Evil Doctor PorkChop: Project Management

At Project Conference This Week

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:39:25 GMT

Judging from the keynote, it looks like a packed house! I'll be in the Project Labs from 11am to 1:30pm on Tuesday if you want to talk face to face.

My new favorite blog

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 21:46:20 GMT

http://blogs.msdn.com/officeoffline/default.aspx

Especially the Project post. :-)

Technorati Tags: Microsoft , Project , Office Humor

Latest Happenings

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 09:02:25 GMT

It's been awhile since I've been on this blog. It feels a little like walking into a relative's house that you haven't visited in a while. You know where everything is, but it still feels a bit strange.

As you may know, I took over management of the Project Server Team Blog a few months ago. From a blogging perspective, this has been a challenging assignment. It's one thing to blog on your own blog, where you can pretty much do whatever. It's another matter when you are representing the team. Overall, I feel we are getting the posts out that need to be there, but we still have a ways to go before the pipeline is full. I'm open to suggestions for posts.

I've also been working on Project 14 for several months. This is my first time going through the beginning of the ship cycle process at Microsoft. In some ways, it's very familiar and in other ways, it's different from any other software development cycle I've been through.

One of the critical differences at Microsoft is that I really own the features for which I'm writing the specs. It's incredibly important that I gather customer evidence, do partner research, collaborate with development, marketing, test and other Program Managers to make sure I've got all of the angles covered. But in the end, I really own the thing. My success at Microsoft is truly in my hands.

In other jobs I've had, I was responsible for the outcome but all of the key decisions were typically made elsewhere. In the Microsoft model, I've got to facilitate and own these key decisions. Given the number of years that a release is in use and the revenue that is at stake, these decisions are critical to the long term success of our product. No pressure, though. :-)

In my "spare" time, I'm also managing a hosted instance of Project Server 2007 internally for Microsoft employees. This has been a challenging task. Typically, when you implement Project Server, you have some standardization across organizations which makes it a bit easier to design a solution. In our case, there is no cross-organization standardization.

So, we designed the solution where each group could add custom fields, resources, views and templates. We also implemented a single level RBS which has a 4 letter abbreviation format. The RBS is used by the groups/categories to restrict the projects and resources. Custom fields and views are prefixed with the same 4 letter abbreviation so that these can be distinguished across groups. Interestingly, very few(2) custom fields have been created.

We are getting some great direct usability feedback as many of these internal users are new to Project and Project Server. ne of the feedback items was to make it clearer as to where to see project details. There was some confusion among new team members as to which link to use to see the project details. They kept clicking on the link to the Project workspace to see the project. After looking at the home page from their perspective, I can see why. So, some changes were in order.

The quickest way to do make it easier was to add the Project Center web part to the home page. You can also edit the web part heading to instruct the user to "Click here to see project details". The other alternative would have required the PM to place the Project Details web part on the home page of the team site. While it's pretty easy to do, it wasn't something I wanted to require of new users. In the end, I put Project Center on the home page. I also left the Project Workspaces web part below it so that users could easily navigate to the workspaces.

For fun, I'm continuing to experiment with my Zune. (Disclaimer: I know nothing about the internal plans for Zune. Heck, I don't even know anyone on the team.) It's the best video player I've ever had. I've moved a number of videos to it and it just rocks. I've been able to watch movies, video podcasts and recorded TV at lunch easily. I wish it were easier to get rentable video content as I can't see buying TV episodes. The screen is great looking. Now, I need to find a decent case that won't cost a fortune. Based on what I've found, I might be hard pressed to find both. Suggestions?

Anyway, I'm attempting to do more writing here. Expect more behind the scenes stuff rather than hard, technical information.

Technorati tags: Project Server 2007, Project, Blogging, Zune

Your Help is needed for a Creativity Research Project

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 04:20:27 GMT

I wanted to bring this study on creativity to your attention. Though not stricly related to project management, you have to admit we are quite a creative bunch! If you can help in either posting about this study or participating in it, it would be sincerely appreciated.

BACKGROUND

My personal friend Dr. Amy Randel, Management Science professor at San Diego State University, is conducting research on creativity and drivers of creativity. She is looking for volunteer pairs in the technology industry to fill out a survey in January. Please note, a co-worker will also need to fill out a survey. I volunteered to help spread the word as I see this as an interesting study.

Creativity has not been well studied so you will be greatly expanding what is known about creativity and its contribution in the workplace.

IF YOU WANT TO PERSONALLY PARTICIPATE

If you are interested in this voluntary exercise, please send an email to the following address: workstylestudy@yahoo.com A email will be sent to you with the survey link information. This process is being done to validate who is filling in the survey.

IF YOU WANT TO DISCUSS THIS ON YOUR BLOG

Here’s the study overview from Amy.

We are conducting a study on types of creativity and drivers of creativity, including motivation and personality. As part of this study, we are looking for participants to complete an anonymous 20-30 minute on-line survey and to have a co-worker complete a short 5 minute on-line survey.

Participants can receive a summary of results (with confidentiality protected) upon request. Participants in this study also will receive the benefit of participating in research on creativity. As recent articles in Business Week and Fortune have described, creativity is an essential ingredient in the global economy. This study will contribute to the small, but building body of research on creativity in the workplace.

