In order to make this a system wide change, it makes sense to make it part of the Custom project site template. Since none of my peers seem to have preempted me on this topic, I wanted to seize the opportunity.
Also, the process is not too different from what we are used to do in Project Server 2010 (click here for Brian’s famous post on that topic). Just the look and feel changes.
So here we go.
Navigate to the PWA Homepage. Click on the “Gear” icon on the top right corner, and select Site Settings |
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Click on Sites and workspaces | |
Click on Create to create a new site | |
Fill in the details, making sure that Project Site template is selected And click Create |
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Your new site is created. | |
Now go ahead and customize the project site. Notice that I added a PWA Home link to the top navigation bar. (refer to my previous post as to why) |
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Once you are done, navigate back to Site Settings and click on Save site as template | |
Fill in the details and Click OK | |
Once the operation is completed, you will see a success message. | |
Now navigate back to PWA Home page, Click on Server Settings | |
Click on Enterprise Project Types | |
Click on the enterprise project type you want to associate the new site template with. | |
Scroll all the way to the bottom and under Project Site template, select the new template you just created, and select Save. | |
That’s it. You are all set. Go ahead and test it by publishing couple of projects. |
And finally, Couple of Caveats from Brian Smith, again on this topic:
August 4, 2014 at 8:49 pm
Hi there… Thanks for the instructions in this post. I found it very useful when setting up a project template in the PWA. One problem that I'm having: When creating the template project, I added some baseline tasks to the mpp file. When I create a new project using the template, everything is created based on the template except the mpp file. The mpp file is empty, and the baseline tasks are not included. Do you know if there is a way to include the tasks? Thanks in advance.
August 4, 2014 at 8:50 pm
Mitch,
For the project plan to be created based on the MPP you setup, you need to make sure you configure it under ENterprise Project Types options. This is a separate setting from the Project Site Template setting. Hope that helps!
August 13, 2014 at 2:16 am
Yes, that did help! Thanks!!
August 26, 2014 at 1:06 am
Hey do you know how to modify and resave the template once it is published?
August 26, 2014 at 1:29 am
Peztrader,
You cannot modify the template that has been created and published (atleast non-programatically). The only way is to make your revisions to the site you used in the first place and resave it as a template.
January 30, 2017 at 9:54 am
How do you locate the original site used for the template. I have a template that if you access and publish from MPP it automatically generates a template. I want to change the template project site but I can not locate it and I was not the creator of it.???
February 17, 2017 at 3:59 pm
Ideally you should have created a project and use it to generate site exclusively for template creation. If you cannot find the original site, the only way to do it is to create a new site from existing template and make your modifications there. This is the only non-programmatic way, I know.
April 12, 2017 at 5:23 pm
Is there a way to programmatically modify left side quicklinks for each project sub site created?
May 8, 2017 at 6:26 am
Kiran,
I am sure there is, but development is not my expertise. Please try and post in TechNet Forums where you might get a faster accurate response.
February 9, 2015 at 5:19 pm
Thanks for great article. Is it possible to create site definition that could be used as Project Template. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Kashif
February 20, 2015 at 3:20 pm
Many Thanks. Very useful article.
I just wonder how we can add (or show) the Risks, Issues, and Deliverables list in the project site template ??
March 31, 2015 at 8:56 am
Hello Prasanna, great stuff, thanks for this. I have one issue though – I am using custom workflow to generate automatic Issue ID on my Issues list. This workflow works fine on my site, however when I save this site as template and create another site based on this template, the workflow gets lost. Any idea why? Thanks…
March 31, 2015 at 8:58 am
Riso,
Glad the article was of help. For the workflow to be saved with the template, please make sure that the "Save COntent" check box is checked when saving the template.
April 23, 2015 at 2:17 pm
Hi, do you have any idea how to implement this in project online? Try to do the steps as you mentioned, but unable to find the link "Save site as template".
April 23, 2015 at 2:17 pm
Dodi, This article will be of help to you: http://blogs.technet.com/b/projectsupport/archive/2015/03/16/project-online-why-can-t-i-save-my-site-as-a-template.aspx
June 7, 2015 at 1:41 pm
Hi Prasanna,
what about the Notebook feature??? Did you test it?
I've tried to save the template without the flag (Include Content) to avoid to bring with me the Notebook file in the Site Asset library..
The first test result is that the new site created has a Notebook file with the name of the template.
Any advice on how to solve?
