Installation and Customization of Microsoft Project Central

Article
02/20/2014

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Applies to:
Microsoft Project 2000
Microsoft Project Central 2000

Summary This document contains detailed instructions about the installation of Microsoft Project Central, a companion product to Microsoft Project 2000. It includes information on how to install the Microsoft Project Central Server, and how to set up and administer a communication center for project managers and team members.

You can find additional information on the administration and troubleshooting of Microsoft Project Central in the Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit.

Note: For information on how to extend Microsoft Project Central, see the Microsoft Project 2000 Software Development Kit (SDK). This Software Development Kit is designed for Solution Providers and Value-Added Resellers.

An Overview of Database Architecture
Microsoft Project Central Server Installation Requirements
How to Install Microsoft Project Central Server
Get Your Team Ready to Start Using Microsoft Project Central by Creating Your Microsoft Project 2000 File
Customize and Administer the Server
Set Up and Manage Views and Portfolios
How to Create Multiple Microsoft Project Central Web Sites on the Same Server
How to Set Up the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central
Additional Information and Troubleshooting

An Overview of Database Architecture

There are several key concepts to remember when you work with Microsoft Project Central:

Microsoft Project Central Server consists of a database that contains assignment and task information uploaded from a Microsoft Project file.
After team members make changes to their assignments in Microsoft Project Central, the manager can synchronize these changes with the project files.

Note: For additional information on the workgroup message flow, including TeamAssign, TeamUpdate, and TeamStatus messages, see the topic "All About Workgroup Messaging" in Microsoft Project 2000 Online Help.
Views within Microsoft Project Central are on the Views menu.

Because task information for these views can come from sources outside the Microsoft Project Central database, some additional configuration may be required. These external sources can include:
- Projects that are stored in a Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE), or Oracle database.
- A Microsoft Project 2000 file (.mpp) that is saved to a network share.

For more information on how to use views as an additional source of task information, see Set Up and Manage Views and Portfolios, later in this document.

For more information on the structure of the tables within the Microsoft Project Central database, see the Pjcntrl\Help\1033\svrdb.htm file on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD. (The 1033 folder 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.)

Microsoft Project Central Server Installation Requirements

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

System Requirements

Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0 with Service Pack 4 or later, or Microsoft Windows 2000 (Server or Professional). If you do not have Windows NT Server, you can also install under Windows NT 4.0 Workstation; however, the computer must still meet the remaining software and hardware requirements, and you are limited to 10 connections.
If you are using Windows NT version 4.0, Microsoft Internet Information Server version 4.0 must be installed from the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack. If you are using Windows 2000, Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0 must be installed. The IIS option is included with Windows 2000.
On Windows NT version 4.0, the Microsoft Internet Service Manager must be installed as an option with Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0. If you do not have Windows NT Server, you can also use the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack with Windows NT Workstation; however, you are limited to 10 connections.

To obtain either the Windows NT Service Pack or the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack, go to the NT Server Web site.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5, which is available on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD. The path for the Internet Explorer 5.0 Setup file is: \IE5\EN\ie5setup.exe.

Note: If you want to use data access pages, you need Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later and a license for Microsoft Office 2000 or Microsoft Access 2000.
Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or later, Oracle Server 8.0 or later, or the Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE). MSDE is included and installed with Microsoft Project Central Server if you choose the Install Now option and if SQL 7.0 is not already installed. Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) version 2.5 is also installed with Microsoft Project Central Server if you do not have Windows 2000 (Server or Professional).
Available hard disk space: 100–150 megabytes (MB) recommended.

Note: Because the Microsoft Project Central installation automatically installs or updates Windows Installer, MDAC, system files and other shared components to the system partition (which is drive C in most cases), it is necessary to have this much space available on your system partition, even if you intend to install Microsoft Project Central on another partition of your hard disk.

Hardware Requirements

Processor: Intel Pentium 200 megahertz (MHz) or higher, or similar processor
Memory requirements: 128 MB RAM or more

Note: 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.

You can install Microsoft Project Central Server and Microsoft Project 2000 on the same computer if necessary. Shared components of Microsoft Project Central Server and Microsoft Project 2000 are installed in the \\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\1033 folder (or the appropriate folder for the language version that you use).

Browser Client Requirements

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

Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later, or Microsoft Windows 2000 (Professional or Server)
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later, or the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central
Available hard disk space: 10–20 MB recommended
Processor: Intel Pentium, 75 MHz or higher, or similar processor
Memory requirements: 16 MB RAM or more

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

Browser clients can connect to the Microsoft Project Central server by using either Internet Explorer or the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central. Clients that connect to Microsoft Project Central Server must have a Microsoft Project Central client access license. For more information, go to the Microsoft Project Central licensing Web site.

How to Install Microsoft Project Central Server

You can install Microsoft Project Central by using either the Install Now option or the Custom Installation option. Instructions and requirements for both types of installation are listed below:

Note: To insert default records into tables in the database, you must run the relevant script files that are included on the installation CD. The installation program does not run these script files automatically unless you select the Install Now option.

How to Install Microsoft Project Central Server by Using the Install Now Option

If you select the Install Now option, you are not required to install a database or run scripts to create the tables. The installation process performs those tasks automatically. You cannot choose this option if the computer on which you are installing already has either SQL Server or MSDE installed.

The Install Now option installs MSDE on the same computer where you are installing Microsoft Project Central Server, and uses MSDE as your database store.

MSDE is suitable as a database store if there are no more than 10–15 concurrent users of Microsoft Project Central. The default MSDE database is created with the user name "sa" and a password that you specify during installation. If you want a more secure and scalable solution, see the custom installation information section later in this article.

To begin the installation of Microsoft Project Central Server

Insert the Microsoft Project CD into the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
If the installation dialog box appears, click Install Microsoft Project Central Server. If the installation dialog box does not appear automatically, browse to your Microsoft Project CD-ROM and double-click the Setupsvr.exe file.
Type your user name and organization, and then click Next.
Accept the license agreement, and then click Next.
In the Install Microsoft Project Central Server here box, specify the drive on which you want to install the server. The default location is the drive that has the most disk space. If this is drive C, the default location is C:\ProjectCentral. The location that you specify also becomes the name of the new virtual directory that is created on the Web server.
Click Install Now.
In the Enter Password dialog box, type the password for the Microsoft Project Central database owner and click OK.
Microsoft Project Central begins the installation process. When you are prompted to reboot, click OK.
When the reboot process is complete, the installation process continues by opening a command prompt, and by running the scripts that create the default database and tables. After this is done, Microsoft Project Central is installed and ready to use.

Note: Do not stop this process, or Microsoft Project Central will not work.

How to Install Microsoft Project Central Server by Using the Custom Install Option

To use the Custom Installation option you must have SQL 7.0 (or later), MSDE, or Oracle 8.0 (or later) installed on a database server.

Custom Install Option. This option allows you to specify the database that you want to use as the Microsoft Project Central data store. You can specify a SQL Server, MSDE, or Oracle database.