The two primary professors working on this study are Amy Randel, Ph.D. (San Diego State University) and Kim Jaussi, Ph.D. (SUNY Binghamton). Both professors regularly publish studies based on survey research in companies.

Data collection for this study is expected in Spring of 2007.

Amy’s bio can be found here: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~cba/facdev/randel.html. Kim’s bio is here: http://som.binghamton.edu/faculty/jaussi.htm

Technorati tags: Creativity, San Diego State University, SUNY, Academic Study

del.icio.us tags: Creativity, San Diego State University, SUNY, Academic Study

IceRocket tags: Creativity, San Diego State University, SUNY, Academic Study

We interrupt this broadcast...

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 07:18:07 GMT

The winds of change are a howlin!

As you may know, I've been using this blog to write about my own work management scenarios and how you could use Project Server to support them. As such, this has been an unofficial blog related to Project Server topics. The name makes it pretty clear that this is pretty unofficial about everything.

Next week, Lidiane is leaving the Project team to take a new position with another group within Microsoft. As you may know, Lidiane manages the official Project blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/project.

I want to thank her for all of the great work she has done in Project Server 2007 and Project Portfolio Server 2007. She will be greatly missed. I'm very happy that she is staying within the Microsoft family.

With Lidiane's departure, I've been asked to take over the management of the "official" Project blog. Thus, I'm going to repurpose this blog into something more directed at general Project Management techniques and personal PM experiences. My future Project Server posts will be on the main Project blog.

As I started this blog before I came to Microsoft, I was reticent to change the name as it was of personal significance to me. Based on feedback that I've received over the last year, I think many have been able to get pass the weirdness of the name and come to appreciate the content. Thank you for your kind words and support.

I have to say it's been a bit of a kick to have people walk up to me at PMI Congress and other events and ask "Are you the Evil Doctor Porkchop?" The inbound link log really doesn't give you a good sense of who's reading your posts. I really had no idea the breadth of readership. But, I really appreciate people taking the time to come over and introduce themselves. I've met a lot of great people as a result.

Lastly, I really appreciate your readership and I hope you will continue to visit. I think you may find the new theme interesting. However, if your primary interest is deep Project Server knowledge, you will want to go to http://blogs.msdn.com/project for new posts.

We now return to our regular programming, already in progress...

Technorati tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management

Looking for Project Server 2007 Training?

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 01:50:01 GMT

We've rolled out the new Microsoft Enterprise Project Management University set of courses for designing, installing and managing Project Server 2007 installations. You can get course information and pricing at http://www.msepmu.com.

Technorati tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Training, EPMU

P12: It's a wrap!

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 21:56:15 GMT

Microsoft Office Project 2007 along with Office 2007 RTM'd last Friday at about 2:30pm! I had to go to see Allie and Eric sign off on Client and Server versions of Project 2007. Once everyone signed off, the overall Release manager pushed the button to release the official bits to production.

You can read the press pass info here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/nov06/11-062007OfficeRTMPR.mspx You can also read more at Jensen Harris' blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2006/11/06/office-2007-released-to-manufacturing.aspx

The launch party was an impressive affair. Steven Sinofsky and Jeff Raikes both came by to congratulate us. Bill Gates was also on hand to tell us how impressed he was with the overall release.

The OneNote team was running around with purple hair. It seems their icon is purple so they really got into the act. At one point, they were trying to spray paint Jeff Raikes' hair, but the spray can was empty. Jeff didn't look too upset. :-)

Anyway, the CDs are being produced as we speak. Business customers on volume licensing will get access to the 2007 version soon. Retail availability is early 2007.

Technorati tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR, Office 2007 RTM

Project Server 2003 - Visual Studio Team System Connector RTM Announcement

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:58:12 GMT

UPDATE 1

Ameya has a blog post on this connector and some of the background: http://blogs.msdn.com/ameyab/archive/2006/10/18/project-server-2003-and-visual-studio-team-system-2005-connector-available.aspx

***************************

We are pleased to announce general availability of the Project Server 2003 - Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2005 Connector application.

Where to Get It

The Connector can be downloaded here: http://www.avanadeadvisor.com/TFS-ProjectServerConnector.zip. The Connector is largely based on the sample Project Server 2003 - Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Beta 2 Connector available on GotDotNet. The Connector is also available as a part of the Avanade Software Lifecycle PlatformT.

You can learn more about it here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/why/avanade/default.aspx.

