SharePoint (and Project Server) Shenanigans

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

The resource cost rate table details are not available in the Project Online / Project Server OData Reporting API (_api/ProjectData) but they are accessible using OData but from the CSOM REST API (_api/ProjectServer). In this blog post, I will walkthrough getting this data into an example Power BI report. It wont look pretty, that’s not the idea of this post!

To get this data you need to use the _api/ProjectServer API as seen below in the example for cost rate table A:

{PWAURL}/_api/ProjectServer/EnterpriseResources(‘{RESGUID}’)/CostRateTables(‘A’)/CostRates

Which gives the detail:

To get all of the resources different cost rate A details, you would need to dynamically pass in the RESGUID. In the steps below we look at doing this in Power Query so this would work for either Power BI or Excel but for the purpose of the blog post, I’m using Power BI.

In Power BI, create a new OData connection using the Get Data > OData option. Use the following URL:

{PWAURL}/_api/ProjectServer/EnterpriseResources(‘{RESGUID}’)/CostRateTables(‘A’)/CostRates

Update with the correct PWA URL and a valid resource GUID from that PWA instance. Edit the data so it loads the Power Query Editor:

I renamed this to fn_getResCostRateA as this will become a function. Open the advanced editor:

The code needs to be updated to:

Click done and you will see the following:

No need to do anything with the parameter or buttons. Now we need to add another data source in for the resource metadata. Add a new new OData data source in from the Power Query Editor window and use the following URL:

{PWAURL}/_api/ProjectServer/EnterpriseResources?$Select=Id,Name&$Filter=ResourceType ne 3

Update with the correct PWA URL. This will get the list of resource GUIDs to pass into the function and also the resource name to be used in the report. I renamed the connection to Resource Details – Cost Rate Table A:

Once you have edited the query as required a new custom column needs to be added to invoke the function created earlier. Click the Add Column tab then click Custom Column. Give the column a name such as GetCostRateADetails then enter the following: fn_getResCostRateA([Id]) as seen below:

When clicking OK, this might take a while depending on how many resources you have as this will invoke the function for each project and call the REST API, passing in the Id for that row and bring back the cost rate A table records. Once completed you will see the tables as below in the new custom column:

Now the column needs to be expanded, click the double arrow in the custom column heading and expand the cost rate fields:

Click OK and the data will refresh / load then display the data for the cost rate fields:

Notice for those resources with multiple cost rate table entries there are multiple rows per resource. These are just resources from the Microsoft Project Online demo content with updated cost rate entries.

That’s it, now load into Power BI and create the report – a basic table example below:

For other cost rate tables, repeat the process but replace the A for the other cost rate tables such as:

{PWAURL}/_api/ProjectServer/EnterpriseResources(‘{RESGUID}’)/CostRateTables(‘B’)/CostRates

This dynamic function process is the same process I’ve used and detailed before in previous blog posts for Power Query such as this one: https://pwmather.wordpress.com/2018/01/03/projectonline-powerbi-report-include-html-formatting-ppm-pmot-powerquery-odata-rest-part-2/