Note: SQL Server, MSDE, or Oracle must already be installed on a database server in your organization, and the Microsoft Project Central database must have already been created, to continue with the custom installation of Microsoft Project Central Server. If the database has not been installed, or the Microsoft Project Central database has not been created, quit the installation of Microsoft Project Central Server, and then start it again after the database is in place. An administrator creates the database by running script files that are included on the Microsoft Project installation CD.
You must create the SQL server, MSDE, or Oracle database and tables for the Microsoft Project Central database before you start the installation of Microsoft Project Central. You can do this by either using the default scripts or by customizing the scripts to create the Project Central Database. For Oracle, you cannot create a default installation.

How to Create a Default Database and Table Installation for SQL Server or MSDE by Using the Windows Command Prompt

In Windows, run the command (MS-DOS) prompt.
Change directories to the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and on the Microsoft Project CD, go to the Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033 folder (or the appropriate folder for your language).
Type the following commands to create a database, to create the 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:** You must type the commands in the order shown, or the database will not be created and populated correctly. For example, if the account name is sa, and the password is ProjectPW, the commands are:

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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.

If you experience errors when you run the scripts from the command prompt, check the access permissions of the user login in SQL Enterprise Manager. The user must have sufficient access permissions to create databases and tables, and to insert records in the tables.

By Using the Microsoft SQL 7.0 Query Analyzer

Click Start, point to Programs, point to SQL Server 7.0, and then click Query Analyzer.
In the Connect to Server dialog box, select the SQL server on which you want to install Microsoft Project Central, click SQL Server authentication, type SA (or a user with Administrative Permissions) for the logon name, and then type the password for the user that you specified.
Make sure that Master is selected in the list at the top of the Database window, and that Ready appears in the status bar.
Click the Load script icon (open file folder) and browse to the following path on your Microsoft Project 2000 CD: Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033\Crttable.sql.
Load and execute the script. Watch the spot where you saw Ready in the status bar, to make sure that there are no errors.
Load and execute the Insdefsq.sql script from the same path.
Load and execute the Insdefsi.sql script from the same path.
Close Query Analyzer.

Continue the custom installation of Microsoft Project Central Server.

How to Create a Custom Database and Table Installation for SQL Server or MSDE

Open Enterprise Manager for SQL Server.
Create a new database for Microsoft Project Central called "Project_CentralDB" (you may also use another name). Add a new logon user. When you create the user, select SQL Server Authentication on the General tab of the New Login dialog box, 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 Microsoft Project Central database to allow the user to save Microsoft Project Central tables and data in that database.
In Windows Explorer, double-click My Computer and then click your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
On the Microsoft Project CD, open the Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033 folder (or the appropriate folder for your language).
Copy the Crttable.sql, Insdefsq.sql, and Insdefsi.sql files to C:\ProjectCentral.
Modify the Crttable.sql file as follows:
1. Reference the database that you just created, by replacing Project_CentralDB with your database name.
2. Comment out the following two lines in Crttable.sql:

CREATE DATABASE Project_CentralDB go

**Note:** You can make these changes in Microsoft Notepad (click **Start**, click **Run**, type **Notepad**, and click **OK**), or in any ASCII text editor.

If you have access to the SQL Server Query Analyzer, follow these steps to run the modified scripts:
1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to SQL Server 7.0, and then click Query Analyzer.
2. In the Connect to Server dialog box, select the SQL server on which you want to install Microsoft Project Central, click SQL Server authentication, type SA (or a user with Administrative Permissions) for the logon name, and then type the password for the user that you specified.
3. Make sure that Master is selected in the list at the top of the Database window, and that Ready appears in the status bar.
4. Click the Load script icon (open file folder), and browse to the C:\ProjectCentral folder, where you copied and modified the Crttable.sql.
5. Load and execute the script. Watch the status bar to make sure that there are no errors.
6. Load and execute the Insdefsq.sql script from the same path.
7. Load and execute the Insdefsi.sql script from the same path.
8. Close Query Analyzer.
  
  -or-
  
  If you do not have access to the SQL Server Query Analyzer, start the command prompt, and type the following commands to run the modified scripts that create tables in the database and 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:** The parameter letters U, P, d, and i are case-sensitive.

If you experience errors when you run the osql scripts, check the access permissions of the user login to the Query Analyzer. The user must have sufficient access permissions to create databases or tables, and to insert records in the tables.

Continue the custom installation of Microsoft Project Central Server.

How 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.

How to Create the Database by Using Enterprise Tools

In Oracle, create a database for the installation of Microsoft Project Central.
In Oracle, create two tablespaces that have the following names:
- Webindex
- Webtest
Start the Oracle Security Manager.

Note: If the Oracle Security Manager is not available, refer to your Oracle Database Administrator or Oracle Help.
On the Oracle Security Manager menu, point to User, and then click Create.
On the General tab of the Create User dialog box, type a new name for the database.
In the Authentication list, click Password.
Under Tablespaces, select the two tablespaces that you created in step 2.
Click the Quotas tab, and grant the user unlimited quotas in the Microsoft Project Central database.
Click the Roles/Privileges tab.
In the Available list, select Connect and Resource, and then click Roles. In the Privilege Type list, 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.
Log on as the user that you created in steps 4-10, by using one of the following methods:
1. In Windows, start a command prompt (click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK). Type Svrmgr30 for Oracle 8, or type Svrmgr1 for Oracle 8i, and connect as the Oracle user that you created.
  
  -or-
2. Use Oracle to start a SQL Plus Session, and connect as the Oracle user that you created.
At the command prompt, type the following commands to create tables in the database and to insert default records for the tables. Press ENTER after you type each command:

@CDDrive:\Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033\Crttblor.sql; @CDDrive:\Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033\Insdefor.sql; @CDDrive:\Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033\Insdefoi.sql;

**Note:** You must type the commands in the order shown above.

Run the Oracle Net8 Client Easy Config program to create a connection to the Microsoft Project Central Database.

Note: This step is required to configure the Oracle Net8 client on the server computer.
Make a note of the Service Name setting that you type in the Oracle Net8 Client Easy Config dialog box.

Note: The Service Name setting that you type in the Oracle Net8 Client Easy Config dialog box will be the Server Name setting that you type in the Connect to Database dialog box during the Custom installation of Microsoft Project Central.

Continue the custom installation of Microsoft Project Central Server.

How to Create the Database in SQL Plus

Note: The following sample code explains how to create the database by using SQL statements. Please consult with your Oracle database administrator.

Use the Oracle Database Configuration Assistant to create a new database.
Start SQL Plus and log on as the System account.
Execute the following scripts to create the Webindex and Webtest tablespaces.

Note: The path name is the physical path to the database, which depends on how Oracle was installed on the server.

