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Using the Task Issues and Risks Cubes

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If you have built the Portfolio Analyzer OLAP cube with the task issues and risks extension, the new MSP_RISKS and MSP_ISSUES issues cubes exist, but Portfolio Analyzer does not yet have a way to show them. The task issues and risks OLAP extension describes how to add a Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint™ Services template that adds the pages Risks and Issues in Microsoft Office Project Web Access. You or your staff must first use these pages to add risk and issue information to projects, and then you can create and use a view to analyze the information.

In the views you add to Portfolio Analyzer, you link the PivotTable® and PivotChart® controls from Office Web Components to the issues and risks cubes. The Manage Views page in Project Web Access enables you to add a custom view.

To add a task risks view in Portfolio Analyzer:

  1. In Project Web Access, click Admin, and then click Manage Views.

  2. Scroll down the list of views, and you can see the current views under the Portfolio Analyzer heading. Click Add View under the heading Specify Views.

  3. Click Portfolio Analyzer in the View Type section.

  4. Type a name and description in the View name and description section, and then type the name of the Analysis Server and the name of the cube in the Analysis Server and Cube section. The cube name is the cube database name that you see under the server name in Analysis Manager, for example, MSP_Sample_Cube.

  5. Click PivotTable with Chart in the Portfolio Analyzer Mode section.

  6. Click the Chart Type icon in the toolbar above the empty chart, and then click Bubble for a chart that compares three sets of values. Click the Close box in the Commands and Options dialog box.

  7. Click the Show/Hide Legend icon to show the legend under the Drop Series Fields Here box in the chart.

  8. Click the Field List icon in the toolbar, and you will see the MSP_PORTFOLIO_ANALYZER cube and fields in the Chart Field List. To show the MSP_RISKS cube instead, do the following:

    • Click the Chart Wizard icon. In the Data Source tab of the Commands and Options dialog, in the section Select where the chart data comes from, click Data from a database table or query.

    • In section 2 of the Data Source tab, click Connection. The connection string should be something like the following:

      Provider=MSOLAP.2;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=True;Data Source=ServerName;
    Client Cache Size=25;Auto Synch Period=10000;Initial Catalog=MSP_Sample_Cube

      If the MSP_RISKS cube is not in the drop-down list in the Data Details tab, click Edit for the connection string. In the Select Data Source dialog, click New Source. In the Data Connection Wizard dialog, click Microsoft SQL Server OLAP Services, and then click Next. Type the Analysis Server name, and select the logon credentials (click User Windows Authentication, or type the user name and password for the SQL Server Analysis Services database). Click Finish.

    • In the Data Connection Wizard dialog, click the drop-down list Select the database that contains the data you want, and then select the Portfolio Analyzer cube, for example, MSP_Sample_Cube. Check Connect to a specific cube or table, and then click MSP_RISKS in the list. Click Next, type a description and keywords if you want, and then click Finish.

  9. Click the Field List icon again in the chart toolbar; you should now see the MSP_RISKS cube in the Chart Field List.

  10. Drag the Project List dimension to the chart box labeled Drop Series Fields Here, as shown in the following figure.

    Adding MSP_RISKS dimensions to the chart in an new view

    Similarly, add the following dimensions to the chart:

    • Drag Status to the box labeled Drop Filter Fields Here.
    • Drag Category to the box labeled Drop Category Fields Here.
    • Expand the Totals member, and then drag Average Exposure to the box labeled Drop Data Fields Here. If you previously selected a Bubble chart type, you will see that Average Exposure becomes the X Data, and the Y Data and Bubble Data fields appear.
    • Drag Average Probability to the Y Data box.
    • Drag Average Cost to the Bubble Data box.

    All of the bubble chart fields now contain data from the MSP_RISKS cube.

  11. In the Categories section of the Specify Views page, add the categories you want from the Available Categories list to the list Categories this view belongs to.

  12. Click Save Changes.

In Project Web Access, click Projects to go to the Project Center page, and then click Analyze Projects in Portfolio Analyzer. In the Portfolio Analyzer page, click the drop-down list to choose a view, and then select the view you just created. If you click Show toolbar in the View Options section, you can interactively modify the view you just created. For example:

  • Select different sets of values in the Project, Category, or Status dimensions.
  • Add or remove dimensions in the Series, Category, or Filter fields.
  • Change the data members in the X Data, Y Data, or Bubble Data fields.

To make any of the changes permanent, you have to modify the view with Manage Views in the Admin page.

The process to create a task issues view is similar. You can also create several views that show different aspects of the task issues and risks.