Overview: Project Server 2003 to ERP Connector

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The Project Server 2003 to ERP Connector Solution Starter shows how to integrate Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 with other enterprise resource planning applications. The solution starter uses the SAP® solutions mySAP™ ERP Human Capital Management and mySAP ERP Financials as examples. The download includes the source code and components you need to create a working system, and the solution starter documentation shows how to install, configure, and use the ERP Connector.

Download   The Project Server 2003 to ERP Connector (pj11ERPConnector.exe) download includes the HTML Help files, source code, and components for the Project Server 2003 to ERP Connector Solution Starter. This file is available from the Microsoft Download Center.

Introduction

Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 is a powerful application with unparalleled capability for application integration in the project management industry. Most notable is the seamless integration between Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003 as a desktop application, and Project Server as an enterprise database application. With an extensible Web service interface in the Project Data Service (PDS) and the file-drop Service for Enterprise Data Maintenance (EDM), Project Server provides the means for extending the functionality of Microsoft Office Project Web Access 2003 as well as integrating with many other business applications.

The mySAP ERP solutions provide centralized administration of human resources, organizational structure, and financial management of projects across your enterprise. Project Server enables centralized and detailed project management operations and delivery. The Project Server 2003 to ERP Connector Solution Starter enables you to integrate Project Server with mySAP ERP to avoid duplicate data administration. The ERP Connector allows automatic synchronization of data between Project Server and mySAP ERP HCM and mySAP ERP Financials. The mySAP ERP Financials integration solution includes connections to subsystems for cost accounting with internal orders (the CO subsystem) and project/task accounting (the PS subsystem). Using the ERP Connector provides data consistency, reduces the effort of managing data manually, and helps to reduce data corruption and ensure efficiently updated data.

About the Project Server 2003 to ERP Connector Solution Starter

The Project Server 2003 to ERP Connector Solution Starter is designed so you can easily modify it to support differing business requirements. The software architecture also allows you to adapt the solution starter to a wide variety of other enterprise resource management applications.

The Human Resources (HR) module in the ERP Connector integrates Project Server with mySAP ERP HCM and enables you to synchronize resource and organization data. In addition, the HR module automatically maps resources to the organization structure (resource breakdown structure or RBS) within Project Server.

The degree of integration of Project Server with mySAP ERP Financials can vary according to your specific needs. The Finance Projects module in the ERP Connector provides a level of integration at the project level, which includes only the exchange of master project accounting data. The Finance Projects module also provides optional integration at the task level to include the addition of accounting work breakdown structure (WBS) data from the mySAP ERP Financials PS subsystem. For both types of data exchange, the ERP Connector includes the Finance WBS module that enables Project Server to export work actuals back to the mySAP ERP Financials CO and PS subsystems.

You can install the HR module and the financial integration modules independently, along with a customized configuration application. In most cases, you can use the HR module directly, so the compiled HRModule.dll and the related administration application in the download is ready to use.

Important  We recommend that your mySAP ERP Finance business specialist review the functional specifications of the Finance Projects and WBS modules (integration with mySAP ERP Financials CO and PS subsystems). Because of specific accounting processes and data requirements in each organization, in virtually all cases the components that import work actuals from Project Server into mySAP ERP Financials need to be modified before they are installed operationally. The solution starter download includes the source files for the Finance Projects and WBS modules and the compiled DLLs for use in testing and demonstrations. Before installing the DLLs on a production system, you must make any necessary modifications and then recompile the SAPCOPDSExtender and SAPFIPDSExtender projects and the related administration page.

The ERP Connector provides a convenient and secure administration page in Project Web Access that enables you to configure the data exchange parameters and define default values. The administration page also allows you to set the logging level. The logging feature maintains a record of successful transactions as well as errors.

The solution starter documentation includes the following sections:

  • Concepts and Architecture explains the scenarios, architecture, and administration user interface for the ERP Connector.
  • Setup and Configuration shows how to install the mySAP ERP and Project Server components, and how to configure the Service for EDM and edit the Enterprise Global template in order to use the ERP Connector.
  • Using the ERP Connector explains how to use the administration page for the ERP Connector and how you can extend the solution starter. You can also use one of the PDS extensions in other applications, for example, to modify task custom fields and outline codes.
  • Specifications includes the functional specifications of the ERP Connector, the architecture and descriptions of the PDS extensions, and the testing specification.
  • References includes a list of the files in the Project Server 2003 to ERP Connector Solution Starter, and a table of test cases. The References page also includes links to topics for more information.