If you are installing on Windows, and you do NOT already have a servlet-capable web server installed (e.g. Apache Tomcat, Macromedia JRun):

1. If you are installing over a previous Beta version of Project Reporter 3, you must uninstall the previous version first. If you are updating a non-Beta version of Project Reporter 3, you do not need to uninstall the previous version, but you should use the .war file installer to perform the update.

2. Download and run the stand-alone Windows installer for Project Reporter, which includes a version of the Apache Tomcat server.

3. If you did not choose to install the Project Reporter server as a Windows NT service, start the server using the shortcut installed in your Start menu. A command window will appear; you can minimize this window, but do not close it, unless you want to stop the server.

4. Open your web browser, and point it to the URL http://localhost:8080/projectreporter/prservlet to access Project Reporter's Login page.

5. Log in to Project Reporter by clicking on the Enter as Guest button.

6. You will be prompted to enter the serial number that you received when you downloaded or purchased Project Reporter. You must enter a valid serial number before proceeding.

7. After entering a serial number, you will be redirected to the Projects page in the administration interface, where you can load a sample project.

8. Once you have loaded one or more projects, you can return to the Home page, where you can view various types of reports on the sample projects.

9. You can now use the administration page to customize Project Reporter for your organization, by:
   • Loading your own projects, from data sources that you create;
   • Customizing the built-in roles and views;
   • Creating groups to control which users can see which projects;
   • Adjusting the preferences to change how project data is displayed.

If you are installing on a non-Windows platform:

1. If you have not already done so, install a web server that supports Java Servlets, such as Apache Tomcat. (Tomcat can be downloaded free from jakarta.apache.org; it requires the Java 2 JDK, version 1.2 or later.

2. To enable the generation of images for the Gantt chart display, you must configure the Java runtime options for your server to set the java.awt.headless property to true. For Apache Tomcat 4.1 on Linux, you can do this by adding the following line to the /etc/tomcat4/tomcat4.conf file:

   JAVA_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headers=true"

3. Install Project Reporter by copying the projectreporter.war installer file to the webapps directory of your web server — for example, C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Tomcat 4.1\webapps.

4. Wait a minute or so for the web server to automatically expand the .war file (some servers may require you to restart the server in order to initiate this expansion, or to expand the file manually).

5. Proceed with Step 3 above.

"Instant web-based status reports, in plain English"

Project Reporter makes it easy to put your project schedules on the web, and view project information using automatically generated natural language reports.

Natural language text makes project information instantly and intuitively accessible, and since it's automatically generated, it's always up to date. There's nothing you need to write, and no special annotations of your project data are required.

Easy to use and administer

Project Reporter is designed for ease of use, both by project administrators and end users. Natural language-based reports make it easy for users to find the information they need — the meaning and significance of different data elements is explained in understandable terms, and hyperlinks in the text let users perform operations such as filtering in a completely intuitive manner.

Administration of Project Reporter is also simple and intuitive — by customizing the built-in roles and views, you can provide exactly the right kind of information to a range of users, from executives to team members.

Broad platform support

Project Reporter is designed to support a wide variety of client and server platforms. It supports several project data formats, from MPX files to enterprise-class databases — including Microsoft Project versions 98 to 2002, and Scitor Project Scheduler.

The Project Reporter server can be run on any Java-compatible platform, including Linux, and both Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers are supported (with no Java applets or ActiveX controls).

Stakeholders in a project may include the following:

• Members of the project team;
• Project managers responsible for a project;
• Higher-level managers or overseers of the project within an organization;
• Clients within or outside the organization.

Project Reporter is appropriate for organizations who wish to publish project information to a variety of types of users, both easily and inexpensively. Its web-based implementation makes it much more cost-effective than placing general-purpose project management software on every stakeholder's desktop.

Project Reporter includes a web-based administration interface, which lets the project manager load multiple projects and manage user accounts and groups. Different report views can be created for different user roles, and virtually every detail of a view is configurable to control who sees what information.

To publish a project using Project Reporter, all the project manager needs to do is save it in one of the project file or database formats supported by Project Reporter, in a location accessible to the computer running the Project Reporter server. No special text or annotations are required in project files — Project Reporter generates status reports completely automatically. Once a new project has been loaded using the administration interface, it will be reloaded automatically every time the file or database is updated, and an up-to-date status report will be available instantly.

Server requirements:

Recommended minimum hardware configuration:

• Pentium III-class or equivalent computer
• 256 Mb RAM
• 20 Mb disk space required for installation
• Platforms supported:
  • Windows 98/NT/2000/XP
  • Unix/Linux
  • MacOS

Project Reporter includes a customized version of the Apache Tomcat web server, but it can also be installed with other servers that support the Java Servlet specification, such as:

• Macromedia JRun
• BEA WebLogic
• Caucho Resin
• IBM WebSphere

For environments requiring more advanced security provisions (such as restricting access from the Internet), many of these servers can be configured to use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), or can be integrated with third-party web servers such as Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS).

Clients require one of the following web browsers:

• Netscape Navigator, Version 6 or later
• Mozilla, Version 1 or later
• Microsoft Internet Explorer, Version 5 or later
• Opera, Version 6 or later

If you wish to provide more robust security for reports generated by Project Reporter, you should configure it to work with one of the supported third-party web servers, which have more advanced support for user authentication and request filtering. You can also make use of supplementary security tools such as network firewalls and directory permissions.

Sample scenarios

Here are some examples of how you might configure Project Reporter for different user environments:

Each computer contacting the server counts as a separate client. A single client computer can be used by any number of users, with any number of login IDs, under the same client license. However, if the same user logs in from different client computers, or if the same login ID is used by different users from different client computers, a client license must be purchased for each client computer.

If a client license for a given client computer is not used for one month, it can be transferred to another client computer. Client computers are tracked using TCP/IP host names or numbers. As of Version 3.0, Project Reporter tracks clients with the aid of browser cookies, so that computers whose IP addresses change from time to time because of dynamic address protocols like DHCP (for example, when using a dial-up or VPN connection) are not counted multiple times.

