M

Hi Mark

I keep a read-only MSP template file on a shared network drive that everyone has access to. I can then update the MSP template and just copy over into the Global.MPT.

Anyone wanting to create a schedule has to use the template as a rule. To rollout any changes to the Calendars / Tables / Views / etc. I send an e-mail to the applicable team members detailing what has changed and how to incorporate those changes into their existing schedules. (Tools > Organizer)

Of course if you’re using Project Server you can just update the Enterprise Global Template.

Regards,

Darren

Hi Darren,

Thanks for your reply. I have googled hard to try and find a manual on the Organizer. I have come across bits and pieces and I am almost there. Infact I am but I have not seen this written anywhere on the web.

I want to add or update fields to already existing projects and to provide views using tables.

Most suggestions on the web is to use the global.mpt (Alex is pro for this)and just copy this to each user. However, I have some users who have made many views and additions so I feel loathed to do this.

So I opened the project with the new data (NP) and the project needing the update (UP). In Organizer, I selected NP on the LHS and the UP on the RHS. I then went to Fields tab and selected all fields for NP and copied these across to UP. C’est l’vie (perhaps Alex will correct this).

I do have one warning to myself, I need to ensure any existing project doesnt use the same fields. plus new projects use my blank project or an updated projected with the data deleted and not a "NEW" project.

Is this right?

One thing that you can do immediately is ensure that all of the custom fields that you have used in your files, and also any fields that others have used in theirs, have been re-named (Tools, Customise Fields, Rename).
This should always be done even if it is just you and yours.
That way you know which fields have been used and which have not, so that you don’t accidenatally re-use the field and overwrite previous data that you wanted to keep.
So this is how you build in the warning yourself.
Where different people have used the fields for the same thing, ask them to use the same new Name.
Where different fields have been used for the same calculation, move the data or the calculation into the corresponding same fields.
This mess could have been avoided by adopting some sort of written consistency guidelines much earlier.
For example, I always reserve Date1 for the Current Date (NOW() function) and Date2 for the Status Date, and ensure that everyone else knows this and does the same.

Now that this ad-hoc, whimsical usage has happened, there is really only one way to fix it, carefully and step by step.
It is probably easier than it looks, just a bit of housekeeping.
But this is probably a good lesson about how when everyone who is supposed to be in a team just does their own thing, this is what happens, more avoidable work having to be done by someone.