In previous versions of Project Server, you were able to get to the Project Site from the Project Center, without actually having to open the project itself. All you had to do was highlight the project name and click on the Project Site button on the ribbon.

 

 

In case you have not noticed, this button no longer appears in the ribbon for Project Center, in Project Server 2013. Project Online has the ellipsis, which allow you to go to the Project Site directly (see below—It is still 3 clicks, though), but the On-Premises Version does not have that option (yet).

 

I am not sure what the reasons for its removal are, but I always miss this button when I am using Project Center and want to easily get to the Project Site.

Of course, I am sure there is a way to actually create the ribbon with some code, but I am not a developer, so I had to resort to a different method.

So, here is my Trick, in summary.

  • A Project Site URL is generally built like this: <PWA URL>/<Project Name>, unless you actually change the name. For this article I am going to assume that you did not change the name, and have default URL construct.
  • Now, since I want the link to be actually clickable in Project Center, the only field I have available is the Hyperlink field.
  • And then, since I cannot just write a simple formula into the Hyperlink field, I have decided to use Project VBA to populate the field, with the Name of the Project and the Server Url. This should lead us to the Project Site, per the URL construct above.

Step 1: Building your VBA Macro

Since I want the Hyperlink field to be automatically populated with no user intervention, I have decided upon using the VBA Macro. Here is what the Macro will do:

  • Upon Project Open, the macro will pick up the name of the Project Summary Task (i.e. the Project Name), and append it to the Server URL, and then write it to the Hyperlink and Hyperlink Address fields.
  • The macro will be added to Enterprise Global so that all projects can benefit from it.

To do this, start by, opening Project Professional and opening the Enterprise Global.

 

Now, once in Enterprise Global, hit Alt+F11, to open the Visual Basic Editor window, to write your macro in.

In the editor window, make sure you have the Enterprise Global selected and , add this code in.

Private Sub Project_Open(ByVal pj As Project)
ActiveProject.ProjectSummaryTask.Hyperlink = “Project Site”
ActiveProject.ProjectSummaryTask.HyperlinkAddress = ActiveProject.ServerURL + “/” + ActiveProject.Name
End Sub

Go ahead and save, and close everything, while checking-in the Enterprise Global.

Now go back and open Project Pro 2013, and open any Project. Insert the Hyperlink column, and you will see that the column is already populated for the Project Summary Task, with the Address.

Publish the project, so that the changes are visible in PWA.

 

Step 2: Add the Hyperlink field to the View

Now all you have to do is add the Hyperlink field in any of the PWA Project Center Views. You could also rename the Hyperlink column, to something meaningful, like I did.

 

Well, that’s it. Hope it helps somebody. This reduces the number of clicks a user has to go through, every time they want to navigate to a Project Site from Project Center.

If any of you come up with a better way of making this happen, please post it in the comments. I am open to suggestions.

Update: many of you pointed out that, if the project site has a document in it, then an icon would show up in the Project Center. This is also a valid technique, however, you will need to make sure to have a document first in the project site.