Microsoft Enterprise Project Management Content Publishing News : Newly Published

Newly Published Content!

robert.m.hoover — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:09:00 GMT

After a short publishing hiatus, here is some content that we've been working on:

Deploy Project Server 2007 updates This article provides an overview of available Project Server 2007 updates.

Checklist for deploying Project Server 2007 updates This checklist describes the general sequence in updating a Project Server 2007 farm deployment to the most current update. It also gives references to other articles that provide detailed guidance and procedures for installing various type of Project Server 2007 updates.

Office Project Server 2007 performance counters This technical reference article provides a list of performance indications you can monitor in Project Server 2007.

Inventory of SQL Server databases for a typical Project Server 2007 deployment This technical reference article provides a list of databases that are created in a Project Server 2007 and Portfolio Server 2007 deployment.

Video demo: Using SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services with the Project Server 2007 Cube Building Service This two-part video demonstration walks through the steps necessary to configure the Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 cube building services for use with SQL Server Analysis Services 2005.

Walkthrough: Deploy Project Server 2007 to a server farm environment This article contains a white paper and a four-part video series which provide a walkthrough of a typical Office Project Server 2007 deployment. The white paper contains step-by-step instructions for each step necessary to successfully deploy Office Project Server 2007. While the scenario described in the white paper may differ from the deployment scenario that you plan to use for your organization, you can gain significant hands-on experience by following the steps described herein in a test environment.

Virtualizing Project Server 2007 This section includes six topics that explain hyper-v architecture and best practices for planning, installing, and configuring a Project Server 2007 deployment on Hyper-V.

Project Server 2007 webcasts This set of articles describes and links to archived Project Server TechNet Webcasts. Topics include server administration, network communication, workload scenarios and reference architecture, and data flow.

Deploy cumulative updates (Project Server 2007) This article has been updated to provide information regarding client update requirements for cumulative updates that include the Project Server 2007 infrastructure update. It also provides information about cumulative update server packages for Project Server 2007 integrated with Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Deploy the infrastructure update for Office Project Server 2007 This article has been updated to reflect Project 2007 client requirements for the Project Server 2007 infrastructure update.

Deploy Service Pack 1 for Office Project Server 2007 This article has been updated to reflect Project 2007 client requirements for the Project Server 2007 infrastructure update.

Migration best practices for Project Server 2007 This article has been updated to describe the best practice of applying the latest update to the Project Professional 2007 client from which you run the migration tool to ensure that it has the latest updates.

Prepare for migration to Project Server 2007 This article has been updated to describe the best practice of applying the latest update to the Project Professional 2007 client from which you run the migration tool to ensure that it has the latest updates.

Requirements for using SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services with the Project Server 2007 Cube Building Service This article has been updated to refer to the Feature Pack for SQL Server 2005 – December 2008. The Analysis Management Objects installed with the SQL Server 2005 Management Objects that were in earlier versions of the SQL Server 2005 Feature pack required a workaround in order for the Cube Building Service to function correctly.

Newly Published Project Server Content 11/08

robert.m.hoover — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:19:00 GMT

Enterprise disaster recovery for Project Server 2007

This series of articles describes procedures and best practices for backing up and restoring Office Project Server 2007 using SQL Server tools.

Deploy cumulative updates (Project Server 2007)

This article describes how to install Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 cumulative updates.

Plan for disaster recovery in Project Server 2007

This series of articles describes best practices for planning a disaster recovery solution for Microsoft Office Project Server 2007. It has been updated to include specific guidance about when to use SQL Server tools and when to use SharePoint Products and Technologies tools.

Planning for fault tolerance and availability in Project Server 2007

This article provides planning guidance for fault tolerance and availability in a Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 deployment.

Cube building process overview

This article describes the process for building OLAP cubes and available cubes. It has been updated to provide further guidance and best practices around using the cubes.

Office Project Server 2007 Technical Library in Compiled Help format

The entire library for Office Project Server 2007 is now available as a downloadable .chm file. This download includes all content in the library as of November 6 2008. This download will be updated monthly.

Plan for administrative and service accounts (Project Server)

This article describes the accounts required for a Office Project Server 2007 deployment. It has been updated to specify that service accounts require permission to log on interactively on the computers running the service in question.

Deploy Project Server 2007 to a server farm environment

This article describes how to deploy Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 in a farm environment. It has been updated to reflect the fact that SQL Server connections over named pipes are not required for Office Project Server 2007.

