SharePoint (and Project Server) Shenanigans

Getting synch errors in the Project Queue relating the Reporting WSS sync? Link to task functionality not working? Risks and issues not showing in the reminders web part on the PWA home page? If you have any of these issues then it is quite likely that you have either edited or deleted some of the default fields from the Project Site’s Risks or Issues lists. The Risks, Issues, Deliverables lists are integral to Project Server so the best advise is to leave the default fields alone and create new fields to meet your requirements. It is possible to hide the default fields if required.

One question I see quite a lot of the time is “How can we fix this issue once we have deleted or edited a default field from the Project Site?” The answer is simple but would mean data loss if you want to fix the issue on a Project Site that already had list items on the default Issues, Risks and Deliverables lists. If the issue exists in the current custom Project Site template then this can be resolved easily without any data loss. For both scenarios please see the steps below.

To fix the issue if it exists in your latest custom Project Site template, navigate to PWA and click Site Actions > New Site, select the latest custom template, add a name and URL and click create. Navigate to your new site and delete the default Risks, Issues and Deliverables lists by going to the list settings for each list / library and clicking “Delete this list”.

Click Site Actions > Site Settings > Manage Site Features, scroll down to the “Project Sites Collaboration lists”

Click “Deactivate” and click ok the the warning. Once complete the page will reload the site features, this time click “Activate” next to Project Sites Collaboration Lists.

Running through these steps will recreate the default Risks, Issues and Deliverables lists with all of the correct default fields, any custom fields or changes made to default fields will not be re-applied. Now create any custom fields / views needed on the Risks or Issues list but remember do not touch the default fields or views. Once the template is complete save the site as a template and set as the default site template in Project Server following the usual process. This would have fixed the issues mention above for new Project Sites that are created from the new custom template but the issues will still exist on current project sites.

To fix the issues on current project sites would mean that some data loss will occur. Any list items on the default Risk, Deliverables or Issues list will be lost and not recreated. To fix the issues on existing sites the same process applies as outline above but rather than creating a new site you will need to navigate to the Project site in question then delete the default Risks, Deliverables and Issues lists (remembering that the list items will be lost). If the list items are required, export the lists to Excel first, then you have a copy that can be used to create the items again manually once the lists are recreated. Once the default Risks, Deliverables and Issues lists have been deleted, click Site Actions > Site Settings > Manage Site Features. Deactivate the “Project Sites Collaboration Lists” feature then activate. As mentioned earlier this will recreate the default Risks, Deliverables and Issues lists with all of the default fields. This process will need to be repeated on all Project Sites where you want to resolve the issue and where you are happy to lose the existing Risks, Deliverables and Issues.

I would recommend that this process is carried out on test environment prior to production so that you are happy with steps outlined above.