Project Reporter provides a client statistics page, as part of the administration interface, which displays a list of the client computers that have contacted the server in the past month. This page can be used by system or project administrators to ensure compliance with the license terms.

Users of previous versions of Project Reporter should consult the topic on Upgrading from previous versions of Project Reporter for more details on how various features have changed.

Version 3.03

• Added support for loading .MPP files created with Microsoft Project 2003
• Project Reporter server now supports Java J2SE Runtime Environment version 5.0 or later

Version 3.02

• Various bug fixes related to incorrect display of Earned Value fields, and hyperlinks and special characters in text fields

Version 3.01

• Added ability to assign default filters to views
• Added options to Preferences page:
  • Display work fields in days instead of hours
  • Don't truncate long text fields in Gantt chart
  • Improved support for different date display formats
• Added support for accessing individual project reports directly, without going through Home page
• Various bug fixes

Version 3.0

• New role-based security model, for easier, more flexible administration of who sees what
• Redesigned report interface, with multiple views per user/role, enhanced natural language capability, and interactive multidimensional filtering
• New views for reporting across projects — Project Portfolio, Resource Assignments, My Tasks
• New "Pure HTML" interface — no Java applets or client controls
• Support for loading .MPP files (Windows only; requires Microsoft Project on server)
• Load .MPD files directly, without creating ODBC data sources (Windows only)
• Improved performance, with reduced memory requirements for server
• Added .war file support for easier installation with Java application servers.
• Added support for new fields in Microsoft Project 2002.

• Installation: Project Reporter 3.0 should be installed in a separate directory from previous versions. This version is incompatible with the version of JRun distributed with previous versions.

• Exporting project data: If you are running the Project Reporter server on Windows, you should export your projects as .MPP or .MPD files from Project 98, 2000, or 2002. Loading .MPD files no longer requires creation of an ODBC data source, unless you store multiple projects in each file. To load .MPP files, you must have Microsoft Project 2000 or 2002 installed on the computer running the Project Reporter server.

  .PRX files should only be used if you are running the server on a non-Windows platform, such as Linux. The .PRX export format has been updated, so you must install the new export macro in Microsoft Project.

• Customizing views: The use of views in Project Reporter Version 3.0 is both simpler, and more powerful than in previous versions. A view is simply a list of fields to be displayed in the Gantt chart, and the fields in a view determine the form of the generated textual descriptions. You can also use the new Roles feature to control who sees which views.

• Redesigned report interface: The report interface has been redesigned to make it easier to sort and filter lists in the Gantt chart, while also introducing a "pure HTML" implementation which makes it easier to view and print reports in different browsers.

• New report types: You can now view detailed information on a list of projects on the Project Portfolio page, a list of assignments across multiple projects on the Resource Assignments page, and a list of assignments for an individual resource on the My Tasks page.

• Other changes:
  • Data sources can be set to auto-load new projects automatically.
  • The Client Statistics page now uses cookies to detect users with changing host names, so that users on dial-up or DHCP connections don't use multiple licenses.
  • Report links are no longer provided between master projects and subprojects, and resource work and cost are no longer summed across projects when reporting on resource pools, so no special conventions are required when exporting related project files or databases.
  • The display of split tasks is no longer supported in the Gantt chart.

The following topics describe how to install Project Reporter in different configurations. For more information about which configuration is most appropriate for your environment, see Security guidelines.

The modified version of Tomcat in the stand-alone version is not configured to support the full range of Tomcat's functionality, such as:

• Using Java Server Pages (.jsp files);
• Integrating Tomcat with other web servers, such as Microsoft IIS;
• Using SSL for secure communications;
• Running CGI progams.

For detailed instructions on getting started after installation, see Project Reporter Quick Start.

• If you are running Tomcat on Linux or another Unix platform, to enable the generation of images for the Gantt chart display you must configure the Java runtime options for your server to set the java.awt.headless property to true. For Apache Tomcat 4.1 on Linux, you can do this by adding the following line to the /etc/tomcat4/tomcat4.conf file:

  JAVA_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headers=true"

• Copy the projectreporter.war file from the Project Reporter installation directory to the webapps directory of your web server — for example, C:\Program Files\Apache Tomcat 4.0\webapps.

• Wait a minute or so for Tomcat to expand the .war file automatically (creating a webapps\projectreporter directory). If this does not happen automatically, you may need to stop and restart the Tomcat server (for example, using the Services control panel on Windows NT, 2000, or XP).

• Test the web application by pointing your browser to a URL of this form (adjusting the host name and port number as appropriate):

  http://myserver.myhost.com:8080/projectreporter/prservlet

http://localhost:8080/manager/install?path=/projectreporter&war=file:/c/projectreporter.war

This requires the manager application to be enabled — see the Tomcat documentation for details.

Note: Project Reporter no longer supports JRun 2.2, which was included with previous versions of Project Reporter.

• If necessary, copy the projectreporter.war file from the Project Reporter installation directory to a directory on the server where JRun is installed.

• Using the JRun administration interface, select the Deploy an Application command for the JRun Default Server (or the server instance of your choice).

• In the Web Application Information form, select the projectreporter.war file as the Servlet War File, and enter the following data:
  • Application Name: Project Reporter (or a name of your choice)
  • Application URL: /projectreporter
  All other fields can be left with their default values, or you can adjust them if you wish.

• Click the Deploy button to save the information, then restart the server.

• Test the web application by pointing your browser to a URL of this form (adjusting the host name and port number as appropriate):

  http://localhost:8100/projectreporter/prservlet

• Copy the projectreporter.war file from the Project Reporter installation directory to your Resin webapps directory — for example, C:\resin-2.0.0\webapps.

