Plan the database tier (Project Server 2010)

Applies to: Project Server 2010

Topic Last Modified: 2010-03-26

This article identifies the key components of the database tier and helps you to distinguish from the parts of the other tiers in the Microsoft Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution.

The data access layer is internal to Project Server 2010 and is not exposed to external applications. The data access layer translates between the logical business entity representation of the data and the physical database tables. Each logical entity is stored in a number of different tables. The data access layer encapsulates the work required to manage connections, execute queries, and begin, commit, and roll back transactions. Project Server 2010 data is partitioned into four databases in Microsoft SQL Server:

• The Draft database contains tables for saving unpublished projects from Microsoft Project Professional 2010. Project data in the Draft database is not accessible by using Microsoft Project Web App.

• The Published database contains all of the published projects. Published projects are visible in Project Web App. The Published database also contains tables that are specific to Project Web App (timesheets, models, views, and so on), and global data tables (outline codes, security, and metadata).

• The Archive database saves backed-up and older versions of projects.

• The Reporting database is the staging area for generating reports and online analytical processing (OLAP) cubes. Data in the Reporting database is updated nearly in real-time, is comprehensive, and is optimized for read-only report generation.

Only the Reporting database schema is documented. You should access the Drafts, Published, and Archive databases only through the Project Server Interface. You can add data tables, fields (properties), and entities that are not defined in the Project Server 2010 database schema. If you do, you must also provide the full stack of a custom assembly, Web service, business objects, and data access.