Setting Up Microsoft Project Central

(C) 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Contents

Overview

Web server installation requirements

Browser client requirements

Install the Microsoft Project Central server

Get your team ready to start using Microsoft Project Central
    To add Microsoft Project Central Accounts for team members
    To add a resource's e-mail address to your project

Customize and administer the server
    Set the server to single-user mode
    Delete items from the database
    Merge user accounts
    Specify authentication options
    Enable the "Log on using your Microsoft Windows user account" option from the Logon page

Set up and manage views and portfolios
    About views
    Create a view
    Use categories to allow team members to see specific views and information from specific projects
    Configure the Microsoft Project Central server to display project views in shared files or databases
    Using a single DSN and database user ID to see projects belonging to different table owners
    Create a view by using data access pages

Create multiple Microsoft Project Central Web sites on the same server

Set up the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central

Additional information and troubleshooting

Overview

This file documents the installation of Microsoft Project Central, a companion product to Microsoft Project. It includes information on how to install the Microsoft Project Central server, and how to use it to set up a communication center for project managers and team members.

For more information on the structure of the Microsoft Project Central database, see the file svrdb.htm on the Microsoft Project CD at \Pjcntrl\Help\1033\svrdb.htm folder (This folder, 1033, contains the files for the English version. Files for other languages are contained in the folder that corresponds to the locale ID [LCID] for that language).    

 

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Web server installation requirements

Hardware and system requirements for the Microsoft Project Central server installations are as follows:

The hard disk and memory requirements are for a default installation. Your hard disk and memory requirements may vary depending on your configuration and the options you choose to install.

Microsoft Project Central server and Microsoft Project can be installed on the same computer if necessary. Shared components of Microsoft Project Central server and Microsoft Project 2000 will be installed in the folder, \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\1033 (or the appropriate folder for the language version you use).

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Browser client requirements

Hardware, software, and system requirements for the browser client are as follows:

If you choose not to use Internet Explorer, an alternate browser client is available.

Once installed, clients can connect to the Microsoft Project Central server using either Internet Explorer or the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central. Clients accessing the Microsoft Project Central server must have a Microsoft Project Central client access license.

 

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Install the Microsoft Project Central server

If you have installed a beta version of Microsoft Project Central, you must remove it before installing the new version. 

To remove the beta version of Microsoft Project Central use the following steps:

  1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs,  click Microsoft Project Central Server, and then click Add/Remove (or click Remove if you are using Windows 2000 or later).
  2. In the Microsoft Project Central Server Maintenance Mode dialog box, click Uninstall Microsoft Project Central Server.
  3. Using the Internet Service Manager, delete the virtual directory where you installed the beta version of Microsoft Project Central. If you are using Microsoft NT Server 4.0, on the Start menu, click Programs, click Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack, and then click Internet Service Manager.

    If you are using Microsoft Windows 2000, from the Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Services Manager.

Note  Uninstalling Microsoft Project Central server does not remove MSDE. To remove MSDE manually, do the following:

  1. Stop the MSDE service using the Services program in the Control Panel. In the Services dialog box, stop the service named MSSQLServer.
  2. From the Windows Task Manager, end the program named sqlmangr.exe.
  3. Remove MSDE using Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.
  4. Delete the data files under the \mssql7\data folder on the server.
  5. Remove the following registry key: 

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Web Server\SQLInstalledByPrj 

 

To install Microsoft Project Central server:

  1. Insert the Microsoft Project CD into the CD-ROM drive. 
  2. Click Install Microsoft Project Central Server.
  3. Enter your user name and organization, and then click Next.
  4. Accept the license agreement, and then click Next.
  5. In the Install Microsoft Project Central Server here box, specify where you want to install the server. The default location will be the drive that has the most disk space. If this is the c drive, then the default location will be c:\ProjectCentral. The location you specify will become the name of the new virtual directory that is created on the Web server.
  6. Select one of the following two options:

Choose this option if you want to use MSDE as your database store for Microsoft Project Central and if you do not have another database you can use. MSDE is suitable if there are no more than 10–15 concurrent users of Microsoft Project Central. The default MSDE database is created with the username "sa" and a password that you specify during installation. If you want a more secure and scalable solution, use a SQL Server or Oracle database as described below. 

You cannot choose this option if the computer you are installing on already has either SQL Server or MSDE installed.

Creating SQL, MSDE or Oracle database and tables

To create the SQL server, MSDE, or Oracle database and tables, perform the following actions. For Microsoft SQL Server and MSDE, you can either choose a default installation of the database, or you can create your own database. For Oracle, you cannot create a default installation.

To create a default database and table installation for a SQL Server or MSDE:

  1. From Windows, go to the MS-DOS Prompt.

  2. Change directories to the CD-ROM drive, and on the Microsoft Project CD, go to the folder \Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033 (or the appropriate folder for your language).

  3. Type the following commands to create a database and tables in the database and to insert default records for the tables:

     osql -U <account name> -P <password> -i Crttable.sql
     osql -U <account name> -P <password> -d <db name> -i Insdefsq.sql
     osql -U <account name> -P <password> -d <db name> -i Insdefsi.sql

For example, if the account name is sa, the password is ProjectPW, the commands would be:

     osql -U sa -P ProjectPW -i Crttable.sql
     osql -U sa -P ProjectPW -d Project_CentralDB -i Insdefsq.sql
     osql -U sa -P ProjectPW -d Project_CentralDB -i Insdefsi.sql
     

Note  The parameter letters U, P, d, and i are case sensitive.

