SAP PS Open PS

Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP)

Applies to: Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP) is an add-on program that allows exchange of data between SAP Project and Portfolio Management (PS) of mySAP PLM and Microsoft Project.

Summary The document describes the essential system configurations and provides a quick start for transfer of projects using Open PS. Document also explains the prerequisites for installation of along with references to OSS notes. Author(s): Sreenivas Kadiam Company: Wipro Technologies Created on: 19 February 2008

Author Bio Sreenivas Kadiam is a SAP certified PS consultant currently working for Wipro Technologies with functional experience of 6 Years.

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Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP)

Table of Contents 1. Open PS Overview .........................................................................................................................................3 2. How Open PS helps? .....................................................................................................................................3 3. Prerequisites...................................................................................................................................................3 4. Things to Remember whilst Using the Add-on ...............................................................................................3 5. Installation Instructions for OpenPS4MSP .....................................................................................................4 Quick Start ......................................................................................................................................................4 6. System Configuration .....................................................................................................................................6 Settings ...........................................................................................................................................................6 7. Transferring Projects ......................................................................................................................................7 Transferring Projects from Microsoft Project to the Project System ...............................................................7 Changing WBS Names ...................................................................................................................................8 Selective Upload .............................................................................................................................................8 Transferring Projects from the Project System to Microsoft Project ...............................................................8 8. Mapping ..........................................................................................................................................................9 9. Related Content..............................................................................................................................................9 Disclaimer and Liability Notice..........................................................................................................................10

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Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP)

1. Open PS Overview Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP) is an add-on program that allows to exchange data between the Project System (PS), which is part of mySAP PLM Program and Project Management, and Microsoft Project. Data can be transfered from Microsoft Project to the Project System, and from the Project System to Microsoft Project.

2. How Open PS helps? OpenPS4MSP makes project processing easier and more flexible by allowing to work on projects anytime and anywhere. For example: •

Start to design the structure of a project in Microsoft Project on a laptop while on a business trip, and then transfer the finished draft project to the Project System when back to the office.

•

Upload a project to Microsoft Project on laptop prior to visiting a customer site or construction site and then make changes directly to the structure or schedule of the project with business partners. When back to the office, it can update the project in the Project System.

3. Prerequisites To use OpenPS4MSP one needs: •

Microsoft Windows® ME, Windows® 2000, or Windows® XP

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Microsoft Project 2000 and above (Standard or Professional)

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Local installation of a SAP GUI standard installation, SAP R/3 4.6B and above

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SAP R/3 4.5 and above, or mySAP ERP

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Open PS Add on (which is available as free download on service market place: SAP Service Marketplace under SAP Support Portal > Downloads > (Software Distribution Center) Download > Installations and Upgrades > Entry By Application Group > Supplementary Components for Cross Industry Solutions > Project Management > Open Project System > Open PS for MS Project)

4. Things to Remember whilst Using the Add-on Some of the new features available from OpenPS4MSP 2.00.00 are part of the standard program only for SAP R/3 Enterprise Release 4.70 and mySAP ERP. To use these features in releases below SAP R/3 Enterprise Release 4.70, modifications must be made in SAP R/3 system. For more information, refer SAP Note 571085. For general information about OpenPS4MSP 2.00.00, refer SAP Notes 534045, and 534046. Uploading projects from Microsoft Project to PS has been restricted from OpenPS4MSP 2.00.00. See SAP Note 534045 for information on how to enable the upload of projects from Microsoft Project to PS.

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Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP)

5. Installation Instructions for OpenPS4MSP 1. Install MS Project 2000, MS Project 2002, or MS Project 2003 on PC The version information can be found in "Help - About Microsoft Project". 2. Install SAP GUI 4.5 or higher on local PC A local installation of a SAP GUI version 4.5 or higher is required. Standard or full installation. 3. Uninstall any previous OpenPS4MSP version Close Microsoft Project. Choose Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs. In the dialog box, select SAP Open Project System for Microsoft Project. Choose Add/Remove. When prompted, choose Remove All. o

If the upgrade is from OpenPS4MSP 2.00.00 or above, the previous version before installing the latest version must be uninstalled.

o

If the upgrading is from any version of OpenPS4MSP prior to 2.00.00, the previous version must be uninstalled. Also delete the OpenPS4MSP installation folder and its entire contents. Any logon or settings data that are created before upgrading will not be available after the new installation. The data has to be entered again.

