Microsoft Project Server Link

Use DOVICO Timesheet's Microsoft Project Server Link to link project and task assignments created in Microsoft Project Server to DOVICO Timesheet. When a link is created, employees use DOVICO Timesheet to track time on the task assignments created in Microsoft Project Server. When time entries are submitted and approved, the actual hours worked are updated in Microsoft Project Server files.

Click here to see an overview of the information being transferred using the Microsoft Project Server Link.

This topic describes the fundamental steps required to setup and synchronize data from Microsoft Project Server to DOVICO Timesheet. Details on how to send time entries from DOVICO Timesheet to Microsoft Project Server are described in Send time to Microsoft Project Server.

STEP 1: Establish the connection to Microsoft Project Server.

STEP 2: Synchronize the Resource pool.

STEP 3: Synchronize projects, employees and task assignments from the Microsoft Project Server file.

Prerequisite:

The Microsoft Project Server link requires ActiveX controls and therefore only browsers capable of supporting ActiveX controls can be used to link Microsoft Project Server files to DOVICO Timesheet. The Mozilla Firefox browser does not support ActiveX (verified January 2008). Limited functionality is available without ActiveX controls, see Notes below.

Notes:

DOVICO Timesheet can link with Microsoft Project 2007, Microsoft Project Server 2007, Microsoft Project 2003, Microsoft Project Server 2003, Microsoft Project 2002 and Microsoft Project Server 2002.
Limited functionality is available when using Microsoft Project Server Link on a browser without ActiveX controls. Functionality is limited to Get Resources, Add Projects, Get Assignments and Change Links.
The Microsoft Project Link and the Microsoft Project Server Link cannot be used together on the same DOVICO Timesheet database.
Microsoft Project must be installed on the computer or workstation where the Microsoft Project Server Link option is used.
If the ActiveX control fails to load either due to the browser’s security settings or due to the browser’s ability, a message is displayed at the bottom of the view.

STEP 1: Establish connection information

Select Microsoft Project from the Integration section of the side navigation bar.
Select the Project Server Link tab.
In the Connection Information area, enter the Microsoft Project Server URL.
Select your login Authentication format.

Enter the Microsoft Project Server Authentication User ID and Password.

If using Windows Authentication and entering a domain user account, then the User account must be formatted as 'userid@domainname'. For version 9.1 of DOVICO Timesheet, the following format can also be used: 'domainename\userid'

Click the Apply button.

Warning: Before moving to the next step you must ensure that you have added a Microsoft Project Server Account in Microsoft Project under Tools, Enterprise Options, Microsoft Office Project Server Accounts. After which you will be prompted to connect to a Microsoft Project Server Account each time you access Microsoft Project.

STEP 2: Synchronize the Resource pool

When a Microsoft Project Server resource pool is linked to DOVICO Timesheet, employees assigned to each project are automatically added to the DOVICO Timesheet database.

Warnings:

If an employee entered in the Microsoft Project Server Resource Pool already exists in DOVICO Timesheet, that employee will be duplicated in DOVICO Timesheet the first time the link is created.
Employee names must include both a first and last name to be successfully imported into DOVICO Timesheet.

Start Microsoft Project Server.
From DOVICO Timesheet, select the Project Server Link tab.

Click the Get Resources button located below the Resource list box.

Microsoft Project Server		DOVICO Timesheet
Resource first name		Employee first name
Resource last name		Employee last name
Resource email address (optional)		Employee email address

For each employee added, you will need to edit their User ID and Password information as random data is entered in these fields when an employee is added from the resource pool. You will also need to modify the Software access field for each new employee as 'None' is selected by default. Use either the Project Assignment view's employee list or the Items List - Employees view to edit this information.

Note: If a synchronized employee in the Microsoft Project Server resource pool file is ever deleted, that employee will remain in the DOVICO Timesheet database.

STEP 3: Create a link in DOVICO Timesheet

When a link is created:

The project is added to the list of projects in DOVICO Timesheet. You can edit project information in DOVICO Timesheet without affecting the link or Microsoft Project Server files.
Tasks are not added to the list of tasks in DOVICO Timesheet. However, the tasks are displayed in the Project Assignments view and are available to employees entering time.

Prerequisite:

DOVICO Timesheet only supports task assignments from the bottom level tasks in the Microsoft Project Server file. Also, do not leave any blank rows in the Microsoft Project Server file's Gantt chart view. Additional details

DOVICO Timesheet only supports the lowest level task assignments in Microsoft Project Server. Assignments made to group level tasks are not supported.

Assignments made at the lowest task levels are supported.

Assignments made at the group level are not supported.

DOVICO Timesheet does not support blank rows in a Microsoft Project Server file. Any blank rows within a Microsoft Project Server file must be removed prior to creating the link.

Click the Add Project button located below the Project list box.
A pop-up window opens listing all Microsoft Project Server projects not currently linked to DOVICO Timesheet.
Select a project from the list and click OK.

The project, its tasks and assignments are added to DOVICO Timesheet. The project (with the "published" extension) and its tasks are displayed in the Project Assignments view. You cannot add or edit assignments using the Project Assignments view.

Microsoft Project Server		DOVICO Timesheet
Projects		Projects
Tasks		Tasks
Resource Assignments		Task Assignments
Work		Estimate hours
Assignment Start and Finish dates		Assignment Start and Finish dates
WBS code (optional)		WBS code

The project assignments are now created in DOVICO Timesheet and employees can begin tracking their time against this project.

Click here to see how to send time from DOVICO Timesheet to the Microsoft Project Server file.

Notes:

WBS codes are only communicated to DOVICO Timesheet when they have been defined in Microsoft Project Server (From Microsoft Project Server, select Project | WBS | Define Code).
If you edit a project plan file in Microsoft Project Server, you will need to re-synchronize by selecting the file from the Project List box and clicking Get Assignments.
If you rename or move the Microsoft Project Server file, the link will be broken and you will receive an error message when trying to send time. To repair a broken link, select the project from the Project List box and click the Change Link button to locate the file. Only one project should be selected from the Project List box before the Change Link button is used.