  This will cause Resin to automatically expand the .war file and create a projectreporter application directory. If this does not happen automatically, check your resin.conf file to make sure that a directory has been specified in which .war files will be automatically expanded, e.g.:

  <war-dir id='webapps'/>

• Test the web application by pointing your browser to a URL of this form (adjusting the host name and port number as appropriate):

  http://myserver.myhost.com:8000/projectreporter/prservlet

• Expand the projectreporter.war file from the Project Reporter installation directory to a directory of your choice on the machine where the WebLogic server is running — for example, C:\projectreporter.

• Using the Web Applications section in the WebLogic administration console, follow the directions for deploying an "exploded" application — rather than browsing to select the projectreporter.war file and deploy it directly, you should select the directory where you expanded this file in the previous step.

• Select the server where you wish to deploy Project Reporter, and click on the Configure and Deploy button.

• Test the web application by pointing your browser to a URL of this form (adjusting the host name and port number as appropriate):

  http://myserver.myhost.com:7001/projectreporter/prservlet

In order to enable the generation of images for the Gantt chart display on Unix platforms, you must configure the Java runtime options for your server to set the java.awt.headless property to true. For Apache Tomcat 4.1 on Linux, you can do this by adding the following line to the /etc/tomcat4/tomcat4.conf file:

JAVA_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headers=true"

You should restart the server after changing this setting.

If you are using another web server, consult its documentation for information on how to configure runtime parameters for the Java virtual machine.

The first step in installing a JDBC driver is to obtain the class files for the driver, and place them in the appropriate directory on the server where Project Reporter is running, relative to the directory containing the class files for the Project Reporter servlet. If you are using the Apache Tomcat server, which is included with some versions of Project Reporter, you can place the driver class files in expanded form in the WEB-INF/classes directory for the projectreporter web application, or in .jar form in the WEB-INF/lib directory.

Once you have put the driver class files in the correct location, you should restart the server and create a data source in Project Reporter to test the connection. For this step you will need information specific to your database installation, such as the name of the database host, the correct port number, a login ID and password, etc.

If the data source you create does not function properly, Project Reporter should display an error message that will help you diagnose the problem. The most common problems are that Project Reporter cannot access the driver classes (ClassNotFoundError), or that JDBC URL string, login ID, or password are not correct.

Note: In order to use multiple instances of the Project Reporter servlet on the same server, you must obtain a separate license and serial number for each instance, and monitor the client statistics for that instance according to the license terms.

To create multiple instances of Project Reporter on the same server, perform the following steps (these instructions are also included in the web.xml file contained in the projectreporter.war archive):

1. Install one instance according to the default instructions appropriate for your server.

2. Create a copy of the resulting expanded directory — for example, copy C:\Program Files\Apache Tomcat 4.0\webapps\projectreporter to ...webapps\projectreporter2.

3. In the copied directory, edit the web.xml file, and change the value of the webAppName parameter to match the name of the copied directory (e.g. projectreporter2).

4. To access the new instance, use a URL of the form: http://localhost:8080/projectreporter2/prservlet (you may need to restart the server first).

1. Notify other users of the URL (web-server address) of the login or entry page, so that they can enter this location in their web browsers;
2. Create a link to Project Reporter on another web page, for example on your company's intranet.

Because the default URL for Project Reporter is fairly complex, the second method listed above is recommended (note that the web page that points to Project Reporter does not have to be located on the same web server as Project Reporter). If you use the first method, you should encourage users to bookmark the location of the login page, for convenience.

The actual URL that should be used to access Project Reporter will depend on how it is installed. For a default stand-alone installation with the Apache Tomcat server, the URL would be of the form:

http://myhost.mydomain.com:8080/projectreporter/prservlet

In some network configurations, it may be more convenient to use the host name without the domain name (i.e., substituting simply myhost for myhost.mydomain.com). This may avoid problems with firewalls, for example.

If you wish to send all users directly to the Home page (using the Guest account, which must be enabled), you should add the extension NoLogin to the URL, for example:

http://myhost.mydomain.com:8080/projectreporter/prservlet/NoLogin

Note: When creating a link to Project Reporter or directing users to a URL for it, it is important that you use a location such as those shown above, so that option settings can be tracked correctly; if users jump directly to other pages within Project Reporter's user interface, for example using bookmarks, there can be unexpected results.

For more details on the URLs used to access Project Reporter in different configurations, see Installing Project Reporter.

To enable this behavior, you must have the Guest account enabled. Note that this may reduce the overall security of your Project Reporter installation — this configuration is most appropriate for a relatively secure environment, such as a corporate intranet.

To make a project report directly available via a hyperlink on another web page, perform the following steps:

1. Use the Projects page in the administration interface to load the project.
2. Once the project has been loaded, the name of the project file displayed on the Projects page should become a hyperlink — if it does not, check to make sure that the Guest account is not disabled.
3. Click on the hyperlink to open a new browser window, which displays the report for the project.
4. Copy the URL displayed in the report window, and paste it into the HTML document that you wish to link to the report (using the appropriate <a> ... </a> syntax for an HTML link).
5. Test the HTML page you are linking from, to ensure that the link works correctly.
6. If you later unload the project (for example, if it becomes obsolete), remember to update the links in the other HTML page.

When editing Views in Project Reporter's administration interface, you can specify aliases for any custom fields displayed in views (as well as non-custom fields); but the same alias will be displayed for all projects.

Note: If you wish to use project-level custom fields, you should note the following tips:

• To enter values for a custom field such as Text1 at the project level in Microsoft Project, you must turn on the Show project summary task option on the View tab of the Options dialog, and enter the custom field values for the project summary task (the task with ID 0).
• In Project Reporter, project-level custom fields can be displayed in Project views (on the Project Portfolio report page) by simply adding them to the appropriate views.

  However, to view project-level custom field values in Task views (in reports for an individual project), you must turn on Project Reporter's Show project summary task option in the Preferences section of the administration interface.

Project Reporter treats a project as a resource pool if it has no tasks (other than the root project summary task), and does not apply the Show resource work/cost for current project only option to resource pool projects. This means that resource work and cost figures for a resource pool project will reflect each resource's assignments in all projects that use the resource pool.