About the connector

Microsoft® Office Project Server 2003 and Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005 Team System (VSTS) are two powerful applications that are each used in different ways for management of software development projects. Up-to-date project information requires a seamless integration between the development environment and the project management tool. Managing projects, resources, and related information for an entire enterprise requires a holistic view and integration of project management data with the software development lifecycle. The Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solution with Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 can help organizations effectively manage and coordinate people, projects, and processes. The Microsoft EPM solution provides tools for strong coordination and standardization between projects and project managers, centralized resource management, and high-level reporting on projects and resources. Through familiar tools and ease of integration with a broad range of programs in the Microsoft Office System, the EPM solution promotes broad participation for greater accuracy, accountability, and acceptance. Microsoft Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) provides a solution for software development teams that integrates designing, developing, testing, and managing a project. VSTS integrates with Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003 and Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003 for desktop use and allows project managers to plan and manage projects on a local computer. However, because there is no integration with Project Server, the project data for each team is available only in a stand-alone plan. There is no simple way to aggregate project data across multiple projects. The Connector synchronizes Project, Resource and Task data between the two systems. Project Managers, Resource Managers continue to work in the EPM environment while the development team works in the development environment, i.e. VSTS, and data seamlessly flows between the two systems. Updates to work items in VSTS are automatically applied to the corresponding assignments and tasks in Project Server and vice versa. Project Managers have complete control over the inflow of the actuals into the project plan. In addition, resource management functions for all development projects, like managing time and utilization for resources working across multiple projects, team staffing etc. can be performed in Project Server. Lastly, portfolio and program level reports can easily be generated for projects being executed in VSTS and managed in Project Server. More about the Avanade Software Lifecycle Platform (SLP) Avanade Connected Architectures® for Lifecycle or ACA® Lifecycle 2006 is an asset that implements the Avanade SLP vision. It provides a software development lifecycle environment

Technorati tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR, Integration, VSTS, Visual Studio Team System, Connector

Project Certfication/Project Conference Updates

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:48:55 GMT

At the PMI Global Congress 2006 – North America yesterday, Microsoft Learning launched the Microsoft Office Project 2007 Certification program to help advance project management as a profession and maximize value for the very large Microsoft Office Project user community. The official announcement is here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2006/oct06/10-20project2007.mspx

I also talked with one of the Project Conference coordinators yesterday and she told me that the http://www.msprojectconference.com site would be used again for the 2007 conference. The site was also updated last night so please check out the new information.

I also had the chance to talk to some loyal readers of this blog at the Congress. Thank you all for the wonderful feedback. I was able to get some great ideas for future articles. Again, thank you for your readership!!

Technorati tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR, Project Conference, Certfication, PMI

New Project VBA Book Published

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 05:44:39 GMT

Rod Gill, one of our Project MVPs, has published a book on using Project VBA. You can find details at http://www.projectvbabook.com. The book contains many examples of Project and Excel macros which are used to access information in Project 2003 and Project 2007.

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR,VBA

Outlook Integration Posts

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:47:08 GMT

A personal matter has come up so I've been off doing that rather than blogging. Sorry to go dark in the middle of a series. It'll be a few days before posting picks up again.

While I've been away, you can find out more about our Outlook integration. One of my co-workers, Jon Kaufthal, has been busy writing about the Outlook integration feature in Project Server 2007 on Melissa Macbeth's blog. You can find his posts here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/melissamacbeth/archive/2006/10/09/Project-Server-Tasks-in-Outlook_3A00_-Part-1-.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/melissamacbeth/archive/2006/10/09/Project-Server-Tasks-in-Outlook_3A00_-Part-2.aspx

Enjoy! I'll be back soon.

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR,Outlook Integration

A Modest Proposal - Part 1 Introduction

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 05:54:50 GMT

This is the first part of a three part series on proposals. These posts would not be possible without the help of Tara Hopwood, who is responsible for quality assurance on this feature.

As you have been looking through Project Server 2007 B2TR, you will have noticed a link for Proposals and Activities. While I've been talking about Activity Plans, we haven't discussed Proposals.

What are Proposals?

Proposals are intended to enable organizations to do basic future planning for proposed projects. This function is designed to provide a way to reserve resources via resource plans and to layout timelines and major milestones. Once a proposal is approved, it should be upgraded to a Project Pro type project for managing the details.

Like Activity Plans, But Different

Proposals also utilize the same user interface as Activity Plans, so my posts on Activity Plans will also apply as to how you can create and manage proposals. More details here. In the data base, they also share the same Project Type value of 4 (which you may need to know for reporting purposes.)

The major difference between Activity Plans and Proposals is the State field. In Activity Plans, the State field is null and doesn't appear in the user interface. In Proposals, the State field is present and can be manually set to one of three values when Project Server is used in standalone mode or automatically managed by an external workflow when Project Server is used with Office Server. You may hear this workflow capability referred to as DLC, which stands for Document Lifecycle.

In Part 2, we will discuss how to setup and use the proposal feature in standalone Project Server mode. In Part 3, we will look setup and usage in the Office Server + Project Server usage mode as well as discuss how to avoid some stumbling blocks in setting it up. Stay Tuned!

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR, Proposals, Tara+Hopwood

SDKs for Project Server, SharePoint and Office Server updated

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 23:32:58 GMT

From our technical writers, they've updated the docs to reflect B2TR.

Links

The Beta 2 TR update of the Project 2007 SDK is published.

Portal: Project Developer Portal in the Office Developer Center on MSDN includes links to the Project 2007 SDK, Project 2007 blogs, as well as the Project 2003 SDK. Following are the other main pages in the Project Developer Center:
- What’s New for Developers in Project 2007 includes links to MSDN Webcasts.
- Project Community includes an RSS feed for the Project 2007 Team Blog, and other Project blogs and sites.
SDK Online: Project 2007 SDK in MSDN online library: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/ms512767(office.12).aspx

· SDK Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2672F6F9-7028-4B30-99A2-18CB1EED1ABE&displaylang=en

pj12ProjectSDK.exe includes two HTML Help files:
- pjSDK2007.chm (conceptual topics and managed code reference)
- pj12ReportingDB.chm (a preliminary Reporting Database Schema reference)
pj12ProjectSDKSamples.exe includes the following complete sample projects that relate to topics in the SDK.

