Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solutions

Project Server 2010 Browser Support

2011-09-23T05:43:00.000-07:00

I found this interesting post regarding Browser support for Project Server 2010. This is very useful during your planning phase:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263526.aspx

Configuring Exchange Server 2007 or 2010 with MPS 2010

2011-09-23T05:41:00.000-07:00

There are a few important URL's to be aware of when synchronizing Exchange Server 2007/2010 with Project Server 2010;

1. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793352.aspx (Exchange Server 2010 Impersonation)

2. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee782548.aspx (Exchange 2007)

3. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff468700.aspx (Project Server 2010 and Exchange Server 2010)

Project Server 2007 64-bit on Windows 2008 Server

2011-01-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

Couple issues you might run into:

Issue 1: When running the setup for Project Server 2007 with all necessary You get the message that you need MOSS installed.
Solution: You must slipstream Office Server and WSS SP2 or have the SP2 installation files during installation.

Issue 2: You get prompted that IIS is not running during the configuration wizard, but you know you have it installed and running.
Solution: You must have the "IIS 6 Management Compatibility" feature enabled.

Configuring Project Server 2007 Data-Analysis for Windows 7

2011-01-13T04:59:00.001-08:00

When configuring Windows 7 client(s) for Project Server 2007/PWA, you must have all of the required components installed as described in the following kb article:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc197552(office.12).aspx

Also, you must configure the following areas:

Control Panel > Credential Manager > Add a Windows credential

Fill in the required information for your organization.

Click Ok.

Disabling Compression in IIS with Windows 2008 R2

2010-03-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

If you are having issues with the Project and Resource Centers after installing Project Server on Windows 2008 R2, you need to disable compression in IIS.

Step by step to follow.

Dont forget to "Remember Me"

2009-12-11T03:48:00.000-08:00

Scenario: Project Managers working with Data-Analysis in Project Server 2007.

Issue: Two users with the identical user rights attempting to view and work with Data-Analysis views. One user is able to access views without issue while the other gets a message regard a "Transport Layer" issue. Micrsoft Knowledge Base points to similar issues arising when attempting to connect to Analysis Services when working in a Workgroup setting. The blogsphere and community see a similar issue when have the wrong or missing component like MSXML 6.0 or lack of SP1. None of these situations applied to this issue.

We concluded that the user had the proper rights and that Data-Analysis was properly configured based on our testing. The one caveat was that the users would log into their machines locally (due to a policy on their client site) when accessing the Project Server environment.

As we worked through the troublshooting, we focused on the fact that the users were being prompted to login into PWA, because they were logging into their machines locally. One of the users checked off the "Remember Me" option when logging on while the other user left it unchecked when coming into PWA and that was the solution to the issue. The credentials were not being passed to Analysis Services and therefore throwing an error, even though the client was able to see all other areas of PWA.

It was the perception of the client to realize this subtle difference and recognize the solution was just a check box away. "You rock Kathy!"

Installing EPM 2010

2009-11-24T15:33:00.000-08:00

Couple items to be aware of as you look to install the Public Beta of Project Server 2010:

1. You will need SharePoint Server 2010
a. You will need to install the Standalone version if your not using AD. (It will not accept local accounts)
b. Be ready to install components outside of the prerequisites utility that comes with the setup.
-Powershell
-Geneva Framework

Microsoft Project 2010-Navigation

2009-10-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

Get familar with the new interface in Microsoft Project 2010.

Looks like the ribbon is here to stay-even for MS Project

2009-10-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

This is a good link to get started learning about the new ribbon in Project 2010. We will be scheduling a webinar in November demonstrating and talking about the new functionality found in the ribbon with Project 2010:

http://blogs.msdn.com/project/archive/2009/09/24/project-2010-introducing-the-ribbon.aspx

Enjoy!

Corrupt Cache is improperly displaying Custom Fields in Project Professional

2009-10-13T09:46:00.001-07:00

The wrong custom field values are displaying in the Project Professional client. PWA is displaying the values correctly.

Verify:

1. You have the same SP applied to the client and the server(s)
2. Clear the cache on the client machine:
a. Run the command %appdata% in the Run dialog.
b. In the Application Data dialog, navigate to the folder Microsoft\MS Project\Cache.
c. Delete all of the files in this directory.

Upgrading to IE 8 and unable to display grid in Project and Resource Centers

2009-10-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

After upgrading to IE 8, you are unable to download the Active X control to display grids in Project and Resource Centers:

Follow these steps:

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
3. Click the General tab, and then click Settings in the Browsing history section.
4. Click View Objects.
5. Right-click Pj12enuC Class, and then click Remove.
6. Right-click PjAdoInfo4 Class, and then click Remove.
7. Close the View Objects window, and then click OK two times

HotFix: KB 946517

2009-07-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

If you recieve the following error:

Access to the path 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS' is denied.

or

Reason: "Attempted to read or write protected data"

Try installing the following HotFix:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946517

We recieved these errors after a new medium farm build and the hotfix solved the problem.