4. Download and unzip OpenPS4MSP_Setup Save the zip file to a temporary location. Unzip the file (for example, using Winzip) to extract the installation files to a temporary location. 5. Run Setup.exe to install OpenPS4MSP The setup program copies all files to the disk, registers all the ActiveX components and copies the help files. The zip file and the extracted installation files can be deleted. 6. Start the OpenPS4MSP application from start menu Quick Start If Open PS was installed successfully Microsoft Project appears with a new Open PS tool bar. Choose Connect to specify logon data and to connect to SAP R/3 PS. If connected, choose Download or Upload to interface with SAP R/3 PS. The screen captures of the same is shown below in figures 1-3.

OpenPS Tools

Connect to SAP R/3 PS

If connected to SAP R/3 upload and download options are enabled

Figure - 1 MS Project screen with OpenPS add on before connection to SAP R/3 PS

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Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP)

Figure - 2 Logon to SAP R/3 PS

Figure - 3 MS Project screen with OpenPS add on after connection to SAP R/3 PS

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Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP)

6. System Configuration If the upgrade is from a version prior to OpenPS4MSP 2.00.00, or if the installation of OpenPS4MSP is for the first time, user in OpenPS4MSP must be set up and a connection to the system to which one wants to connect while using OpenPS4MSP. The systems and users that are set up in this way will then appear automatically in SAP PS Logon dialog box when used OpenPS4MSP. One can choose not to set up any users or systems (or delete existing ones), and instead use direct access with a password. In this case, if chosen to Connect in OpenPS4MSP, a password is to be entered in the initial SAP PS Logon dialog box and then Logon has to be chosen. The SAP Logon screen appears and one can log on to whichever system corresponds to the password that has been just entered. To use this alternative, one must delete any existing users or systems. Various important settings must also be done that influence the data one transfers and also the working environment, for example, which object types are transferred, whether costs are downloaded, and so on. Settings The SAP Open PS Settings dialog box allows making various settings (Figure 4) for OpenPS4MSP, such as specifying the language of the Open PS4MSP interface and defining link types. To access the SAP Open PS Settings dialog box, choose Settings. One can carry out the following settings: •

Defining Time Units

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Defining Link Types

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Defining Control Keys

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Setting Up Object Types

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Factory Calendar

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Map user fields

Figure - 4 Open PS Settings

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Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP)

7. Transferring Projects The direction in which one transfers a project that exists in both Microsoft Project and the Project System determines whether a new project is created or whether an existing project is updated.

From OpenPS4MSP 2.00.00, the upload of projects from Microsoft Project to PS has been restricted. See SAP Note 534045 for information on how to enable the upload of projects from Microsoft Project to PS. The Role SAP_PS_EPS needs to be added to the user to enable upload of projects. For more detailed information refer the note mentioned. Figure 5 shows the role addition to the user.

Figure - 5 Addition of Role to the User for upload of projects from Microsoft Project.

Transferring Projects from Microsoft Project to the Project System When transferring a project from Microsoft Project to the Project System (Figure 6), OpenPS4MSP checks whether the project exists in the Project System. •

If the project does not exist in the Project System, OpenPS4MSP creates a new project as a copy of the project in Microsoft Project.

•

If the project already exists in the Project System, OpenPS4MSP compares the WBS elements and activities in the Project System to the corresponding tasks in Microsoft Project. If there is a difference, OpenPS4MSP allows selecting which WBS elements and activities are to be updated in the Project System.

Unlike creating a new project, updating a project is a more complex procedure. If any changes to the project hierarchy are made in Microsoft Project, OpenPS4MSP deletes the existing hierarchy in PS and creates a new one. For example: •

If a WBS element (summary task) is deleted in Microsoft Project to which activities (tasks) are assigned, OpenPS4MSP deletes the activities.

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If tasks have been moved from one summary task to another, only the assignment of the activity to a WBS element is changed.

