MSP: Updating an OFFLINE copy of a Clarity project

Products

Clarity PPM SaaS Clarity PPM On Premise

Issue/Introduction

Documentation/best practices on saving a Microsoft Project (MSP) project schedule that is saved locally on the workstation (without affecting the interface and the mpplookup location). This article covers how you can prevent issues from occurring in working / saving with the Clarity/MSP Interface / Integration.

Resolution

To Save the project locally (and ensure the project is still locked within Clarity):

Open the Project from Clarity to MSP
Make any applicable changes
In MSP, click File -> Save As to save the file in another location
Recommended as a precaution over File -> Save which saves the file in your default MSP location. This is recommended to prevent accidentally overwriting the local copy if you accidentally re-export the project from Clarity without uploading your local changes back to Clarity
Click the X in the right-hand corner of MSP (Either the project or MSP itself) to close the project
Say Yes to the message "Do you wish to retain the lock on <Project ID>?"
When you are ready to upload your offline copy to Clarity:
1. Navigate to the locally saved copy on the workstation and open the project in MSP
2. Go to the CA PPM Integration tab
3. Click File->Save
4. Log in with one of the below passwords depending on how External Authentication is configured:

- - If External Authentication is checked, the application would be looking for the user's password for logging in to SaaS Okta (if SaaS Customer)
  - If External Authentication is unchecked, the application would be looking for the Clarity user's password
  - Tip: If unsure of the password, the best option is to:

1. 1. 1. Close MSP
    2. Open any other project from Clarity to MSP to create the Clarity connection
    3. Then proceed to step 3 to save the project back to Clarity

IMPORTANT: If you are using federated single sign-on (SSO), you must have an open Clarity browser session. This browser session must be in the environment to which you are trying to connect, which is defined in the CA PPM Host field. (This is referenced in tech docs at: MSP: Install and Configure the Microsoft Project Interface)

Additional notes/reminders:

Use Save and Save As in Microsoft Project (Not the Save/Save As within the CA PPM Integration tab) to save the file locally.
1. If you exit Microsoft Project without saving the project locally, you will be asked to save the project.
2. If you do, the project is saved locally but it is not saved back to Clarity
3. Details above are based on MSP: Data Exchange with Classic PPM
Make sure to keep the project locked in Clarity to avoid other users from updating the project in MSP or Clarity which can cause changes to be overwritten. This provides the following precautions:
1. The project will show as locked in Clarity and be only available to open in MSP in read-only mode not read/write.
2. If the user then opens the project in read mode and does try to save it back to Clarity, they will get an error since the project is locked saying:
  - Unable to save project (Project ID). Another user has already locked this project.
  - The lock will have to be cleared to open this project read/Write or in order to save to it.

Additional Information

Review other best practices, particularly around copy and pasting of tasks if on a version of the MSP Interface prior to 15.7.1 to avoid project data or project opening issues later on: