Thursday, April 26, 2007

Some reference information on creating archive database(s) and archive process for project plans and related WSS 2.0 sites in Project Server 2003?

My first piece of advice, contact a Microsoft EPM partner. Hey, we have done this before and we can help you. OK, so you want to do it yourself. Please use this information below as a reference and not a guide. I will give you some information but many, many details will be lacking here:

Step 1:
Get and install the tools you will need.
If you don’t already have the EditSite utility from Microsoft for Project Server 2003 you will need to download it here:

Project Server 2003: EditSite Tool
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?amp;displaylang=en&familyid=6dc2c83e-54e1-40a9-9bb8-2dd293226b6f&displaylang=en
I also strongly suggest you download this tool:

Project Server 2003: Project Server Data Population Tool
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2cf3dd1b-16e4-49e5-806d-4ef950191733&DisplayLang=en
And one more:

Project Server 2003: View Populator Tool
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=F12D82D5-3CDB-4A57-A1FD-748BF968D48B&displaylang=en

Install and configure each of these tools. For installation information please see:

Project Server 2003 Installation Guide

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ca99b5e3-0478-4ac3-a230-c4f2d82096c1&displaylang=en
Information on these tools and installation information is found in appendix C on page 190.

Step 2:
Create existing production database backups.
For detailed information on backing up and restoring databases in SQL please see:
See the Administering SQL Server Overview:
Backup and restore section(s)

Download the SQL 2000 Books Online:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a6f79cb1-a420-445f-8a4b-bd77a7da194b&DisplayLang=en

Download the SQL 2005 Book Online Here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=be6a2c5d-00df-4220-b133-29c1e0b6585f&DisplayLang=en

Restore the databases to renamed databases called something like this:
ProjectServerDB=ArchivePSDB
WSSContent=ArchiveWSS

Step 3:
Use the EditSite Tool to create a new instance of Project Server on the same server.
Refer to page(s) 191-200 of the Installation Guide Referenced above to do this.

After these items are configured you will need to come up with a practice that fits your organization to archive projects in the production database:

I recommend this guide from msProjectExperts:
http://www.projectserverexperts.com/Shared%20Documents/ArchiveCompletedProjects.htm

You will then need to create either an automated or manual process of moving the archived projects from Project Server to the archive instance, provided you do not make many changes to your enterprise global or you keep them in sync, you can simply import the projects into the archive project server instance.

I recommend that you map out your archive process with a tool like Visio if you do this in good detail you could create a workflow that a programmer could use to automate the archive process.

If you are looking to fully automate this, again, I recommend that you contact a partner.
Best of luck!

Scott Wagner

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