Calendars Synchronization Summary
The Calendars Synchronization functionality as part of the Project Sync add-ins allows you to transfer and further synchronize working calendars of projects and resources between Project Desktop files and calendars of projects and resources published in the Project for the Web cloud service.
Notes: Before synchronizing calendars in an open Project Desktop project, it is necessary to make sure that the Dataverse environment and the corresponding project in the Project for the Web service are correctly selected in the general synchronization settings of Project Sync
Selecting the option to synchronize working time calendars in Add-ins Project Sync for MS Project Desktop
The Calendars Synchronization feature supports the following three calendar synchronization scenarios:
1. Download to Project Desktop - provides download of the current project calendar settings and work calendars of the resources of the given project team from the Dataverse database to Project Desktop.
This type of synchronization option should be used:
- By the project manager, if the actual setting of working time in the project and resource calendars is done centrally by the administrator in Project for the Web and needs to be copied to Project Desktop to prevent conflicts in the calculation of the project schedule
2. Upload to Project for the Web – ensures the uploading of current project calendar settings and work calendars of the resources of the given project team from Project Desktop to the Project for the Web environment.
This type of synchronization option should be used:
- By the project manager to synchronize the calendar of the current project, if he made the last settings of the working time of the project calendar in Project Desktop and needs to update the project calendar in Project for the Web.
- By the resource manager of the enterprise resources, if he performed the last settings of the working hours of the calendars in Project Desktop and it is necessary to update the corresponding calendars in Project for the Web.
3. Upload as Dataverse Calendar Templates - ensures that existing calendars in the current Project Desktop project are copied to the Project for the Web environment in Calendar Template format.
This type of synchronization option should be used:
- By project managers and human resource managers for manual configuration of individual local calendars in the current Project Desktop project and their migration in the Dataverse environment in the format of templates for further application to Projects and Resources in the Project for the Web application.
- By project managers and enterprise resource managers to migrate customized enterprise calendars from the Project Online tenant to the Dataverse environment in the format of calendar templates.
Features of synchronization scenarios
Downloading Project for the Web Calendars to Project Desktop Calendars
When choosing the Download to Project Desktop synchronization option, select the calendars to be downloaded using the checkboxes and click the Download Calendars button.
The Work Hours setting of the Project for the Web calendar is synchronized to the Work Hours section of the corresponding Project Desktop calendar settings. Calendar weekends - in the Exceptions section.
Uploading Project Desktop Calendars to Project for the Web Calendars
Before using the Upload to Project for the Web script, make sure that in the Project Desktop calendar, the working times are set to «Set day(s) to these specific working times».
WARNING! Synchronization of calendar settings in the "Use Project default times for these days" mode is not supported!
This synchronization option is used if the calendar working hours were set in Project Desktop and the corresponding calendars need to be updated in Project for the Web.
If Project Calendar synchronization is selected, a new calendar template with the name of the current project will be created in Dataverse and applied to the corresponding project in Project for the Web.
If synchronization of resource calendars is selected in Dataverse, the current working time settings of the selected resources will be replaced by the calendars of the corresponding resources from the Project Desktop project.
In case of conflicts in the process of uploading calendar settings, you can enable the Force upload mode.
WARNING! To use this synchronization scenario regarding the calendars of selected resources in Project Desktop, it is necessary to pre-negotiate changes with the resource manager or with the users themselves since changing the working time calendar will lead to changes in the schedule in other Project for the Web projects where these work resources will be assigned.
Saving Project Desktop calendars in Dataverse Calendar Templates format
This scenario can also be used to migrate Project Online enterpise calendars to the Dataverse environment.
You need to connect to the PWA tenant in the Project Professional application to do this. If you need to migrate enterprise calendars, open any project that will provide access to them through the Enterprise Global Template for Project Professional. To copy customized resource calendars, open a project that contains the necessary enterprise resources from the Project Online Resource Centre.
The Desktop column will display all calendars configured in the global enterprise PWA template or the local project file.
In the Dataverse column for any calendar, you can choose to Create New Template. In this case, a new calendar template will be created in the Dataverse environment
If you choose any of the existing Dataverse templates, it will be updated with the corresponding Project Desktop calendar settings
WARNING! In case of updating an existing Dataverse calendar template, it must be considered that the change in working hours will lead to changes in the schedule of the projects that are associated with this template
Automatic synchronization of calendars
The following three options for automatic project calendar synchronization are available in the Project Sync settings window:
- None
- Download from Project for the Web to Project Desktop
- Upload from Project Desktop to Project for the Web
"None" means automatic synchronization of the project calendar is not performed during the synchronization of project tasks.
This option is used in case of further manual adjustment of Project Desktop and Dataverse calendar synchronization parameters using the Calendars Synchronization menu.
"Download from Project for the Web to Project Desktop" – selecting this scenario ensures the automatic download of the project calendar settings from the Dataverse environment to the Project Desktop project file with an update of the current calendar.
Automatic synchronization of the calendars of the resources involved in the project is enabled by a separate check box and ensures that the calendars of the project team members are downloaded from the Dataverse environment in the Project Desktop project file.
This synchronization option should be used:
- By the project manager, if the actual setting of working hours in the project and work resources calendars is done centrally by the administrator in Project for the Web and needs to be copied to Project Desktop to prevent conflicts with the project schedule calculation.
"Upload from Project Desktop to Project for the Web" - selecting this scenario ensures the automatic upload of project calendar settings from Project Desktop to the Dataverse environment.
In this case, a new calendar template with the name of the current project will be created in Dataverse and applied to the corresponding project in Project for the Web
Automatic synchronization of the calendars of the resources involved in the project is enabled by a separate check box and ensures that the calendars of the project team members are downloaded from the Dataverse environment in the Project Desktop project file
WARNING! When activating the automatic synchronization of all resource calendars contained in the Project Desktop project, it must be considered that changing the working time calendar will lead to changes in the schedule in other Project for the Web projects, where these work resources will be assigned.
This synchronization option should be used:
- By the project manager to synchronize the calendar of the current project, if he made the last settings of the working time of the project calendar in Project Desktop and needs to update the project calendar in Project for the Web.
- By the resources manager of the enterprise work resources, in the case that the last working time settings of all calendars of the project team are made in Project Desktop and it is necessary to update the corresponding calendars in Project for the Web.