Understanding Project OLE DB Provider Data

Use Access to take advantage of the capabilities of the Project OLE DB Provider. After you use the Project OLE DB Provider to connect to a project file in Access, you can access OLE data stored in a Microsoft Project file. Use the Microsoft Project data to create custom reports or break out and manipulate specific pieces of data. You can use this data across a wide variety of data sources, including relational databases, spreadsheets, and the Internet.

Cross-References  

If you want to know more about OLE DB, see "Working with External References". You can also visit www.msdn.microsoft.com . In the Search MSDN box, enter What OLE Is Really About and then click Go. Under Technical Resources, click the link to this article.

Project Server uses an OLE DB add-on called OLE DB for Online Analytical Processing (OLAP). This allows Project Web Access to present data using Microsoft Office Web PivotTable and PivotChart reports.

There are many possibilities for using OLE technology with a Microsoft Project file. For example, you can use ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) to access specific fields in a Microsoft Project file using an OLE DB Provider.

Cross-References  

For more information about using OLE DB, see Microsoft Access and Microsoft Office Excel 2003 online Help. You might also find Microsoft OLE DB 2.0 Programmer's Reference and Data Access SDK helpful. You can also visit www.msdn.microsoft.com . In the Search MSDN box, enter Choosing Your Data Access Strategy and then click Go. Under Technical Resources, click Choosing Your Data Access Strategy (OLE DB Technical Articles).

All the data you enter in your project plan can be exposed using the Project OLE DB Provider. The presentation of this data can vary, depending on the application you use to expose it, but it will always break out into a consistent grouping of data.

The following tables are exposed by the Project OLE DB Provider:

Assignments.      This table contains all assignment information in the project, including references to all related tasks and resources.

Availability.      This table stores the amount of time, start date, and finish date for each time period that each resource is available to work. Each unique time period is stored as a separate row.

For example, suppose that a resource is available for4hours on Monday and all day Friday. In this case, there would be two rows for this resource: one for the time period on Monday and one for the time period on Friday. If the resource were only available for2hours in the morning and2hours at the end of the day on Monday, these two time periods would be divided into two separate rows as well.

Calendar.      These three tables store all calendar-related information, including the time periods covered by the calendars, whether a calendar is a working times calendar or a base calendar, and exceptions.

Cost Rates. ƒThis table stores the costs associated with resources and assignments.

Custom Field.      These tables store date, duration, number, text, field, and flag information that has been customized. Some of this information is available only for enterprise projects.

Predecessors.      This table links tasks to their predecessor tasks, including the amount of lead or lag time; the duration of the lead or lag time; and whether the task relationship is start-to-start , finish-to-start , start-to-finish , or finish-to-finish .

Project.      This table stores all project-related information, including project-level settings available in the File, Properties and Tools, Options dialog boxes.

Resources.      This table stores all information about each resource in the project.

Successors.      This table links tasks to their successor tasks, including the amount of lead or lag time; the duration of the lead or lag time; and whether the task relationship is start-to-start, finish-to-start, start-to-finish, or finish-to-finish.

Tasks.      This table stores all information about each task in the project.

Task Splits .      These tables track the start and finish dates for a task that has been split. There is also a separate table for baseline task splits.

 New  Feature     Timephased.        These are 15 unique timephased tables, five each for assignments, resources, and tasks. Each table is broken down by minute, hour , day, week, and month.

Inside Out: No Data Access Pages for Project 2003

With earlier versions of Microsoft Project and Microsoft Access, you could create a Data Access Page (DAP), which enabled dynamic Web page reports that could be viewed in Microsoft Internet Explorer. DAP was made possible by the Project OLE DB Provider. However, the Project OLE DB Provider is not installed in Access 2003; therefore, DAP is no longer available.

There is an alternative, though. If you're set up with Project Server, you can use the Project Web Access to create dynamically updated Web reports for project information. All the reporting that a DAP could do is built in to Project Server, through the use of the SQL Server OLE DB Provider.

You can also use ActiveX Data Objects (ADOs) to connect to the Project OLE DB Provider. Refer to pjoledb.htm on the Companion CD for the procedure.

Cross-References  

For more information about creating dynamic Web reports for project information in Project Web Access, download the online book Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 Administrator's Guide . Go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads and search for Project Server 2003.

Also, refer to the Microsoft Project Software Development Kit (SDK). Go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/project , click Microsoft Project 2003, and then click SDK Documentation.