Deploying Project 2003 with Outlook 2003 | Microsoft Office 2003 Editions Resource Kit (Pro-Resource Kit)

The Microsoft Project 2003 Outlook Integration add-in works with Microsoft Project Server 2003 to make it easier for users to use Microsoft Outlook 2003 to keep track of Microsoft Project Web Access 2003 tasks that have been assigned to them, and to update Project Server data with the time worked on a task without having to duplicate information in two applications.

The Outlook Integration add-in is included with Project Server. You can deploy this add-in to users with or after a deployment of Outlook 2003. How you deploy the add-in depends on your organization’s deployment practices and whether Outlook 2003 is already installed.

Note

The Microsoft Office Project 2003 Outlook Integration add-in can be used with Microsoft Outlook 2000 or later. The procedures in this section of the chapter, however, focus on deploying the add-in with Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Office 2003.

You follow these steps if you are deploying the add-in with an installation of Outlook:

Install Outlook on an administrative installation point.

For more information on creating an administrative installation point, see “Creating an Administrative Installation Point” in Chapter 3, “Preparing to Deploy Office 2003.”
In a transform (MST file) to be used with your Outlook deployment, include the registry keys for the required add-in information.
Chain the add-in with an Outlook 2003 installation by using a modified Outlook Setup.ini file together with the customized Outlook transform.

The same process used to deploy the add-in with Outlook can be used to deploy the add-in with Office, except you use the Office package when creating an administrative installation point and transform, and the Office Setup.ini file when specifying the add-in to chain.

To update an existing Outlook installation to include the Outlook Integration add-in, you distribute the add-in installation file (Mpsaddin.exe) separately to run on users’ computers, along with a configuration maintenance file (CMW file) that includes the required Project Server registry keys. The CMW file is created by using the Custom Maintenance Wizard.

Note

As with a standard Office installation, you must have administrative rights to the computer or run Office or Outlook Setup with elevated privileges to install the Outlook Integration add-in. For more information about installing with elevated privileges, see “Installing Office with Elevated Privileges” in Chapter 5, “Installing Office 2003.”

This section of the chapter describes how the Outlook Integration add-in works with Project Server 2003, and provides step-by-step deployment procedures for installing the Outlook Integration add-in by using the Custom Installation Wizard or the Custom Maintenance Wizard.

Features of the Outlook Integration add-in

The Outlook Integration add-in helps team members create and update tasks for their projects without needing to update information in both Outlook and Project Web Access. Thus, the add-in reduces the effort required to track information in two places. Users can view and update project tasks in Outlook, integrating deadlines and task descriptions with the calendaring functions in Outlook.

The Outlook Integration feature can also simplify task tracking for project managers, team leads, or team members—anyone who uses Project Web Access to monitor assignments and to enter time worked on a task in a timesheet as assignments are completed. By using the Outlook Integration feature, tasks in Project Web Access can be tracked in Outlook or—with more limited functionality—by using Outlook Web Access (OWA). Users can import new and updated tasks from Project Server manually or automatically according to a schedule that they define. Users can also send updates to Project Server, including the actual time that they worked on a task.

Users of Project Server 2003—including administrators, executives, resource managers, project managers, and team members—should still use Project Web Access and Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003 for planning projects and reviewing the time that team members report for their assignments. By placing project assignments inside a commonly used application, the Outlook Integration add-in complements the project management capabilities of Project Server by making tracking assignments more visible within an organization.

Requirements for the Outlook Integration add-in

There are a few requirements and issues you should know about before deploying the add-in to your users:

Users must have a valid user account in Project Web Access.
Users must use Outlook 2000 or later with the add-in.
Installing the Outlook Integration add-in requires installing a Microsoft COM add-in, which enables users to view Project Server tasks in their Outlook calendars.

Deploying Outlook with the Outlook Integration add-in

To deploy the Outlook Integration add-in together with Outlook 2003 requires two configuration steps:

Using the Custom Installation Wizard to configure an Outlook transform that includes the registry keys that contain required Project Server information.
Chaining the add-in to your Outlook installation by customizing the Outlook Setup.ini file to include the add-in MSI package.