Note: Because of this convention, if you wish to be able to view summary work and cost information for resources in a resource pool, you should make sure that your resource pool projects do not contain any tasks. If they do, they will be treated as regular projects, and resource work and cost figures will be recalculated to reflect only assignments in the current project (unless you turn the Show resource work/cost for current project only option off).

Hypertext links can be entered anywhere within the following fields:

• Project fields: Company, Manager, Author, Subject, Keywords, Comments;
• Notes for tasks, resources, and assignments;
• Custom text fields for tasks, resources, and assignments (Text1, etc.).

<a href='www.google.com'> Google </a>

To add your logo, follow these steps:

1. Prepare a GIF image of your logo. The recommended size is between 30 and 50 pixels high, and up to 120 pixels wide. If the logo does not fill the entire image rectangle, you should either save it with a transparent background, or set the background color to white.
2. Locate the empty placeholder GIF file in the html/images directory. In a default Windows installation with the Apache Tomcat server, the full path of this file is C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Tomcat 4.1\webapps\projectreporter\html\images.
3. Rename the empty placeholder file, or move it to another directory. You should not simply delete it, in case you wish to remove your logo later — if this file is missing, you will see missing-image symbols in your browser when viewing Project Reporter.
4. Copy your logo file into this directory, and rename it as custom-logo.gif. It will now be displayed by Project Reporter, in place of the empty placeholder image.
5. If you later wish to remove your logo from Project Reporter, restore the original placeholder image to this directory, with its original filename.

• Loading project data from various supported file and database formats;
• Creating and managing user accounts for viewing reports;
• Creating project/user groups to control who sees which reports.

The Administration page is accessed via a link at the bottom of the Home page, which is the first page you see after logging in to Project Reporter. Note: This link is only visible if you logged in with a user account that has administration permissions.

• Load translates data for a project into a format that Project Reporter uses to generate reports on it.
• Unload makes reports on a project unavailable to users.
• Delete (for projects stored in files only) removes the project file from its directory. Note: This command does not delete .MPP or .MPD files, in case they represent the master file for a project.
• Remove (for data sources only) deletes a data source from the Project Reporter configuration, but does not actually delete any files, directories, Windows ODBC Data Source Names, or database entries.
• Error Details displays a more detailed error message when there are problems accessing a data source or loading a project.
• Reset clears the log of error details for the data source or project, so that you can try accessing or loading it again after resolving whatever problems caused a previous error.
• Properties (for ODBC and JDBC data sources only) lets you change the login ID and password used to connect to the data source (note that you cannot change the name of a data source, or the JDBC driver class name and URL string for a JDBC data source; instead you must remove it and create a new one).

This page also displays any groups to which projects have been assigned, in order to control which users have access to them.

Note: Although projects are listed in the Projects frame according to the data sources they belong to, this listing is independent of the Groups feature. You can add any project to any group, regardless of which data source it comes from.

• If the server is running on Windows computer, and you use Microsoft Project 98, 2000, or 2002, you should save your projects in the .MPP format, or the .MPD format, one project per file (if you store multiple projects in a single .MPD file, you must use an ODBC data source for Project Reporter to be able to load all the projects).
• If the server is running on a non-Windows platform such as Linux, you should export your project files to the .PRX format, using the macro provided with Project Reporter.
• You should only use the .MPX file format if you have no other choice — for example, if you are using software other than Microsoft Project.

Using UNC names for directory data sources

If the Project Reporter server is running under Microsoft Windows, you can use UNC names (e.g. \\MyServer\projects\mpd) to refer to directories for .MPP, .MPD, .PRX, or .MPX files; however, this may cause problems in some cases when loading projects, due to the slower speed of file operations over the network. If the data source directory is on the same computer as the Project Reporter server, you should refer to it using a conventional path (e.g. c:\projects\mpd).

To create an ODBC data source in Project Reporter, enter the name of an ODBC Data Source Name (DSN) that you have previously configured using the Windows ODBC control panel. The ODBC DSN must be configured on the same computer that is running the Project Reporter server, but can refer to an MPD file or database on another computer on the network. It must be a "System" data source, so that it will be accessible at all times when the computer is running.

ODBC DSNs can only be used when the Project Reporter server is running on a Windows platform. They can be used for Oracle or SQL Server databases containing projects saved from Microsoft Project 98 or Project 2000/2002 (Project Reporter supports the same versions of these database servers that Microsoft Project does).

Note: As of Version 3.0, Project Reporter can load individual .MPD files directly, without requiring you to create an ODBC DSN, as long as each .MPD file contains only one project. However, you can still load individual .MPD files using an ODBC DSN if you wish.

After entering the name of the ODBC DSN, you will be given the option of entering a login name and password for access to the corresponding database. Note: Since this information is not stored in encrypted form by Project Reporter, in some cases you may wish to configure your database server with a new login name and password (with the appropriate read permissions for opening a read-only project in Microsoft Project 98 or Project 2000/2002), that will only be used by Project Reporter to access project information.

To create a data source using a third-party JDBC database driver that you have previously configured, enter the driver class name and URL string (you may need to consult your database administrator for this information). For example, when using Oracle's JDBC driver, for "JDBC driver class name" you would enter:

oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver

jdbc:oracle:thin:@mydbhost:1521:orcl

where mydbhost is the name of the host running the Oracle server.

JDBC drivers can be used for better performance and reliability than ODBC on Windows platforms, or when the Project Reporter server is running on a non-Windows platform.

Once you have configured Project Reporter to load your own project files or databases, you may wish to remove this data source.

The Project Reporter server scans the loaded projects and data sources every 30 seconds, checking for new, deleted, or updated projects, and takes the following actions:

• For projects in .MPP, .MPD, .MDB, .PRX, or .MPX files, if the modification date of the file is later than it was when the project was last loaded, the project is reloaded automatically.
  Note: .MPD and .MDB files will not be reloaded if a lock file (with the .ldb suffix) exists in the data source directory, since this indicates that the file is still being modified by another application, such as Microsoft Project.