CREATE TABLESPACE webtest DATAFILE' c:\oracle\oradata\DatabaseName\webtest01.dbf'SIZE
10M;

**Note:** The above link is one path; it has been wrapped for readability.

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CREATE TABLESPACE webindex DATAFILE 'c:\oracle\oradata\DatabaseName\webindex01.dbf'SIZE
10M;

**Note:** The above link is one path; it has been wrapped for readability.

Execute the following scripts to create a temporary tablespace:

CREATE TABLESPACE temptest DATAFILE 'c:\oracle\oradata\DatabaseName\temptest01.dbf'SIZE
5M TEMPORARY;

**Note:** The above link is one path; it has been wrapped for readability.

<pre IsFakePre="true" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

CREATE TABLESPACE tempindex DATAFILE
'c:\oracle\oradata\DatabaseName\tempindex01.dbf'SIZE 5M TEMPORARY;

**Note:** The above link is one path; it has been wrapped for readability.

Execute the following scripts to create a user, and grant roles, privileges, and quotas:

CREATE USER <username> IDENTIFIED BY <password> DEFAULT TABLESPACE webtest TEMPORARY TABLESPACE temptest PROFILE DEFAULT ACCOUNT UNLOCK; GRANT CONNECT TO <username>; GRANT RESOURCE TO <username>; GRANT UNLIMITED TABLESPACE TO <username>; ALTER USER <username> DEFAULT ROLE ALL;

To log on as the user that you created, execute the following script:

Connect <username/password>;

Execute the following scripts to create tables in the database, and to insert default records for the tables:

@'CDDrive:\Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033\crttblor.sql'; @'CDDrive:\Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033\Insdefor.sql'; @'CDDrive:\Pjcntrl\Isapi\1033\Insdefoi.sql';

Run the Oracle Net8 Client Easy Config program to create a connection to the Microsoft Project Central Database.

Note: This step is required to configure the Oracle Net8 client on the server computer.
Make a note of the Service Name setting that you type in the Oracle Net8 Client Easy Config dialog box.

Note: The Service Name setting that you type in the Oracle Net8 Client Easy Config dialog box will be the Server Name setting that you type in the Connect to Database dialog box during the Custom installation of Microsoft Project Central.

Continue the custom installation of Microsoft Project Central Server.

Continue to Install Microsoft Project Central Server by Using the Custom Install Option

After you have set up the database, follow these steps to run the custom installation of Microsoft Project Central Server:

Insert the Microsoft Project CD into the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
Click Install Microsoft Project Central Server.
Type your user name and organization, and then click Next.
Accept the license agreement, and then click Next.
In the Install Microsoft Project Central Server here box, specify the drive on which you want to install the server. The default location is the drive that has the most disk space. If this is drive C, the default location is C:\ProjectCentral. The location that you specify also becomes the name of the new virtual directory that is created on the Web server.
Click Custom Install.
In the Connect to Database dialog box for Microsoft Project Central Server, enter the following information about the database:
1. Select the database driver that you want to use: MSDE, SQL7, or Oracle.
2. In the Server Name box, type the location of the Microsoft Project Central database that you created. Do not include slash marks before the server name.
3. Type the logon ID and password that you used to create the Microsoft Project Central database.
4. Type the database name for SQL or MSDE. Do not include slash marks before the database name. (For Oracle, you do not need to specify the database name.)
5. Click Test Connection. If the test is not successful, make sure that the database server is running, that the Microsoft Project Central database is created, and that you have typed the correct user name and password.
Click Install to start the installation process. When you are prompted to reboot, click OK.
After you log on to the server again, Microsoft Project Central is installed and ready to use.

After you install Microsoft Project Central Server, users can connect to it at https://server name/ProjectCentral, where server name is the name of the Web server on which you installed Microsoft Project Central Server, and ProjectCentral is the outermost folder name (or virtual directory) that is specified in the installation path.

Notes: If the database has not been set up properly, Microsoft Project Central cannot function correctly.

If you specified a different location during installation, such as C:\ProjectCentralNew, then users must access Microsoft Project Central at that location (https://server name/ProjectCentralNew).

Get Your Team Ready to Start Using Microsoft Project Central by Creating Your Microsoft Project 2000 File

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

After you install Microsoft Project Central Server, you can use most of its features without further configuration. However, the administrator must tell project managers the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of Microsoft Project Central Server, so that they can type this information in Microsoft Project, in each project that will be published to Microsoft Project Central.

Set the Workgroup Options

To publish Microsoft Project files to the server, project managers must first follow these steps.

Note: Depending on the other identification options selected, the project manager of a Microsoft Project file is either the name listed on the General tab of the Options dialog box (Tools menu), or the Windows user account of the user who is currently logged on.

In Microsoft Project, click Options on the Tools menu, and then click the Workgroup tab.
In the Default workgroup messages list, click Web.
In the Microsoft Project Central Server URL box, type the URL for Microsoft Project Central Server.

Note: You can obtain the URL for Microsoft Project Central Server from your administrator. Use the following format: https://server name/ProjectCentral.
Under Identification for Microsoft Project Central Server, click one of the following logon methods to identify yourself to the server:
- Windows user account uses your Windows user account to identify you to Microsoft Project Central. When you use a Windows user account, all the workgroup messages that you send display the logon account that you used to log on to the network. Windows user accounts offer the strongest security for authentication. In addition, you are automatically authenticated when you use Microsoft Project Central, so you don't need to type a user name or password. In the log on page for Microsoft Project Central, you can log on as your Microsoft Windows user account by clicking the link.
- Microsoft Project user name uses Microsoft Project Central authentication and your user name to identify you to Microsoft Project Central. When you use your Microsoft Project user name, all the workgroup messages that you send display your user name as it appears on the General tab of the Options dialog box (Tools menu). When you use Microsoft Project Central, you must type this user name and a password.
When you click Create Account in Microsoft Project 2000, you create a manager's account in Microsoft Project Central. Your identification depends on whether you select a Windows user account or a Microsoft Project Central user account. The Microsoft Project Central Administrator configures the rules.

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 in Microsoft Project Central before you send a workgroup message as the manager.
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 there regularly for new messages.

The manager tells the team members to type the same URL in their browser to respond to workgroup messages from managers, to respond to status report requests, and to report their status on tasks. However, you can have Microsoft Project send an e-mail message to workgroup members that contains the URL for Microsoft Project Central, whenever a member receives a new workgroup message in Microsoft Project Central.
To automatically notify workgroup members of new Microsoft Project Central messages, click to 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. The e-mail program must be a MAPI-compliant program, such as Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes.
Assign team members to tasks and send them workgroup messages, such as TeamAssign, TeamStatus, and TeamUpdate. When a TeamAssign message is initially sent, accounts are automatically created for team members on Microsoft Project Central Server.

If you want team members to use Microsoft Project Central authentication, you do not need to perform any additional configuration. However, if you want your team to use their Windows user account, you must add their account information in Microsoft Project.

Notes: Most of the instructions for Microsoft Project Central are contained within its Web pages. You can also click Help on the menu bar from anywhere within a Web page to see more help on a specific area. You can also point to items on the pages, such as buttons and options, to see tips about the items.