To create your own custom database and table installation for SQL Server and MSDE, use the SQL Server Enterprise Manager, as explained below:

  1. Open Enterprise Manager for SQL Server.

  2. Create a new database for ProjectCentral, for example, "Project_CentralDB", or other database name. Add a new logon user with the SQL Server Authentication option selected, and type a password to allow access to the database. Make the new database the default database for the user.

    This new logon user should have the db_owner role in the Project Central database to allow the user to save Project Central tables and data in that database. 

  3. From Windows, go to the MS-DOS Prompt.

  4. Change directories to the CD-ROM drive, and on the Microsoft Project CD, go to the folder \Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033 (or the appropriate folder for your language).

  5. Copy the files, Crttable.sql, Insdefsq.sql, and Insdefsi.sql to c:\ProjectCentral. You need to modify Crttable.sql so that it references the database you just created by replacing the occurrence of Project_CentralDB with your database name.

    Note  Since you have now created a database in step 2 above, you need to comment out the following two lines in Crttable.sql:

    CREATE DATABASE Project_CentralDB
    go
  6. After modifying Crttable.sql to reference your database, type the following commands to create tables in the database and to insert default records for the tables:

    osql -U <account name> -P <password> -i Crttable.sql
    osql -U <account name> -P <password> -d <db name> -i Insdefsq.sql
    osql -U <account name> -P <password> -d <db name> -i Insdefsi.sql
      
      
Note  

SQL Server Query Analyzer can be used instead of the Osql tool.

To create a custom database and table installation for Oracle:  

Note   You cannot create a default installation with Oracle. You can only create a custom installation.

  1. Create an Oracle database.
  2. Create a tablespace for the Microsoft Project Central tables.
  3. Start the Oracle Security Manager.

  4. On the General tab of the Create User dialog box, type a new name for the database.

  5. In the Authentication list, select Password.

  6. Under Tablespaces, select the tablespace you created.

  7. Click the Roles/Privileges tab, 

  8. Select Connect and Resource in the Available list, and then click  Roles in the Privilege Type list to grant the user CONNECT and RESOURCE roles.

    Note  Instead of granting the RESOURCE role to the new user, you can grant CREATE TABLE to the user instead.

  9. Click the Quotas tab, and grant this user unlimited quotas in the Microsoft Project Central database.

  10. Log on as the new user to perform the remaining actions.

  11. From Windows, go to the MS-DOS Prompt.

  12. Change directories to the CD-ROM drive, and on the Microsoft Project CD, go to the folder \Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033 (or the appropriate folder for your language).

  13. Type the following commands to create tables in the database and to insert default records for the tables:

     Crttblor.sql
     Insdefor.sql
     Insdefoi.sql

Note  You need to install the Oracle Net8 Client on the Microsoft Project Central server before Microsoft Project Central will work correctly.


To create the Microsoft Project Central server:   

After you have set up the database, you can run the custom installation of Microsoft Project Central server. You will need to specify the database server, database name, and a valid logon ID and password. For Oracle, you don't need to specify the database name.

After you have installed the Microsoft Project Central server, users can connect to it using the URL http://[servername]/ProjectCentral, where servername is the name of the Web server where you have installed Microsoft Project Central server, and where ProjectCentral is the outermost folder name (or virtual directory) specified in the installation path.

Notes

 

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Get your team ready to start using Microsoft Project Central

When the Microsoft Project Central server is installed, it creates a default user called Administrator. The password for this user is blank by default; therefore, one of the first things you should do after installation is log on to Microsoft Project Central (by going to the URL http://[server name]/ProjectCentral either on the server or on a client computer), log on as Administrator and change the password. 

After you have installed the Microsoft Project Central server, most of the features can be used without further configuration. The administrator needs to tell project managers what the URL is for the Microsoft Project Central server so that this information can be entered into Microsoft Project. 

The following procedure describes how project managers can use Microsoft Project to connect their team to Microsoft Project Central after it has been installed and set up by the administrator.

  1. In Microsoft Project, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Workgroup tab.
  2. In the Default workgroup messages box, click Web
  3. In the Microsoft Project Central Server URL box, type the URL for the Microsoft Project Central server.
    Note   Get the URL for the Microsoft Project Central server from your administrator.
  4. Under Identification for Microsoft Project Central Server, select one of the following logon methods:

    By default, your password will be blank the first time you log on to Microsoft Project Central. You can set your password during your initial session.

    Before team members can log on to Microsoft Project Central, their account information needs to be entered into Microsoft Project. Learn more about creating team members' accounts.

  1. Optional: To perform work in Microsoft Project Central, such as setting up status reports or message rules, without first having to send a workgroup message, click Create Account.

    Note   You need an account before you can work with Microsoft Project Central, but one is created for you automatically when you send a workgroup message. Perform this step only if you want to work with Microsoft Project Central before sending a workgroup message.

  2. To apply your workgroup selections to all new projects, click Set as Default.

    Workgroup members receive workgroup messages only in Microsoft Project Central, and must check the application regularly for new messages. 

    The manager tells the team members to enter the same URL into their browser to respond to workgroup messages from managers, respond to status report requests, and report their status on tasks. However, you can have Microsoft Project send an e-mail message to workgroup members (which includes a URL to Microsoft Project Central) whenever they receive a new workgroup message in Microsoft Project Central.

  3. To automatically notify workgroup members of new Microsoft Project Central messages, select the Send hyperlink in E-mail note check box. You can use this feature only if an e-mail system links the members of your workgroup.

