Importing Org Structure data

[gojackets5]

Do you have any kind of "best practices" around importing org structure data (for the RBS and/or general resource attributes) and dealing with changes? What are all the things I need to consider when working with this? This seems like it would be a common concern...

Here's my situation:
I need to import Organization structure data from another data source which will populate the structure into the RBS lookup table, which will be used for RBS and possibly also some other custom fields will reference this as well. However, my current client's org structure changes frequently, so I'm unsure how I'm going to maintain the lookup table automatically (and I assume I'll try and keep the resource's attributes updated automatically, too, if I can). So obviously, I don't want to screw up the RBS and mess up the security there when the info changes, but I need to keep current information. Am I going to be stuck with building the list, then manually maintaining it from then on? Also, would you recommend using two separate lookup tables for RBS and for "Client Office" (we could call it whatever...)

TIA!
~Jimbo

[ssanderlin]

Originally Posted by gojackets5

Do you have any kind of "best practices" around importing org structure data (for the RBS and/or general resource attributes) and dealing with changes? What are all the things I need to consider when working with this? This seems like it would be a common concern...

What version of Project Server are you working with?

[gojackets5]

PS 2007, in an all MS environment.

[ssanderlin]

Originally Posted by gojackets5

PS 2007, in an all MS environment.

Many organizations try to turn RBS into an OBS... As you are seeing, this tends to cause problems since organizational structures change so often and because they are often very complicated, especially in larger organizations or ones with a matrix-type structure.

I typically recommend that organizations use a simplified org structure for RBS -- one that is trimmed and tailored specifically to your security requirements. Then, use other fields to store OBS data. Assuming your org doesn't go through major changes that affect your security requirements very often, this should cut down on updates, in addition to generally simplifying things for everybody.

As far as automation, this depends. If you have a system that can serve as a "source of truth" for the data you want in one or more lookup tables, you can create an interface to import that data into Project Server through the PSI. Otherwise, you will need to keep it manually updated.