If you want your team to use Microsoft Project Central views from the Views menu, the administrator for the server must do additional work to set up views and portfolios.

How to Add Microsoft Project Central Accounts for Team Members

When a project manager sends TeamAssign messages to team members, Microsoft Project Central accounts are created automatically for them. By default, these accounts use Microsoft Project Central authentication only. To set up team members to use their Windows user accounts in Microsoft Project Central, the project manager needs to do the following within Microsoft Project:

On the View menu, click Resource Sheet.
In the Resource Name column, select a resource whose Windows user account you want to add.
On the Project menu, click Resource Information, and then click the General tab.
Click Windows Account, and then type the resource's Windows user account in the following format: domain\username.

If you do not know the resource's Microsoft Windows user account, and you have already typed the URL for 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. (Note, for this to work, your e-mail program must be a MAPI-compliant program, such as Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes.)
Repeat steps 2-4 to add Windows user accounts for other resources.

If you do not specify Windows user accounts in Microsoft Project, Microsoft Project Central uses the name in the resource Name field to create accounts. These accounts are authenticated by using Microsoft Project Central authentication; team members see a logon screen when they go to the Microsoft Project Central site. On this screen, they must select their name from the list, and then type their password when prompted. By default, team members' passwords are blank the first time that they log on to Microsoft Project Central. Team members 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. Point to Admin on the Microsoft Project Central menu bar, click Users, and then click Add User.

How to Add a Resource's E-mail Address to Your Project

If you are 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, you do not need to perform this procedure. However, if the e-mail address is ChrisPreston instead of just Chris, you need to add that resource's e-mail address. To do this, follow these steps:

On the View menu, click Resource Sheet.
In the Resource Name field, select a resource whose e-mail address you want to add.
On the Project menu, click Resource Information, and then click the General tab.
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 you can reach that resource at an Internet service provider called Contoso (whose Web server is registered as contoso.com), use the following address: Chris@contoso.com
Repeat steps 2-4 to add other resources' e-mail addresses.

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 as the Administrator account, which Microsoft Project Central creates by default. You can then add additional administrators by pointing to Admin on the Microsoft Project Central menu bar, and 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.

How to Set the Server to Single-User Mode

If you want to perform certain administrative tasks

delete items from the Microsoft Project Central database
merge user accounts
change nonworking time categories
change authentication options

You must put 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, because doing so could corrupt the Microsoft Project Central database.

Before you put the server in Single-User mode, 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 at a specified time. You should not use administrative tools that forcibly disconnect users, because doing so could corrupt the Microsoft Project Central database.

How to Make Sure No Users Are Connected

To make sure that no users are connected, use the appropriate method for your situation.

For SQL 7.0, run the sp_who database procedure. The sp_who procedure 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.

For Oracle, view user connections and processes by viewing the sessions in the Oracle Instance Manager.

For MSDE, type the following command in a command prompt window to see the current processes:

osql -S<server> -U<userID> -P<password> -Q"sp_who"

If you chose a custom install, run this command on the computer that hosts the Microsoft Project Central database. After you run the command, several system processes are listed. These are normal system processes that you can disregard. 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 Admin on the menu bar, click Server Mode, click Single User, and then click Save Changes.

Important: When you have finished your administrative tasks, reset the server to Normal mode so that users can reconnect and start using it again. To put the server in Normal mode, point to Admin on the menu bar, click Server Mode, click Normal, and then click Save Changes.

Note: Relatively few administrative tasks (those listed earlier) require the server to be in Single-User mode. The user interface for these tasks reiterates that Single-User mode is required; you are not allowed to perform these tasks until you have set the server to Single-User mode.

How to Delete Items from the Database

To free up space and remove data that is no longer needed, you can delete items from the Microsoft Project Central database. To do this, follow these steps.

Note: You must set the server to Single-User mode before you can delete information.

Point to Admin on the menu bar, click Server Mode, click Single User, and then click Save Changes.
Point to Admin on the menu bar, and then click Delete from Database.
Select the items that you want to delete from the database.
Near the bottom of the page, specify the users for whom you want to delete the items. Then, at the top of the page, click Delete.
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.

Warning: Items that you remove 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.

Note: To delete a specific project file from the database, select the Project option and then select your file. The options for Tasks, Messages and Status Reports also remove your existing files from Microsoft Project Central.

How to 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, a single resource might have multiple Microsoft Project Central accounts. For example, one project manager might call a resource Jane, but another project manager calls her JaneClayton or specifies 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: You cannot merge user accounts if they share common data. For example, if two users have been assigned the same task or if a manager has requested the same status report from two users, you cannot merge their user accounts. This kind of data sharing is infrequent if the two accounts actually refer to the same person, because it is unlikely that in a single project, the same task would be assigned to, or the same status report would be requested from two resources who are actually the same person. If there is a data conflict between two user accounts that you need to merge, you must delete the shared items from the Microsoft Project Central database; having managers delete the shared tasks from their Microsoft project files or delete the status report requests does not resolve the problem. To delete the shared items from the database, point to Admin on the menu bar, click Delete From Database, and then follow the instructions on the page.

Before you merge user accounts, first make sure that project managers make the required changes in their project files and resend their workgroup messages if necessary. For example, if you need to merge Jane into JaneClayton, first make sure that all project managers who use Jane in their projects change this resource name to JaneClayton in their project files, and resend their workgroup messages if necessary. Only merge the two user accounts after this change has been made in all the active project files.

Ideally, all project managers in an organization should use the same naming convention to name resources in their projects, such as whether to use a full name or an e-mail alias. This avoids the creation of multiple Microsoft Project Central accounts for the same person.

How to Specify Authentication Options

Microsoft Project Central Server can authenticate users by using Windows NT Authentication, by using a Windows user account, or by using Microsoft Project Central authentication with a logon ID, password, or both.

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

Mixed: This option allows both Windows NT Authentication as well as Microsoft Project Central authentication. You must specify the authentication method for each user account. Windows NT Authentication can authenticate some users, while Microsoft Project Central authentication can authenticate others. When project managers create accounts for themselves in Microsoft Project, they can choose which authentication option they want for their own accounts.
The Resource Sheet in Microsoft Project 2000 contains a new Windows User Account field, in which project managers can specify the Windows User Accounts for their resources. If a Windows User Account is specified for a resource, when a workgroup message is sent to that resource, the Windows User Account is used to create the resource's account on Microsoft Project Central, and Windows NT Authentication authenticates the resource. If no Windows User Account is specified, then the resource name is used to create an account on Microsoft Project Central, and Microsoft Project Central authentication authenticates the resource.
If a user's authentication method is Windows NT Authentication, when that user connects to the Microsoft Project Central site, he or she is authenticated and logged in automatically, and sees the Microsoft Project Central Home page. If a user's authentication method is Microsoft Project Central authentication, when that user connects to the Microsoft Project Central site, he or she sees a logon page and must enter his or her user name and password.