You can now assign team members to tasks and send them workgroup messages, such as TeamAssign, TeamStatus, and TeamUpdate. For more information on using the workgroup functionality of Microsoft Project, see online Help for Microsoft Project.

Notes

 

To add Microsoft Project Central accounts for team members

When a project manager sends workgroup messages to team members, Microsoft Project Central accounts are created automatically for them by default. To set up team members' Microsoft Project Central accounts to use their Windows user accounts, the project manager needs to add this information within Microsoft Project.

  1. On the View menu, click Resource Sheet.
  2. In the Resource Name field, select a resource whose Windows user account you want to add.
  3. Click Resource Information, and then click the General tab. 
  4. Click Windows Account, and then enter the resource’s Windows user account.

    If you don’t know the resource’s Microsoft Windows user account, and you have already entered the URL for the Microsoft Project Central server in the Workgroup tab of the Options dialog box, click Windows Account to find the resource’s Windows user account through your e-mail address book.

  5.  Repeat steps 2-4 to add Windows user accounts for other resources.

If Windows user accounts are not specified in Microsoft Project, then resource names will be used to create Microsoft Project Central accounts. These accounts will be authenticated using Microsoft Project Central authentication; team members will see a logon screen when they go to the Microsoft Project Central site, and they will have to enter their resource names and passwords. By default, team members' passwords will be blank the first time they log on to Microsoft Project Central; they can set their password during their initial session.

Note   In addition to creating accounts from within Microsoft Project, an administrator can create user accounts from within Microsoft Project Central. On the menu bar in Microsoft Project Central, point to Admin, click Users, and then click Add User.

To add a resource’s e-mail address to your project

If you will be using an e-mail workgroup system for some resources or if you selected the Send hyperlink in E-mail note check box in the Options dialog box, you may need to enter e-mail addresses for your resources. This procedure is necessary only if the resource’s e-mail address is not exactly the same as the resource’s name in Microsoft Project. For instance, if a resource’s name and e-mail address are both Chris, then you don’t need to perform this procedure. However, if the e-mail address is ChrisL instead of just Chris, then you need to add that resource’s e-mail address.

  1. On the View menu, click Resource Sheet.
  2. In the Resource Name field, select a resource whose e-mail address you want to add.
  3. Click Resource Information, and then click the General tab.
  4. In the Email box, type the e-mail address for the resource, and then click OK.

    If the resource is located outside your organization, be sure to include the entire address. For example, if the resource’s e-mail name is Chris and that resource can be reached through an Internet service provider called Provider (whose Web server is registered as provider.com), the following address would be correct:
    Chris@provider.com

  5. Repeat steps 2-4 to add other resources’ e-mail addresses.

 

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Customize and administer the server

To administer Microsoft Project Central, you need to log on as a user with administrator privileges. You can start by logging on using the Administrator account, which Microsoft Project Central creates by default. You can then add additional administrators by pointing to Admin on the menu bar of Microsoft Project Central, and then clicking Users. Most administrative functions are explained in online Help for Microsoft Project Central. However, there are some administrative functions for which more detailed information is provided below.

 

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Set the server to single-user mode


To perform certain administrative tasks such as deleting items from the Microsoft Project Central database, merging user accounts, and changing nonworking time categories, you must put the Microsoft Project Central server in single-user mode. Single-user mode ensures that users cannot connect to the Microsoft Project Central database and change data while you are performing these administrative tasks, which could corrupt the database. 

Before you put the server in single-user mode, you should make sure that no users are currently connected to the database. A simple way to do this is to send e-mail to all your users and warn them to stop using the server (either as a browser or browser module client or from Microsoft Project) at a specified time. Then, to be sure that no users are connected, you can run the following database procedures sp_who. The procedure, sp_who, provides information about current Microsoft SQL Server users and processes. The result set returned from executing sp_who includes the following information:

Column Data type Description
spid smallint The system process ID
status nchar(30) The process status
loginame nchar(128) The logon name associated with the particular process
hostname nchar(128) The host or computer name for each process
blk char(5) The system process ID for the blocking process, if one exists. Otherwise, this column is zero.
dbname nchar(128) The database used by the process.
cmd nchar(16) The SQL Server command (Transact-SQL statement, SQL Server internal engine process, and so on) executing for the process.

Note  If you are using Oracle, you can view user connections and processes by viewing the sessions in the Oracle Instance Manager.

To see the current processes, type the command osql -S<server> -U<userID> -P<password> -Q"sp_who" at the MS-DOS prompt. If you have chosen the default Install Now option and installed MSDE on the Microsoft Project Central server computer, then you can run this command from the MS-DOS prompt on the server. If you have chosen a custom install, then you should run this command on the computer that hosts the Microsoft Project Central database. After running the command, you will see several system processes listed. These are normal system processes that should be disregarded.  Check the dbname, loginame, and hostname fields in the result set for Microsoft Project Central connections. If only one Microsoft Project Central user is listed (your administrator session), you can set the server to single-user mode.

To put the server in single-user mode, point to the Admin on the menu bar, and then click Server Mode

Important  When you have finished your administrative tasks, reset the server to Normal mode so that users can reconnect and start using it again.

Note   Relatively few administrative tasks require the server to be in single-user mode—deleting items from the database, merging user accounts, changing nonworking time categories, and changing authentication options. The user interface for these functions documents the fact that single-user mode is required and does not allow you to perform the tasks until you have set the server to single-user mode. 