Configurating Data-Analysis in Project Server 2007 with SQL Server 2008

2009-06-09T21:35:00.001-07:00

Configurating Data-Analysis in Project Server 2007 with SQL Server 2008

It is important to understand that the following Microsoft KB Guidance for configuring Data-Analysis needs some important additions and considerations:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd285466.aspx

First lets look at the following requirements:

"The way to install the DSO library is to get a set of redistributable packages included in the SQL Server 2005 Feature Pack. That set consists of:
Microsoft SQL Server Native Client
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management Objects Collection
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility Components"

It is important to install the Microsoft SQL Server Native Client for SQL Server 2008. This is due to the "Provider" that we use in the setup of Analysis Services.

The remaining components need to be from the 2005 Feature Pack.

Also, keep in mind that the OLAPUsers Group that we knew in 2005 is now called:
SQLServerMSASUser$

This is important when referencing the following step:

Add the SSP account to the OLAP users group
When you install SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services, a local group is created on the server that allows users to access it. This group is named SQLServerMSASUser$$MSSQLSERVER. You must add the SSP account to this group.

Everything else in the KB should be good to follow.

Ed Horn our Senior EPM Trainer beats my score with a 911

2008-03-25T04:25:00.001-07:00

Ed Horn recently passed the MCTS 070-0632 exam with a 911. Although I feel happy for him and the good job he did with the exam, I am also concerned it will be brought up every time we co-teach a class...;)

Good job, Ed!

Passed MCTS 070-0632 with a 900

2008-03-25T04:18:00.000-07:00

The MCTS exam for Managing Projects with MS Project Professional is definately not a trivial exam. This is not a typical "office" exam. The questions in this exam require you to have a deep understanding of MS Project Professional 2007. If you are prepping with Transcendor or other Prep packages you might see some questions on earned value and the expected need to know alot about the formulas behind PV, EV, AC, etc. I personally only had one question on Earned Value formulas. You need to understand how task type settings work and what happens when resources are added and removed. You also need to understand dependency types and their influence when tasks get shifted around.

Overrall, it is a good exam and requires a breadth of knowledge to pass.

Portfolio Server 2007 SP1 released!

2008-03-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

Project Portfolio Server 2007 SP1 released.

I think there may have been some confusion about the release of PPS SP1. Some of you may have thought that it was part of the earlier Office Server SP1 release. The update was published on 3/6/2008 and there are quite a few fixes.

The update itself is relatively straight forward compared to Project Server. It can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7cf44f2c-49d5-4431-bd3e-a10035ec1a39&displaylang=en

Its simply a matter of running the update and a Reboot is required.

Clearing the Queue in Project Server

2008-03-06T07:50:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the queue in Project Server 2007 appears to be getting hung up and you find that jobs are not completing successfully from Project Professional. The first steps to take are:
1. Click “Server Settings”
2. Click “Manage Queue”
3. Expand the “Advanced Options” section and ensure that the “Cancel jobs getting enqueued” option is checked.
4. Check the box next to the task you want to cancel and click the “Cancel Jobs” button.

If this still doesnt appear to help then you should:

1. Launch Services
2. Stop the Project Queue Service
3. Stop the SharePoint Timer Service
4. Start the SharePoint Timer Service
5. Start the Project Queue Service

Online and Free Project Server Seminars

2008-03-05T07:13:00.001-08:00

MS Project Pros has recently announced that it will offer ongoing free online seminars on various topics covering MS Project Server 2007 and the EPM offering. The topics will be 100-300 level depending on the topics. We will cover installation, configuration, troubleshooting and best practices among other things.

Finding the document URL in MS Office

2008-02-28T04:30:00.000-08:00

While working with SharePoint and Office 2007 you often want to locate the URL of the document you are working with. In Office 2003/WSS 2.0 that was much easier to find. If Office 2007 they tucked it away.

Here are the steps for adding it to your Quick Access Toolbar.

1. Locate the Quick Access Toolbar
2. Click the Customize Quick Access Toolbar
3. Click More Commands
4. On the Choose Commands from:
5. Choose All Commands
6. Scroll down to find Document Location
7. Click the Add button
8. Click Ok

Now you can copy and past the document URL Location.

