Pack 3 or later, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 with Service Pack 2 or later or Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 with Service Pack 1 or later browser software. Trust relationships must be created between domains when PWA is in a different domain than Project Server 2003, Analysis Services, and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (required for use of Portfolio Analyzer and Project Server 2003 or Windows SharePoint Services integration features). Table 2: Features and Functions: Project Professional 2003: Project Planning and Scheduling Baselines Auto-Accept Rules Constraints Project Data Access Lock down the baselines of projects, restricting the ability to change the baseline to only users with explicit permissions. Up to 11 different baselines can be set up for a single project. Users can control how baseline data is rolled up to the summary tasks level. Define rules for updating the project plan (for example, task updates from experienced resources can be set to update the project without review). Rules can be set to update the project without review only when certain conditions are true (for example, the manager allows project updates without review, provided the reported hours are within budgeted hours). Rules can be set based on the contents of any field, including custom fields. When users reschedule uncompleted work, the set constraints remain in their original settings. Users can choose any reschedule date they wish. Grouping 10 December

6 Table 2: Features and Functions: Project Professional 2003: Project Planning and Scheduling Outline Codes Graphical Indicators Network Diagram (formerly PERT chart) View tasks or resources in defined groups and see rolled-up totals. The views are customizable, and the data can be sorted. Grouping creates summaries. Assign fixed costs or resources to a summary task. If a filter is applied before a grouping, only the filtered tasks are grouped and only the data of the filtered tasks appears in the rolled-up group summaries. Group summary rows show rolled-up data, such as cost. Users can define intervals for grouping in cost and date fields. If grouping is used within a master project, the tasks are grouped across projects. Once settings for a group are created, they can be saved, displayed in the menu and shared with other projects. Displayed in outline code fields, allowing users to view their tasks or resources in different user-defined hierarchical structures from the standard work breakdown structure (WBS). One or more tasks or resources can be assigned to the same outline code so they are grouped together. Can create an Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) so tasks can be assigned to different organizational groups within the enterprise. Outline codes can be shared across projects. Users can define the sequence (letters, uppercase/lowercase, numbers), length (specific number or any) and separators (comma, period, plus sign or a separator chosen by the user) for outline codes. Project managers can require users to choose values from a lookup table. Once an outline code structure is defined, the codes can be grouped in or out of sequence. Display alerts when aspects of a project deviate from the set plan. Can be assigned to display when values in custom fields exceed a specified range or for any other user-defined criteria. Can be displayed based on custom formula calculation results, value-list selections or merely on the value entered. 10 December

7 Table 2: Features and Functions: Project Professional 2003: Project Planning and Scheduling Fiscal Year in Timescale Task Outline Level Roll-Up Gantt Project Analysis Earned Value Sets Task Calendars Materials Resources Contains nodes representing summary tasks with outline symbols for expanding or collapsing all subtasks. Users can filter the view using criteria available elsewhere in MSP. Nodes can be formatted individually or by task type. Shape, color, number of included fields, cell height, font and labels can be customized. Node layout options include the following: Automatic layout ensures all nodes are properly aligned at all times, including during filtering, expand and collapse, and while inserting new tasks. Multiple layout schemes offer choice of the overall pattern of nodes in the view, including three time-based arrangements that group tasks in columns by starting day, week or month. Control over layout details such as space between nodes and the alignment of nodes in rows and columns. Manual layout mode includes a selective layout of only the selected nodes, laying out just the nodes that are downstream from the current node and an autoalignment capability for selected nodes. Users can independently set the use of the fiscal year for both major and minor timescales. Users can expand or contract outline levels and select the outline level to which they would like to display their tasks. Users can choose to see collapsed summary tasks displayed as multiple Gantt bars, overriding individual task roll-up settings and forcing the whole view into rolledup state. Users can opt to prevent summaries from showing the rolled-up bars when they are expanded. Schedule Performance Index (SPI) To Complete Performance Index (TCPI) Cost Performance Index (CPI) Cost Variance Percent (CV percent) Schedule Variance Percent (SV percent) Users can choose from 11 different baselines from which to base their earned value calculations. Project managers can create task-specific calendars. If an assignment involves a task with a task calendar and a resource with a resource calendar, MSP uses the intersection of the two calendars for scheduling. Fields can be used to designate material resources. Materials can be assigned a fixed or variable rate. 10 December

8 Table 2: Features and Functions: Project Professional 2003: Project Planning and Scheduling Deadline Dates Cross-Project Critical Path Value List Formulas Estimated Durations Month Duration Unit Contoured Resource Availability Leveling Task and Project Priority WBS Tasks can include a deadline date, allowing an indicator to be displayed if a task will be finished after the deadline. Tasks with constraints set to As Late As Possible (ALAP) will not be scheduled beyond their deadline dates. MSP can calculate and display a single critical path for tasks across all inserted projects, tracking only the important tasks across a group of projects. Define a list of possible values for a custom field. When data must be entered into the cell, a drop-down menu appears with pre-defined entries. Can be copied between fields in the same project or from project to project. Possible values for fields can be limited to only those in the list, or they can be set to accept new values which, once entered, will be added to the values list. Create custom fields with values from formulas performed on other fields. User-defined calculation can be a part of any custom field. Project managers can operate on numbers, flags, dates, costs, durations and text; reference any other Microsoft Project field; and use Visual Basic functions. Formula syntax is the same as syntax used in Microsoft Access. All created tasks include estimated durations and are followed by a? to signal when a duration has not yet been entered. Users can filter tasks to see only tasks with estimated durations or by scanning for question marks in the duration column. MSP supports month as a unit of duration. Users can define how many days constitute a month. Users can contour a resource s availability for defining the available units over time for an individual or resource group. Account for Task Calendars and Contoured Resource Availability, as well as priority. The Project Priority value entered is considered before the Task Priority value. A manager can clear all leveling before doing a leveling operation, or leveling can begin from the current schedule. Users can set priorities between one and 1,000, where one is the lowest priority task and 1,000 is the highest, to control how resource leveling adjusts tasks within each project when using a shared resource pool with multiple projects. 10 December

9 Table 2: Features and Functions: Project Professional 2003: Project Planning and Scheduling Resource Management Build Team From Enterprise Resource Substitution Wizard A set of nodes corresponding to the hierarchical structure for tasks in a project. A custom WBS code prefix can be defined for all codes within a project, as well as the sequence, length and separator for each level. Codes can be characters, numbers or a name, such as development or test. Codes can be automatically generated for any new task based on the structure and outline level. When entering new tasks, the WBS codes of established tasks are not automatically renumbered; however, a manager can renumber the WBS for a selection of tasks or thewholeproject. When a master project exists, the subprojects can retain their unique prefix for identifying where the project originated. Administrators can modify the enterprise global template and open projects and templates saved in the server database. Users can add resources to projects and save projects to Project Server Users can view availability for resources based on resources assignments in projects across the enterprise. Users can specify resource assignments as proposed or committed. Booking types are also used in PWA, where a resource manager can use it to staff projects in the Build Team feature or to assess capacity vs. demand in the Resource Availability Graph. Enterprise Resource Multivalue fields can include additional resource skills sets. These can be used in resource views to maintain the skills inventory of enterprise resources, in the Build Team feature to search for resources with several skills and in the Resource Substitution Wizard or Portfolio Modeler to consider the multiple skills of a resource. Add resources to a project by manual selection of resources or by querying based on availability or attributes (for example, programming skills or location). Displays all resources available to the project manager to be added to a project (based on security settings in Project Server 2003). Uses filters to identify the specific resources needed in a project. When adding resources via Build Team from Enterprise, Project Professional 2003 checks the user s permissions and identifies specific resources the user can view. The project manager can then select the resources to add to the project. When desired resources are selected from the Build Team from Enterprise feature, they appear in the Resource Sheet view and the Assign Resources feature, allowing the project manager to then assign the resources to tasks. 10 December