• For projects in databases, a project is reloaded automatically if certain timestamp fields (which vary according to the database format) have been updated since the project was last loaded.

• Any new projects are displayed on the Projects page when they are found, but are not loaded automatically, unless the Load new projects automatically option is turned on for the data source.

• If a loaded project is deleted from a database or a directory, it is not unloaded automatically, unless the Load new projects automatically option is turned on for the data source.

Creating an ODBC Data Source Name for an Oracle or SQL Server database

In order to use Project Reporter with project data stored in an Oracle or SQL Server database, you must first create an ODBC Data Source Name (DSN) on the computer running the Project Reporter server, unless you have already created one for other purposes. The following procedure assumes that you are running the Project Reporter server under Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, or XP.

Note: Before creating an ODBC data source for an Oracle database, you must install the Oracle client software on the computer where you are creating the data source. Also, when creating a data source, you should select the "Microsoft ODBC for Oracle" driver instead of the "Oracle ODBC Driver".

1. On the computer running the Project Reporter server, open the ODBC Data Sources applet in the Control Panel.
2. Select the System DSN tab, and check to see if a data source has already been configured for your database. If a data source already exists, you may wish to skip the remaining steps and use it.
3. Click the Add... button, which opens the Create New Data Source window. In this window, select the appropriate driver, and click the Finish button.
4. In the following dialogs, enter the appropriate settings for your database, consulting a system administrator if necessary. During this process, you will be given an opportunity to make a test connection to the database.
5. When you have finished configuring the new data source, its name should appear in the list of System data sources.

Creating an ODBC Data Source Name for an .MPD file or .MDB file for PS7/PS8

If you are creating a DSN for an .MPD file containing multiple projects, use the above procedure, but with the following changes:

• When choosing a driver, select "Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)".
• When the ODBC Microsoft Access Setup window appears, enter a Data Source Name, and click the Select... button to locate your .MPD file (note that the Select Database dialog only displays .MDB files by default; you should change the file filter to "All Files (*.*)" to locate .MPD files).

  If you are creating a DSN for exporting PS7/PS8 projects, Click the Create... button instead of the Select... button, and specify the name of an .MDB file to create (the location of this file is not important).

• Each group can contain any number of projects and users.
• Each project or user can belong to any number of groups.
• If a project belongs to one or more groups, it will only be visible to users who belong to one or more of the same groups as the project.
• If a project does not belong to any groups, it will be visible only to users who do not belong to any groups.
• If a user belongs to one or more groups, they will only be able to see projects if the projects belong to one or more of the same groups as the user.
• If a user does not belong to any groups, they will be able to see all of the projects that are loaded.

• If you create a group for a given project, make sure that you include the appropriate users in the same group, so that they will be able to see the project.
• If you wish to make a new project available to an existing group of users, make sure to place it in that group; otherwise they will not be able to see it.
• You should normally not include administrative user accounts in any groups, so that they will have convenient access to all projects on the Home page (of course, administrators can access all projects on the Projects page in the administration interface, regardless of what is displayed on the Home page).

Note: Although projects are grouped on the Projects page according to the data sources they belong to, this grouping is independent of the Groups feature. You can add any project to any group, regardless of which data source it comes from.

If you want to restrict who can perform administrative tasks (administering either projects or user accounts) or who can view certain project information, you must change the permissions of the built-in user accounts, and create new accounts with the appropriate roles. You may also wish to create new roles, and/or modify the default views. You should start by assigning a non-trivial password to the admin account, and either assigning a password to or disabling the guest account.

Note: Although Project Reporter does not display passwords in web pages, URLs, or configuration files, it does transmit them to the server in clear text — therefore, the basic log-in mechanism should not be relied upon for security beyond a group of relatively trusted users, such as a corporate intranet. For more information, see the security guidelines.

In some cases, you may find it useful to create user accounts that can be used by several people at the same time (although you must still comply with the licensing requirements regarding the total number of users). For example, if you want to make project information available to clients outside your organization, but do not want to create a separate user account for each person who might view the information, you could create a client account, and communicate the password to your clients. Project Reporter uses log-in names to maintain separate session information for each user, but this is also relative to the user's internet address, so that different users with the same log-in name will not interfere with each other's settings, as long as they are viewing the reports from different computers.

You can use the Client Statistics page to monitor use of Project Reporter, and ensure compliance with the licensing model.

In order to control which project reports a given user account will have access to, you can assign it to one or more groups.

Each role is defined by the report pages that it allows access to, and for each page, the views that are accessible within that page. So, for example, you might give executives access only to the Project Portfolio page, and include cost-related views in that page. For a project team member, you might give access only to the My Tasks page, and not display any cost-related views.

When managing roles and views, you should note the following tips:

• If you create a new view, remember to assign it to one or more roles (using the Edit command on the Roles page), in order to make it accessible to users.
• If you create a new role, remember to assign it to one or more users (using the Edit command on the Users page), so that the appropriate users can see the views that are enabled for the role.
• If a user account has multiple roles assigned to it, the user will be able to see all report pages and views that are enabled for any of the roles assigned.

Adding fields to views

On the Views page in the administration interface, you can use the Edit command to configure an individual view. You can add or remove fields (except for the built-in fields that are displayed at the top of the field list), and specify an alias for any field — this is particularly useful for custom fields (Task1, Flag1, etc.).

There are two basic types of natural language description, both of which can be configured by changing the fields displayed in views:

• Individual item descriptions, which the user sees when an individual item (project, task, resource, or assignment) is selected the table or Gantt chart;
• Summary descriptions, which are displayed when no individual item is selected, or when the user selects an appropriate link in the report.