Note: If a project manager sends workgroup messages to resources without specifying the resources' Windows user accounts, the resources receive accounts based on their resource names, with blank passwords. The resources can change their passwords when they log on to Microsoft Project Central.
Windows NT Authentication only: If you choose this authentication option, you must specify Windows user accounts, and use Windows NT Authentication for all user accounts that you create on Microsoft Project Central Server. Project managers receive error messages if they try to create Microsoft Project Central accounts without specifying Windows user accounts.
Microsoft Project 2000 contains a new Windows User Account field, in which project managers can specify the Windows user accounts for their resources. If you choose the Windows NT Authentication only option, then all project managers must specify a Windows user account for all their resources before they send workgroup messages.
Microsoft Project Central authentication only: If you choose this authentication option, then Microsoft Project Central authentication authenticates all users. Windows user accounts, if specified, are ignored.
By default, resources' accounts are based on their resource names, and have blank passwords. The resources can change their passwords when they log on to Microsoft Project Central.

Note: You must be in Single-User mode to change authentication methods. If you change the authentication method to Windows NT Authentication only, all user accounts that use Microsoft Project Central authentication become inactive, and vice versa. If you change authentication types again, the original accounts are not reactivated automatically.

How to 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 by using Windows NT Authentication, the program assumes that the user is using a computer from which he or she has already logged on to the network by using a Windows user account. However, this may not always be the case. For example, a user may want to check Microsoft Project Central information from someone else's computer, or from 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 connects to the Microsoft Project Central site, the Logon page may 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 the user enters his or her Windows user account information, Windows NT authentication authenticates the user, who is then taken to the Home page. (Note, if the Home page loads instead of the Logon page, the user should check the top of the Microsoft Project Central page to see what user name is shown as logged in. If the wrong name is shown, the user should log off so that they can log on again, and use the correct name.)

However, to enable this procedure, the administrator must configure the Microsoft Project Central Server computer. 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 computer. The administrator can do this by using Windows NT administration tools on the server computer.

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, and then click Manage on the shortcut menu. Click the plus sign (+) next to Local Users and Groups in the left pane. Click the Groups folder, and then double-click Guests 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, you can do this in User Manager. For more information on the Windows NT administration tools, see your Windows NT documentation.

Set Up and Manage Views and Portfolios

After 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 views feature in Microsoft Project Central 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 outside of the Timesheet. Views make it possible for your executives to see high-level information, and for team members to see more complete information about the projects they are working on. However, an administrator must do some configuration work in order to get the full functionality for views.

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

A portfolio of projects. Users see the portfolio of projects that they have access to, when they click View Your Portfolio on the View menu. A portfolio view displays high-level summary information about multiple projects in Microsoft Project Central. The administrator specifies the projects in each user's portfolio, and the user can see only those projects for which the administrator has given him or her access.
Project managers can publish summary information about their projects to the Microsoft Project Central Server by clicking the Tools menu within Microsoft Project, pointing to Workgroup, and then clicking Update Project to Web Server. Microsoft Project sends updated information about the project summary task to the Microsoft Project Central Server database, so that this information becomes visible through a portfolio view. Information about the individual tasks and resources in a project is not stored in the Microsoft Project Central Server database and is not visible through a portfolio view. This information remains in the project file or in the project database; you can view it through a project view, as described below.
An individual project. Users see more detailed information about a specific project when they click a project name in a portfolio view. Because this information resides in the file or database where the project is stored, Microsoft Project Central Server must have access to this file or database in order to display the Project view.
Assignments. Users see assignments when they click View Assignments on the View menu. An assignment view displays information about the assignments that are made through Microsoft Project Central. By default, a user can only see his or her own assignments; however, as an administrator you can specify additional resources' assignments that a particular user can see. For example, you can specify that the team managers can see the assignments of all team members that report to them.

How to Create a View

Views allow your team members to see only selected project information that is 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 who is logged on as an administrator can perform the following actions:

On the menu bar, point to Admin, and then click Manage Views.
In the Actions pane on the left, click Specify Views.
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 Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) files to specific folders on the Microsoft Project Central Server computer, in order to make them available to Microsoft Project Central as additional views. To do this, add these files to the respective folders on the server, under views\portfolio, views\project, or views\assignment. To make these files available for setting up views and permissions, click Get Additional Views on the Specify Views page, to add these files to the table of views. 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. Team members can then see the new view by selecting the new view on the View Your Portfolio page.

Note: Add HTML files to the views\portfolio folder.

How to Use Categories to Allow Team Members to See Specific Views and Information from Specific Projects

After you create views, you must specify which views a team member can see. To do this, assign the views to a category. A category defines which projects and views a user has permission to use.

There are four predefined categories: Team Member, Project Manager, Resource Manager, and Executive. By default, all users that are defined as resources in Microsoft Project Central belong to the Team Member category; 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. You cannot delete the Project Manager and Team Member categories. The Resource Manager and Executive categories do not contain any default users. You can add users to these categories manually, either in the Specify Categories page or in the User Permissions for Views page. To do this, follow these steps:

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

Note: You can also create new categories by clicking New Category, assigning users to the category, and specifying the views that users in this category can apply.

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

To set permissions, follow these steps:

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

Examples

Examples of How to Work with Categories

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.
By default, users who are in the Team Member and Project Manager categories can see only the projects that they are working on. If you want all project managers to see certain high visibility projects, 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 information in these projects. You may want to make sure that these views do not expose sensitive information, such as costs.

Examples of How to Work with Views and Portfolios

Executives in your company may want to use a special view 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.

Examples of How to Set Up Permissions

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 that she supervises. You can do this 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.

How to Configure Microsoft Project Central Server to Display Project Information from Shared Files or Databases

Microsoft Project Central Server can use project views to display information from projects, whether they are stored in a file or in a database; however, the following conditions must apply.

For Projects That Are Stored in Files

The project file must be stored on a network share. When the project manager saves the project, he or she must use a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path, for example \\server name\share name\project name. A drive letter cannot be used. The project manager must then update the Microsoft Project Central server by pointing to Workgroup on the Tools menu in Microsoft Project, and then clicking Update Project to Web Server.

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

To make project files available to Microsoft Project Central, you must first make the Anonymous account for Internet Information Server a domain account that has access to the network share. To do this, follow these steps:

In the Internet Service Manager, expand the Default Web Site folder, which is the root of the default server, right-click the ProjectCentral virtual directory, and then click Properties.
Click the Directory Security tab, and then click Edit under Anonymous Access and Authentication Control.
Click to select the Anonymous Access check box, and then click Edit under Account used for Anonymous Access.
Specify a password and domain account in the following format: domain\username. The domain account that you specify must have access to the network share where the project file is stored. Do not use the IUSR_machine name as an account user name.

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 called Enable Automatic Password Synchronization.)

Note: If you specify an account that has an expiring password, make sure that you change the password manually every time the account's domain password changes.

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

In addition to the ProjectCentral virtual directory, you must set anonymous access for the MSADC virtual directory.

