International Deployment

Article
02/20/2014

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Preparing for an International Deployment

The core functionality of Microsoft Project 2002 and the plug-in language features of the Microsoft Project 2002 MUI Pack allows users all over the world to run the Microsoft Project user interface and Help in their own languages and create documents in many other languages.

For administrators, this core functionality means that you can deploy a single version of Microsoft Project to all users, regardless of their language-speaking area. You can then customize the installation to include local language capabilities or allow users to select their own language settings.

You can also deploy and maintain a single version of Microsoft Project Server throughout your multinational organization. For example, this can be useful if you want to install an English version of Microsoft Project Server, while supporting German or Japanese users viewing and entering information in their native languages.

The language packs include files for displaying the Microsoft Project Server user interface and Help in different languages. For administrators, this functionality means that you can deploy a single version of Microsoft Project Server to all users, regardless of their language-speaking area. You can then customize the installation to include local language capabilities or allow users to select their own language settings.

Microsoft Project Multilanguage User Interface Pack

The Multilanguage User Interface Pack for Microsoft Project 2002 includes files for displaying the Microsoft Project user interface and Help in several languages. The MUI Pack is based on the English version of Microsoft Project 2002; it doesn't work with localized versions of Microsoft Project 2002.

Although Microsoft Project 2002 is localized into specific language versions, you can use the MUI Pack to provide combined support for those languages in a single product. Microsoft Project 2002, with the MUI Pack, is built on core code that you can run internationally. Language-specific user interface and Help text are stored separately, primarily in dynamic-link (DLL) files. These features "plug in" to core Microsoft Project 2002 code; your users can install and run these features when they need them.

This plug-in language capacity means that you can install English Microsoft Project 2002 with the MUI Pack on your computer, but view the user interface and Help in another language. You can even view Help in a specific language, while displaying the user interface in English. For example, you may want to keep the user interface standardized across your organization, yet let each region display localized Help content.

You can customize your Microsoft Project installation to include MUI Pack files for several languages. You can then specify different user interface and Help text languages for different groups of users in your organization or allow users to set their own language.

International Deployment Scenarios

The powerful multilingual features of Microsoft Project 2002 give you a lot of flexibility in configuring Microsoft Project for international users.

You can deploy the Multilanguage User Interface Pack files separately, after you install Microsoft Project. If you develop an integrated deployment plan, however, you can deploy the MUI Pack to users at the same time that you deploy Microsoft Project 2002.

Examples of Multilingual Installations

You can install different combinations of Microsoft Project language versions and language-specific tools, based on the needs of your international organization, as described in the following table.

If you want to do this	Install this language version and tools
Deploy a single version of Microsoft Project internationally, but allow users to work in their own languages.	English Microsoft Project with MUI Pack
Standardize on an English user interface, but allow users to edit documents in a variety of languages.	English Microsoft Project 2002 only
Provide users with fully localized functionality for Microsoft Project.	Localized versions of Microsoft Project 2002

Typical scenarios for multilingual deployment include the following:

Mimic a localized version using the MUI Pack.

Use English as a standard user interface, but provide Help text in native languages.

Provide a multilingual version of Microsoft Project 2002 on one computer.

Read and edit text in another language.

Use a fully localized version of Microsoft Project with no English text.

One advantage of deploying a global version of Microsoft Project 2002 with an MUI Pack is that you can use the Custom Installation Wizard to establish a version of Microsoft Project for all of your sites. If you do use the Custom Installation Wizard to configure Microsoft Project for an international deployment, you must make sure that all language configurations are enabled through the core Microsoft Project installation and the Custom Installation Wizard—not the MUI Pack. For example, while customizing the Microsoft Project MSI, you would configure settings such as the default Help language and the languages enabled for editing. During installation, these settings will be applied to Microsoft Project. When you use the Custom Installation Wizard to modify the MSI file for an MUI Pack, the language configuration options are not available.

To effectively install an MUI Pack with Microsoft Project, the MUI Pack installation should be chained to Microsoft Project Setup. By chaining the MUI installation, you can ensure that the Microsoft Project settings will be applied first, and that the MUI Pack will be installed before Microsoft Project is started for the first time.

Deployment Process Strategies

Depending on the structure of your organization and the languages that you need, you can adopt one of several different strategies for deploying Microsoft Project internationally. For example, you can deploy language-specific custom installations from a centralized administrative source. Or, you can deploy Microsoft Project across your international administrative departments and allow each department to customize the installation for its own language-speaking area.

Deploying Microsoft Project 2002 from a central administrative source

If your organization is centralized, where one administrative group deploys Microsoft Project to the entire organization, you can make all the customizations your users need at your headquarters and deploy directly to users internationally. In this scenario, you customize the MUI Pack and create a custom installation of Microsoft Project for each language-speaking area.

