Views, Filters & Print
Check Out
Check Out is remote lock-and-copy; Exclusive is a session lock
What a planner means
File > Check Out copies the project (EPPM: to XML or a local database) so you can work offline. Oracle: once checked out, the source cannot be modified until Check In. Other users can still open it; they cannot edit it.
File > Check In brings the remote copy back. You can also replace the existing project with the remote copy via the Import wizard.
Oracle: flipping Check Out Status on the General tab does not export or import. Checked Out By and Date Checked Out are blank when status is Checked In. Privileged users can change the status field; that is not a Check Out.
This is not opening Exclusive. Exclusive is a session lock so nobody else edits while you update. You cannot Exclusive-open a project another user already has Exclusive. Exclusive and Shared cannot be mixed in the same view. Same privilege family: Check In/Check Out Projects and Open Project Exclusively. Exclusive is not a remote file.
Not a reflection (no merge-selected-changes). See A Reflection. Not document check-out.
EPPM local database (Oracle)
- First Check Out creates a local DB; each later Check Out overwrites it. Check in before you check out more from the same EPPM database.
- One local DB per EPPM you connect to.
- Security profile does not apply: all project data is exported, including rows the user cannot see.
- Check-in errors: no data imported.
- Admin preference limits (e.g. code length) are not honored on check-in from a local DB.
- Project calendars are replaced, not merged. Global calendars are not imported.
- Resource security is not honored on check-in (resources can be assigned even if the user cannot view them).
Oracle’s current Professional page: you can check out projects with their baselines.
XER
| Column | Oracle label |
|---|---|
PROJECT.checkout_flag | Project Check-out Status |
PROJECT.checkout_user_id | Checked Out By |
PROJECT.checkout_date | Date Checked Out |
A Viewer XER that has checkout_flag set is a status, not proof this file is the offline working copy.
Microsoft Project
Desktop Project has no Check Out. Project Server / Online checkout is a different product. Do not map checkout_flag to MSP file read-only or to Exclusive.
Don't
- Treat Exclusive as Check Out, or
checkout_flagas an Exclusive session lock. - Treat the General-tab status flip as File > Check Out (no export).
- Treat a project XER as the offline working copy just because the flag is on.
- Confuse project Check Out with document check-out or with a reflection.