Note

When you customize a transform to include the registry keys required for the Outlook Integration add-in, you can also configure other Outlook settings for your deployment, such as adding user accounts or specifying Exchange server options. The following procedure simply describes how to configure the Project Server registry keys in the transform.

Note

For more information about customizing your Outlook deployment, see “Customizing Outlook Features and Installation with the Custom Installation Wizard” in Chapter 7, “Deploying Outlook 2003.”

To create an Outlook transform with the required Outlook Integration registry keys

Start the Custom Installation Wizard.
On the Open MSI File page, enter (or browse to) the path and file name of your Outlook MSI file. For example:

\\server1\share\office\Outl11.msi
On the Select the MST File to Save page, enter the name of the Outlook MST file you are creating. For example:

\\server1\share\office\OutlookWithProj.mst
On the Add/Remove Registry Entries page, click Add.
On the Add/Modify Registry Entry dialog, specify the Project Server URL by entering the following values:

Root: HKEY_CURRENT_USER

Data type: REG_SZ

Key: Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\ProjectServer\

Value name: ServerURL

For Value data, type the URL for the Project Server. For example, http://mycompany/projectserver/
Click OK.
On the Add/Remove Registry Entries page, click Add.
On the Add/Modify Registry Entry dialog, specify whether to use Microsoft Windows authentication or Project Server authentication for communicating with Project Server by selecting or entering the following values:

Root: HKEY_CURRENT_USER

Data type: REG_DWORD

Key: Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\ProjectServer\

Value name: UseWindowsUserAccount

For Value data, enter 1 to use the Windows user account or 0 to use a Project Server account.

Note: If you do not specify Windows authentication and you have not specified a Project Server account in a registry key on each user’s computer, users will be prompted to login to Project Server when Project Server data is first required when using the add-in. The registry key for Project Server accounts is described later in this chapter.
Click OK.
When you have completed all of your customizations, click Finish to save the transform.

Before you can chain the Outlook Integration add-in MSI file to your Office installation, you must extract the MSI file from the Outlook Integration add-in package (Mpsaddin.exe).

To extract the Outlook Integration add-in MSI file

Locate the Outlook Integration add-in package file (Mpsaddin.exe) on your Project Server CD. For example, the file may be included in the Project Server cabinet file: \\Prjsvr\Prjsvr1.cab.

If you need to extract the file from a cabinet file, double-click the file to extract the files it contains.
Locate the Outlook Integration add-in package. The exact file name depends on the language version of Project Server on the CD. For example, the add-in package file for English Project Server is Mpsaddin.exe_1033.
To extract the MSI file from the add-in package, use a program such as WinZip. For example, in WinZip, enter the file name of the package and choose to extract the files. The add-in MSI file is Prjoutlook.msi.

After configuring the Outlook transform to include the required Project Server registry key values, you chain the Outlook Integration add-in to your Outlook installation.

Note

For detailed information about chaining packages with Office applications, see “Deploying Office and Other Products Together” in Chapter 5, “Installing Office 2003.”

Chain an Outlook deployment to include the Outlook Integration add-in

Open the Outlook Setup settings file (Setup.ini) in a text editor such as Notepad.
Create a section called [ChainedInstall_1], and in this section, specify the name and path of the Outlook Integration add-in. For example:

PATH=\\server\share\office\ Prjoutlook.msi
Specify the task type for this section:

TASKTYPE=msi
Specify a unique display setting to apply to the add-in installation by setting the Display property.

For example, you can ensure that the add-in installs quietly with the following setting:

DISPLAY=None

The completed section in the Setup.ini file looks like this:
```
[ChainedInstall_1] PATH=\\server\share\office\Prjoutlook.msi TASKTYPE=msi DISPLAY=None 
```

If you use Project Server user accounts for authentication instead of Windows authentication for Project Server access, you can specify the Project Server user account in a registry key on individual users’ computers. If you do not use Windows authentication and this registry key is blank, users will be prompted to login to Project Server the first time Project Server data is required by the add-in.