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If a new summary task is created and subordinate task, OpenPS4MSP creates a new WBS element and a new activity that is assigned to a new network.

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If tasks only are changed, OpenPS4MSP only updates the activities in the network.

One can see whether OpenPS4MSP is updating a project or creating a new project in the upper right-hand corner of the Action Log screen of the OpenPS4MSP Wizard. If OpenPS4MSP is updating a project in the Project System, the following message appears: Update PS Project

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Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP)

If OpenPS4MSP is creating a project in the Project System, the following message appears: Create PS Project from MSP Project If the checks run without any errors, a Synchronize Log appears while updating. Here, one can select the objects that are needed to updated. If there are several subordinate lines for an object and one selects or deselects this object, the subordinate lines are also selected or deselected. After selecting the objects that are to be updated, choose Update. Choose Display Log File to see the log after the update has finished otherwise choose Close to leave the dialog box. Changing WBS Names If the name is changed, that is the identification, of a summary task (WBS element) in Microsoft Project that has subordinate summary tasks; this sets a deletion indicator for the respective WBS element and all subordinate WBS elements in the Project System. If tried to update the structure, this results in an error. If the requirement is to change the name of a summary task, the names of all subordinate summary tasks must also be changed. Selective Upload One can restrict the upload of tasks from Microsoft Project to PS. Use the Retain in PS field to do this. Before carrying out the upload, set the Retain in PS field to Yes for those tasks that are to be uploaded to PS. If this field is set to No for a particular task, then the task is not uploaded to PS. This enables to do detailed (lower-level) planning in Microsoft Project and also make higher-level data available in PS.

Figure - 6 Screen showing the transfer options when projects transferred from SAP PS

Transferring Projects from the Project System to Microsoft Project When transferring a project that exists in both Microsoft Project and the Project System from the Project System to Microsoft Project (Figure 7), the following applies: •

If the same project is the active project in Microsoft Project at the time of download, one can choose whether to update the existing Microsoft Project file or create a new Microsoft Project file.

•

If a blank Microsoft Project or any other project is the active project at the time of the download, the download creates a new Microsoft Project file.

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Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP)

To update an existing Microsoft project file, one must open the existing Microsoft Project file, connect to PS and download the project.

Figure - 7 Screen showing transfer when projects transferred to SAP PS

8. Mapping Microsoft Project and the Project System do not contain the same objects. In the Project System, for example, there are two structures for planning projects, work breakdown structures and networks. In Microsoft Project there is only one structure. It does not recognize work breakdown structures as independent objects. Summary Tasks are used in Microsoft Project to give projects a hierarchical structure. Similarly there is no such object as a network in Microsoft Project. As a result of these differences, it is necessary to map project objects from one program to the other. For more information on field mapping refer mapping information section under Interfaces to Project System section in SAP help. Refer Related Content section for the help file information.

9. Related Content •

Help files on the interface (refer Open Project System) are available on SAP help and the link to the same is mentioned below: Interfaces to the Project System

•

SAP Notes relevant to the interface: a. SAP Note 857064 for information about OpenPS4MSP Version 2.02.00. b. SAP Note 579761 for information about FAQs for Open PS for Microsoft Project c.

SAP Note 656414 for information about the expected release dates for patches

d. SAP Note 656440 for information about the release history of OpenPS4MSP e. SAP Note 534045 for information on how to enable the upload of projects from Microsoft Project to PS f.

For general information about OpenPS4MSP 2.00.00, see SAP Notes 534045, and 534046

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Open PS for Microsoft Project (OpenPS4MSP)

Disclaimer and Liability Notice This document may discuss sample coding or other information that does not include SAP official interfaces and therefore is not supported by SAP. Changes made based on this information are not supported and can be overwritten during an upgrade. SAP will not be held liable for any damages caused by using or misusing the information, code or methods suggested in this document, and anyone using these methods does so at his/her own risk. SAP offers no guarantees and assumes no responsibility or liability of any type with respect to the content of this technical article or code sample, including any liability resulting from incompatibility between the content within this document and the materials and services offered by SAP. You agree that you will not hold, or seek to hold, SAP responsible or liable with respect to the content of this document.

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