 

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Delete items from the database


You can delete items from the Microsoft Project Central database to free up space and remove data that is no longer needed. You need to set the server to single-user mode before you can delete information.

  1. Point to Admin on the menu bar, click Server Mode, click Single User, and then click Save Changes.
  2. Point to Admin on the menu bar, and then click Delete from Database.
  3. Select the items you want to delete from the database.
  4. Near the bottom of the page, specify which users you want to delete the items for, and then click Delete at the top of the page.
  5. After you have deleted all the items, reset the server to Normal mode. Point to Admin on the menu bar, click Server Mode, click Normal, and then click Save Changes.

Caution   Items removed from the database are permanently deleted from the database. However, they are not removed from the project files that are the original source of the data.

 

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Merge user accounts


When project managers set up their resources in Microsoft Project and send them workgroup messages, Microsoft Project Central uses either the resource names or, if specified, the Windows user accounts for the resources to create their Microsoft Project Central accounts.

If project managers do not use the same names for the resources in their projects, then a single resource could have multiple Microsoft Project Central accounts. For example, one project manager may call a resource Jane while another project manager could call her JaneD or specify her Windows user account, so this resource would have multiple Microsoft Project Central accounts. 

You can consolidate or merge multiple accounts so that the user does not have to log on to Microsoft Project Central under several different names to receive all information. To merge accounts, point to Admin on the menu bar, click Users, and then click Merge User Accounts. However, you should only merge accounts that actually refer to the same person—you should not try to merge accounts for different people.

Notes

Ideally, all project managers in an organization should name resources in their projects using the same convention—either a full name or an e-mail alias, for example—to avoid creating multiple Microsoft Project Central accounts for the same person.

 

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Specify authentication options


The Microsoft Project Central server can authenticate users using either Windows NT Authentication using a Windows user account, or Microsoft Project Central authentication using a logon ID and password, or both.

As an administrator, you can choose one of three authentication options.


Note  You must be in single-user mode to change authentication types. Changing the authentication method to Windows NT Authentication only will inactivate all user accounts using Microsoft Project Central authentication and vice versa. If you change authentication types again, the original accounts will be not be reactivated automatically.

 

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Enable the "Log on using your Microsoft Windows user account" option from the Logon page

By default, when Microsoft Project Central attempts to authenticate a user with Windows NT Authentication, it assumes that the user is using a computer from which they have already logged on to the network, using their Windows user account. However, this may not always be the case. For example, a user may want to check Microsoft Project Central information using someone else's computer, or using a common computer that is shared by several people and from which the user has not already logged on with his or her Windows user account. 

In this case, when the user goes to a Microsoft Project Central site, the Logon page will open instead of the Home page. The user must then click the Log on using your Microsoft Windows user account link on the left side of the page. After entering his or her Windows user account information, the user is authenticated using Windows NT authentication, and is then taken to the Home page.

However, to enable this procedure, the administrator must configure the Microsoft Project Central server. To allow users to use the Log on using your Microsoft Windows user account link on the Logon page, the administrator must give users "log on locally" rights on the Microsoft Project Central server. This can be done using Windows NT administration tools on the server computer. 

For example, one way to do this is to add the user or users to the Guests group on the Microsoft Project Central server computer, which by default has "log on locally" rights. On Windows 2000, right- click My Computer from the desktop, and then click Manage. Under Local Users and Groups, select Groups, and then double-click Guest in the right pane. You can then add the user or users you want as Guests. You can also add entire departments or groups of users if they have been set up in your Windows NT domain. On Windows NT 4.0, this can be done using User Manager. For more information on the Windows NT administration tools, see your Windows NT documentation.

 

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Set up and manage views and portfolios

Once you have installed Microsoft Project Central server, team members can start using most features without further configuration. However, for Microsoft Project Central views, which are accessed from the Views menu, an administrator needs to configure the server to display views of different projects.

About views

The Microsoft Project Central views feature allows users to see information about a collection of projects, see the details of an individual project, or look at assignments made through Microsoft Project Central. Views make it possible for your executives to see high-level information or team members to see more complete information about the projects they are working on. However, there is some configuration work that an administrator needs to do in order to get the full functionality for views.

Microsoft Project Central can display views of three kinds of information:

Create a view

Views allow your team members to see only selected project information, based on fields and filters. Microsoft Project Central includes predefined views that allow you to see different aspects of project information. You can also create and define your own views to see a portfolio of projects, to view details about an individual project, or to look at Microsoft Project Central assignment information. Only a person logged on as an administrator can perform the following actions.

  1. On the menu bar, point to Admin, and then click Manage Views.
  2. In the Actions pane on the left, click Specify Views.
  3. Click New View above the table of views, and then follow the instructions to define the type of view.

You can also add ASP pages (active server pages), data access pages, and HTML files to specific folders on the Microsoft Project Central server to make them available to Microsoft Project Central as additional views. On the server, add these files to the respective folders under \views\portfolio\, \views\project\, or \views\assignment\. To make these files available when setting up views and permissions, add these files to the table of views by clicking Get Additional Views on the Specify Views page. To make these new views available to users, select the view in the Specify Views page, click Modify View, and then scroll down the page to specify a category or categories of users who can see the view.

Note   HTML files should be added to the \views\portfolio\ folder. 