For example, if you were deploying Microsoft Project and the MUI Pack to users in the United States and Canada, you might deploy Microsoft Project as follows:

For English-speaking users in the United States, enable languages for editing as needed.

For Spanish-speaking users in the United States, install Spanish language features from the MUI Pack, leave the installation language set at U.S. English, set the user interface and Help language to Spanish, and enable Spanish for editing (English is automatically enabled for editing if the installation language is English).

For users in English-speaking Canadian provinces, set the installation language to Canadian English, and enable Canadian French and Canadian English for editing.

For users in Québec, install French language features from the MUI Pack, set the installation language to Canadian French, set the user interface and Help language to French, and enable Canadian French and Canadian English for editing.

Deploying Microsoft Project at local subsidiaries

If your organization's administrative resources are distributed internationally, each local subsidiary can modify the standard installation for local users.

In this case, a central corporate administrative group supplies each local office with a standard Microsoft Windows® Installer transform (MST file), with the installation language set to English. Local administrators customize the MUI Pack, select language settings, and modify the transform for their language-speaking areas.

For example, if you are a site administrator in Japan, you might customize the corporate deployment as follows:

Install Japanese language features on users' computers and set Japanese language features so that they are installed the first time users activate the features.

Set English or Japanese as the language for the user interface and Help, set the installation language to English, enable Japanese and English for editing, and select Japanese as the preferred language.

Customize Microsoft Project for Japanese users.

One or Multiple Administrative Installation Points

You can use a single centralized administrative installation point for Microsoft Project 2002 or a Multilanguage User Interface Pack. You can also deploy Microsoft Project from one installation point, and deploy one or more MUI Packs from additional installation points. It might be easier to manage deployment from a single administrative installation point. However, there are scenarios in which using multiple installation points is a preferred method.

For example, suppose you are deploying several different sets of languages to groups in different parts of your organization. In this scenario, you might choose to use different installation points for these groups to avoid using large amounts of hard-disk space when you replicate a single administrative installation point image to multiple locations around the world.

Install the MUI Pack During or After Microsoft Project 2002 Installation

You can chain installations of the MUI Pack with your Microsoft Project 2002 installation. Or, you can deploy Microsoft Project first, and deploy other multilingual features later.

For example, if you are ready to deploy Microsoft Project 2002 right away, but the MUI Pack for a particular language is not yet available, you might choose to proceed with your Microsoft Project deployment and then deploy the additional MUI Pack when it becomes available.

Install Using Systems Management Server or Windows 2000 IntelliMirror

Systems Management Server and Windows 2000 IntelliMirror™ provide flexible and powerful tools for deploying software. You can choose to deploy Microsoft Project 2002 with MUI Packs or Proofing Tools by using either Microsoft Systems Management Server or IntelliMirror.

Customizing Language Features

You can customize language settings when you deploy Microsoft Project 2002 by using the Custom Installation Wizard and the Profile Wizard. These wizards record your settings and modify the Windows registry on users' computers when users install your customized version of Microsoft Project.

When Microsoft Project is installed, Setup creates the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0
\Common\LanguageResources

When Microsoft Project is running, it looks up entries in the LanguageResources subkey to determine language-related default behavior. For example, Microsoft Project checks LCID entries and turns on its language auto-detection feature for languages that are enabled for editing.

Customizing the installation language

When you install Microsoft Project 2002, an installation language setting is added to the Windows registry. When users start Microsoft Project, the application reads this setting to determine default behavior, such as whether to display language-specific capabilities.

In the LanguageResources subkey, Microsoft Project Setup creates an entry named InstallLanguage with a value equal to the locale ID (LCID) for the installation language of Microsoft Project. For example, if the value of InstallLanguage is 1041, the installation language is Japanese.

Microsoft Project Setup automatically sets the installation language to correspond to the language version of Microsoft Project. You can customize the installation language for foreign offices, however, so that Microsoft Project runs with defaults that match foreign locations.

To customize the installation language during deployment, double-click INSTALLLANGUAGE on the Modify Setup Properties panel of the Custom Installation Wizard, and select a language in the Value box.

Customizing the executable mode

If an Asian or right-to-left language, such as Hebrew, is enabled for editing, Microsoft Project must run in a mode that supports Asian or right-to-left text. This mode is known as the executable mode. When you deploy Microsoft Project, you can specify the executable mode for a group of users.

To customize the executable mode during deployment, use the Office Language Settings utility to set the executable mode, and then capture the setting by using the Profile Wizard.

To set the executable mode

On the Start menu, point to Programs, and then point to Microsoft Office Tools.

Click Microsoft Office XP Language Settings.

On the Enabled Languages tab, select the Asian or right-to-left languages that you want to be available for editing documents.