What’s New

The Beta 2 TR SDK includes updates of the seven “How to” and “Walkthrough” topics in the Beta 1 and Beta 2 releases, plus the following:

How to: Create a Project Workspace and Link it to a Project
How to: Use the OLP to Link an Object to a Task
Using the ProjTool Test Application (guide to the sample application in the download)

Beta 2 TR conceptual topics include updates of the Beta 1 and Beta 2 topics, plus the following new topics:

Windows SharePoint Services Infrastructure for Project Server
Using the Object Link Provider
The Reporting Database and Report Data Service
PSI Methods for the RDB
Events for the RDB
Prerequisites for Reference Code Samples

The PSI reference is updated with new code samples for methods in the Project and Resource Web services, among other changes.

Related content and SDKs include the Office Developer Centers, SharePoint Developer Center, the SharePoint SDKs in MSDN online, and the following downloads for Beta 2 TR:

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Software Development Kit

SharePoint Server 2007: Software Development Kit

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR, SDK

B2TR Web Cast Recording Now Available

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 00:25:15 GMT

The recent Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 B2TR web cast was recorded so you can view it at your leisure.

To view, go to: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/view, enter the following details:

Your name: <Your name>
Recording ID: 2Q2N7P
Recording Key: rg+SJG5DX

Sometimes the playback does not start immediately or stops mid-way – please try the steps above again, it may be a transient problem. Enjoy!

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR

Looking for the Project 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh Downloads?

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:59:28 GMT

Another Project Server 2007 Webcast for B2TR installation has been scheduled

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 17:54:35 GMT

I'm posting this on behalf of Pradeep, as I understand there were some issues with yesterday's webcast. Don't worry, we've got you covered.

*** This webcast is open to general public – anyone can attend ***

Webcast Title: How to install Project Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (Beta 2 TR) – Repeat session

Main Objective: To give an overview of how to install Project Server 2007 Beta2 TR and answer any questions you may have. Detailed instructions on the install are already available at: http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/2ff528e5-bd0d-41f9-832c-5ee386aa73b71033.mspx?mfr=true – you can go through this and have your questions ready !

Who will present: Microsoft Project Group members from Redmond, USA

When?: Sep 15th, Friday, 10 AM to 11 AM PDT (Pacific Daylight Time). Click here to see what time this is where you live

Webcast Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/join?id=2Q2N7P&role=attend&pw=rg%2BSJG5DX . If the meeting link does not work, please do the following:

Browse to: https://www.placeware.com/rm/microsoft/attend
Type your name
Type the Meeting ID as: 2Q2N7P
Type the Meeting Key as: rg+SJG5DX

Audio information: Toll free: +1 (800) 779-2592. Toll: +1 (210) 234-0027. Participant Passcode: 7749118.

Meeting format: “Internet Audio Broadcasting” will be enabled in the webcast – so you can listen to the audio via speakers in your computer (no need to join the conference call). There will be a person answering your questions other than the person presenting. There will be some polls that need your input.

Recording: The session will be recorded, we will send you the details of the recording after the webcast.

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR

Reminder!! Project 2007 Webcast tomorrow at 9AM Pacific Time.

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 22:44:57 GMT

When?

Sep 13^th, 9 AM to 10 AM PST (Pacific Standard Time)

Meeting Title

How to install Project Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh

Webcast link

https://www.livemeeting.com/rm/microsoft/join?id=PublicWebcast&role=attend&pw=736410. If you cannot click the meeting link above, or it does not work, please do the following:

Browse to: http://www.placeware.com/rm/microsoft/attend

Type your name

Type the Meeting ID as: PublicWebcast

Type the Password as: 736410

Audio information

1-866-500-6738 or 203-480-8000. Participant code: 852710#

Who will present?

Microsoft Project Team members from Redmond, USA.

Main objective

To give an overview of how to install Project Server 2007 Beta2 TR and answer any questions you may have.

Can I attend?

Yes. This is a Public Webcast – anyone can attend.

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR

Resource Plans are good for Regular Projects too!

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 05:57:52 GMT

After reviewing previous posts, it's pretty easy to draw the conclusion that resource plans can only be used for activity plans. Not so!

You can also use them with regular project plans. The usage there was envisioned as a way of supporting rolling wave planning. By attaching a resource plan to a regular project, you can claim your resources for six months while doing detailed project planning a month at a time.

Adding/Modifying a Resource Plan

Go to Project Center and select the project row in the grid. Note, the project must be published for this to work.
Click Resource Plans button
Click the Settings, View Options to bring up the details for the resource plan
Change the settings as above.
- The date range represents the range for which you want to set resource availability.
- The Calculate resource utilization setting is changed to Project Plan until option. In this case, I have a detailed plan until the end of January. However, my project runs through the end of June. So, I tell Project to use the project details until the end of January and I plan out my resource plan from February to June.
- If you don't want to do detailed planning, you can also leave the setting as Resource Plan and set the resource amounts accordingly.
Save and publish the resource plan

If you don't attach a resource plan to a regular project, then Project will still calculate resource availability the way it has in previous releases.