In the Default Web Site folder, right-click MSADC, and then click Properties.
Click the Directory Security tab, and then click Edit under Anonymous Access and Authentication Control.
Click to select the Anonymous Access check box. The account that you use for anonymous access automatically inherits the settings from the domain account that you specified earlier, when you set the anonymous account for the Internet Information Server.

Finally, after you have changed the ProjectCentral virtual directory to allow anonymous access, you must change the security permissions on the Default.asp file, in order for Windows NT Authentication to work. To do this, follow these steps:

Click ProjectCentral (the virtual directory).
In the right pane, right-click Default.asp, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu.
Click the File Security tab, and then click Edit under Anonymous Access and Authentication Control.
Click to clear the Anonymous Access check box, and then click OK.

For Projects That Are Stored in a Database

If your organization's projects are stored in a SQL Server, MSDE, or Oracle database, you can allow users to look at information directly from these sources by using the Microsoft Project Central views on the Views menu - without allowing access to the database itself.

Make sure that project managers save their projects to the database in a standard way. They should all use either the same system data source name (System DSN) with the same database logon ID and password, or they should use different System DSN names. You need identical (user ID and password) System DSNs on both the client and the server where Microsoft Project Central is installed.

Note: Data Sources Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) accesses data from a variety of database management systems. For example, if you have a program that accesses data in a SQL database, Data Sources (ODBC) lets you use the same program to access data in a Visual FoxPro database. To do this, you must add software components called drivers to your system. Data Sources (ODBC) helps you add and configure these drivers. Please refer to online Help on your computer for more information.
After project managers save their projects to the database, they must update Microsoft Project Central Server by pointing to Workgroup on the Tools menu in Microsoft Project, and then clicking Update Project to Web Server. This updates the Data Sources for Views page in Microsoft Project Central with the name of the System DSN that saves the project to the database.
Log on to Microsoft Project Central as an administrator.
On the menu bar, point to Admin, and then click Manage Views. In the Actions pane on the left, click Data Sources for Views.

The Data Sources for Views page lists all the System DSNs that project managers use to store their projects. These System DSN names were copied to the server from step 2 above.
For each DSN, specify a user ID and password. To do this, select the DSN, and then click Modify Data Source. Below the table, type the same user ID and password that you used to create the DSN. This user ID must have access to the projects that are stored in the database that use that DSN name.
For each DSN name that is used to store projects, you must create a System DSN on the Microsoft Project Central Server computer, which has the same name, points to the same database, and uses the same user ID and password that were used to create the System DSN on the client computer. You can create System DSNs on the server by using ODBC Data Sources Administrator in Control Panel.

Example of How to Configure a Database System DSN

Your company stores all projects in a central database. You must make sure that all the System DSNs that project managers are using to save to this database also exist on the Microsoft Project Central Server computer. On the Data Sources for Views page, you must specify a user ID and password for each System DSN. This user ID must have access to the projects saved by using the DSN. This allows 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.

Notes: If you are concerned about security, perform steps 4 and 5 on the server computer, to ensure that unencrypted user IDs and passwords are not transmitted over a network connection.

Because the passwords that you specify for the System DSNs in step 6 are stored as unencrypted in the Microsoft Project Central database, you may want to restrict access to this database.

If your organization stores projects in both files and in databases, Microsoft Project Central Server can display project views for projects in both locations, as long as you follow all of the steps to allow access to projects that are stored in a database, as well as projects that are stored in files.

How to Use a Single DSN and Database User ID to See Projects That Belong to Different Table Owners

In order 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.

All project managers can use the same System DSN name, and the same database user ID and password. After this is done, an administrator must create this same System DSN on the Microsoft Project Central Server computer, which points to the same database and uses the same System DSN name. On the Data Sources for Views page in Microsoft Project Central, the administrator must specify the database user ID and password for this System DSN.
Alternately, each project manager can use a uniquely named System DSN, possibly with a unique database user ID and password, or with the same database user ID. In this case, the administrator must create each unique System DSN on the Microsoft Project Central server, and specify the database user ID and password for each DSN in the Data Sources for Views page.
The third possibility is that an organization wants all project managers to use unique database user IDs, so that their projects are stored in different sets of database tables. Project managers need to use DSNs with the same names. In this case, for this to work, a database administrator must do the following additional configuration on the database:

Create a new database user ID and password.
In order to see all projects in tables that belong to different table owners, you must create a view for each project table (such as MSP_PROJECTS, MSP_TASKS, and so on), which performs a UNION ALL of all owners' instances of the table. To allow Microsoft Project to differentiate between projects in different table owners' tables that have identical project IDs, you must make the project IDs across all owners' tables unique. The following example increments the value of the column PROJ_ID in user2's MSP_TEXT_FIELDS table by 1000. By incrementing the value of PROJ_ID in all of user2's tables, Microsoft Project treats projects in user2's tables as different projects. You cannot update project information that is retrieved through these views.

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 are added to the view, you could increment the project IDs in his or her tables by 2000. Project IDs in all 21 tables that belong to each table owner must be made unique in the same way.

Give the database user ID that you created in step 1 access to all the views that you created in step 2.
The Microsoft Project Central administrator must now create a System DSN with the same name, on the Microsoft Project Central Server computer. Then, in the Data Sources for Views page, the administrator must specify the database user ID and password that were created earlier, in step 1, for this DSN. This allows Microsoft Project Central to access projects that belong to different table owners in the database, by using a single DSN and a single database user ID.

How to Create a View by Using Data Access Pages

You can use data access pages as additional views within Microsoft Project Central. On the server, add these files to the datapage folder, under views\project. For more information on how to create data access page reports that use Microsoft Project data, see the following file on the Microsoft Project CD: Pfiles\Msoffice\Office\1033\OLE_DB.htm (The 1033 folder 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, you must change the HTML code of each data access page to include specific lines, as described in the following procedure.

Notes: If you want to use data access pages, you need Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, as well as a Microsoft Office 2000 or a Microsoft Access 2000 license.

To use views based upon data access pages, you must use the password for the DSN that the project manager used to save the project. Users are 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, Microsoft does not recommend that you use data access pages on projects stored in a database.

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

Note: The page may not work as a stand-alone page after you make this change. You may want to make a copy of the original page for use as a stand-alone page.
In a text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad, open the data access page file.
Save the file as an ASP page, and replace the .htm (or .html) extension with .asp.
Before you type any other text on the page, type the following line:

Find the first occurrence of the <OBJECT> tag (this tag is followed by other text which varies), and immediately before this tag, type the following HTML code block:

<% // // Begin Project Central section // %>         <% 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 = """"; var sUserID = """"; var sPassword = """"; var rsProject = oPJQuery.OpenRecordset(const_PjQuery_GetNamePathFromFileID,nProjectID, oPJSession.oUser.nUserID);

**Note:** The above link is one path; it has been wrapped for readability.

<pre IsFakePre="true" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

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 // %>

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>

Save the .asp file and copy it to the Microsoft Project Central Server computer, in the datapage folder, under <drive letter>:\ProjectCentral\Views\Project\Datapage.
Log on to Microsoft Project Central as Administrator.
Point to Admin, and then click Manage Views.
In the Action pane on the left, click Specify Views.
On the Specify Views page, click Get Additional Views.
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 user-friendly name.

