Checking Out and Checking In Project Plans
To make changes to a project plan, that plan must first be checked out to you. While you have it checked out, other users cannot make changes to the plan. How you check out a plan, however, depends on where in DPS you access it.
In Resource View and Project View
In the two resource management views, Resource View and Project View, a plan is automatically checked out to you when you perform any action that could result in a change to a plan, assuming that the plan is not currently checked out to someone else. This enables you to move efficiently from one assignment to another without having to explicitly check out the affected plan each time
For example, if you click on a WBS row for a resource assignment in Resource View, the corresponding project plan is automatically checked out to you. As long as you continue to work on assignments for that plan, it remains checked out to you, but if you move to rows for a different project, the first plan is automatically checked in and the newly selected plan checked out.
A plan that you have checked out in Resource View or Project View is automatically checked in when you navigate away from that plan. For example, the current plan is checked in when you select a different project, go to a different DPS application, log out of DPS, navigate to a different URL in the browser, use the browser's Refresh option, or close the browser.
In Projects Hub
When you are working in Planning mode in the Projects hub, you must use the Check Out option on the Actions menu to explicitly check out a plan that you want to update. The primary reason for this approach, rather than automatically checking out the plan as in Resource Management, is to enable you to review a project plan without checking it out and thus locking it so another user cannot update it.
One exception to the above is when you make a change to the
project structure. When you click
Edit in the
Project Structure dialog box, the
project plan is automatically checked out to you until you either save or cancel your changes
As in Resource View and Project View, checking in a plan that you have checked out in the Projects hub occurs automatically when you navigate away from that plan. For example, DPS automatically checks the plan when you switch from Planning mode to Project mode, select a different project, log out of DPS, navigate to a different URL, use the browser's Refresh option, or close the browser.
Checking In a Plan Manually
Though a plan is automatically checked in when you switch to a different project or go elsewhere in DPS, there may be situations in which you need to manually check in a plan. For example, another user could accidentally leave a plan checked out when they leave for the day, and you need to update that plan. Or a power outage could prevent DPS from automatically checking in plans that were checked out at the time of the outage.
To check in plans in such cases, click on the Actions bar in Project View or Resource View, or click on the Actions bar in Plan mode in the Projects hub. The Check In Plans dialog box lists all currently checked out plans so you can select the ones you want to check in. You can check in the plans that are checked out to you, and, if your security role is an Administrator role, you can also check in plans that are checked out to others. Be aware, however, that if you check in a plan that is checked out to someone else, they may lose unsaved changed as a result. For that reason, it is recommended that you first try to contact that person before checking in the plan.