Individual item descriptions reflect the fields included in a view, except for custom fields. For example, if you add the Cost Variance field to a view containing other cost-related fields, item descriptions for this view will reflect this — if the Cost Variance for a task is $100.00, part of the description of that task might say:

The cost for this task is $900 ($100 over the baseline amount).

If individual users do not want to view natural language descriptions at all for individual items, an option for this is available on the report options page.

For summary descriptions, including certain fields in a view will cause Project Reporter to display a breakdown based on the field, including hyperlinks that can be used to filter the list of items in the Gantt chart. For example, including the Cost Variance field in a view will result in summary descriptions like this:

28 of these tasks are over budget, 10 are on budget, and 16 are under budget.

Clicking on the links in this summary will apply different filters — for example, the over budget link filters the tasks to those with Cost Variance greater than zero.

The table below shows the fields that can be used to generate breakdowns in this fashion, along with a sample summary text for each:

• To display dependency links in a view, add either the Predecessors field or the Successors field.
• To display tracking Gantt bars, add the Baseline Start and Baseline Finish fields.
• To highlight critical tasks, add the Critical field to a Task view (and make sure that you have selected an appropriate display color for critical tasks on the Preferences page).

Note that these are global options, which govern all projects displayed in Project Reporter. Several of the options, such as those for currency and date formats, will override any corresponding settings in .MPD or other project files that are loaded.

These options include:

• Bar Colors for Gantt Chart: You can set the color used to display normal Gantt bars, or critical tasks. Note: To display critical tasks in the special color selected, you must add the Critical field to any views where you want to see critical tasks.

• Date display format: Use this option to choose the appropriate date/month/year order and field separators for your locale. You can also choose whether to include the day of the week or the time of day in displayed date fields.

• Currency display settings: Use this option to choose the appropriate currency symbol, number of digits, and symbol position for your locale. Note that currency values are displayed using whole numbers in textual summaries.

• Show project summary task (ID = 0): Use this option to control whether the "root" task of the project is displayed or not. Displaying this task lets you view summary information about fields such as work and cost for the entire project.

• Show work values in hours (instead of days): Use this option to control the units used to display values for work-related fields. Note that this applies only to the Gantt chart and tabular displays in the lower report frame; Project Reporter's textual summaries always describe work fields in hours.

• Truncate long text fields in Gantt chart: Use this option to control whether long values for text fields are displayed in truncated form (followed by a "..." symbol) in the Gantt chart. This option only applies to the Gantt chart itself, and not to the lower frame of the report window.

  Note: Turning this option off can distort the display of the Gantt chart, by creating vertical gaps between the Gantt bars, if you use text fields (including the Notes field) that contain line breaks. It is recommended that you keep this option turned on, unless all of the text fields you use contain only short text strings.

• Show resource work/cost for current project only: This option is only relevant if you use resource pools. For projects that share resources from a resource pool, setting this option causes resource work and cost values to be recalculated so that they only reflect assignments in the current project (otherwise, they might also reflect assignments in other projects sharing the resource pool). For resource pool projects (identified by Project Reporter as projects that have no tasks, other than the project summary task), this option has no effect, so that resource work and cost values always reflect all projects sharing the resource pool.

  For more information on this option, see Working with subprojects and resource pools.

• Scitor Project Scheduler options: The settings for default hours per day and per week are used to calculate the values of certain fields when loading PS7/PS8 projects.

• Default language for MPX files: For more information on this option, see Using MPX files from non-English software.

Note: If you do not have a valid serial number, you can access Project Reporter's Home page and administration interface, but you will not be able to view reports.

The Edit link on the License Info page takes you to a form where you can enter your name and organization, as well as a serial number. When entering a serial number, type all characters and hyphens exactly as they are written. Note that serial numbers may contain the numbers "1" or "0", but they do not contain the letters "l" or "o".

The list of clients can be sorted on different fields by clicking on the table headings. The information displayed is updated and saved to a file each time a user logs in to Project Reporter, and is reloaded automatically when the server is restarted.

Note: As of Version 3.0, Project Reporter tracks clients with the aid of browser cookies, so that computers whose IP addresses change from time to time because of dynamic address protocols like DHCP (for example, when using a dial-up or VPN connection) are not counted multiple times.

The four report pages are:

• Project Portfolio — This page lists all of the projects accessible to a given user (depending on how Groups are configured). Only Project views can be shown on this page.
• Project Reports — This page describes an individual project. Any type of view (Project, Task, Resource or Assignment) can be shown on this page.
• Resource Assignments — This page describes assignments for all projects accessible to a given user. Only Assignment views can be shown on this page.
• My Tasks — This page describes assignments for all projects that a given user is assigned to. Only Assignment views can be shown on this page. Note: This page is only enabled for a given user if the administrator has associated the user's account in Project Reporter with a resource name.

Project Reporter has two default user accounts, admin and guest, which initially have blank passwords (logging in as guest is the same as using the "Enter as guest" button). These accounts can be configured by disabling them, changing their passwords, or changing their administrator permissions.

After logging in, you will see the Home page.

Depending on the permissions that have been set up for your user account, you can view one or more of the following report types:

• Project Portfolio — This report lists all the projects that are in your portfolio, and lets you view textual summaries of the list of projects, as well as details for each individual project. You can also use hyperlinks in this report to drill down to reports on individual projects.
• Project Reports — This report covers an individual project, and lets you view information on tasks, resources, and assignments, using different views created by the administrator.
• Resource Assignments — This report covers all assignments for projects in your portfolio, letting you see which resources are assigned to which tasks, across projects.
• My Tasks — This report lets you view a list of the tasks that you are assigned to, in all the projects in your portfolio. This report is only accessible if the administrator has associated your Project Reporter user account with a resource name.

• A summary of the list of projects, tasks, resources, or assignments displayed in the Gantt chart;
• A description of an individual item in the Gantt chart.

Project Tasks

There are 84 tasks in this project.

As of the current date, 23 of these tasks are completed, 31 are in progress, and 30 are unstarted.

To view a description of an individual item, select its icon in the Gantt chart, or click on its Gantt bar.

