MSP Projects do not open due to Project Server Enterprise Fields associated

Products

• Clarity PPM On Premise
• Clarity PPM SaaS

Issue/Introduction

In the Microsoft Project (MSP) New Driver, projects open blank or with an error: SchedLink MFC Application has stopped working if Project Server Enterprise fields are associated with the project in MSP. 

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Save a project to Clarity with the enterprise fields linked to the project. The project will save successfully.
2. Attempt to launch the project from Clarity to MSP

Expected Results: Project opens successfully. 

Actual Results: Project opens blank or with an error: SchedLink MFC Application has stopped working

Environment

This applies to Clarity 14.x and higher using the MSP new driver.

Cause

This is due to having Project Server Enterprise fields mapped to the project (or one of the projects in it's external dependency chain). Enterprise fields come from Project Server which is not supported.

One way to determine if this is the cause of the issue is to:

1. Open the project in the MSP Legacy driver.
2. In MSP, go to File->Organizer then click on the Fields tab.
3. For any fields showing either for Tasks or Resources, right click it and select Rename.
4. If it is an enterprise field, you will get a warning message containing: 'Enterprise fields cannot be renamed in the Organizer'. 

Resolution

1. Disable any Enterprise fields on workstations that have these fields mapped (to prevent further occurrences of the issue)
2. Run the below query to temporarily remove the project from the prdocument table. (For SaaS customers, open a case to have this resolved):

IMPORTANT: IMPACT OF RUNNING SCRIPT:

• MSP Legacy Driver: All custom views for the project will be deleted
  
  
  • ​When the project is opened from Clarity after the update, the project will only open with the default columns set for the view.
  • Users will have to recreate their views for the project, unless they have them saved in MSP. (This doesn't apply in the new driver, as views are no longer saved. You should always save the views on your MSP and switch to that view after the project opens).
• Any custom field data not mapped to Clarity will be deleted from the project. This only impacts data entered in a MSP Field (such as a text field) and that data isn't stored in Clarity. 
• MSP New Driver: All Fixed Work tasks will change to Fixed Units.  The user will need to manually change all applicable tasks back to Fixed Work the next time the project is opened in MSP.
   

Run the below query:

update prdocument

set prrecordid = ?? where prrecordid=?

and prtablename= 'PRJ_PROJECTS'

Notes:

• Replace the ? with the 5 million number of the project. For ?? change the 5 to a 9. This will create a backup of the record in the database.
• Run the below query to ensure that there is not already a project with the ?? prrecordid:
  
  select * from prdocument where prrecordid = ??
• To find the 5 million number for the project, you can run the below query (or it can be found in the Clarity URL when clicking on the link to the project from the project list.) 

 select id from inv_investments where name='<project name>' and object_type = 'PROJECT' 

Additional Information

Reference Microsoft link: Overview: Enterprise custom fields and lookup tables for further information on Project Server Enterprise Custom fields.