10 Table 2: Features and Functions: Project Professional 2003: Project Planning and Scheduling Automatically assigns resources to tasks in one or more projects. Matches the resources defined in the Resource Pool with the skill requirements of tasks in a project. And then can add resources to the project and assign them to the appropriate tasks. Users select projects opened in Project Professional 2003 that the wizard should consider. Users then select the resources to be assigned to tasks in the selected projects. When the resources are selected, the wizard posts an XML request to the Project Data Service (PDS) on Project Server 2003, identifying all projects related to the selected projects (through external dependencies or shared resources). When the resources are substituted in the selected projects, the project manager can then level the projects and choose whether to save the changes. Changes made by the wizard are not finalized until the updated projects are saved to the enterprise database. Summary Assignment When resources are added to a project, Project Professional 2003 works with Project Server 2003 to add one assignment for each enterprise project using each resource, summarizing all of the details in one line per project, per resource. Project managers can then see a resource s actual remaining availability. Timesheets (project actuals) Users can protect actuals entered by resources from being modified. Users can close out time periods so resources cannot report hours in the past or in the future. Copy Picture to Office Wizard Printing COM Add-Ins Allows display of project data as a static picture in Microsoft Office applications, such as Microsoft Office PowerPoint A printing wizard allows users to print a view of project data as a report. Project Component Object Model (COM) add-ins are available and installed automatically, including: Visio WBS Chart XML Reporting Wizard Compare Project Versions Utility Euro Currency Converter Copy Picture to Office PERT Analysis Adjust Dates 10 December

11 Table 2: Features and Functions: Project Professional 2003: Project Planning and Scheduling Document Management Integration With Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 2003 Document Check-In and Check-Out Document Version Control Risk Management Shared Workspaces Provides document management, issue tracking and risk management. No longer supports SharePoint Team Services 1.0. Also includes six pre-defined Web parts to add to portals, including: Project Center view project portfolios and drill down to project details. Project Manager Updates gives the project manager a summary of teammember updates. Project Portfolio Analyzer accesses portfolio analysis features. Project Report displays a grid view of a project s tasks. Project Resource Assignments presents the Build Team from Enterprise function. Project Timesheet tracks hours spent on task activities. Provides document check-in and check-out services, and Project Server 2003 supports locking of documents. When a document is checked out of a Document Library, it is automatically locked so no other user can make changes to it until it is checked back in to the Document Library. When checking documents in, users can add comments to describe the changes made to the document. Comments are saved as part of the document s history. Document Libraries can store multiple versions of a document. When checked out documents are checked back in, a copy of the previous document is created and saved as an earlier version. Documents linked to projects and tasks in Project Server 2003 are always the most current version of the document. Users can view all versions of the document, restore the current document to a previous version of the document or delete an archived version of the document. Project Professional 2003 and WSS integration allows recording and management of risks, such as events or conditions having a potential positive or negative impact on the outcome of a project. Risk tracking supports identifying, analyzing and addressing project risks. Users can record, share, update and analyze the impact of risks and customize risk tracking for a specific project or the whole organization. Store Project Professional 2003 files documents in a central place and shares access to these files and documents with people who do not need to use Project Server December

12 Table 3: Features and Functions: Project Server 2003 Description Provides timesheets; status reports; project data collection, reporting and modeling; resource profiles and maintenance of skills; an enterprise global template; and project templates. Database partitioning provides scalability, allowing the database to be divided between two servers by using the linked server capability of the SQL Server. Enterprise Global Template Resource Management Resource Custom Fields Skills Calendars Views Resource Pool Users open and save enterprise templates to the Project Server 2003 database. Read-only, allowing the organization to distribute and maintain project and resource management standards for items in it, including skills codes, resource breakdown structure codes and calendar settings. Project Professional 2003 is used to view templates saved to the server database, create projects based on the templates and configure the enterprise template. Project managers can assign generic resources to tasks in the project templates, identifying the skill sets required for a given project. Defines all enterprise custom fields, including resource custom fields and skills. Requires a backup copy before making changes. Allows users to open, edit and save resources to the Project Server 2003 database. Used in reports of resources in the Resource Pool. Users can review current reports on the status of resources. Users can create custom fields to be used as resource fields in reports. Users can define required custom fields. Skills are resource outline codes used to analyze resource capacity and demand. Skills can be defined in three different ways: Using a single outline code to define all skills (for fewer than 50 possible skills). Using multiple outline codes to define distinct types of skills (for use when multiple skills are used to define assignment skill requirements). Using multivalue outline codes to define different levels of distinct skills (for use when assignments require varying levels of skills). Can be configured to require resources and projects to use calendars defined in the enterprise global template. Requires creation of an enterprise version of the Resource Sheet and Task Usage views. The Resource Sheet must be updated to include all resource custom fields. The Task Usage view should include all skills. 10 December