When viewing an individual item description, you can click on one of the links at the top of the description frame to return to a summary description. For example, if you have filtered a list of tasks to show only those in progress, you will see the following heading:

Project Tasks : In Progress : Determine project scope

There are four different zoom levels, which correspond to approximately one-eighth, one-quarter, one-third, and one-half of the screen width at a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. The default zoom level is the one quarter-screen setting.

To sort the items in the Gantt chart based on a certain field (column), click on the field name in the column header. You can click again in the same column header to reverse the sort order.

You can apply a filter to the Gantt chart either by using hyperlinks in the textual description (see Viewing summaries and item descriptions), or by selecting the Filter option in the upper frame of the report window, and specifying the field and operator for the filter.

To remove a filter, use the links at the top of the description frame — for example, if you have filtered a list of tasks to show only those in progress, you will see the following heading:

Project Tasks : In Progress

The fields in the current view determine what is shown in the Gantt chart and the table portion of item descriptions (displayed in the bottom frame), but also the content of the textual descriptions.

To change the current view, select a view from the drop-down list in the upper frame in your browser window. The number of views available for a given report type depends on how the administrator has configured Project Reporter.

To set these options, select the Options link in the upper frame in your browser window, while viewing a report.

Task #7

This is actually two hypertext links, so you'll need to be careful where you click:

• Clicking on the blue text jumps to the description of the given task, while also highlighting the task in the Gantt chart.
• Clicking on the yellow icon highlights the task in the Gantt chart, without jumping to the task description. This can be useful to help you see other tasks in the project, without losing track of the text you're currently reading.

Although the task name in the heading of each task description is not a hypertext link, the yellow icon beside it is — you can use this link to highlight the task whose description you're reading again in the Gantt chart, after you've looked at other tasks in the Gantt chart and perhaps forgotten where you started.

Completion status

This refers to the status of a project, task, or milestone, with reference to the current project schedule. The possible values for a task or project are:

• Unstarted: the start date is after the current reporting date.
• In progress: the start date is before the current reporting date, and the finish date is after the current reporting date.
• Finished: the finish date is before the current reporting date, and the task or project is 100% complete.
• Late: the (scheduled) finish date is before the current reporting date, but the task or project is less than 100% complete.

• Incomplete: the milestone is 0% complete.
• Complete: the milestone is 100% complete.

Earned value fields (BCWP, BCWS, ACWP, CV, SV, BAC, EAC, VAC, CPI, SPI, TCPI)

These fields are commonly used as metrics to evaluate the cost and schedule performance of a task or project. They stand for the following terms:

• BCWP: Budgeted Cost of Work Performed
• BCWS: Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled
• ACWP: Actual Cost of Work Performed (this is the same as Actual Cost).
• CV: Earned value Cost Variance
• SV: Earned value Schedule Variance
• BAC: Budget At Completion (this is the same as Baseline Cost).
• EAC: Estimate At Completion (this is the same as Cost, except in Microsoft Project 2002 — see below).
• VAC: Variance At Completion
• TCPI: To Complete Performance Index

• CV = BCWP - ACWP (except in Microsoft Project 95, where the formula is ACWP - BCWP)
• SV = BCWP - BCWS
• CPI = BCWP / ACWP
• SPI = BCWP / BCWS
• VAC = BAC - EAC
• EAC = ACWP + (BAC - BCWP) / CPI (in Microsoft Project 2002, for tasks)
• TCPI = (BAC - BCWP) / (BAC - ACWP)

Project Reporter also displays the following fields, where applicable:

• CV% = CV / BCWP (Cost Variance Percentage)
• SV% = SV / BCWS (Schedule Variance Percentage)

In Netscape or Mozilla, you can also right-click in the Gantt chart frame and select This Frame | Open Frame in New Window, and print from the resulting window. This will show all items in the Gantt chart, using as many pages as necessary.

In most cases, printing will work better if you set the page orientation to Landscape.

Note: To load .MPP files, you must have Microsoft Project 2000 or 2002 (Standard or Professional) installed on the computer where the Project Reporter server is running. .MPP files cannot be loaded on platforms other than Windows.

Note: .MPP files from Microsoft Project 98 can only be loaded if you have Microsoft Project 2000 installed on the Project Reporter server, as Project 2002 does not support the Project 98 .MPP format. Aside from this limitation, .MPP files are cross-compatible between Project 2000 and Project 2002 — so, for example, you can load Project 2002 .MPP files even if you only have Project 2000 installed on the Project Reporter server.

Note that Project Reporter does not support enterprise fields in Microsoft Project 2002. The following new fields in Project 2002 are supported:

• Task: TCPI
• Task: EAC (calculated using a different formula than in prior versions)

• Task: Earned Value Method
• Task: Physical Percent Complete
• Resource: Generic

Note: Beginning with Version 3.0, Project Reporter can load .MPD files directly, without requiring you to create a Windows ODBC data source name (DSN) (unless you store multiple projects in the same .MPD file).

If you are storing your projects in a database such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Project 2000/2002 requires you to configure an ODBC data source name (DSN) in order to load or save projects. You can use this same DSN to create an ODBC data source in Project Reporter, if the DSN exists on the same computer where the Project Reporter server is running. If the Project Reporter server is running on another computer, you must create a DSN on that computer, pointing to the same database.

Note that Project Reporter does not support enterprise fields in Microsoft Project 2002. The following new fields in Project 2002 are supported:

• Task: Earned Value Method
• Task: Physical Percent Complete
• Task: TCPI
• Task: EAC (calculated using a different formula than in prior versions)
• Resource: Generic

Note: Beginning with Version 3.0, Project Reporter can load .MPD files directly, without requiring you to create a Windows ODBC data source name (DSN) (unless you store multiple projects in the same .MPD file).

