PRJ2000: Duplicate Projects or Tasks Are Displayed in Microsoft Project Central (242674)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Project 2000
This article was previously published under Q242674

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Project Central, you may see duplicate projects in a view, with some or all tasks duplicated within each of those projects.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if the identification of the project manager for a project is changed in Microsoft Project, either by modifying the options used to identify the project manager, or by allowing different users to send workgroup messages or to update the project to Project Central.

The identification of the project manager can be changed in any of the following ways:
  • Change the option selected for Identification for Microsoft Project Central Server; for example, change the option from Windows user account to Microsoft Project user name 'name'.

    NOTE: To locate the Identification for Microsoft Project Central Server options, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Workgroup tab.
  • Change the specified user name, when the Microsoft Project user name 'name' option is selected.

    NOTE: To locate the current User name, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.
  • Send team messages or update the project to Project Central when logged on at different computers, when the Microsoft Project user name 'name' option is selected, and the same user name is not specified on each computer.
  • Send team messages or update the project to Project Central when logged on to different Windows accounts, when the Windows user account option is selected.
This behavior occurs because Microsoft Project Central allows projects with the same name to be created by different project managers. If the project manager identification option or the user name associated with the project manager is modified in Microsoft Project, Microsoft Project Central interprets the project as a separate project.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, delete all instances of the project from the Project Central database, update the project to Project Central, and then resend all tasks. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Log on to Project Central as Administrator.
  2. On the menu bar, point to Admin, and then click Server Mode.
  3. On the Server Mode page, click Single User, and then click Save Changes.
  4. On the menu bar, point to Admin, and then click Delete from Database.
  5. On the Delete Items from Database page, under Specify the items you want to delete, select Project, and then, from the list, select the first instance of the project.
  6. Under Specify the users whose items should be deleted, select Delete the specified task, message and status report items for all users.
  7. At the top of the Delete Items from Database page, click Delete.
  8. Repeat steps 5 through 7 for each additional instance of the project.
  9. On the menu bar, point to Admin, and then click Server Mode.
  10. On the Server Mode page, click Normal, and then click Save Changes.
  11. In Microsoft Project, open the project that corresponds to the projects you deleted.
  12. Make sure that the correct identification options and user name are specified. If the Windows user account option is selected, make sure you are logged on with the Windows account that you want associated with the project.
  13. On the Tools menu, point to Workgroup, and then click Update Project to Web Server.NOTE: Skip steps 14 through 16 if no TeamAssign messages were previously sent for this project.

  14. On the Tools menu, point to Workgroup, and then click Resend All Messages.
  15. In the Workgroup Mail dialog box, select All tasks, and then click OK.
  16. In the TeamResendAll dialog box, click Send.
This recreates one instance of the project in Microsoft Project Central and resends all messages to the resources in the project, for only the current project manager.

If the project was originally set up for Project views in Project Central, you also must reassign the project to any necessary categories. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Log on to Project Central as Administrator.
  2. On the menu bar, point to Admin, and then click Manage Views.
  3. In the Actions frame, under Manage Views, click Specify Categories.
  4. On the Specify Categories page, under Category Name, select a category, and then click Modify Category.
  5. Under Available projects, click the name of the project, and then click Add.
  6. At the top of the page, click OK.
To avoid a recurrence of this behavior, after you follow the above workaround, make sure that the same identification options and user name are used whenever workgroup messages are sent or the project is updated to Project Central.
  • If you use the Windows user account option, make sure that the same Windows account is always logged on when you send workgroup messages or update the project to Project Central.
  • If you use the Microsoft Project user name 'name' option, make sure that you specify the same user name when you send workgroup messages or update the project to Project Central.
  • If multiple users work on the project, it is recommended that you do not select the Update project information to Microsoft Project Central Server on every save option.

MORE INFORMATION

When you change the project manager identification options in Microsoft Project, the following behaviors occur, depending on how the project information is viewed in Project Central:

  1. When you view assignments in a Timesheet or Assignment view, you may see the same project listed multiple times, with some or all tasks duplicated under each project. This occurs when the project manager sends a TeamStatus message after changing the Identification options as described in the "Cause" section. Tasks that are included in the TeamStatus message will be listed under the duplicate project as if they were new tasks.
  2. When you view projects in a Portfolio view, you may see duplicate projects listed. This occurs when the project manager updates the project to Project Central both before and after changing the Identification options as described in the "Cause" section, and/or sends a TeamStatus message after changing the Identification options.
  3. When you view projects in a Project view, duplicate projects may not have access to the same views as the original project. This occurs when the project is set up for Project views in Microsoft Project Central before the Identification options are changed as described earlier in this article. Duplicates of the original project are treated as new projects, so they are not automatically added to the same view categories as the original project.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/17/2002
Keywords:kbbug KB242674
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.