13 Table 3: Features and Functions: Project Server 2003 Description Can be created once the enterprise global template is defined. Resources are people, equipment and materials needed to complete tasks in an enterprise project. SQL Server 2000 procedures are used to back up and restore the Resource Pool. Project Server 2003 and PWA Database Integration Time Reporting Reporting Periods Timesheet Printing Timesheets Provides integration between the Project Server 2003 database and the PWA database. A timesheet feature captures time (actuals) and enables third-party General Ledger systems to retrieve actuals and update a financials database. Supports third-party time and expense reporting systems and synchronization of actuals from these systems to Project Server 2003 and Project Professional Supports reporting periods a date range in which team members can report actuals in the timesheet (open period) or cannot report actuals in the timesheet (closed period). Features include: Support for automatically generating reporting periods that are always open and where actuals can be entered by team members or project managers. Support for manually defining reporting periods that can be opened or closed and where actuals can be entered only by team members (or through users able to adjust actuals). To use manually defined reporting periods, Project Server 2003 requires that actuals be entered as hours per day and that project managers use the hours-perday method for tracking their projects. Reporting periods can be opened or closed at any time, although the date range can only be changed before the team members begin saving or submitting actuals for the reporting period. When time reporting is set up for manually closing and opening periods, team members can enter actuals as hours per day only, and only in open reporting periods. The time range on the timesheet is synchronized with the defined reporting periods (date range). Cells in the timesheet for days in a closed reporting period will be disabled by the system. 10 December

14 Table 3: Features and Functions: Project Server 2003 Description Timesheet Approval Workflow Adjust Actuals Synchronized Actuals Nonproject Time Reporting Users can print and export timesheet data. All tasks in the timesheets (not just the visible ones) are added to an XML data island which is displayed in Internet Explorer (requires version 5.5 or higher). Once in Internet Explorer, the data can be formatted, printed or exported to a clipboard. When the data is exported to a clipboard, it is formatted using an Excel XP XLS style sheet (compatible also with Excel 2002) and also directly with the Export Grid to Excel command in PWA, allowing the sheet to be copied to Excel and automatically formatted. Once a timesheet has been submitted, the project manager for the team member s assignments and the team member s functional manager are able to view and approve or reject the actuals reported. Approval status on each timesheet is tracked in the Project Server 2003 database. Once a timesheet reporting period is closed, team members can no longer update actuals; however, actuals in a closed period can be modified by authorized users, such as functional managers or finance/accounting groups. Changes are submitted to the project manager and functional manager and logged in a table in the Project Server 2003 database for auditing purposes. Enables the actual work and actual overtime work fields to be synchronized with the actual protected work and actual protected overtime work fields. When manually defined reporting periods is enabled, Project Professional 2003 updates submitted actuals from Project Server 2003 by writing to both the actual work and actual overtime work and to the actual protected work and actual protected overtime work fields. If the project manager attempts to manually edit protected actuals submitted by team members (in manually defined reporting periods), Project Professional 2003 notifies the project manager that they are editing protected actuals. Project managers can synchronize actuals with protected actuals. When projects are saved to Project Server 2003, actuals and submitted actuals are saved to the Project Server 2003 database. Both sets are available in PWA views, allowing users to perform audits on whether project managers are editing actuals after they are submitted by team members. 10 December

15 Table 3: Features and Functions: Project Server 2003 Description PDS Timesheet Methods External Timesheet System Integration Supports tracking of project and nonproject time, such as staff meetings, training, vacation, sick leave and other nonproject time. Administrative projects must be created in Project Professional 2003 and saved to Project Server 2003 to account for nonproject time and allow resources to report time against it. Administrative projects consist of one or more fixed duration tasks with zero defined work. Each task represents a category of nonproject work. Administrative projects should be created at an organizational level consisting of between resources. Resources are assigned to the project but not to specific tasks, and assign themselves to an established task feature in the timesheet, adding themselves to the nonproject work task as needed. Administrative projects are displayed in a team member s timesheet. A team member s availability is updated only after a manager opens the administrative project in Project Professional 2003, updates the project with team members actuals and then saves the project to Project Server Support programmatic updates to the timesheet tables in the Project Server 2003 database. The methods allow a third-party application to perform actions available in the PWA timesheet: AssignmentsGet returns the assignments for a specified resource(s) for specific time period. AssignmentsSave allows actuals to be reported for assignments. AssignmentsProjectManagerUpdate updates the project manager s resource actuals entered or updated by a team member or an AssignmentSave call. 10 December

