Project Management Beyond the Project Manager: The Case ...



Successfully Installing Project Central

By Sheri Young, Microsoft Project MVP, Claridian Technology Consulting, LLC

(member, Washington D.C. Chapter)

Have you heard the rumor that it is difficult to get Microsoft Project Central up and running? This perception likely has its roots in Microsoft’s decision to place the brand new “Install Microsoft Project Central Server” option on the Project 2000 CD install menu, right there under “Install Microsoft Project 2000”. It’s so inviting and looks so easy! Web-based project management – just click a button!

Yes, the option to install Project Central is right in your face, but unfortunately the documentation telling you how to do it correctly is buried elsewhere!

Regardless of how similar the buttons look, installing Project Central is not like installing Project 2000. The button says “Install Microsoft Project Central Server”. The word server is a clue – think database servers, web servers, file servers…things your average project manager is not responsible for setting up and maintaining.

A quick and successful Project Central installation goes best if performed by IT experts using good raw materials: a new web server with a fresh IIS installation and an up-to-date operating system, access to a shared folder on a file server or an already-configured database on a database server, and network connectivity to correctly configured client PCs. Your installation team should include experts in networking, databases, and IIS, as well as a project management person who understands how your organization wants to use Project Central. Prior to installing Project Central, bring together your installation team, which will include your IT and project management experts. The team members should review the following Project Central documentation, each from their own perspective:

Web Site ()

Read the information on the web site, especially:

|Menu |Menu Options to Select |

|Evaluation |Animated Tour |

| |Frequently Asked Questions |

| |Product Enhancements Guide (see Improve team productivity by involving team members and |

| |other stakeholders in project management) |

| |Enterprise Deployment Tools (see the Microsoft Project 2000 Enterprise Planning Workbook) |

| |Microsoft Project Central White Paper |

| |System Requirements |

|How To Buy | |

|Resources |Microsoft Project 2000 Deployment Kit |

| |Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit (see Section 6 - Microsoft Project Central) |

|Using MS Project |How-to Articles (see those with Project Central in the title) |

Files on the Project 2000 CD:

The CD itself has some very informative files:

Server documentation

▪ \PJCNTRL\HELP\1033\svrsetup.htm

▪ \PJCNTRL\HELP\1033\svrdb.htm

Project 2000 database documentation

▪ \PFILES\MSOFFICE\OFFICE\1033\projdb.htm

Newsgroup:

The Project Central newsgroup community can help:

▪ news://msnews.microsoft.public.project2000.projectcentral (Note: instructions on how to use Microsoft Project newsgroups can be found on the MPUG-Global website at )

The svrsetup.htm file contains the heart of what your techies need to know to set up Project Central. However, svrsetup.htm is organized in a non-intuitive manner. Your experts should read it more than once!

Decisions, decisions

Don’t click that button yet! The following sections cover the things you should do before you click.

IIS / Project Central server

Do you have an existing IIS Server available? Be aware that your best chance for a quick and successful install is to use a completely new and clean server. If you load Project Central onto one that is already supporting web sites, you may run into troubles with the settings it “inherits”. But you absolutely can install it onto an existing and in-use IIS Server, and many people have done so successfully. If you use an existing server, be sure your experts study the svrsetup.htm file. If they have troubles, they should get it running on a clean server, then compare its IIS configuration to the one that’s not working.

If you can choose your operating system, take Windows 2000 over NT. It’s newer, more stable, and easier to use. But if you must use NT, it can successfully host Project Central. Be sure to apply the latest Service Packs before installing on NT.

Use a member server to host Project Central. Stay away from domain controllers. There are rumors of problems with installations on those burdened and busy servers.

Project Central database

Your database choices are SQL Server 7+, Oracle 8+, or MSDE. MSDE is the best option for doing a trial run to check out Project Central, or for a small group without a database expert. Otherwise, go with the platform for which you have the best experts. However, most people who have done this sort of installation task before will advise you not to mix vendors unless it’s necessary – go with Microsoft SQL Server unless you are a hard core Oracle shop.

You must make the database decision before you click the Project Central install button. For an Oracle or SQL Server installation, if you try to install first, you won’t be able to continue unless the database is already set up. Make sure your database expert reads svrsetup.htm and follows its instructions to create the database and run the three setup scripts. The scripts create the Project Central tables and enter initial data in the database.

If you’ve decided to use MSDE to keep things simple, be aware that it’s only actually simple if MSDE has never been installed on your Project Central server before. If your server is MSDE-free, you will be able to do the easiest standard install of Project Central. The installation program will install MSDE and run the setup scripts for you. But before it begins, it will look for a previously installed MSDE. If it finds one, it will NOT continue. You will have to either remove MSDE or pre-configure an MSDE database just like you would have done for SQL Server or Oracle (which you were hoping to avoid by using MSDE, right?). If you already have MSDE on your server, your installer can read these sections in svrsetup.htm for more information: To create a default database and table installation for a SQL Server or MSDE and Install the Microsoft Project Central server.

