The 2012 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award Winners were announced for all categories across Microsoft Partner competencies, products and regions by Jon Roskill, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft. In our category – we recognize the best of the best Microsoft Project partners and award them the prestigious “ Project and Portfolio Management Partner of the Year ” award! This year – we have seen great case studies and stunning solutions that Microsoft Project partners have built – and all this underscores the great success and power of Project 2010! Please join us to celebrate the success of Project and Portfolio Management Partner (PPM) community and congratulate the winner and finalists!   Project and Portfolio Management Partner of the Year 2012 – SharkPro Software !   SharkPro Software built a unique solution that reduces the time, cost, and complexity of project and portfolio management deployment – yet by building on top of the Project Server 2010 – customers can seamlessly grow in their Project and Portfolio Management maturity. SharkPro Projects offers flexibility to be easily accommodated to customer business needs and includes on-premise and hosted deployment options. The scale of SharkPro Software extends through PPM Partner community and it’s becoming a world-wide solution for Microsoft Project 2010. Shark Pro’s offering integrates with other Microsoft products – like Dynamics and SharePoint – and thus offering customers a complete platform experience.   Three award finalists BrightWork allows organizations to instantly deploy an initial affordable amount of work, project and portfolio management on SharePoint. This delivers immediate visibility and control and then over time organizations can evolve and mature by adding more templates and dashboards as needed and as ready. This best practices template approach pioneered by BrightWork allows organizations to start small and to grow and mature as ready and as needed. BrightWork uniquely supports the management of the mix of projects (in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project, Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Project Server), by aggregating the projects to one central set of dashboards in a SharePoint Portal. Prosperi has been focusing on Microsoft Project Server and SharePoint solutions and Consulting  since 2002. It has an impressive customer list that includes some of Brazil’s most prestigious enterprises and provides tailored solutions to companies in a range of different industries. EPMFAST : Project Server configured with project management methodology, carefully crafted to meet the requirements of diverse organizations. EPMFAST Mobile : Project Server dashboard for smartphones. METROwebpart : METRO style menu for SharePoint sites. UMT has consistently delivered innovative services and products that have helped transform the PPM industry. UMT has gained unparalleled understanding of customer needs by forming enduring relationships with Global 1000 organizations across a variety of industries. In June 2012, UMT announced the availability of the latest version of their financial management solution for Project Server 2010. UMT Project Essentials 2012 is arguably UMT’s most ambitious release to date providing powerful new capabilities including multi-currency support, financial snapshots, change request management and workflow design that seamlessly extend Project Server 2010. UMT Project Essentials is already being used by Project customers and partners around the world to gain visibility and control across project and portfolio financials. To learn more about this solution visit www.umtprojectessentials.com Honorable mentions solutions Number of solutions clearly stood out – some of them are listed below – featuring the Earned Value Management, Mobile Applications, Portfolio Management, Resource Management, Innovation Process Management and Line of the Business Integration. For more please refer to Microsoft Project 2010 Solution Spotlight .                                                                          Honorable mentions case studies We have hand-picked 3 case studies in government and manufacturing built by the following partners. Click on the logo to learn more. For more Microsoft Project case-studies, please refer to Microsoft Project 2010 Customer Success .       Jan Kalis https://blogs.msdn.com/jkalis/ , Twitter @MeetJKalis Product Marketing Manager | Microsoft Project/Visio Microsoft Corporation