New Enterprise Project Management Virtual Lab!

robert.m.hoover — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:21:00 GMT

The very first EPM-related VirtualLab was recently released! A hosted Virtual Machine accessible to everyone via WEB is free to use with only registration being required.

Available via Project Server TechCenter http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/projectserver/. Direct link to the Lab is here.

The lab content:

Exercise 1: Using built-in capability of Analysis Services in the EPM deployment
Exercise 2: Using Excel Services to Visualize Project Data
Exercise 3: Using Performance Point Server for advanced data visualization
Exercise 4: Using SQL Reporting Services Project Report Pack to Analyze Project Data
Exercise 5: Creating a SharePoint Dashboard to Display Project KPIs
Exercise 6: Using Visio 2007 to Visualize Project Data

Abstract: This lab will make you understand how to leverage the portfolio of Microsoft business intelligence tools and solutions applied, but not limited to, Enterprise Project Management (EPM) data. This lab will make you discover how to leverage Excel Services, PerformancePoint Server, SQL Reporting Services 2005, Visio 2007 as well as SharePoint Server 2007 Dashboard and Project KPIs to provide full-feature solutions to solve your customers’ requirements.

Newly Published Project Portfolio Server Content for October

robert.m.hoover — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:02:00 GMT

Environment Migration Guide

This guide describes how to migrate Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 from one environment to another one. This scenario is frequently used to duplicate a production environment as a QA or Development environment.

Gateway Guide

This guide describes the Gateway functionality for syncing Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 with Microsoft Office Project 2007.

Understanding Workflow

This guide describes the workflow functionality and configuration for Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 and provides examples for the workflow setting.

Newly Published Project Professional Content for September

robert.m.hoover — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:05:00 GMT

Create a custom field

Use this article to learn how to create, import, insert, and rename a custom field.

Watch this: Create a custom field

This video walks you through the process of creating a custom field that is associated with a list, and that uses graphical indicators.

Work with the Gantt Chart view

This article provides information on how to use each part of the Gantt Chart view.

Project Server Quick Reference Guide for project managers

This quick reference guide displays all the tasks a project manager is likely to do with Project Server. A team member version is due out soon.

Podcast: Britney Spears, the ultimate project manager

This is a link to an external podcast about Britney Spears as the ultimate project manager. It is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but makes good points about project management skills in general.

What’s all this talk about Web 2.0

This Office Hours article discusses Web 2.0 and software plus services model.

Newly Published Project Server Content for September

robert.m.hoover — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:19:00 GMT

GPS Assistance in Roadmapping an EPM Deployment: How do you create a roadmap for an EPM implementation?

This is the latest white paper by Chris Vandersluis in the "From the Trenches — Deploying the EPM Solution in the Real World" column on the Project Server TechCenter page.

Project Server 2007 Hyper-V guide

This downloadable, 37-page document provides IT administrators with information about how to set up Project Server 2007 in a Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V environment.

Database maintenance plans for Project Server 2007

This chapter describes best practices for creating database maintenance plans for Project Server 2007 databases.

Newly Published Project Server Content for August

robert.m.hoover — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:29:00 GMT

Plan for using Project Server 2007 in a Hyper-V virtual environment

This article compares virtual server environments to physical server environments and explains special considerations for deploying and using Microsoft Office Project 2007 in a virtual server environment.

Manage Active Directory synchronization in Project Server 2007

This article has been updated to include additional best practices and resource references.

Newly Published Project Professional Content - Early August

robert.m.hoover — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:51:00 GMT

Watch this: Use lag and lead time

This demo shows how to use lag and lead time to create gaps and overlaps between tasks in a project.

Watch this: Show the critical path

This demo shows you several ways to display a project’s critical tasks. It also shows how to display multiple critical paths in a single project.

Create work breakdown structure (WBS) codes

This topic has been updated with more information about basic view usage.

Set lead or lag time (float) between tasks

This topic has had a number of terms added to make it more searchable from the perspective of the PMBOK.

Use templates in Project 2007

More information on templates.

Newly Published Project Server Content - July 2008

robert.m.hoover — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:42:00 GMT

Report Data Service optimizations for custom fields

This article provides some tips and examples that can help optimize custom reporting solutions built for the Reporting Database (RDB) of Office Project Server 2007. If you are interested in building custom views or applying custom indexes on any views in the RDB, read this article for some helper stored procedures that can be used in conjunction with your solutions.