 

Use categories to allow team members to see specific views and information from specific projects

After views have been created, you need to specify which views a team member can see by assigning the views to a category. A category is a mapping of users to projects and views with which they can see project information. There are four pre-defined categories: Team Member, Project Manager, Resource Manager, and Executive. By default, all users defined as resources in Project Central belong to the Team Member category, and users defined as project managers belong to the Project Manager category. By default, users in these categories can see high-level information in a portfolio view for all projects they are working on. The Project Manager and Team Member categories cannot be deleted. The Resource Manager and Executive categories do not contain any users by default. You can add users to these categories manually either in the Specify Categories page or in the User Permissions for Views page.

  1. On the menu bar, point to Admin on the menu bar, and then click Manage Views. 
  2. In the Actions pane on the left, click Specify Categories.
  3. Select a category in the table, and then click Modify Category.
  4. Follow the instructions to assign users, views, and projects to the category.

Note   You can also create new categories by clicking New Category, and then assign users to the category and specify the types of views that users in this category can use.

If you have not already done so, you need to set permissions to control which assignments can be seen by users in a category. Until you set permissions, users can only see their own assignment data in Microsoft Project Central assignment views. 

To set permissions:

  1. On the menu bar, point to Admin, and then click Manage Views
  2. In the Actions pane on the left, click User Permissions for Views.
  3. Select the team member whose permissions you want to set, and then click Modify Permissions.
  4. Follow the instructions on the page to specify the category or categories that the team member belongs to, and to specify the other team members whose task information this user is allowed to see. 

Examples

The resource managers in your company want to view resource assignments across projects. Assign them to the Resource Manager category in the Specify Categories page, and then specify which resources' assignments they can see in the User Permissions for Views page.

Users who are in the Team Member and Project Manager categories can by default see only those projects they are working on. If there are some high visibility projects that you want all project managers to see, then you can add these specific projects to the Project Manager category.

Your company has contracted with some external vendors who need to view certain project information. Create a new category for these vendors, allow them to see only certain projects, and specify the views with which they can see the information in these projects. You may want to make sure that these views do not expose sensitive information like costs.

In your company there may be a special view that executives will want to use to see top level information across all projects. Create a new portfolio view to display this information and add it to the Executive category.

Microsoft Project includes the predefined project view, Tasks Summary, but you want it to show cost information. Modify this view to include cost fields, such as Actual Cost or Baseline Cost.

Sarah joins your company as a new resource manager. You want to assign her to the Resource Manager category and allow her to view resource assignments for all resources whom she supervises. You can do this is in the User Permissions for Views page.

Bob gets promoted to an executive level, but he currently belongs to the Project Manager category. Modify his permissions in the Users Permissions for Views page and add him to the Executive category as well.

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Configure the Microsoft Project Central server to display project information from shared files or databases

Using project views, the Microsoft Project Central server can display information from projects whether they are stored in a file or in a database; however, the following conditions must apply:

For projects stored in files:

The project file must be stored on a network share. While saving the project to a network share, the project manager must use a UNC path, for example \\servername\sharename, and not a drive letter. The project manager must then update the Microsoft Project Central server by clicking the Tools menu within Microsoft Project, pointing to Workgroup, and then clicking Update Project to Web Server.

The Microsoft Project Central server must be able to access the project file on the network share. 

The first step in making project files available to Microsoft Project Central is to set the Anonymous account for Internet Information Server to be a domain account that has access to the network share.

  1. Using the Internet Service Manager, right-click the Default Web Site folder, which is the default server root, and then click Properties
  2. Click the Directory Security tab, and then under Anonymous Access and Authentication Control, click Edit.
  3. Select the Anonymous Access check box, and then click Edit for Account used for Anonymous Access.
  4. Specify a password and domain account in the form domain\username.

    If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0, make sure that the Allow IIS To Control Password check box is not selected. (If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0, this check box is labeled Enable Automatic Password Synchronization.) 

Note  If you specify an account with an expiring password, make sure you change the password manually every time your domain password changes.

The domain account you specify above should have access to the network share where the project file is stored.

In addition to the Default Web Site, you must set anonymous access for the Microsoft Project Central virtual directory.

  1. In the Default Web Site folder, right-click ProjectCentral, and then click Properties
  2. Click the Directory Security tab, and then click Edit for Anonymous Access and Authentication Control
  3. Select the Anonymous Access check box. The account used for Anonymous Access should automatically inherit from the domain account specified above when you set the anonymous account for the Internet Information Server.

When you change the ProjectCentral virtual directory to allow anonymous access, you may get a dialog box asking if you want to override the security permissions for the files Isapi\Pjdbcomm.dll and Logon\Basicauth.asp. Do not select any of these files in the dialog box, and then click OK.

Finally, after you have changed the ProjectCentral virtual directory to allow anonymous access, you need to change the security permissions on the Default.asp file for Windows NT Authentication to work. 
  1. Click ProjectCentral (the virtual directory).
  2. In the right pane, right-click Default.asp, and then click Properties
  3. Click the File Security tab, and then click Edit for Anonymous Access and Authentication Control
  4. Clear the Anonymous Access check box, and then click OK.

For projects stored in a database:

If your organization's projects are stored in a SQL Server, Microsoft Access, MSDE, or Oracle database, you can allow users to look at information through Microsoft Project Central views without allowing access to the database itself.

  1. Ensure that project managers store their projects to the database in a standard way. They should all use either the same system data source name (DSN) with the same database logon ID and password, or they should use different DSN names. 
  2. After storing their projects in the database, project managers need to update the Microsoft Project Central server by clicking the Tools menu in Microsoft Project, pointing to Workgroup, and then clicking Update Project to Web Server.
  3. Log on to Microsoft Project Central as an administrator. 
  4. On the menu bar, point to Admin, click Manage Views, and then click Data Sources for Views in the Actions pane on the left. 