Managing Change Requests with Content types

2008-02-28T04:25:00.000-08:00

Your team can manage change requests with SharePoint by Using Office templates and Content Types. First learn how to enable and use content types with SharePoint:
Here is a good article on how to do that:

http://www.bobmixon.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=44

You can then add custom workflow to the document library so that every request that get made gets routed to the PMO and Project Server administrator.

Upgrading to SP1 in a medium farm and having a snapshot restored to an earlier instance

2008-02-25T14:36:00.000-08:00

We recently had a situation where an environment we support was upgraded to SP1. Everything went as planned. The MOSS admin VM instance then became corrupted. After investigating the log files we got a message related to the Schema being "inconsistent". This told us that the snapshot that was restored was earlier then the one that had the SP applied to it.

The simple solution was to apply the Service pack to the MOSS instance and it worked perfectly. Just apply the SP the same way you applied it the first time.

PS 2007 and Project Professional SP1

2008-01-06T05:16:00.000-08:00

Be careful that your Project Professional users are not updating their Project Professional desktops to SP1 before you rollout the Service Pack across the enterprise.

Enterprise Templates and the status manager

2007-09-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

Administrators need to be conscious of the status manager designation when saving enterprise templates. When an enterprise template is saved to PS 2007, the status manager and project manager might be two different users. When this happens, the task updates will be sent to the user that saved the enterprise template. You can check and change the status manager by introducing the column into any of your views.

Timesheet Particulars in MSPS 2007

2007-06-18T09:50:00.001-07:00

Overview:

There are two aspects of tracking Team Member time in Project Server 2007. The My Timesheet page in PWA is used for time tracking for work, non-project work, and non-working time.

Time entered on the My Timesheet page is submitted for approval to the designated Timesheet Manager, which is by default the team member themeselves unless the Project Server administrator designates another person to be the Timesheet manager.

The My Tasks page is used for tracking project progress only. Progress entered in the My Tasks page is submitted for approval to the project manager. If a team member saves and submits time on the My Timesheet page, they need to import the actuals to the My Tasks page for submission to the PM.

Process:

The Process is as follows:

PM publishes Project
TM Creates new Timesheet
In "My Timesheets" - Team member complete timesheet (assignments and non-working time categories) with actual hrs per week
In "My Timesheets" - Team member submits timesheet for non-working time categories to be approved by resource manager or self-approved (see Overview)
TM clicks the My Tasks link in the Quick Launch menu.
On the My Tasks page, TM clicks the Import Timesheet button.
On the Import Timesheet page, TM clicks the Timesheet pick list and selects the Timesheet in which he/she entered hours
TM clicks the Import button.
On the My Tasks page, select the checkbox to the left of each task in which the system imported progress from the Timesheet (each updated task shows a red exclamation point to the right of the task name).
Click the Submit Selected button.
PM clicks the Task Updates link in the Approvals section of the Quick Launch menu and has option of Approving or rejecting time submitted by TM’s

Next Steps:

PM’s determine Timesheet classifications
PM Administrator modifies settings and adds classifications
PM Needs to re-publish all projects in order to see settings.

Configuring Data Analysis in MSPS 2007

2007-06-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

I will be completing the configuration settings for Data Analysis this week.

Installing MSPS 2007 and MOSS

2007-06-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

The steps for installing MSPS 2007 and MOSS are very specific. The most desired state for production is that you are using at least three dedicated servers. One running SQL Server 2005 SP1. One running MOSS and the third running MS Project Server 2007. You can follow the deployment guides provided by Microsoft, but the key is when and how you install certain software on each machine.

Follow these steps:

1. Make sure you have created the appropriate accounts for both installations and in order to run certain services.
2. Make sure all machines are patched and running minimal software as instructed by the deployment guides.
3. Make sure IIS is configured on both the MOSS box and MSPS 2007 box.
4. Install MOSS bits on MOSS box using "Complete" installation.
5. Dont run the SharePoint Config Wizard
6. Install MOSS bits on MSPS box using "Complete" installation.
7. Dont run the SharePoint Config Wizard.
8. Run the Config Wizard on MOSS box
9. Create a New Farm
10. Quiesce the Farm
11. Install MSPS bits on MOSS machine using "Complete" installation
12. Dont run the Config Wizard
13. Install MSPS bits on MSPS box using "Complete" installation
14. Run the Config Wizard.
15. Connect to Existing Farm that was created earlier during the MOSS installation.
16. The MOSS box will now recognize the MSPS box running Project Server.

Getting Started with Project Server 2007

2006-12-13T04:08:00.000-08:00

This post is going to deal with getting started with Project Server 2007. Ill be posting installation configuration and other issues related to PS '07 . I will also be discussing some of the new features on the client and the server.