In Microsoft Project, if you select one Asian language as the executable mode, you can still work in other Asian languages. However, some features (such as number formats) might be supported only by the default language. In Microsoft Project, if you want the applications to support right-to-left text, you must select a right-to-left language as the default language.

Customizing languages for user interface, Help, and editing

Microsoft Project 2002 allows users to choose different languages for displaying menus and dialog box text, displaying Help text, and for editing documents. To customize users' default language choices during deployment, use the Microsoft Office XP Language Settings utility to select languages, and then capture the settings by using the Profile Wizard.

To select language settings

On the Start menu, point to Programs, and then point to Microsoft Office Tools.

Click Microsoft Office XP Language Settings, and then click the User Interface tab.
The User Interface tab is available only if the MUI Pack has been installed.

In the Display menus and dialogs in box, select the user interface language.

In the Display Help in box, select a language for Help.

Click the Enabled Languages tab, and select languages that you want to be available for editing documents.

In the Default version of Microsoft Office box, select a subset of the Office installation language, such as Canadian or U.S. English (optional).

Enabling languages without the MultiLanguage User Interface Pack

The options on the User Interface tab in the Microsoft Office XP Language Settings dialog box include all the languages installed from the Microsoft Project 2002 MUI Pack. However, the options on the Enabled Languages tab include all the languages supported by Office, regardless of what is installed from the MUI Pack.

Consequently, you can enable functionality for working with certain languages regardless of whether the MUI Pack is installed. For example, by selecting Korean as an editing language, you enable Asian and Korean features in Microsoft Project, regardless of whether Korean proofing tools from the MUI Pack are available.

If you installed the Microsoft Office XP Proofing Tools instead of the MUI Pack, Microsoft Project uses those proofing tools for the languages you enable for editing.

System Policy Tip You can use system policies to specify default language settings for any group of users in your organization. In the System Policy Editor, set the Microsoft Office XP\Language Settings\User Interface policies to determine user interface languages. To determine editing languages, set the Microsoft Office XP\Language Settings\Enabled Languages\Show controls and enable editing for policies.

When you set system policies for the user interface and Help, be sure the languages you select are supported by users' operating system, as follows:

In English and European versions of Windows, users can run the user interface and Help in English and all European languages.

In Asian and right-to-left languages of Windows, such as Hebrew, users can run the user interface and Help in English or in the language of their operating system.

Localized Versions of Microsoft Project 2002

Deploying Microsoft Project 2002 with the MUI Pack gives you the advantage of having a single installation of Microsoft Project for your entire organization. However, due to limitations of some plug-in language features, you might decide to deploy localized versions of Microsoft Project 2002 in some locations.

To install a localized version of Microsoft Project 2002, you follow the same procedure as installing any other Microsoft Office product. For example, you can customize your installation by creating a transform with the Custom Installation Wizard.

Microsoft Project Profiles and Multiple Languages

User profiles generated by the Profile Wizard are independent of the operating system — including operating systems in other languages. For example, a profile settings file (OPS file) created on Windows 98 (U.S. English version) can be restored to a computer with Windows 2000 (Japanese version).

However, user profiles are specific to a particular language version. For example, if you create an OPS file in the U.S. English version of Microsoft Project 2002, it cannot be restored to a computer with the German version of Microsoft Project 2002. There is some overlap between language families. For example, you can restore a U.S. English profile to an English or Australian version of Microsoft Project 2002.

This language limitation exists because the different versions include localized folder names for the folders that contain the user profile information.

Advantages to Installing Localized Versions of Microsoft Project 2002

Installing a localized version of Microsoft Project 2002 has its advantages. For instance, the user interface of some features with the MUI Pack cannot be changed. If it is important that users run these features in the users' own language, you can deploy a localized version of Microsoft Project to these users. Localized versions of Microsoft Project are based on the same international core as Microsoft Project with the MUI Pack, so users can exchange documents between language versions with no loss of data.

There are some differences between running Microsoft Project 2002 with the MUI Pack and running a localized version of Microsoft Project 2002. For example:

Microsoft Project 2002 with the MUI Pack cannot switch the user interface language of some OCX controls and some Help elements (such as dialog boxes and the Contents tab).

In Microsoft Project 2002 with the MUI Pack, shortcuts on the Start menu are not localized.

Localized versions of Microsoft Project 2002 include localized right-click menus.

Disadvantages to Installing Localized Versions of Microsoft Project 2002

There are some drawbacks to deploying localized versions of Microsoft Project 2002, rather than building around a standardized version. With localized versions, you need separate procedures for deployment, support, and administration. Also, localized versions do not usually support the ability to switch the language of the user interface.

Depending on your needs, you can deploy a localized version of Microsoft Project 2002 in selected locations. For example, you might deploy Microsoft Project with the MUI Pack at all your locations except for Japan, where you would deploy the Japanese version of Microsoft Project 2002.