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

How to Create Multiple Microsoft Project Central Web Sites on the Same Server

Microsoft Project Central Server Setup installs a virtual directory within the default Web site on a Web server, and makes that virtual directory point to a database. If you need to install a separate virtual directory on the same server that points to a different database (so that each project manager can see his or her projects and not others), you can add the new virtual directory by using Internet Service Manager, and adding the necessary registry keys for that site and database servers. A tool to automatically create new virtual directories is available in the Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit Toolbox.

Open Internet Service Manager.
Right-click Default Web Site, point to New, and then click Virtual Directory.
In the New Virtual Directory Wizard, type a name for the alias that will access the virtual directory (for example, ProjectCentralNew), and then click Next.
Click Browse, and browse to the location where you initially installed Microsoft Project Central (for example, C:\ProjectCentral). Click Next.
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 select are Read, Run Scripts, and Execute.)
Click Finish.
Expand the Default Web Site directory, right-click the name of the new virtual directory (for example, ProjectCentralNew), and then click Properties.
Click the Documents tab.
If you do not see default.asp in the file list, you must add it by clicking Add, typing the file name, and then clicking OK.
Click the Directory Security tab.
Under Anonymous Access and Authentication Control, click Edit.
Click to select the Basic Authentication and Windows NT Challenge/Response check boxes, and then click to 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 called Integrated Windows authentication.)
Click OK.
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. Use the following new file names:

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

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

In the Properties dialog box, click OK.
In Internet Service Manager, expand the ProjectCentralNew virtual directory. Select the Isapi folder. In the right pane of the Management Console, right-click PJDBCOMM.DLL, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu.
In the Properties dialog box for Pjdbcomm.dll, click the File Security tab. Under Anonymous Access and Authentication Control, click Edit.
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 called Integrated Windows authentication.) Click OK twice.
In Internet Service Manager, expand the ProjectCentralNew virtual directory. Select the Logon folder. In the right pane of the Management Console, right-click Basicauth.asp, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu.
In the Properties dialog box for Basicauth.asp, click the File Security tab. Under Anonymous Access and Authentication Control, click Edit.
Click to select the Basic Authentication check box. Click to 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 called Integrated Windows authentication.) Click OK twice.
Right-click the Download folder in the ProjectCentralNew virtual directory of the server, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu.
If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0, click the Directory tab in the Properties dialog box, click Script under Permissions, and then click OK.

If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0, click the Directory tab in the Properties dialog box, click Scripts Only in the Execute Permissions list, and then click OK.
Create the following registry keys, according to your situation. (The keys differ slightly for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, MSDE, and Oracle.)

Microsoft SQL 7 or MSDE

If you are connecting to a Microsoft SQL 7 or MSDE database, 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"

**Oracle**

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

<pre IsFakePre="true" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

[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"

If you are using Microsoft NT Server 4.0, reboot the server to complete the creation of the new virtual directory.

If you are using Microsoft NT Server 5.0 or later, you only need to restart Internet Services Manager. To do this, follow these steps:
1. In Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Services.
2. Select IIS Admin Service, and then click Restart on the Action menu.

How to Set Up the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central

The Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central is for those who do not want 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. The Browser Module can only view a Microsoft Project Central site. To set up the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central, follow these steps:

Insert the Microsoft Project 2000 CD and click the Install Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central link. Alternatively, from the Microsoft Project 2000 CD, run Setupclt.exe.
After Setup has finished, click Start, point to Programs, and then click Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central.
On the Tools menu, click Server Settings.
If a server is not already established, click Add.
Type a server name (any name that helps you remember what the connection is for).
Type the server address in the following format:

https://server name/virtual directory name

For example, type **https://MyServer/ProjectCentral**.

Click OK twice.

It may be easier to install the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central from 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.

For an administrative setup

Insert the Microsoft Project CD in the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.

Note: If Microsoft Project 2000 Setup starts, click Cancel.
In Windows, run the command prompt (click Start, click Run, type cmd, and click OK).
In the command prompt, type the following line:

<CD-ROM drive letter>:\setupclt.exe /a

Follow the instructions in the wizard to finish creating the installation point.

Note: Make sure that users who need to install the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central have access to the share that you specify during administrative Setup.

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, follow these steps:

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

Additional Information and Troubleshooting

Unable to Connect to the Microsoft Project Central Server

There are a number of reasons why you may not be able to connect to the server:

The database and table scripts have not been successfully run prior to Setup. Run (or rerun) the scripts to create the necessary database and tables. You must run these scripts in the order listed to be successful. The Setup program does not automatically run these script files unless you choose the Install Now option.
The URL is incorrect. Check the spelling of the URL within Microsoft Project. On The Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Workgroup tab. The most common error in the URL is that the slashes are in the wrong direction; the URL should resemble the following:

https://computername/projectcentral

The Web server is unavailable. Check with the administrator of the server to make sure that the server is running, that the Internet Services Manager is running, that the Default Web Site service in Internet Services Manager is not stopped, and that the database is not stopped.
The browser is offline. To put it online, click Work Offline on the File menu, so that it is no longer selected (the check mark disappears).
The administrator password is incorrect or has expired. When you set up Microsoft Project Central to display information from shared files or databases on a network domain that uses expiring passwords, make sure that you manually change your password every time your domain password changes.
The Microsoft Project Central sever is set to Single-User mode. Set the server back to Normal mode.

Unable to Set Up or Apply Views

There are a number of reasons why views may not work correctly:

Access rights are incorrect for setting up views. Only someone with administrative privileges can set up views.
The server is not configured correctly. Check with an administrator to configure the server to display views of different projects. Pay particular attention to the correct use of System DSNs. Make sure that you are not using IUSR_machine name as an anonymous account name for the ProjectCentral virtual directory, when you save .mpp files to the network share by using a UNC path.
The .mpp file is not saved to a network share. If you use an .mpp file as a source of data for Microsoft Project Central views, you must save this file to a network share that Internet Information Server has access to. In addition, you must use UNC paths in the following format: //Domain/share, and not use mapped drives.
The administrator password is incorrect or has expired. When you set up Microsoft Project Central to display information from shared files or databases on a network domain that uses expiring passwords, make sure that you manually change your password every time your domain password changes.

The Administrator Account Does Not Appear on the Logon Page After Microsoft Project Central Is Installed

Prior to using the Microsoft Project Central installation program, you must create the SQL server, MSDE, or Oracle database and tables by running three scripts.

Note: After you run the three osql scripts, you may have to reboot the server or stop and restart the Internet Information Service to ensure that the administrator account is available.

Material Resources Cannot Be Displayed

Microsoft Project Central does not store information that pertains to material resources or material resource assignments, because it is not possible to send workgroup messages to material resources. You cannot display material resources in Microsoft Project Central views.

User Accounts Cannot Be Deleted

When a manager or administrator deletes a user account by using the Administration menu, the account is disabled, but not deleted. The disabling of the account acts as a precaution against causing integrity problems in the Microsoft Project Central database.

How to Remove Microsoft Project Central

If you remove Microsoft Project Central, the virtual directory is not automatically deleted. If you want to reinstall and use the same virtual directory, you must either delete the existing virtual directory before you reinstall, by using Microsoft Internet Service Manager, or you must use a different virtual directory.

You also must remove the following registry keys before you attempt to reinstall Microsoft Project Central.

If you installed Microsoft Project Central by using the Install Now option, delete the following registry keys (folders) entirely:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Office \9.0\MS Project\ WebClient Server HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Office \9.0\Web Server folder

If you installed Microsoft Project Central by using the Custom option, delete the following registry key (folder) entirely:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Office \9.0\MS Project\WebClient Server

A tool to automatically delete, reset, or create Microsoft Project Central sites on a Microsoft Project Central Web server is available in the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

Note: If you are troubleshooting a problem with your database, you may not need to remove Microsoft Project Central. Try to rerun the scripts, by using the osql tool. When you rerun the scripts, records in the database are automatically deleted before the new default records are created. This creates a new database without deleting the old database. Because all records are deleted when you rerun the scripts, you may want to back up any data before you rerun the scripts. Tools to back up and restore records in the database are available in the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

Zooming Group Status Reports Does Not Work

The zoom feature allows a manager to zoom out a group status report, so that it displays as plain HTML, which the manager can then save or edit by using an HTML editor. However, this feature does not work if you are using Microsoft Visual Interdev 6.0, and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 with Service Pack 1, which does not include the "frame spoof" security fix. For this feature to work, install Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01, with Service Pack 2 or later, which includes the "frame spoof" fix. To install the "frame spoof" fix go to the Microsoft Update Web site.

How to Use Microsoft Project Central over the Internet

If you want to gain access to Microsoft Project Central over the Internet, you must change specific security settings in Microsoft Internet Explorer. To do this, use the appropriate method for your situation.

If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, click Internet Options on the Tools menu, and then click the Security tab. Click the Internet icon, and then click Custom Level. In the Security Settings dialog box, under Access data sources across domains, click Enable or Prompt.

If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01, click Internet Options on the View menu, and then click the Security tab. Click Internet zone in the Zone box, click Custom, and then click Settings. In the Security Settings dialog box, under Navigate sub-frames across different domains, click Enable or Prompt.

Note: You can also add the Microsoft Project Central site to the list of trusted sites. In Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, click the Trusted Sites icon, click Sites, add the site in the Trusted Sites dialog box, and then click to clear the Require server verification for all sites in this zone check box. In Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01, click Trusted Internet zone in the zone box, click Add Sites, add the site in the Trusted Sites Zone dialog box, and click to clear the Require server verification for all sites in this zone check box.

In addition, you must make the following changes to the Microsoft Project Central virtual directory:

In the Internet Service Manager, expand the Default Web Site folder (which is the root of the default server), right-click the ProjectCentral virtual directory, and then click Properties.
Click the Directory Security tab, and then click Edit under Anonymous Access and Authentication Control.
Click to select the Anonymous Access check box, and then click Edit under Account used for Anonymous Access.
Make sure the user name is IUSR_machine name.
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 called Enable Automatic Password Synchronization.)

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

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

Microsoft Project Central views can be seen across the Internet. However, you can only update projects from within the intranet. Further, you must save these projects on a UNC server or database within the intranet that the server has access to.

If you want to use the Internet, Microsoft recommends that you select Microsoft Project Central Authentication when you set up your authentication method. However, you can still use Windows NT Authentication, provided that Windows user accounts are first created locally on the server in the following format: server name\user name. Then, when users log on, they can click Log on using your Microsoft Windows user account on the logon page. Users then receive the basic authentication dialog box, in which they can type their authentication credentials in the same format: server name\user name.

Warning: If you log on by using this method, your Microsoft Windows user account and password are sent by using basic authentication, which does osqlnot use strong encryption.

A project manager cannot use a Windows user account to identify himself or herself, while communicating with a Microsoft Project Central server over the Internet. If you use Windows user accounts from within Microsoft Project, the project manager's current network logon must belong to the domain that the Microsoft Project Central Server computer is a part of, so that the logon can be recognized and validated by Microsoft Project Central Server.

How to Install Another Language Version

To install another language version of Microsoft Project Central, do not use the Microsoft Project Central Setup program. If you attempt to run the installation program twice, you cannot install a second copy of Microsoft Project Central. Use the Microsoft Project Central Language Packs to install different language versions of Microsoft Project Central. These packs are available in the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

Secured Sockets Layer

You cannot use Secured Sockets Layer (SSL) with Microsoft Project Central Server.

Domain Password No Longer Works

When you set up Microsoft Project Central to display information from shared files or databases on a network domain that uses expiring passwords, make sure that you manually change your password every time your domain password changes.

Additional Information

You can find additional information about the administration and troubleshooting of Microsoft Project Central in the Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit or by searching the Microsoft Knowledge Base Library.

Installation and Customization of Microsoft Project Central

On This Page

An Overview of Database Architecture

Microsoft Project Central Server Installation Requirements

System Requirements

Hardware Requirements

Browser Client Requirements

How to Install Microsoft Project Central Server

How to Install Microsoft Project Central Server by Using the Install Now Option

How to Install Microsoft Project Central Server by Using the Custom Install Option

Get Your Team Ready to Start Using Microsoft Project Central by Creating Your Microsoft Project 2000 File

How to Add Microsoft Project Central Accounts for Team Members

How to Add a Resource's E-mail Address to Your Project

Customize and Administer the Server

How to Set the Server to Single-User Mode

How to Delete Items from the Database

How to Merge User Accounts

How to Specify Authentication Options

How to Enable the "Log on Using Your Microsoft Windows User Account" Option from the Logon Page

Set Up and Manage Views and Portfolios

About Views

How to Create a View

How to Use Categories to Allow Team Members to See Specific Views and Information from Specific Projects

How to Configure Microsoft Project Central Server to Display Project Information from Shared Files or Databases

How to Use a Single DSN and Database User ID to See Projects That Belong to Different Table Owners

How to Create a View by Using Data Access Pages

How to Create Multiple Microsoft Project Central Web Sites on the Same Server

How to Set Up the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central

Additional Information and Troubleshooting

Unable to Connect to the Microsoft Project Central Server

Unable to Set Up or Apply Views

The Administrator Account Does Not Appear on the Logon Page After Microsoft Project Central Is Installed

Material Resources Cannot Be Displayed

User Accounts Cannot Be Deleted

How to Remove Microsoft Project Central

Zooming Group Status Reports Does Not Work

How to Use Microsoft Project Central over the Internet

How to Install Another Language Version

Secured Sockets Layer

Domain Password No Longer Works

Additional Information

Additional resources