Configure PM Compass for Microsoft Project Integration

After you configure PM Compass for integration with Microsoft Project (MSP) and link PM Compass projects to MSP projects, you can see the schedule data in the Schedule Analysis view.

For MSP integration information, Project Server configuration steps, security settings, and other prerequisites, review the Integrating with Microsoft Project appendix in the PM Compass Installation Guide.

Project Access Rights

A PM Compass user can only access those projects that the project owner or System Administrator has given them access to, using the Access Control tab in Project Details. The Project Administrator should configure the projects in PM Compass with the appropriate linking to MSP projects. The Administrator can use EPM Security Administrator to disable access to the Projects Form View if they want to restrict users from seeing all projects.

Before You Begin...

Verify your Microsoft Project settings

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Microsoft Project Professional

Updating Task Status Updates Resource Status

If you plan to update your resources, Deltek recommends unchecking the Updating Task status updates resource status (Options » Schedule) option in Microsoft Project Professional. By default, this option is checked.

When progress is submitted, PM Compass updates task data first followed by resource assignment data. When the option in Microsoft Project is checked and you edit resource assignment data in PM Compass and submit progress, the resource data (Resource % Complete) overwrites the task data (Activity % Complete).

For example, if you enter 15% for task status and 30% for resource assignments, when progress is submitted, PM Compass overwrites the Activity % Complete value (15%) with the Resource % Complete value (30%). When the data is imported back into PM Compass, the task status is imported as 30%.

Microsoft Project Server

Allow project to use local base calendars

In order for the import to work, you must select the Allow project to use local base calendars option in Microsoft Project Server ( Settings » PWA Settings » Operational Policies - Additional Server Settings). If it is not selected, the process fails and an error message is added to the log.

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Sync PM Compass with MS Project

Project Server Only: Save the .MPP file to Project Server

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If your project is still in an .MPP file format, you need to save the file to Project Server and publish it in order to use the Project Server integration. Before loading the file, make sure that you have not saved a custom view as the default for the project as this will cause the Project Server service to hang and prevent the project from being loaded into PM Compass.

How to...

Save an .MPP File to Project Server

Microsoft Project Integration Setup

Confirm that your scheduling engine credentials are configured

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In order for PM Compass to apply changes and run processes for projects being managed by PM Compass, a username and password is needed in EPM SA (Configuration » System Settings » General tab). This login information is only used for processing purposes and is not used for access control.

These credentials are needed whether or not you use Open Plan as your scheduling tool since PM Compass uses Open Plan functionality for all schedule changes and processes.

If you do not own Open Plan, PM Compass automatically populates the username and password in EPM SA during installation. In this case, do not remove or edit the data in these fields as this will break the integration.

To confirm that everything is configured correctly, you can use the Verify Components feature in PM Compass.

For more information, see the Integrating with Microsoft Project appendix in the PM Compass Installation Guide.

How to...

Verify the Installed Components

Confirm that your integration settings are correct

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Microsoft Project Professional

The next step is to confirm that your default integration folders are correct.

During the PM Compass installation, you are asked to specify the default path to the Microsoft Project .MPP files folder and the integration process logs folder. The MSP integration will not work without these folders.

If you did not enter this information during the installation, or if you need to edit the paths, you can do so on the PM Compass System Settings » Microsoft Project tab. PM Compass needs full read/write access and the Process Server account needs read/write access to these folders.

Although this is the default path, you can select another path if needed when you set up the project link on the Project » Schedule Integration tab.

Microsoft Project Server

The next step is to confirm that your login credentials and logs folders are correct.

In order for the integration with Project Server to work, PM Compass needs the Project Server login credentials and the Integration Process Logs path. You can enter this information on the PM Compass System Settings Microsoft Project tab.

The username that you specify must be a domain account and a member of one of the following Project Web App (PWA) groups:

Administrators group
Project Managers group

In addition, Deltek strongly recommends that this user account and the one that is used to start up the Process Server be the same account. The account that is specified here is used to retrieve the list of projects that you can associate with the PM Compass project in Project Details. If the account is different than the one used to run Process Server, it can potentially give you inconsistent results, such as being able to see the project in Project Details but not being able to perform an import.

This user is not necessarily the same as the logged in PM Compass user. The PM Compass user can view all Project Server projects in PM Compass and doesn't need any access rights to PWA in order to see the schedule projects.

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Microsoft Project tab in System Settings

MSP Professional .MPP file location

Log File Location

Confirm that fields have been linked and mapped

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Before you start configuring progress, confirm that:

The fields that link an activity in the schedule to the cost system have been identified.
User fields have been mapped.

You cannot begin progress configuration until the above tasks are completed.

PM Compass does not support Project Server master projects or enterprise fields.

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Configuring PM Compass: Add Fields to PM Compass

Link the Microsoft Project schedule project to a PM Compass project

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In the Project Details view, on the Schedule Integration tab, link your schedule projects to PM Compass projects.

Set Microsoft Project Professional or Microsoft Project Server as the scheduling tool.
Select the linking fields.
Select the Microsoft Project Professional file or Microsoft Project Server project that you want to associate with the PM Compass project. You can link one schedule project to a PM Compass project.

How to...

Link schedule projects to PM Compass projects

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Changing the scheduling tool

Schedule Integration tab

Load the associated file/project into PM Compass

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After the file/project is associated with a PM Compass project, you must load it into PM Compass. You accomplish this by running the process immediately or by scheduling the process to run at a later time.

Since this is the first time you are setting up this project, it is helpful to click the Run Now button on the Schedule Integration tab. This allows you to verify that you have linked the fields correctly. To confirm that the projects have been linked correctly, use the Cost Analysis Activities tab to see the activities for the selected work package. After you confirm that everything is working correctly, you can then schedule it to be a recurring overnight process.

When you click Run Now (or the scheduled process runs for the first time), the file/project is loaded into PM Compass and the Name field on the Schedule Projects grid of the Schedule Integration tab is populated. An email is sent to you, letting you know whether the process succeeded or failed.

Tip: Use the Schedule Analysis view to confirm that the project data was loaded correctly.

The first time that the integration is run, the PM Compass project is created by adding the activities, resources, and relationships found in the file/project. On subsequent integrations, an update process retains the relationship between the progress entries and the PM Compass project.

If an activity already exists in PM Compass, its resource assignments and relationships are deleted and re-added and the rest of the activity fields are updated. New activities are added to the schedule along with their resources and relationships.

Publishing the Project

After the integration is complete, the project must be published if you want other users to have access to the changes. If the Publish Project after Integration option on the Schedule Integration tab is selected (the default setting), the project will automatically publish as soon as the integration is complete.

Deselect this option if you do not want to publish the project. For example, you may not want to publish if you are running the integration as a test or "what-if" scenario and you don't want other users to see the results.

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Schedule Integration tab

Schedule the process

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After you have confirmed that the project is loading correctly, click Schedule to schedule the process to run at a certain date and time on a recurring basis.

Updating Activity Fields

You can only update Progress from PM Compass. If you want to update other fields such as the activity description, and so on, you need to make the change in Microsoft Project and run the integration again.

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Scheduling a Process

Schedule Analysis view

Schedule Integration tab

Next steps

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After integration has been set up, the next step is to configure progress.

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Configure Progress for Microsoft Project