Olga from Chicago asks: I want to create customized views, tables, groupings, and filters to be used by project managers who are the users of Microsoft Project Server 2010. The objects should be pushed to all of the project managers when they open Project 2010 Professional when connected to the Project server. How would I do this?
Answer: Microsoft Project Professional on the desktop uses the Organizer to copy customized objects into the Global.mpt. Project Server 2010 will also use the Organizer to copy objects into the Enterprise Global template.
However, the process for copying objects into the Enterprise Global template has changed in Project Server 2010 from the way it works in Project Server 2007. For example, in the 2003 and 2007 versions of Project Server, changes and updates to the Enterprise Global objects were performed directly in the opened Enterprise Global template. Also, copying the objects into the Enterprise Global template now requires user permission.
Here’s how you can work with the Enterprise Global template in Project Server 2010.
1. Open a project file through Project 2010 Professional as read only. No changes will be made to this file, so it doesn’t matter which project file you use for creating and copying the Enterprise objects. I suggest you open a project that contains tasks and resources that can be used to test the objects being created.
File | Open | Retrieve the list of all projects from Project Server | Open
Click on the project name you wish to open. Click on Read-Only. Click on Open.
2. A new option in Project 2010 allows objects to automatically be added to the local Global.mpt when created. It has been my experience that having this option on will confuse the process of updating the Enterprise Global template. To turn the option off, do this:
File | Options | Advanced | Display | uncheck the last option “Automatically add new views, tables, filters, and groups to the global.”
3. Create and test the objects that you would like to add to the Enterprise Global template in the Read-Only file. Name the objects something that your users will recognize. In this example, objects were created for an organization with the company name acronym of CMH. These 3 letters were entered at the beginning of each object name along with a small underline: “_CMH.” Using the underline will place the objects at the top of any object list so users can easily spot objects which were created for their use.
4. After the objects are created, they may be copied to the Enterprise Global template. Just open the Enterprise Global template and copy the objects using the Organizer.
To Open the Enterprise Global template:
File | Manage Global Templates | Open Enterprise Global
There will be an appearance of a blank project file opening. Look at the file name at the top of the newly opened file and you should see “Checked-out Enterprise Global — Microsoft Project” as the file name.
To copy the objects into the Enterprise Global template, use the Organizer as show in the figure just above:
File | Manage Global Template | Organizer
Once the Organizer is opened you can start to save the objects into the Enterprise Global template. The “View Available in:” boxes at the bottom of the box should reflect the Read-Only file on one side and the “Checked-Out Enterprise Global” on the other side. The default value is the “Global (+non-cashed Enterprise)” which is shown in the figure below. The objects you created should be in the Read-Only file you created them in.
To copy the objects:
- Select the correct category tab at the top of the dialog box.
- Click on the object in the box on the side of the Read-Only file.
- Click the “Copy” button in the middle of the box.
- Check to make sure the object was copied to the Checked-out Enterprise Global template.
- Repeat until all of the objects that were created are copied into the Checked-out Enterprise Global template.
Next, do File | Close to close the checked-out Enterprise Global template. Then Save and Check in the Checked-out Enterprise Global template.
Finally, File | Close the Read-Only file and answer “No” to saving changes.
