Microsoft Office Project 2003 enables you to create and maintain base calendars that you can assign to projects, resources, and (optionally) tasks. You must assign a base calendar to projects and to resources, with the following exceptions:

• The base calendar in which the resource calendar is based
• Directly in the resource calendar

Exceptions in a resource calendar are inherited from any base calendar on which a resource calendar is based. Tasks do not need to be assigned a calendar. If a task is not assigned a calendar, then the associated calendar field will show None, and the task is scheduled according to the associated project calendar.

You can associate projects, resources, and tasks with local calendars. However, if you have disabled local project calendars, then you must associate projects, resources, and tasks with an Enterprise Calendar.

Creating a Custom Enterprise Calendar

You can create a custom Enterprise Calendar by modifying an existing Enterprise Calendar or by creating a new Enterprise Calendar.

To create a custom Enterprise Calendar

1. Open Project Professional as a user who is assigned the Save Enterprise Global permission and connect to Project Server 2003.
2. On the Tools menu, click Open Enterprise Global.

   The Enterprise Global Template will be checked out and opened as a new (blank) project with the Enterprise Gantt Chart view displayed. The name of the project in the title bar will be Checked-out Enterprise Global.

3. In the checked-out Enterprise Global Template, on the Tools menu, click Change Working Time to open the Change Working Time dialog box.

   

4. In the Change Working Time dialog box, in the For drop-down list, select the Enterprise Calendar that you want to modify. Alternatively, you can click New to create a new Enterprise Calendar.

    Note   If you change the Enterprise Calendar that is associated with a project after the plan has been saved (published) to Project Server, it might result in changed dates in the project schedule the next time you publish that project to Project Server.

   For example:

   • To create a new Enterprise Calendar, select New. In the Create New Base Calendar dialog box, enter the name for the new custom calendar in the Name field and make a copy of the Standard calendar.

     

     Click OK to return to the Change Working Time dialog box. In the Change Working Time dialog box, select the new calendar from the For drop-down list.

     

   • To specify non-working days in an Enterprise Calendar, select the Enterprise Calendar and scroll to the date that is to be a non-working day. For example, to set Thanksgiving as a non-working day, scroll to November, select the appropriate dates (for example, November 27 and November 28), and then click Nonworking time.

     

   • When you are finished working in the Change Working Time dialog box, click OK.
5. Save and close the Enterprise Global Template.
6. Close and restart Project Professional to refresh the Enterprise Global Template with the new calendar.
7. Create a sample project. On the File menu, click Save to open the Save to Project Server dialog box.

   The new custom calendar will be available in the Calendar drop-down menu.

   

 Note   Changes to Enterprise Calendars are stored as exceptions, with a maximum of 1,400 total exceptions permitted per calendar. However, a much smaller number of exceptions can affect the performance of projects saved to the Project Server database from Project Professional. Therefore, it is recommended that you limit the number of calendar exceptions to only those that your organization requires.

Changes made to Enterprise Calendars are enforced on all projects that are saved to the Project Server database. All projects and resources that have Enterprise Calendars as their base calendars will be associated with the updated Enterprise Calendar the next time the project or resource is opened in Project Professional. Each time Project Professional connects to Project Server 2003 and the cached local Enterprise Global Template is out of date, the Enterprise Global Template is refreshed on the client computer. When you open a project or resource in Project Professional, the settings that are specified in the Enterprise Global Template are updated and reapplied.

For example, if a task with a duration of two days begins on a Friday (end of the week) and is scheduled to finish on Monday (start of the next week), and you modify the Enterprise Calendar to reflect eight hours of working time on Saturday, then the next time that the project is opened in Project Professional and the settings in the Enterprise Global Template are refreshed, the task will show as finished at the end of Saturday.

If you make changes to an Enterprise Calendar, they will not be associated with projects and resources until the next time a project is opened in Project Professional. Therefore, it is important to closely manage any changes made to an Enterprise Calendar. In some cases, you might want to create a new Enterprise Calendar that can be associated at the project or resource level on a case-by-case basis. In other cases, you might need to republish all project and resource data to Project Server 2003.

The methods that you use to modify Enterprise Calendars depend on how critical real-time data is to your organization. Before making any changes to an Enterprise Calendar, be sure to carefully consider both the change itself and the effects that this change will have on all projects and resources that are currently published to Project Server 2003.

 Note   In addition to the delay that republishing projects and resources associated with a modified Enterprise Calendar creates for project data, project and resource data in Portfolio Analyzer will not be updated until the next time the online analytical processing (OLAP) cube is built.

Copying Calendars into the Enterprise Global Template

You can use the Organizer in Project Professional to copy calendars that were created in other projects to the Enterprise Global Template.

To copy calendars into the Enterprise Global Template

1. Open Project Professional as a user who is assigned the Save Enterprise Global permission and connect to Project Server 2003.
2. On the Tools menu, point to Enterprise Options, and then click Open Enterprise Global.

   The Enterprise Global Template will be checked out and opened as a new (blank) project with the Enterprise Gantt Chart view displayed. The name of the project in the title bar will be Checked-out Enterprise Global.

3. On the Tools menu, click Organizer to open the Organizer dialog box.

   

4. Select the Calendars tab.
5. Under the Calendars available in list on the left side of the Calendars tab, select the Enterprise Global Template file. Under the Calendars available in list on the right side of the Calendars tab, select a local project. You can copy, rename, and delete calendars from either list. To copy a calendar, select the calendar that you want to copy, and then click Copy.
6. When you are finished working in the Organizer, click Close (or Cancel, if you have made no changes).
7. Save and close the Enterprise Global Template.

Updates to the Enterprise Global Template will not be available until the next time a project manager connects to the Project Server database and refreshes the locally cached Enterprise Global Template on their local computer.

Customizing the Gantt Chart View for Calendars

You can choose the type of Enterprise Calendar that you want to display for Gantt Charts in views at both the local project level and the enterprise project level (as enforced by the Enterprise Global Template).

To specify the Gantt Chart to use for a particular view

1. In Project Professional, on the Format menu, select Timescale to open the Timescale dialog box.

   

2. In the Timescale dialog box, select the Non-working time tab.
3. On the Non-working time tab, in the Calendar drop-down list, select the calendar that you want to associate with non-working time in views, such as Gantt Chart, Task Usage, or Resource Usage.
4. click OK.