Best practices for viewing proposals

This article describes best practices for configuring the Proposals and Activities page in Project Web Access, including tips for obtaining best performance.

Newly Published Project Professional Content - July 2008

robert.m.hoover — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:34:00 GMT

Connect with other Project users

Connecting with the community of Project users has now gotten more interesting with the addition of more community resources.

Project functions for custom fields

Examples have been added to this popular article to you customize Project functions and fields.

Use Project 2007 on Office Live

You can now use Office Live to share Project files.

Watch this: Create an inter-project dependency

Watch the video on creating relationships between groups in your organization through Project dependencies.

Watch This: Split a view

Work like the pros. Learn now to split a few for easy task and resource manipulation.

Newly Published Content - Project Server Post SP1 Infrastructure Update

robert.m.hoover — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:03:00 GMT

The Infrastructure Update for Project Server 2007 (and Project Professional 2007) has been released and is now available for download. For a thorough explanation of the Project Infrastructure Update including download information, installation instructions, FAQ's, and links to knowledge base articles, I suggest reading Christophe Fiessinger's Blog or the Office Project Blog.

Published the week of July 14, 2008

Project Server 2007 Infrastructure Update Release

This white paper covers the new features and changes associated with the Project Client and Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007.

Deploy the Infrastructure Update for Office Project Server 2007

This article describes how to install the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project Server 2007.

Report Data Service optimizations for custom fields

This article provides some tips and examples that can help optimize custom reporting solutions built for the Reporting Database (RDB) of Office Project Server 2007. If you are interested in building custom views or applying custom indexes on any views in the RDB, read this article for some helper stored procedures that can be used in conjunction with your solutions.

Updated the week of July 14, 2008

Back up and restore your farm (Project Server 2007)

With the new Infrastructure Update, the globally unique identifier (GUID) and change log of each content database are retained when you restore or re-attach the database. Therefore, if you are reattaching a recent database version, Search does not need to perform a full crawl to integrate the reattached content database. This is a substantial improvement over the RTM release of the product.

Newly Published Project Server Content

robert.m.hoover — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:47:00 GMT

TechNet Content

Best practices for managing the Microsoft Office Project Server Queue Service

This article describes best practices for managing and troubleshooting the Queue system in Office Project Server 2007.

View the ULS logs for queue job entries

This article describes how to view Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 queue job entries in the ULS logs. It can be used in conjunction with the Manage Queue page in Project Web Access Server settings to help troubleshoot queue job issues.

Configure maximum job processor threads for the Project Server Queue service

This article provides guidance about how to configure the maximum job processor threads for each queue type for the Project Server queue service.

WhitePaper: A phased approach to deploying Enterprise Project Management

This whitepaper by Chris Vandersluis provides business decision makers, network administrators, and Project Server administrators guidance about various challenges you can face when planning to deploy the Enterprise Project Management solution in your environment. It is the feature article of the From the Trenches – Deploying EPM in the Real World column available on the Project Server 2007 TechCenter.

Back up and restore the Shared Services Provider

This article gives you an overview of the task of backing up and restoring the Shared Services Provider for Project Server 2007, and includes task requirements and best practices.

Back up the Shared Services Provider

This article provides procedural steps for backing up the Shared Services Provider for Project Server 2007, and includes task requirements.

Restore the Shared Services Provider

This article provides procedural steps for restoring the Shared Services Provider for Project Server 2007, and includes task requirements.

Newly Published Project Client Content

robert.m.hoover — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:41:00 GMT

Demo Videos

Watch this: Use lag and lead time

This demo shows how to use lag and lead time to create gaps and overlaps between tasks in a project.

Watch this: Create a project

This demo shows how to create a project, set project properties, and set file properties.

Watch this: Set up a recurring task

This demo shows how to create a task that repeats on a set schedule throughout a project.

Watch this: Split a task

This demo shows how to interrupt a task, creating a gap between two portions of the task. It also shows how to move the entire split task, adjust the length of the gap created by the split, and rejoin the split portions of the task to remove the gap.

Watch this: Insert a task

This demo shows how to insert a new task between two existing tasks in a project.

Watch this: Group tasks or resources

This demo shows how to group tasks, remove the grouping, and create a new resource group using multiple criteria.

Watch this: Create a cross-project link

This demo shows how to create task dependencies across separate Project 2007 files.

Watch this: Link tasks in your project

This demo shows how to create task dependencies within a single project, and how to adjust the link type for the dependency.