To set a registry key for a Project Server user name

Click Start in Windows XP or Start Programs in Windows 2000, then click Run.
Type Regedit, then press enter.
In the HKEY_CURRENT_USER tree, enter the following registry information;

Data type: REG_SZ

Key: Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\ProjectServer\

Value name: ProjectServerUserName

For Value data, type the user’s Project Server account.

Distributing the Outlook Integration add-in with Outlook 2003

You can deploy your customized version of Outlook 2003 that includes the Outlook Integration add-in to your users by using one of several methods. For example, you can have users run a command line from the administrative installation point or you can create a custom CD and provide it to your users.

As an example, suppose you choose to have users install Outlook 2003 with the Outlook Integration add-in from the administrative installation point. One option in this scenario is to create a batch file that runs Setup.exe with your command-line options. A second option is to create a Windows shortcut and add options to the command-line box. Users double-click the batch file or shortcut to run the Setup command line that you have defined. You can distribute the batch file or shortcut to users in an e-mail message or by other means used in your organization.

For instance, if your Outlook transform was named OutlookwithProject.mst, then the Setup.exe command line you include might look like this:

Setup.exe /qb  TRANSFORMS=\\server\share\OfficeAdmin\OutlookWithProject.mst

The /qb option specifies a quiet installation (no user interaction).

Update an Outlook installation to include the Outlook Integration add-in

If you have already deployed Outlook 2003, you can deploy the Outlook Integration add-in in two steps:

Use the Custom Maintenance Wizard to configure the registry keys that specify the Project Server server name and Project Server client account, just as you did in the Custom Installation Wizard, then save the configuration in a CMW file.
Distribute the maintenance file and the Outlook Integration add-in file (for example, Mpsaddin.exe_1033) to your users as described below. You may choose to rename the file to Mpsaddin.exe so users can double-click the file to run the program.

Configuring the Project Server name and user account registry keys

Before users can work with the Outlook Integration add-in, they must login through the user interface or registry keys must be configured on their computers that specify the location of the Project Server and Project client user account information. You can define the registry keys by using the Custom Maintenance Wizard and update the registry at the same time that you deploy the Outlook Integration add-in.

To include required registry key information in a configuration maintenance file

In the Custom Maintenance Wizard, follow the steps to specify your Office or Outlook MSI file.
On the Add/Remove Registry Entries page, enter the Outlook Integration add-in registry keys along with the appropriate values for your organization’s Project Server.

The registry keys and values are listed earlier in this chapter in the procedure entitled “To create an Outlook transform with the required Outlook Integration registry keys.”
Make any other customizations for your overall Office or Outlook deployment, then click Finish to save the CMW file.

Distributing the configuration maintenance file and add-in to users

You can deploy the Outlook Integration Setup program (for example, Mpsaddin.exe) to your users in several ways. For example, you can have users run a command line from the administrative installation point, or you can create a custom CD and provide it to your users. Because Mpsaddin.exe is a Windows Installer program (as is Office Setup.exe), you can use similar scenarios for distributing the Outlook Integration Setup program.

Next, deploy the CMW file to your users with a specific command line. One option in this scenario is to create a batch file that runs Mpsaddin.exe with your command-line options. A second option is to create a Windows shortcut and add options to the command-line box. Users double-click the batch file or shortcut to run the Setup command line that you have defined. You can distribute the batch file or shortcut to users in an e-mail message or by other means used by your organization.

Use the following syntax for your command line:

Maintwiz.exe /c Mycmwfile.cmw /q

The /c option specifies the configuration maintenance file to be applied to users’ computers. The /q option prevents dialogs from being presented to the users during the update.

For simplicity, you might also include the Setup command line to install the Outlook Integration add-in in the same batch file. For instance, the Outlook Integration Setup command line might look like this:

Mpsaddin.exe /qn

The /qn option specifies a quiet installation (no user interaction).

Resources and related information

The Custom Installation Wizard offers a wide range of configuration options for defining and modifying user profiles. For more information about your options for configuring Outlook 2003, see “Customizing Outlook Features and Installation with the Custom Installation Wizard” in Chapter 7, “Deploying Outlook 2003.”