16 Table 3: Features and Functions: Project Server 2003 Description General Ledger Integration Allows reporting of time via third-party timesheet system, updating Project Server 2003 with the actuals from the system, provided the following configuration is in place: Project Server 2003 timesheet pages are disabled at the organizational level. Integration with external timesheets is enabled as an organizational permission in PWA. A menu item is added to the PWA interface providing a link to the Web-based third-party time reporting system. Optionally, administrators define Project Server 2003 reporting methods to map to the third-party time reporting system s reporting periods. Custom code is written to call Project Server 2003 (via PDS) to update task status for team members based on actuals entered in the third-party time reporting system. Project Managers are notified when actuals are submitted via PDS and use PWA to review the submitted actuals and update their project plan accordingly. This configuration allows team members to enter actuals once and then use the actuals to update both an organization s General Ledger system and their PM system (Project Server 2003). Capture actuals and update a general ledger system based on the actuals submitted via timesheet feature in MSP, provided the system is configured as follows: Administrators define the Project Server 2003 reporting periods to map to the General Ledger s reporting periods. Administrators define the Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS) enterprise resource outline code and assign all resources the appropriate value for the RBS. Administrators configure one or more Resource Manager and Finance categories to define a functional manager s ability to track and adjust actuals. Administrators define one or more administrative projects and grant permission to manage these projects to functional managers. Project managers publish assignments in their projects. Team members report time spent on tasks using the PWA timesheet. Project managers use PWA to review submitted actuals and update their project plans accordingly. Administrators open and close reporting periods to synchronize with the General Ledger. Custom code and PDS extensions are written to extract submitted actuals in closed periods from the Project Server 2003 database and then update the General Ledger. 10 December

17 Table 3: Features and Functions: Project Server 2003 Description Security Resource Pool Security Active Directory Permissions to access Project Professional 2003 and PWA data through Project Server 2003 are managed through administrative functions. Security is supported per user, per project and per resource at both the application and server levels. Security can be managed from Active Directory, allowing the administrator to map groups from Active Directory to Project Server Project Server 2003 uses security concepts from Microsoft Windows NT/Windows 2000/Windows Server 2003 and from Project Central (the first iteration of Project Server 2003 delivered in the 2000 release). Project Server 2003 provides security for editing resource information. Administrators can prevent: Resource managers from having the ability to modify a team member s permissions from Project Professional 2003 or PWA. Resource managers from modifying a resource s Windows User Account value from Project Professional Project managers from modifying the attributes of resources when saving an enterprise project. Administrators can: Configure Microsoft Active Directory to synchronize with the resource pool. Add new users (and their group memberships if applicable) to the resource pool on a regular schedule. Associate groups in Active Directory with groups in Project Server 2003 to secure access to categories of information and features in Project. Administrators can implement a service that maps resources from the Active Directory to the Enterprise Resource Pool and that maps Active Directory security groups to Project Server 2003 security groups. This service will run automatically on a regular basis and does not support a two-way synchronization between Project Server 2003 and Active Directory. It supports an automated one-way synchronization from Active Directory to Project Server Administrators can synchronize the team members in a particular group in Active Directory to the Enterprise Resource Pool. Administrators can synchronize the team members in Active Directory Groups to Project Server 2003 security groups. If the Active Directory groups do not map directly to security groups in Project Server 2003, an administrator must map Project Server 2003 groups to the appropriate Active Directory groups and may also need to create specific Active Directory groups for this purpose. If these specific groups contain other groups (organizational groups), the administrator can place resources in the core Active Directory group and set Active Directory to automatically map them to the correct Project Server 2003 groups. 10 December