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Project Plans, Resource Plans

Using Activity Plans/Resource Plans for Managing Operational Resources

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 18:30:13 GMT

While I'm sitting here waiting for the doctor (who has free Wifi!), I thought I would write more about Activity Plans and Resource Plans.

If you have the following scenario, you can use Activity Plans and Resource Plans to manage resource availability. This technique also takes advantage of the fact that project duration and resource allocation timeframes are no longer strongly bound.

Scenario

You are the manager of a support team whose team members also work on projects. You want to reserve 50% of their availability for their support tasks, leaving the remaining time for project work. You also want to allow the team members to log time at the project level so that you can get some idea of how much actual time is being logged against support. This actual time can be used to revalidate your 50% allocation on a periodic basis. Since you already have an internal work ticket system, you have no need to track work items in Project Server.

Technique

In this case, you want to something very similar to my last post. Since there's is no work to manage, we will create a simple project container and attach a resource plan. But since there's no work, the project duration will be 1 day by default. You can create a stub task to make it reflect your capture period if it really bugs you but you aren't required to do this. The resource plan function will allow you to increase the timeframe range on the resource plan to encompass whatever range you need.

The key point is that the work timeframe and resource allocation timeframe are no longer hard linked. This is a handy feature if you are doing rolling wave planning, etc.

Implementation

The easiest way to do this is to create an activity plan for support team, then create a resource plan containing all of the team members and allocating them to half of their total availability based upon the interval you set for the resource plan view(day, week, month, year). If all of your team members are 8 hr a day full time employees, you can also use FTE units of 0.5 for them.

Steps

From the Project Server Home page, select Proposals and Activities from the Quick Link menu
Select New, Activity from the menu bar
Fill in the Name, description, start date and click Save.
When the details screen comes up, click Save and Publish. (You have to publish the plan before you can publish an attached Resource plan.)
Click Resource Plan from the menu bar on the Activity details page.
Click Build Team to add your team's resources to the Resource Plan
On the Build Team page, place a check next to the desired resources and then click Add
Click Save which will return you to the resource plan page
Click the Settings button on the Resource Plan page and select View Options
Make the following changes and click Apply
1. Change the date range to the desired date range
2. Change the column interval to the desired units
3. Change Calculate Resource Utilization from setting to Resource Plan
4. Change work units to desired units
In this case, all of the employees are full time, 8 hr day employees. Our server is set up where FTE is equivalent to 8 hrs per day. Therefore, we will use FTE equivalents for setting their availability.
When complete click Save and Publish
From the Work Details page, click Build Team
From the Build Team page, click Synchronize to Resource Plan
Click Save.
From the Work Details page, click Save and Publish

Now you should see the resource availability for your team decremented by the 50% that you just reserved. Also, your team should be able to log time against the project.

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Activity Plans, Resource Plans

Activity Plans and Resource Plans

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 23:15:31 GMT

Another question has come up around the 100% allocation to tasks in Activity Plans. Basically, how are you supposed to be doing things in parallel and still show accurate availability?

The Activity Plan feature was intended to provide a lightweight task management facility which would integrate with Project Server and would take advantage of Project Server features. The intended target user, the incidental project manager, typically isn't formally trained in Project Management and also typically doesn't need the concept of resource allocation. They just need a way to collaboratively track work.

However, you may need lightweight task management and also care about resource allocation. One suggestion is to create a resource plan to manage availability. If you check the box to use Resource Plan instead of the Project Plan for availability calculations, then the 100% task allocation becomes less of an issue. You can use the resource plan to allocate the time used and use the tasks in the Activity Plan as work checkpoints.

In this scenario, people who are on the resource plan would log time against the project at the Project level. In order to do this, they have to be on the project team. From the Activity Plan details screen, click Build Team. Then use the Synchronize to Resource Plan button to add all resources from the Resource Plan to the Project team.

When timesheet time comes around, the team member would open their timesheet, click the Add Lines button if the project was not listed and then select the Project from the list. Click OK to add to your timesheet.

A huge thank you to David Ducolon in his time and patience in crafting this post.

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Activity Plans, Resource Plans

Status Manager vs Assignment Owner

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 00:43:33 GMT

We are getting quite a number of questions regarding what is the difference between Status Manager and Assignment Owner in Project Server 2007.

Status Manager

Status Manager is the person who manages the task and processes the status updates for a task (which is typically also the Project Owner). By default, the Status Manager is the same as the Project Owner.

In Project 2003, you had to implicitly become the Status Manager by opening the Project Plan, selecting the specific tasks, then republishing with the "Become owner of this assignment" checked.

In Project 2007, we've given you a way to set this explicitly in the Status Manager field. This is helpful since the field is now explicitly set and can be added to views. In order to get the person's name in the status manager list, there is still a limitation that they have to open the project plan in Project Pro and change the Status Manager field value. However, this can be done at the beginning of a project and it will carry forward to any additional tasks from there.

The Status Owner will receive the project manager notifications for the owned tasks and will be able to accept updates to those tasks provided they have adequate security permissions.

I'm still investigating whether this information can be stored within a template so that you only have to do this operation as you add project managers to the system.

Assignment Owner

Assignment Owner is the person who provides task status on behalf of a resource (which is typically themselves). The assignment owner in the project task defaults to the value set in the Default Assignment Owner field of the resource. In most cases, the resource is it's own default assignment owner.