If you are storing your projects in a database such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Project 98 requires you to configure an ODBC data source name (DSN) in order to load or save projects. You can use this same DSN to create an ODBC data source in Project Reporter, if the DSN exists on the same computer where the Project Reporter server is running. If the Project Reporter server is running on another computer, you must create a DSN on that computer, pointing to the same database.

To install the macro, follow these steps:

1. Open the macro file in Microsoft Project 98 or 2000/2002 (the file is located in the Project Reporter installation folder). If you see a warning dialog about the macros in this file, select "Enable macros".
2. Select Organizer from the Tools menu, and click on the Modules tab in the Organizer dialog that appears. You will see lists of the macros and forms available in your global template on the left, and in the file you opened on the right. Select all of the items in the list on the right, and click "Copy" to place them in your global template. This will make the macro available in any project file you open.
3. (Optional) Use the Tools | Customize | Toolbars menu command to create a custom toolbar button to run the export macro.

To run the export macro, use the custom toolbar button, or select Macro | Macros... from the Tools menu, then select "ExportToProjectReporter" and click "Run"). A dialog box will appear in which you can specify the name of the PRX file and a directory to export to. Click on the Export button to save the file.

Note: although PS7/8 supports exporting MPX files, these are not recommended for use with Project Reporter, due to differences in the interpretation of certain fields. You should use the provided ODBC export scenario instead.

• In PS7/PS8, open the file "Project Reporter Export.PSC" provided in the Project Reporter installation directory.
• In the Configuration Data to Load dialog, simply click the OK button to load the selected items.
• Select Import/Export... from the File menu.
• In the Import/Export dialog, select the item labelled "Project Reporter", then click the Edit... button.
• In the Edit Import/Export dialog, under Source/destination, ensure that ODBC database is selected, then click on the Connect... button.
• In the Database Connection Parameters dialog, select an ODBC Data Source Name from the list provided. Enter a login ID and password, if required, and click on the Test button to ensure that the connection works.

  Note: If you do not have an ODBC DSN already configured, see Creating an ODBC Data Source Name (DSN).

• Click OK in all open dialogs to close them.

Exporting a project

• With the project you wish to export open in PS7/PS8, select Import/Export... from the File menu.
• In the Import/Export dialog, select the item labelled "Project Reporter", then click the Export button.
• Click OK to close the Import/Export dialog.

Note: Because the MPX format supports only a limited range of project data, you should use this format only if you have no other choice. Users of Microsoft Project 98, in particular (the last version of Microsoft Project to support saving to MPX files) should use .MPP or .MPD files instead, or .PRX files if the Project Reporter server is running on a non-Windows platform.

Consult the following topics for details of the MPX features supported by Project Reporter.

Note: If you are using the English version of Microsoft Project or other compatible software, and simply using another language to enter the names of tasks and resources, your MPX files should be compatible with Project Reporter. It is only versions of the software whose user interface is in another language ("localized" versions) that may not be compatible.

Project Reporter currently supports the following versions of Microsoft Project:

• English (U.S. or UK)
• German
• French
• Japanese
• Norwegian
• Brazilian Portuguese
• Danish
• Italian
• Korean
• Spanish
• Swedish
• Hebrew

Note: If you are using a non-English version of Microsoft Project or other compatible software, or if you are using an English version with non-English system settings for date formats, you must use a numeric date format in your MPX files. The date format must specify months, days, and years as numbers, without names of days or months. For example, in a French-speaking environment the date format "15.3.99" would be supported, but the format "Lundi 15 Mars 1999" would not. The format "Lundi 15.3.99" will normally be supported, but may cause errors in some system configurations.

If you are using Microsoft Project, the date format used in MPX files is controlled by the Date Format option, accessible via the Tools | Options | View menu command (changing the date format settings in Microsoft Project's Export Table Definition dialog does not have any effect).

• Project: Start date, Finish date, Current date.
• Task: ID, Name, Milestone, Outline level, Percent Complete, Start, Finish.
• Resource: Name, ID.
• Assignment: ID.

If you are working with subprojects or or cross-project dependencies, you should also include the task fields Project, Subproject File, and Successors.

Following are some general guidelines on the MPX variants supported by Project Reporter:

• MPX files created from the default export table in Microsoft Project 95 or Project 98 are supported.
• The order of the fields for tasks or resources in the export tables is not important.
• Different currency settings (specifying the currency symbol, whether it is before or after the number, and how many decimal places to display) are supported.
• Different date formats are supported, but only those which specify the month, date, and year in some form — for example, the date format "Mon 12/19" would not be supported.

The following table lists all of the fields supported by Project Reporter when using MPX files.

Note that some fields are supported only indirectly, in that they are used to generate reports and Gantt chart views, but are not available to be inserted in tables and filters — for example, the Summary and Predecessors fields for a task.

Note that some topics from previous versions of the FAQ have been merged into Project Reporter's main documentation package, which you are reading now.

To load a project, you must set up a data source for it. When you first install Project Reporter, a default data source directory is created, containing sample project files. You can add your own project files to that directory, or you can add a new data source using the link at the bottom of the table.

If you have just added a project to a data source or directory but it is not yet visible on this page, click on the Scan for new projects link, or wait a minute and then refresh the page to see if Project Reporter has found it.

Directory data sources

Use a directory data source if you are using Microsoft Project or other supported project management software, and you do not use SQL Server or Oracle to store your project data.

ODBC data sources

Use an ODBC data source if you use Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server to store your project data, and the Project Reporter server is running on a Windows computer.

JDBC data sources

Use a JDBC data source if you use Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server to store your project data, and the Project Reporter server is running on a non-Windows platform, or you wish to have better database performance.

For an ODBC or JDBC data source, you must enter an appropriate login ID and password so that Project Reporter can access project data.

For a directory data source, you can set the default language for MPX files (you can ignore this option if you do not use MPX files).

If you wish to restrict access to certain projects, you should create one or more groups, each containing one or more projects and a list of users who should have access to them.

If no groups are created, all users will be able to view all projects that are loaded.

If you wish to delete a group, you can do so from the main Groups page.