18 Table 3: Features and Functions: Project Server 2003 Description Active Directory Connector Security Groups Security Rules Pre-Defined Groups Team Members Project Managers Executives Supports synching of users and groups from Active Directory to Project Server Makes calls to the PDS so Active Directory data can be written to the enterprise resource pool and security group membership information in Project Server This is based on the presence and status of users in Active Directory compared to the presence and status of users and groups in mapped security groups or users in the enterprise resource pool. Project Server 2003 includes default user groups. Default user groups are provided, or users can create custom user groups. Once created, permissions are assigned to the security groups and then actual users are assigned to groups so that any user assigned to a group inherits the permissions of that security group. Project Server 2003 allows users to apply security rules to categories (a collection of projects, resources, views and models). The rules review each user s granted permissions on the category and applies the permissions to all projects returned by the rule for that user. Three project rules are supported in Project Server 2003: All projects in which a resource is assigned a task. All projects in which a user is the project manager. All projects in which a manager has resources assigned to a task. As projects are published to the server, accounts are created on the server for any new resource in the project plan. By default, the server adds any new resources to the Team Members group, which is generally able to view data, but not edit it. The Team Members account is granted global permissions allowing use of PWA timesheet, status reports and to-do lists. Users are automatically added to the Project Managers group when a Project Professional user publishes a project to Project Server 2003 and when a user creates a project manager account. The Project Manager s group is granted permissions on all projects a project manager saved or published to the server, as well as all assignments within those projects. Users in the Project Manager s group are granted global permissions allowing creation of new projects, status reports and to-do lists, as well as permissions such as viewing but not editing enterprise resource data. Users requiring broad visibility of projects and resources. Allows a view of any project and any resource saved or published to the server. Granted permissions to view project and resource data in the Project Center, Resource Center, Portfolio Analyzer and Portfolio Modeler. 10 December

19 Table 3: Features and Functions: Project Server 2003 Description Team Leads and For users who do not manage projects but who need limited capabilities for viewing Resource Managers and editing project information. Portfolio Managers For users managing the enterprise global template and enterprise resources. These users can create and edit data but cannot perform server administrative tasks (for example, cannot add users for groups). Allows users to view and edit all projects and resources in the organization. Administrators Granted all available permissions on Project Server PDS Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) Requests to access or update enterprise data are made to the PDS, which uses a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) interface allowing third-party client applications to access the same Project Server 2003 features as Project Professional 2003 and PWA. The API covers a number of different areas, including: Enterprise Custom Fields provides a programmatic interface to editing the value lists for nonoutline code Enterprise custom fields, such as an Enterprise Project TextFieldwithanassociatedvaluelist. Enterprise Resource Creation allows users to create and edit enterprise resources to support integration between other line of business systems and Project Server Users can create a process that creates a new Enterprise Resource Pool resource without the use of the Project Professional bit client. Enterprise Custom Field Editing users can integrate the value lists for Enterprise Outline Codes with another business system, such as Human Resources or Financials. Enterprise Project Creation allows users to create the elements of a project, ranging from a blank project to a project with tasks, resources and assignments through a programmatic interface without utilizing Project Professional It does not provide a server-side scheduling engine. Project Server 2003 User Maintenance the PDS can add and remove users and maintain Project Server 2003 group memberships. The Active Directory Enterprise Resource Pool Synchronization feature relies on five methods provided in the Project Server 2003 PDS. Project Outline Values methods providing the ability to filter projects in the File Open dialogue box for primary use within Project Professional. Multivalued Custom Resource Outline Codes allows users to define and use multivalued resource outline codes. Four established PDS methods offer the ability to create, modify and delete the codes, all through a programmatic interface without utilizing Project Professional December

20 Table 3: Features and Functions: Project Server 2003 Description Portfolio Analyzer OLAP Cube Generation Service Creates Portfolio Analyzer fact and dimension tables based on the Project Server 2003 database. The service calls SQL Server Analysis Services to generate an OLAP cube based on the fact and dimension tables. Administrators can manage the service via PWA. Third parties can include their own data in the Portfolio Analyzer cube. Multivalue Outline Codes Project Server 2003 is used to define multiple skills for resources. Holds multiple values within a resource outline code for 10 of the 30 outline codes. Up to 255 values may be selected within any multivalue resource outline code. Values entered in multivalue resource codes are saved to the Project Server 2003 database. Project Server 2003 Web Parts Using WSS Configuration Wizard during Project Server 2003 setup, administrators can install Web parts allowing end users to view specific task or project details in PWA. These include a specific user s tasks, projects, project summaries, tasks changes submitted by resources, resource assignments and a Portfolio Analyzer view. Table 4: Features and Functions: PWA 2003 Views Resource Center Views Portfolio Analyzer Views Assignment Views Display properties of resources, showing pre-defined groups and filters. Access resource assignment and availability charts from the Resource Center. Users cannot define the available charts. Display PivotTables and charts of resource properties, time-phased attributes (for example, work, cost, actual work and availability) and project properties. Pre-define views and allow users to customize the reports (if the users have Office XP installed on their workstations). Display Gantt chart views of assignments made with workgroups and resources. Assignment views can include pre-defined groups and filters. 10 December

