Clarity

 View Only
  • 1.  MSP XML Interface

    Posted Jul 10, 2019 01:01 PM
    Expect this has been covered before, and if someone can point me appropriate threads, thank you.  Searching the new site is not as useful as old site, as the search appears to "OR" based - as I added words to the search, it doesn't narrow down to a topic, only expands with 10's of thousands of hits.

    With XML MSP Interface, no copy of the user's MSP file is saved, so any local MSP format changes are lost.  Our people love the "Timeline" view at the top of the MSP Gantt chart.  A user sets this up, saves his file locally or to Clarity, and everything looks good.  Until they open their project next time from Clarity into MSP and their "Timeline" settings are gone.

    Of course in Classic interface, this wasn't a problem.  And, in New UX, there is not an equivalent, use built "Timeline" capability like MSP's.

    The question this is this:  How to overcome this problem, such that when a user opens their project from Clarity into MSP, using the XML interface, they will see their local format changes?  If I save locally, now, the next time the file is opened, it overwrites my local copy - format changes are lost.  Does one need to use MSP's 'save as' to create a backup with a different name and then copy formatting into the newly downloaded project from the backup copy?

    A second question is, "How can other MSP users download the same project from Clarity and see the project manager's local format changes?"

    ------------------------------
    Dale Stockman
    Tech Specialist-Project Systems
    ZF
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: MSP XML Interface
    Best Answer

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Jul 11, 2019 01:52 AM
    Hello Dale,

    The new interface works differently as the legacy as the new is not saving view settings and formats back to PPM (only project related data). Legacy saved also the mpp file but the new interface is saving the project data only.
    https://docops.ca.com/ca-ppm/15-6/en/using/getting-started-with-classic-ppm/project-management/msp-manage-projects-with-microsoft-project#MSP:ManageProjectswithMicrosoftProject-DecidingBetweentheLegacyandNewMicrosoftProjectDriver
    It will not be possible to save/load formats and similar information. For the views, it is possible to alter the Global.MPT template, but for project formatting and other data that is not mapped to a Clarity PPM equivalent, this would not be possible.

    Working with a local copy without having a project lock in place should not be done as the project could be modified from PPM or from MSP by another user and only the last save would prevail (effectively losing data from all of the changes of the earlier saves). Also, the new driver cannot overwrite an existing project with Save As.


  • 3.  RE: MSP XML Interface

    Posted Jul 11, 2019 09:03 AM

    Hi Marc and thanks for the feedback.

     

    I understand what can't be done and the use of Global mpt file.  The biggest negative I'm going to get from our users is that their "Timeline" at the top of their project gets wiped out each time they download from Clarity to MSP – this is heavily used and we don't have an equivalent in Clarity, out of the box or custom, yet.

     

    If there was anyway to preserve that, or copy it in from a previous copy...some kind of workaround, there'd be less resistance.  The current 'timeline' view in New UX is a start, but it is very far behind the 'timeline' view in MSP.  I see this getting better in the future – but how to bridge the gap in the meantime?

     

    Dale