In certain cases, as in setting up team resources, the default assignment owner may be changed to be the team manager. This way, the team manager can see all team assignments and manage them on behalf of the team.

The assignment owner will receive the team member notification, will see the task in their tasks views, and will be able to update task status provided they have the appropriate rights.

The assignment owner can also be overwritten at the project assignment level with Project Professional 2007. If you go to the Resource Usage view in Project Pro and add the Assignment Owner field to the grid view, you can change the value to another resource on the project. One use of this would be where you are using a shared resource (i.e. A front end loader) and you need different people to submit status on front-end loader tasks since there may be different people involved in different stages of the project.

This also allows you to delegate task updates to another person when the resource may not have access to the system. For example, you may be utilizing a external service for some of your project work. However, they don't have direct access to the system and you want to use a resource representing usage of XYZ Service for overall reporting purposes.

This feature allows the Project Manager to override the assignment owner in their plan to someone internally to track status for the external service tasks. A Sourcing member can then get visibility across all projects to see where a certain external service is being used and use this information to negotiate a better rate.

I hope this helps.

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Status Manager, Assignment Owner

Upcoming Project Server 2007 Webcast

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 00:23:19 GMT

When?

Sep 13^th, 9 AM to 10 AM PST (Pacific Standard Time)

Meeting Title

How to install Project Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh

Webcast link

https://www.livemeeting.com/rm/microsoft/join?id=PublicWebcast&role=attend&pw=736410. If you cannot click the meeting link above, or it does not work, please do the following:

Browse to: http://www.placeware.com/rm/microsoft/attend

Type your name

Type the Meeting ID as: PublicWebcast

Type the Password as: 736410

Audio information

1-866-500-6738 or 203-480-8000. Participant code: 852710#

Who will present?

Microsoft Project Team members from Redmond, USA.

Main objective

To give an overview of how to install Project Server 2007 Beta2 TR and answer any questions you may have.

Can I attend?

Yes. This is a Public Webcast – anyone can attend.

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR

Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 - Save the date!

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:51:39 GMT

For those of you who are working on your budgets for next year, add in some money to go to the Project Conference 2007. The conference will be held in Seattle at the end of October, 2007. It'll be bigger and better than the last conference! I'll post more details as they come available

UPDATE: I was asked if this coincided with PMI Congress. No, the PMI event is Oct 6-9 in Atlanta.

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Project Conference

Installing Project Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh.

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:39:54 GMT

Ok, first Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR in Microspeak) is not yet available, but when it is, here are the installation instructions.

We are sending this out early to make you aware that B2TR will be sent out as a patch to Beta 2. Why a patch? Well, we needed to test patching in the real world before the final version. Otherwise, we would be testing patching for the first time with a service pack on the real product in production. I don't think anyone wants that to happen.

If you have any questions, please post as a comment to this post so that I can pass it to the team.

Here are the instructions:

How to install Project Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (Beta 2 TR)?

** Read this message carefully and completely before you apply the Beta 2 TR Update/Patch **

The Beta 2 Technical Refresh release is an incremental revision to Beta 2 – it is applied as an “Update” or a “Patch” on top of a Beta 2 installation. So, there is no “full installation” of Project Server 2007 Beta 2 TR. To install Beta 2 TR, you need to first install Project Server 2007 Beta 2 and then install the Beta 2 TR Update/Patch. If you already have a Beta 2 installation, you can just install the Beta 2 TR Update/Patch.

There are 3 main installation scenarios:

A new installation of Project Server 2007 Beta 2 TR. This is for new users who do not have a previous Beta installation of Project Server 2007. This involves the following general steps:
- Install the Beta 2 version of Project Server 2007.
- Install the Windows SharePoint Services 2007 Beta 2 TR Update/Patch.
- Install the Project Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh Update/Patch.
Upgrading from Project Server 2007 Beta 2 without data upgrade. This is for customers who were in the early stages of Beta 2 evaluation. They may have created some sample projects and timesheet entries, but data in Beta 2 is not important enough to carry over to Beta 2 Technical Refresh. This involves the following general steps:
- Install the Windows SharePoint Services 2007 Beta 2 TR Update/Patch.
- Install the Project Server Beta 2 Technical Refresh Update/Patch.
Upgrading from Project Server 2007 Beta 2 with data upgrade. This is for customers who may have created a lot of data on Project Server 2007 Beta 2 for a pilot or a proof of concept. This involves the following general steps:
- Backup data from the Project Server 2007 Beta 2 installation (this is not just a database backup, it is a set of manual steps. Detailed instructions provided in the documentation).
- Install the Windows SharePoint Services 2007 Beta 2 TR Update/Patch.
- Install the Project Server Beta 2 Technical Refresh Update/Patch.
- Restore data on to the Project Server 2007 Beta 2 TR installation.

Important things to note.

Once you install the update/patch, it cannot be rolled back.
If you plan to install the Project Beta 2 Technical Refresh update/patch onto a Beta 2 Server containing provisioned Project Web Access site(s), you need to delete those sites before the update/patch is applied.
Project Server 2007 Beta 2 and Project Server 2007 Beta 2 TR cannot exist on the same computer. This is not supported.

Upgrading Data from Beta 2 to Beta 2 TR.

“Data upgrade” from Project Server 2007 Beta 2 to Beta 2 TR is a manual process. Detailed step-by-step instructions, sample code, macros are available in the documentation to help make your upgrade a success.