    The Data Sources for Views page lists all the DSNs that project managers use to store their projects. 

  5. For each DSN, specify a user ID and password: Select the DSN, and then click Modify Data Source. Below the table, type a user ID and password. This user ID should have access to the projects stored in the database using that DSN name.

  6. The Data Sources for Views page in Microsoft Project Central lists all the DSNs used by projects in Microsoft Project Central. For each DSN name that is used to store projects, you must create the same-named DSN on the Microsoft Project Central server, pointing to the same database using the appropriate user ID and password. You can create DSNs using the ODBC Data Sources Administrator program in Control Panel on the server.

Your company stores all projects in a central database. You need to make sure that all the DSNs that project managers are using to save to this database also exist on Microsoft Project Central server. On the Data Sources for Views page, you must specify a user ID and password for each DSN. This user ID must have access to the projects saved using the DSN. This will allow users to use Microsoft Project Central views to see the information you have given them access to even though they may not have  direct access to the database. Learn more about configuring the server so that team members can see information in project views.

Notes  

 

 

 

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Using a single DSN and database user ID to see projects belonging to different table owners

For project views to display information from projects stored in a database, all project managers must save their projects to the database in a consistent manner. There are three ways to do this.

  1. Create a new database user ID and password.
  2. To see all projects in tables belonging to different table owners, a view must be created for each project table (e.g. MSP_PROJECTS, MSP_TASKS, et al) which performs a UNION ALL of all owners' instances of the table. To allow Microsoft Project to differentiate between projects in different table owner's tables that happen to have identical project IDs, the project IDs across all owners' tables must be made unique. In the following example, the value of the column PROJ_ID in user2's table MSP_TEXT_FIELDS is incremented by 1000. By incrementing the value of PROJ_ID in all of user2's tables, Microsoft Project will perceive projects in user2's tables as different projects. Project information retrieved through these views cannot be updated.

create view MSP_TEXT_FIELDS as

select PROJ_ID,
TEXT_CATEGORY,
TEXT_REF_UID,
TEXT_FIELD_ID,
TEXT_VALUE
from user1.MSP_TEXT_FIELDS

union all

select PROJ_ID + 1000,
TEXT_CATEGORY,
TEXT_REF_UID,
TEXT_FIELD_ID,
TEXT_VALUE
from user2.MSP_TEXT_FIELDS

If a third owner's tables were added to the view, the project IDs in his or her tables could be incremented by 2000. Project IDs in all twenty one tables belonging to each table owner must be made unique in the same way.

  1. Give the database user ID created in Step 1 access to all the views created in Step 2.

The Microsoft Project Central administrator must now create the same-named DSN on the Microsoft Project Central server that project managers are using to save their projects. Then in the Data Sources for Views page, the administrator should specify the database user ID and password created in Step 1 above for this DSN. This will allow Microsoft Project Central to access projects belonging to different table owners in the database using a single DSN and a single database User ID.

 

 

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Create a view by using data access pages

You can use data access pages as additional views to use within Microsoft Project Central. On the server, add these files to the \datapage folder under \views\project\. For more information on creating data access page reports using data from Microsoft Project, see the file OLE_DB.htm on the Microsoft Project CD at \Pfiles\Msoffice\Office\1033\OLE_DB.htm (This folder, 1033, contains the files for the English version. Files for other languages are contained in the folder that corresponds to the locale ID [LCID] for that language.)

To make data access pages available for viewing in Microsoft Project Central, then you must change the HTML page to include specific lines of HTML code, as described in the following procedure.

If you want to use data access pages, you will needed Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, and in addition an Office 2000 license.

Note To use views based upon data access pages, you need to use the password for the DSN that the project manager used to save the project. Users will be prompted for the password when they attempt to view the data page. The password is not strongly encrypted; therefore, if there are security concerns within your organization, you should not use data access pages against project stored in a database.

  1. In Microsoft Access 2000, open the data access page you want to change, and view it in Design View.
  2. In the Data Link Properties dialog box, make sure the Persist Security Info property is set to False.
  3. On the Edit menu, click Select Page.
  4. On the View menu, click Properties, and then click the Data tab.
  5. In the UseRemoteProvider box, click True, and then click Close.
  6. Save the file and close Microsoft Access. 

    Note The page may not work as a standalone page once this change has been made. You may want to make a copy of the original page for use as a standalone page.

  7. Using a text editor such as Microsoft Notepad, open the data access page file. 
  8. Save the file as an ASP page, replacing the .htm (or .html) extension with .asp.
  9. Before any other text on the page, type the following line:
<!--#include file="../../../Library/sig.asp" -->
  1. Find the first occurrence of the <OBJECT> tag (this tag is followed by other text which varies), and immediately before this tag, add the following HTML code block:
<%
//
// Begin Project Central section
//

%>
<!-- #include file="../../../Includes/build.inc" -->
<!-- #include file="../../../Library/Constants.asp" -->
<!-- #include file="../../../Library/datetime.asp" -->
<!-- #include file="../../../Library/PJQuery.asp" -->
<!-- #include file="../../../Library/Application.asp" -->
<!-- #include file="../../../Library/LocalizedStrings.asp" -->
<!-- #include file="../../../Library/PJSession.asp" -->
<!-- #include file="../../../Library/User.asp" -->