21 Table 4: Features and Functions: PWA 2003 Views Resource Management Resource Center Build Team Outlook Integration Resource managers can track nonworking time by creating an administrative project with tasks representing each category of nonproject time. Team members can then use the PWA timesheet to report all of their time, not just project time. Resource managers can specify different types of resource booking for resources to staff them as proposed or committed to projects in the Build Team feature or to assess capacity vs. demand in the Resource Availability Graph. Allows managers to view and change settings for resources. Allows resource managers to access detailed assignment and availability information. Resource managers can staff projects with resources from their respective teams. The project manager can then approve and commit the resources to project work. Allows resource managers to staff projects from any computer without the need for Project Professional 2003 on the desktop. Users can search for resources based on their skill sets and availability. Supports multiple resource skills for resources, allowing users to use Enterprise Resource Multivalue fields to include additional resource skill sets, not just one set of skills. These fields can be used to search for resources with several skills and in the Resource Substitution Wizard or Portfolio Modeler to consider the multiple skills of a resource. Selecting a proposed resource allows tracking of potential resource assignments for projects still in the proposal phase. A proposed resource is in a reserved state (not committed), allowing a manager to plan and track multiple, competing or overlapping scenarios. PWA users can import project tasks and update actuals (report time against a project) within the Outlook Calendar. This functionality can be scheduled to occur regularly and automatically, or it can be performed manually. Does not support the import of project task lists into Microsoft Outlook 2003 task lists, but rather project tasks are imported into Microsoft Outlook 2003 as Calendar items. Microsoft Outlook 2003 task lists can be imported into Project. A PWA tab is added with each appointment, providing a link to PWA from Microsoft Outlook 2003 to report time or otherwise access the project to which the appointment is associated. 10 December

22 Table 4: Features and Functions: PWA 2003 Views Tracking Methods The PWA tab associated with the appointment in Microsoft Outlook 2003 (four different ones are possible) is based on the tracking method selected for the appointment s associated project. These include: Actual work done and work remaining Percent of work complete Hours of work done per day To-do list Importing Connecting Microsoft Outlook 2003 to Project Server 2003 allows import of project Assignments Into assignments into the Outlook Calendar. Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Outlook 2003 can apply reminders for project assignments, or users can 2003 apply custom reminder settings. Assignments, once imported into Outlook Calendar, are viewable in Outlook Today and Calendar views. When opening an assignment, the PWA tab appears, allowing the user to do the following: Track assignments by percent of work complete. Track assignments by actual or remaining work. Send an assignment update. Access the timesheet for the work. Resource Reports PWA accesses project and resource data on Project Server Resource Center reports display resources and values for all resource custom fields, assignments and remaining availability. PWA queries SQL Server database tables, then binds the results to both the Microsoft Office Web Chart control and the PWA grid control. These reports are available only on resources assigned to tasks in Project Professional Self-Assignment to Tasks Team members can assign themselves to tasks in projects, provided they are a member of the project s project team. Once self-assigned, the team member can report time against the task(s). Team members can delegate tasks to other team members if the project manager and administrator enable it. Timesheet (project actuals) Administrators can lock down or close timesheet reporting periods. Supports timesheet reporting and tracking of nonworking time. Prevents assigning resources to projects conflicting with time commitments. Actuals can be protected, preventing project managers from modifying time report data submitted by a resource against their assignments of work. Project managers can track actuals submitted to them via PWA. Functional managers can track actuals submitted to them via Timesheet Approval View in the Resources page of PWA. 10 December