Detailed step-by-step deployment instructions can be found in the following 2 documents:

Installing Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (link will start working after Beta 2 TR general availability)
Installing Windows SharePoint Services 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (link will start working after Beta 2 TR general availability)

Meanwhile, ask your Microsoft contact to get a draft copy of the detailed instructions.

tags: Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft, Project Management, Beta 2, Beta 2 Technical Refresh, B2TR

Three New Project Bloggers

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 07:50:13 GMT

Welcome to the party!

After Brian Kennemer twisted Reid's arm electronically (Brian's Offer to Reid), Reid McTaggart had decided to start his own blog. It can be found here: Reid McTaggart

Dr. Ed Hanna and Kermit Llaurador have also started their own Project blogs. As they all have stellar reputations within the Project world, I'm looking forward to great posts from them.

tags: Reid McTaggart, Ed Hanna, Kermit Llaurador, Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft Project Management, New blogs,

Automatic Project Phase Calculation without Macros!!

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 01:42:33 GMT

Tonight, we have a guest blogger and good friend of mine, Reid McTaggart. Reid is very well known in the Project UseNet groups. By day, he is a Services Executive with Microsoft. Take it away Reid!

This technique helps solve a common need for status information based on some task condition, but rolled up to the project summary level. In this case, we are addressing the need to rollup the project current phase information. Treb had a previous article on this, but his technique required macros. This new technique eliminates the need for macros.

There are two approaches, at least, to describing what phase a project is in. One is to say that if we are working on Phase 2 then we are in Phase 2, regardless of whether we have completed Phase 1. The other, more preferable, approach is to say that if we are not yet completely finished with Phase 1, then we are in Phase 1, regardless of work that may have been done on subsequent phases.

This method describes how to accomplish the latter approach formulaically. A variation on this method would accomplish the former approach.

A benefit of this method in comparison to Milestone methods is that ALL tasks in a phase must be complete in order for the phase to be considered complete. This enforces some discipline on the Project Manager to actually manage his schedule.

Another benefit is flexibility for customers who do not like to organize their plan in phases, or who don’t want to ensure that all phase tasks are predecessors of a phase-complete milestone, or who want to exclude some tasks from the phase calculation.

Finally, it allows selected tasks to be excluded from the calculation altogether.

Fields used:

Enterprise Text 1 (to map tasks to phases)
Enterprise Number 1 (to rollup phase status)
Enterprise Project Text 1 (to report project phase)

Enterprise Text 1 uses a value list. The PM, or the creator of the template, sets the value of this field to associate each task with a phase. The value list:

Exclude from Phase Calculation
Inception
Planning
Execution
Closeout

Enterprise Number 1 contains a formula that checks whether the task is complete. If so, it returns a value of 99. If not, it returns a number (1-4) representing the value in Enterprise Text 1. The formula looks like this:

Iif([% Complete] = 100,99,Switch([Enterprise Text1]=”Exclude from Phase Calculation”,100, [Enterprise Text1]=”Inception”,1, [Enterprise Text1]=”Planning”,2, [Enterprise Text1]=”Execution”,3, [Enterprise Text1]=”Closeout”,4))

Calculation for task and group summary rows is set to Rollup: Minumum.

Enterprise Project Text 1 contains a formula that looks at the rolled up value of Enterprise Number 1 and converts it to meaningful text. The formula looks like this:

Switch([Enterprise Number1]=1,”Inception”, [Enterprise Number1]=2,”Planning”, [Enterprise Number1]=3,”Execution”, [Enterprise Number1]=4,”Closeout”, [Enterprise Number1]=99,”Project Complete”, [Enterprise Number1]=100,”All Tasks are Excluded from Phase Calculation”)

Enterprise Project Text 1 can then be added and used within your Project Center views.

tags: Reid McTaggart, Project 2007, Project Server 2007, Project 12, Office 2007, Office 12, Microsoft Project Management, Project Phase Calculations

Project Server 2007 TechNet site now up

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 05:49:42 GMT

The new Technet site for Project Server 2007 is now available. Check it out here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/office/project/default.mspx

Enjoy!

Project 2007 Project Server 2007 Project 12 Office 2007 Office 12 Microsoft Project Management

Resource Plans Potpourri

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 23:36:14 GMT

As I'm working with building an environment for Reporting, I'm noticing some nice enhancements we've made to some features. I'm going to discuss Resource Plans since I'm doing some work with this feature this week.

Committed versus Proposed

One of which is the ability to designate whether a resource is proposed or committed at the resource plan level. We had this ability in TeamBuilder, but there was a disconnect in your ability to designate Committed/Proposed for a resource in the Beta 2 version of the Resource Plan function. This change rectifies that issue. It also enables you to resource a proposal but you don't want to commit resources as the proposal might not yet be approved.

Edit Custom Fields

When you look at the Resource Plan page and select a resource, you see a button come up to Edit Custom Fields. Edit custom fields? Yes, because this function also gives you the ability to set the value for any resource assignment custom fields. I don't have a good scenario for that one yet, but I'm still asking people for input.