Projects storage

Do you want to store your Project 2000 projects in a database or as MPP files? This question often confuses Project Central newbies. Project 2000 has a “database” and Project Central has a database – yes, there are two databases. Project 2000 storage may be a sort of virtual database – a collection of MPP files in a shared folder. Alternatively, the projects may be stored in a real database (SQL Server or Oracle). Choose what works best for your users and organization. A good reason to use a real database is to permit access to project data via tools other than Microsoft Project. You may wish to link this data to other corporate applications or databases, or report on it using Crystal Reports. However, you may want to stick with MPP files if your group is small and you lack techie “gurus”. Also, if your users are familiar with Microsoft Project and accustomed to storing projects in files, they may be confused by the database approach.

You will have to configure your environment so that Project Central can access the Project 2000 projects “database”. Your experts should read the svrsetup.htm file – see the section called For projects stored in files or the section titled For projects stored in a database. The database expert will also find the projdb.htm file useful.

Client PCs

“Client” of course means your users’ computers. They must be Windows-based, not Macs. You must decide what web browser software will be used to access Project Central. Internet Explorer (IE) 5.0 or greater is best. If your organization is standardized on an old version of IE, or if you must support Netscape-only users, you can install the web browser provided by Microsoft. This tool, which can only be used to access Project Central, is provided on the Project 2000 CD install menu.

An important client question is who will be using what software. Your “project managers”, who create and edit Project plans hands-on, must have Project 2000 on their computers. A Project 2000 license includes a Project Central client license for web use. Anyone else – those who only need to see project information and maybe provide status to the project manager – can use a browser to connect to Project Central. However, you must buy client access licenses for each web-only user. For cost estimation, determine the numbers of Project 2000 and Project Central users, and have your check-writer review the “How to Buy” section of the Project web site.

Ready, Set, Click

If you’ve got your experts educated on Project Central, and you’ve done everything listed above, you are ready to click that button to install Project Central.

You will be given the choice of a standard or custom installation. You can choose standard if you want to use MSDE, and your server is an “MSDE-free zone”. Otherwise, you must do a custom installation. The big difference is that custom installation requires that the database already be created (by you) and ready to go.

In a custom install, you enter your database identity information and click a “test” button. This button only checks connectivity to your database. It does NOT check your database contents or test that the specified database user has access rights to the data. A successful test does not guarantee that the database is Project Central-ready!

Be sure that you apply any updates to the Project Central software. As of the publication date of this article, a service release called SR-1 is available. This update can be downloaded from the Microsoft Project web site, and should be applied after you install Project Central.

How do you define success?

How do you know that the installation worked? From the server, open up IE, and point the browser to . You should see the Project Central log in screen, and be able to log in as Administrator to use the menus. If you can, pat yourself on the back – you’ve installed Project Central, and it can find its database. You’re on the road to success.

If you have trouble, the best resources are the newsgroup for Project Central (see above) or the Microsoft knowledge base. To use the knowledge base, go to , choose Microsoft Project 2000 from the drop down list and type keywords about your troubles in the My question is box.

Connecting your users

Your experts will have to determine what URL your end users will enter to access the Project Central web site from other computers. This step is a standard part of bringing any web site online.

Very little effort is required to configure web browser users: when they point their web browser to the Project Central URL the first time, it will automatically download a tiny bit of software to their computers. For your project managers, who use Project 2000 in conjunction with Project Central, more installation work is required. Use the Workgroup tab of the Project 2000 Tools/Options dialog. On this tab, tell Project to use “Web” as the default workgroup tool. Tell Project where to find Project Central (the same URL your browser users enter). Determine whether the project manager will be known to Project Central via his Windows account or a Project Central account. (If you choose the latter, set the project manager’s account on the Tools/Options/General tab.)

The settings in Project 2000 are specific to, and saved with, the project that is currently open. You can store a default set of options in the PC’s registry by using the Set as Default buttons. You should also create a template for use when starting new projects. Store your organization’s standard settings in the template so that every new project can point to Project Central correctly. (The template will be very important in ensuring that your Project Central-ized environment works – it should store all the options and customizations your project managers need to support your Project Central configuration.)

Test the Project 2000 connectivity to Project Central by using the Update Project to Web Server and TeamAssign options on the Project 2000 Tools/Workgroup menu. If you run into troubles, refer to the knowledge base and newsgroup, as described above.

What’s next?

Yes, there’s more! You’ve mastered the installation, but not the configuration yet. For all of the talk about how hard it is to install Project Central, customizing it to your organization is actually the real hard part.

Before you attempt to deploy Project Central in your organization, designate a Project Central champion who knows project management and Microsoft Project, and has some technical skills. This person will analyze the user base and information needs for your organization, and configure Project 2000 (especially your organization’s template file) and Project Central to support those needs.

Good Luck!

If you got this far, you’ve conquered the part everyone says is hard. Good luck with the part that really is!

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