<%
var oPJSession = new PJSession();
var oUser = new User;
oUser.Authenticate(true);

if (typeof(oPJSession.oUser.nUserID) == "undefined" || oPJSession.oUser.nUserID == null)
  Response.Redirect(const_sHomePage);


var nProjectID = Request.QueryString("_projectID").Item;

if (typeof(nProjectID) == "undefined")
  Response.Redirect("..\\..\\PortfolioView.asp");

var oPJQuery = new PJQuery;
oPJQuery.Connect();

var sProjectName = "";
var sDataSource = "&amp;quot;&amp;quot;";
var sUserID = "&amp;quot;&amp;quot;";
var sPassword = "&amp;quot;&amp;quot;";
var rsProject =
oPJQuery.OpenRecordset(const_PjQuery_GetNamePathFromFileID,nProjectID,oPJSession.oUser.nUserID);

if (!rsProject.EOF()) {
  if (rsProject.GetColumn(const_dbWDSN_ID) > 0) {
    sProjectName = rsProject.GetColumn(const_dbPROJ_NAME);
    sDataSource = rsProject.GetColumn(const_dbWDSN_NAME);
    sUserID = rsProject.GetColumn(const_dbWDSN_LOGIN_ID);
  }
  else {
    sProjectName = rsProject.GetColumn(const_dbWPATH);
  }
}
rsProject.Close();

if (sProjectName == "" || sProjectName == null)
  Response.Redirect("..\\..\\PortfolioView.asp");
%>

<%
//
// End Project Central section
//
%>

Note   To copy this code into your HTML editor without retyping it, copy and then paste the code into a text editor, such as Notepad. Then copy and paste the code again from Notepad into your HTML editor at the point where you want the code to appear.
  1. Find the first occurrence of ConnectionString. Change the connection string according to the following example:
    <a:ConnectionString>Provider=Microsoft.Project.OLEDB.9.0;User ID=<%=sUserID%>
    ;Data Source=<%=sDataSource%>;Project Name=<%=sProjectName%>
    ;Initial Catalog=<%=sProjectName%>;Persist Security Info=False</a:ConnectionString>
  2. Save the .asp file and copy it to the Project Central server in the \datapage folder under \views\project\.
  3. Log on to Microsoft Project Central as Administrator
  4. Point to Admin, and then click Manage Views.
  5. In the Action Pane on the left, click Specify Views.
  6. On the Specify Views page, click Get Additional Views.
  7. To make these new views available to users, select the view in the Specify Views page, click Modify View, and then scroll down the page to specify a category of users who can see the view. You can also rename the view to a more friendly name.

Team members will now be able to view the data access page as a portfolio view by pointing to Views on the menu bar, clicking View Your Portfolio, selecting the project the data access page points to, and then selecting this view.

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Create multiple Microsoft Project Central Web sites on the same server

Microsoft Project Central server setup will install a Web site on a Web server, and have the site point to a database. If you need to install another Web site on the same server pointing to a different database, you'll can add the new Web site using Internet Service Manager, and add the necessary registry keys for that site and database servers. A tool to automatically create another Web site is available in the Toolbox on the Microsoft Project Resource Kit site.

  1. Open Internet Service Manager
  2. Right-click Default Web Site, point to New, and then click Virtual Directory.
  3. In the New Virtual Directory Wizard enter a name for the alias to be used to access the virtual directory (for example, ProjectCentralNew), and then click Next.
  4. Enter the path where you initially installed Microsoft Project Central (for example, C:\ProjectCentral), and then click Next
  5. Select the following three check boxes: Allow Read Access, Allow Script Access, and Allow Execute Access. If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0, the three boxes you need to check are Read, Run Scripts, and Execute.
  6. Click Finish.
  7. In the Default Web Site folder, right-click the name of new virtual directory (for example, \ProjectCentralNew), and then click Properties.
  8. Click the Documents tab. 
    If you do not see default.asp in the file list, you will need to add it by clicking Add, typing the file name, and then clicking OK.
  9. Click the Directory Security tab.
  10. Under Anonymous Access and Authentication Control, click Edit
  11. Select the Basic Authentication and Windows NT Challenge/Response check boxes, and then clear the Allow Anonymous Access check box. (If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0, the Windows NT Challenge/Response check box is labeled Integrated Windows authentication.) 
  12. Click OK.
  13. Click the Custom Errors tab, and then change the files for errors 401;1 and 401;2 by selecting the file and clicking Edit Properties
    The new file names should be:

    \Default Web Site\ProjectCentral\Custerror\401-1.html and \Default Web Site\ProjectCentral\Custerror\401-2.html.

    Note
       Make sure you are browsing for .html files, and not just .htm files.