Resource Plan Reporting

While we are on the topic of Resource Plans, it would be nice to know where the information is stored. If you looking at the ProjectServer_Reporting database (assuming you are using the default database names), you should look for the view MSP_EPMAssignment_UserView. What you want from this table is any record with an assignment type of 101. The amount of work allocated is stored in the AssignmentResourcePlanWork field.

For example, if I wanted to get a total amount of work planned in resource plans by resource, I could execute the following query:

SELECT     MSP_EpmResource_UserView.ResourceName, SUM(MSP_EpmAssignment_UserView.AssignmentResourcePlanWork) AS Expr1
FROM         MSP_EpmAssignment_UserView INNER JOIN
                      MSP_EpmResource_UserView ON MSP_EpmAssignment_UserView.ResourceUID = MSP_EpmResource_UserView.ResourceUID
WHERE     (MSP_EpmAssignment_UserView.AssignmentType = 101)
GROUP BY MSP_EpmResource_UserView.ResourceName

However, it might be more interesting if I could see how people are allocated for a particular range of days. In order to do that, I would need to use the MSP_EPMAssignmentByDay_UserView which gives you a timephased view of the data. So, say I want to see who is allocated already between April 1, 2007 and June 1, 2007. I could use a query like this to get this data where I'm selecting the resource, the amount of resource plan work and the day on which the work is scheduled.

SELECT     MSP_EpmResource_UserView.ResourceName, MSP_EpmAssignmentByDay_UserView.AssignmentResourcePlanWork,
                      MSP_EpmAssignmentByDay_UserView.TimeByDay
FROM         MSP_EpmAssignment_UserView INNER JOIN
                      MSP_EpmResource_UserView ON MSP_EpmAssignment_UserView.ResourceUID = MSP_EpmResource_UserView.ResourceUID INNER JOIN
                      MSP_EpmAssignmentByDay_UserView ON
                      MSP_EpmAssignment_UserView.AssignmentUID = MSP_EpmAssignmentByDay_UserView.AssignmentUID AND
                      MSP_EpmAssignment_UserView.ProjectUID = MSP_EpmAssignmentByDay_UserView.ProjectUID
WHERE     (MSP_EpmAssignment_UserView.AssignmentType = 101)
GROUP BY MSP_EpmResource_UserView.ResourceName, MSP_EpmAssignmentByDay_UserView.AssignmentResourcePlanWork,
                      MSP_EpmAssignmentByDay_UserView.TimeByDay
HAVING      (MSP_EpmAssignmentByDay_UserView.AssignmentResourcePlanWork > 0) AND (MSP_EpmAssignmentByDay_UserView.TimeByDay BETWEEN
                      CONVERT(DATETIME, '2007-04-01 00:00:00', 102) AND CONVERT(DATETIME, '2007-06-01 00:00:00', 102))
ORDER BY MSP_EpmAssignmentByDay_UserView.TimeByDay

Hopefully, this is useful. Let me know if you have more questions around resource plans.

Project 2007 Project Server 2007 Project 12 Office 2007 Office 12 Microsoft Project Management Resource Plans

Office Developer's Conference Videos are available

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 20:54:21 GMT

If you are doing or plan to do any programming against Project Server 2007, these videos may be of interest. Check them out here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/learn/conferences/track2/

Project 2007 Project Server 2007 Project 12 Office 2007 Office 12 Microsoft Project Management

Evil Doctor PorkChop: Project Management

At Project Conference This Week

My new favorite blog

Latest Happenings

Your Help is needed for a Creativity Research Project

BACKGROUND

IF YOU WANT TO PERSONALLY PARTICIPATE

IF YOU WANT TO DISCUSS THIS ON YOUR BLOG

We interrupt this broadcast...

Looking for Project Server 2007 Training?

P12: It's a wrap!

Project Server 2003 - Visual Studio Team System Connector RTM Announcement

UPDATE 1

Where to Get It

About the connector

Project Certfication/Project Conference Updates

New Project VBA Book Published

Outlook Integration Posts

A Modest Proposal - Part 1 Introduction

What are Proposals?

Like Activity Plans, But Different

SDKs for Project Server, SharePoint and Office Server updated

Links

What’s New

B2TR Web Cast Recording Now Available

Looking for the Project 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh Downloads?

Project 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh

Project Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh

All other Office 2007 downloads:

Another Project Server 2007 Webcast for B2TR installation has been scheduled

Reminder!! Project 2007 Webcast tomorrow at 9AM Pacific Time.

When?

Meeting Title

Webcast link

Audio information

Who will present?

Main objective

Can I attend?

Resource Plans are good for Regular Projects too!

Adding/Modifying a Resource Plan

Using Activity Plans/Resource Plans for Managing Operational Resources

Scenario

Technique

Implementation

Steps

Activity Plans and Resource Plans

Status Manager vs Assignment Owner

Status Manager

Assignment Owner

Upcoming Project Server 2007 Webcast

When?

Meeting Title

Webcast link

Audio information

Who will present?

Main objective

Can I attend?

Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 - Save the date!

Installing Project Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh.

How to install Project Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (Beta 2 TR)?

Important things to note.

Upgrading Data from Beta 2 to Beta 2 TR.

Three New Project Bloggers

Automatic Project Phase Calculation without Macros!!

Project Server 2007 TechNet site now up

Resource Plans Potpourri

Committed versus Proposed

Edit Custom Fields

Resource Plan Reporting

Office Developer's Conference Videos are available