Power BI and other tools are increasingly used for most reporting. If you have Project Online then power BI can connect directly to the Published data in Project Online. If you only have standalone Project, then you data is often trapped in the individual .mpp file data oases.
Project Systems can setup VBAMacros that will copy whatever Project Data you want reported on to SQL Server at the click of a button.
This includes Resource Assignments and time phased data(EG hours per week or month etc. The more data you want copied, the longer the macro will take to copy, but for a 500 task project and all timephased data this isn't more than a minute. If only 100 tasks need copying (selected by any flag field) and no timephased data the time is in seconds.
Reasons for Data in a Database
- Power BI (or other reporting tools) work best when reading directly from a Database.
- Currently report structure and format vary by project and you want consistency and easy availability.
- You need to combine Project Data with data from other sources. Macros in Excel can copy data into the Database as well so now you see a consolidated view of all your projects.
It's more of a question of "What do I want to do?" rather than "What can I do?"
FAQs on Macro Development
- Are macros written from scratch?
No. We have a library of functional objects (such as all communications with SQL Server) so each new system typically starts with 80% of its code copied from tried and tested systems that have been working for many years. - Do we Own the code?
No, but you have a lifetimg license to use it. - What if I need to add more data items?
That's quick and easy. Often it is only a matter of adding the extra fields to the relevant SQL Server tables that is required. For more complex changes, VBA development is fast. - Will any version of SQL Server work?
Version 2012 or later and even the free SQL Server Express will work.
Contact us to discuss how we can help you.