Want to take your Enterprise Project offline? Here are the recommended steps.
Note: Do not simply save your Enterprise project as .mpp file, work on it outside of EPM and then save the project back to project server using File > Save as option.
Taking a project offline
1. Connect to project server and open your project.
2. Click ‘connected’ status on Project professional and select ‘Work offline’.
3. File > Close
4. If there are changes choose to ‘Save’ and ‘Keep project checked out’.
(click picture to enlarge)
Working with offline project
5. To work on offline project start Project Professional and choose ‘Work offline’.
(click picture to enlarge)
6. File > Open and select your offline project from local cache.
7. If there are changes choose to ‘Save’ and ‘Keep project checked out’.
Bringing Enterprise Project on-line
8. To reconnect in the office, open the project in offline connect mode i.e. start Project Professional and choose ‘Work offline’.
9. Click ‘Offline’ status on Project professional and select ‘Connect to Server’
(click picture to enlarge)
Some Key Considerations when using offline Working Feature
You will be only be able to work within the limitations of the snapshot of the core Enterprise Configuration taken at the time of going offline. For example, when working offline;
- You will be limited to using the Project Team already created with Enterprise Resources i.e. you will not be able add more Resources from the central Enterprise Resource Pool.
- You will not be able to use the Enterprise Templates to create new projects.
What you will be able to do;
- Modify the project schedule as necessary (in its entirety if required).
- Assign/re-assign Enterprise resources, from the Project Team, to new and existing tasks.
- Update Enterprise attribute values (i.e. custom field values) for Project and Tasks.
- Use Enterprise view for monitoring & track project schedule and budget/cost.
- You can add local resources and then replace when online with Enterprise Resources.
What advantage does this have over the 'saving an mpp locally' method?
ReplyDeleteWhen you use Offline working you will be able to take advantage of Enterprise features i.e. be able to do Enterprise Resource scheduling changes, update Enterprise Project & Task attributes and save changes to server when online. If, however, you simply save a project as mpp file the resources become local project resources. This is fine for sharing info with other external parties not using EPM or taking snapshot copies at each relevant key stage in a Project which can later be used to compare with current schedule.
ReplyDeleteHope this clarifies your query.
Regards
PJ