  14. Click OK on the Properties dialog box.
  15. In Internet Service Manager, right click on \Default Web Site\ProjectCentralNew\Isapi\Pjdbcomm.dll, and then click Properties.
  16. In the properties dialog box for Pjdbcomm.dll, click the File Security tab. In the Anonymous Access and Authentication Control section, click Edit.
  17. Select the Basic Authentication, Windows NT Challenge/Response, and Anonymous Access check boxes. (If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0, the Windows NT Challenge/Response check box is labeled Integrated Windows authentication.) Click OK twice. 
  18. In Internet Service Manager, right click on \Default Web Site\ProjectCentralNew\logon\Basicauth.asp, and then select Properties.
  19. In the properties dialog for Basicauth.asp, click the File Security tab. Under the Anonymous Access and Authentication Control section, click Edit.
  20. Select the Basic Authentication check box. Clear the Windows NT Challenge/Response and Anonymous Access check boxes. (If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0, the Windows NT Challenge/Response check box is labeled Integrated Windows authentication.) Click OK twice. 
  21. Right-click the \Download folder in the \ProjectCentralNew virtual directory of the server, and then click Properties.
  22. If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0, in the Properties dialog box, select the Directory tab, select Script option under Permissions, and then click OK.
    If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 5, in the Properties dialog box, select the Directory tab, select the Scripts Only option in the Execute Permissions list, and then click OK.
  23. Create the following registry keys. They differ slightly for Microsoft SQL server 7.0, MSDE, and Oracle. If the database you're connecting to is Microsoft SQL7 or MSDE, add the following keys:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\9.0\MS Project\WebClient Server\Projectcentralnew]
"Provider"="sqloledb"
"ConnectString"="Data Source=SQLServerMachineName;lnitial Catalog=SQLServerDatabaseName"
"UserName"="username"
"Password"="Password"
"QueryFileStd"="\\ProjectCentral\\isapi\\QueryLibStd.sql"
"QueryFileExt"="\\ProjectCentral\\isapi\\QueryLibSQL.sql"

If you're connecting to an Oracle database, add the following keys:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\9.0\MS Project\WebClient Server\Projectcentralnew]
"Provider"="msdaora"
"ConnectString"="Data Source=OracleMachineName;"
"UserName"="username"
"Password"="password"
"QueryFileStd"="\\ProjectCentral\\isapi\\QueryLibStd.sql"
"QueryFileExt"="\\ProjectCentral\\isapi\\QueryLibOracle.sql"

  1. If you are using Microsoft NT server 4.0, reboot the server to complete the creation of the new Web site.

    If you are using Microsoft NT server 5.0 or later, you only need to restart Internet Services Manager. 

    1. On the Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, and then open Services.
    2. Select IIS Admin Service, and then on the Action menu, click Restart.

 

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Set up the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central

The Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central is for those who do not wish to use Microsoft Internet Explorer as their browser client. The module uses the Microsoft Internet Explorer functionality in Windows, but does not register itself as a browser. It can only view a Microsoft Project Central site. To set up the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central:

  1. Insert the Microsoft Project 2000 CD and click the link Install Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central. Alternatively, from the Microsoft Project 2000 CD, run Setupclt.exe. 
  2. After setup has finished, from the Windows Start menu, click Programs, and then click Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central.
  3. On the Tools menu, click Server Settings
  4. If a server is not already established, click Add
  5. Enter a server name (any name that will help you remember what the connection is for). 
  6. Enter the server address as http://<your servername>/<virtual directory name>. For example, http://MyServer/ProjectCentral 
  7. Click OK twice. 

It may be easier to install the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central using a network server by creating an administrative installation point. The administrative installation point is a server share that contains all of the setup files for the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central. Users connect to this share and run setup. 

To do an administrative setup:

 

and on the Microsoft Project CD, go to the folder \Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033 (or the appropriate folder for your language).

  1. From Windows, go to the MS-DOS Prompt.
  2. With the Microsoft Project CD in the CD-ROM drive, type the following line:
    [CD-ROM]drive:\setupclt.exe /a
        
  3. Follow the instructions in the wizard to finish creating the installation point. 

Note   Make sure users have access to the share.

 

The default connection state for the Browser Module is LAN without proxy server. If you need to use a proxy server to communicate with your Web server, do the following: 

  1. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options
  2. Click the Connections tab, and then click LAN Settings
  3. Type the appropriate proxy information, and then click OK.

 

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Additional information and troubleshooting

The following are miscellaneous issues that are not covered elsewhere in this file.

  1. Using the Internet Service Manager, expand the Default Web Site folder, which is the default server root, right-click the Microsoft Project Central virtual directory, and then click Properties
  2. Click the Directory Security tab, and then under Anonymous Access and Authentication Control, click Edit.
  3. Select the Anonymous Access check box, and then click Edit for Account used for Anonymous Access.
  4. make sure the user name is IUSR_[machine name].
  5. If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0, make sure that the Allow IIS To Control Password check box is selected. (If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0, this check box is labeled Enable Automatic Password Synchronization.) 

    If you are prompted to change settings for certain files so they inherit the settings you've made above, select only pjdbcomm.dll, and then click OK.

If your organization has an extranet that allows allows external users access to some or all parts of your network, then Microsoft Project Central will work in this environment. 

Microsoft Project central views can be seen across the internet. However, projects can only be updated from within the intranet. These projects need to be saved on a UNC server or database within the intranet that the server has access to. 

If you want to use the internet, it is best to select Microsoft Project Central Authentication when setting up your authentication method. However, you can use Windows NT Authentication provided Windows user accounts are first created locally on the server in the form server name\user name. Then, when users log on, they would select the Log on using your Microsoft Windows user account link from the logon page. They would then get the basic authentication dialog box in which they enter their authentication credentials in the form server name\user name.

Warning  If you log on this way, your Microsoft Windows user account is passed via basic authentication which does not use strong encryption.

A project manager cannot use a Windows user account to identify himself while communicating with a Microsoft Project Central server over the internet; using Windows user accounts from within Microsoft Project requires that the project manager's current network logon belongs to the domain that the Microsoft Project Central Server is a part of, so it can be recognized and validated by the Project Central server.

 

 

 

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