Regards
Daniele
July 26, 2015 at 2:58 am
I am running into this problem too. When I create a project collaboration site with Project Online, enterprise project type with default template, the collab site's notebook picks up the name of the project — this is the behavior I want. When I create a site template, associate it with the EPT and create project sites, the sites' notebooks retain the notebook name from the template, regardless of whether the template has or doesn't have content. This means that all sites created with this EPT will have the same notebook name which will be very confusing for folks working on multiple projects.
Would appreciate a workaround.
Thanks,
Kevin McManus
July 26, 2015 at 3:01 am
Danielle/Kevin: I have not tested this yet. Will test and let you know if I find any workaround!
November 12, 2015 at 6:32 pm
Hi
We are not able to create a new site template. Whenever we are creating it is showing an error "A site column cannot enforce a relationship behavior." Could you please let us know how to resolve this. We have followed the exact steps as mentioned in this site.
Thanks
November 12, 2015 at 6:32 pm
Perfect!
November 12, 2015 at 6:32 pm
Hi Kevin,
The first thing I would try is deactivating the Site Notebook feature in the site features and then create a template from the site. Then when you create a new site from the template and active the Site Notebook feature hopefully it will pick up the name from the project.
It's an extra step every time you provision a site, but it might work for you.
November 12, 2015 at 6:32 pm
Hi Prasanna, any update? Did you test it?
Thanks
Regards
Daniele
December 18, 2015 at 8:15 pm
I created a Project and saved the project site as template and associated that with an EPT say EPT1. Now created a new project of type EPT1 then when I click on Project site, its showing message ‘There is no site configured for this project. ‘. Please help me to resolve this. Thank you!!!
August 31, 2016 at 2:26 pm
any luck?
August 31, 2016 at 2:49 pm
Kumari,
Did you check the queue,? Do you see any errors? Please post the error so that I can help!
December 18, 2015 at 8:15 pm
Hi,
I have followed above steps, but then I couldn't find issues and risks list as the default template?! appreciate advising on how to add them to my customized project site template
thanks
August 31, 2016 at 2:50 pm
Did you have an issues and risks list in the original site before saving it as a template?
September 13, 2016 at 1:52 pm
Thank you for this — do you have tips on how to create a project plan template in PWA/Project Online. I created a project plan in MS Project & saved it as a template. Then went into Project Online & assigned the project plan template to an EPT. When another project manager creates a new project using that EPT, the Status Manager in Microsoft Project defaults to me on most of the Summary Tasks ( except for the very first Summary Task) The subtasks are all set to the project manager which is great; however – they are unable to reset the status manager on the Summary Tasks from me to them, even through they are listed in the Status Manager dropdown – when they click their name, it reverts back to me. Also, new tasks added by them default to me – although they can reset the ones they create, it’s very inefficient. I’m trying to figure out how I can set the project plan template up where the status manager value defaults to the owner of then project when it’s created — and not the manager who originally created the project plan template – any advice you can provide will be GREATLY appreciated!
September 13, 2016 at 3:30 pm
Additional Finding – Just noticed, the first Summary Task was not really a summary task – since it did not have any subtasks.
ALL summary tasks revert the status manager to the creator of the project plan template – if you remove the subtasks, you can then change the status manager value to the current project owner.
September 14, 2016 at 8:17 am
More findings — I am testing using different user sign in’s– one as test project manager (TestPC) and another as myself (fcurrie) set as PWA administrator.
I just noticed that when I sign out as myself and sign in as TestPC and click the project schedule from PWA to edit in MSProject, the copy of MSProject on my device is issued to fcurrie and not to TestPC — which I’m thinking is causing the problem with how the Status Manager gets set (maybe?) —
I also created a new project using the default EPT which does not have a project plan assigned and when I open the blank plan in MSProject, it does the same thing…
So will rethink how to test this – probably missing something…
Let me know if you have other ideas –
Best,
Frances.
September 14, 2016 at 10:43 am
SOLVED IT!!!
It appears the status manager for summary tasks was getting set based on the MSProject software license owner. I re-installed all the software on the device signed on as TestPC user and VOILA – works as expected – Status Manager gets set to TestPC for all tasks automatically!
YAY!!!
Frances.
February 22, 2018 at 4:36 am
Hi Frances,
I am facing the same issue. I did not understand about the license part you explained. Can you elaborate on that?
Regards,
Pratik
March 30, 2018 at 12:55 pm
Pratik,
I am not sure how the licensing part works for France either. The Status manager for Summary Tasks will always be the person who opens the project in Microsoft project with edit rights. This is a remnant behavior from previous versions. Since Summary Tasks are not supposed to have resource assigned, they will not be “assignments”, so this setting does not affect anything.