A little while ago the Project development team had the honor of meeting our makers so to say – Brian MacDonald and Jeff Lill. They’re the original creators of the first version of Project for Windows which was released in 1990. They started as two local kids who grew up just a few miles from the Microsoft campus. In high school they thought it was cool how you could program little LED lights to go on and off. This fascination inspired their future in software development. They spent some time attending the University of Washington and while they were there built a spell checker app, Corrector.  Unfortunately it was the third spell checker app to the market and while InfoWorld rated it the best in the industry, they only sold 24 copies. Brian thanks his good spelling today though to having to manually enter the entire dictionary. Jeff even did some internships with Microsoft since they needed money to finance their company. After the spell checker app, they started working on a spreadsheet product for Macs called Crunch. Shortly after that, Microsoft came out with Excel and in Brian’s words “really just crunched ‘Crunch’ “. At this time they had a lot of connections into Microsoft from Jeff’s internships and Brian’s wife working there. They were at a party with Bill Gates and he mentioned they should stop competing and start working together. Microsoft was trying to recruit developers to make GUI (graphical user interface) apps for this new platform called Windows. They already had a spreadsheet and word processor but were looking for developers to create a database application (which would go on to be Access) and a project management application. Brian and Jeff chose the latter. While Brian and Jeff had a lot of passion around software, they didn’t have much project management expertise. As Jeff said though, they were arrogant enough to know they could do it. So they dove in and looked at competitors, did a bunch of customer interviews including with another local company, Boeing, read project management books and attended conferences. It was actually while they were on a site visit to Boeing that a light bulb went off and they came to the decision that they wanted to build a toolkit that had a broad enough appeal that anyone could use it for project management. At the time, most project management applications were built by consultants and the software would back up the methodology that the consultant was selling. Most companies though already had methodologies in place and just wanted software to support it. This decision turned out to be a pivotal one and something we still strongly believe to be correct today. In Project 2010 , you’ll see that you can manage projects how you want to manage them. How does it feel that people are still using the tool you built today for huge projects totaling billions of dollars? It feels great! We had always hoped that would be the case. – Jeff Anything about people’s reactions to it surprise you? Right around the time the second version of Project was coming out, Windows started to just explode in popularity and along with it any software that ran on Windows. We initially saw our audience as people who had “Project Manager” in their title but found that the product had a much broader appeal. People were using it to create schedules/Gantt charts to help show their management/team that they had their acts together and were on top of things.  – Brian That was very exciting for them and helped the product really take off. They also thank this success to their initial goal of being a toolkit instead of specific solution. This is why features such as the ability to re-title columns were available back in the original release. What kinds of improvements did the second version of Project for Windows have over the first? Print preview, support for macros, and improvements to the leveling algorithm were some of the top ones. Yes, leveling was in v1. According to Jeff – “All the software solutions had it and all struggled with making it work how humans would expect”.  We are still trying to make this easier today by adding features like change highlighting in Project 2007 and the Team Planner in Project 2010. What do you think of the current version of Project? It looks great. A lot looks familiar with the overall user interface but it definitely looks more modern (they were happy to hear that we now have more than 16 colors). Per the timeline view, that was what we were trying to achieve with the Gantt chart (sharing the schedule with stakeholders) but has an even broader appeal. – Brian Brian went on then to create Outlook which originally started out with the goal of being a task management application. It was only during coding and after much debate that they decided to add email support to it. We think they made the right decision. Jeff worked on Project a bit longer and then went on to do Team Manager. Today they both work in the Bing organization. Some fun facts: · There isn’t a Microsoft Project 2.0 because someone else had copyrighted Project 2.0 · Bill Gates tried to convince them to re-write Project in BASIC and they said no. · The last bug fixed for Project 1.0 for Windows was around supporting the Gantt Chart view with the Task Form. In short, I would like to thank Brian and Jeff for creating this great product that so many of us use every day and rely on to accomplish a wide range of projects.

Following our time in Maryland last month for Gartner’s annual PPM event in the US, the Microsoft Project team will also be sponsoring this year’s Gartner PPM & IT Governance Summit in London. The two day event represents… “Europe’s premier gathering of program and portfolio management executives charged with improving how organizations select, implement and manage IT projects and investments. The Summit will help you anticipate portfolio fluctuations, and adapt your programs with a view to reducing risk and fully realizing the value.” We’re looking forward to hearing from users like yourselves. You can stop by our booth and join us for a panel discussion on Tuesday, plus our presentation on Wednesday. Check back after the Summit for an update and event recap. In the meantime you can follow us on Twitter where we’ll share the activity from London. Tuesday, June 19th Time Place Welcome Keynote 8:45am-9:45am Westminster B & C Solution Snapshot be there at 10:15am, 10:35am-10:55am Showcase floor- Plaza Suites 2 & 3 Panel Session 11:00am-11:30am Main Auditorium – Westbourne B & C Session 12:25pm-12:45pm Showcase floor- Plaza Suites 2 & 3 Wednesday, June 20th Time Place Session 10:15am-11:15am Westminister A Sponsor Session 11:30am-12:00pm Westminister B And if you haven’t already, be sure to check out the exicting announcement of Microsoft’s Surface

Just wanted to make you aware to two recently release solution packages that are available on the Microsoft TechNet Gallery: I am pleased to announced the release of two Microsoft Project Server 2010 reporting solutions on TechNet Gallery: Project Burn and Forecast Report and Project Spend Report . Both solutions can be deployed and tested with the Microsoft Project Server 2010 v2 Demo Virtual Machine . These reporting solutions leverages Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services and were created by Emmanuel Fadullon, a Principal Consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS). The User Guide for the Contoso Project Burn and Forecast Report demonstrates how to use the Project Burn and Forecast Report to estimate the projected spend rate (“Average Monthly Burn Rate”) based on the current spend plan, and it also allows you to forecast a spend plan based on a what-if spend rate in a budget-reduction scenario. The Contoso Project Spend Report User Guide walks you through using the Project Spend Report particularly the use of a key concept — a unifying Expense Code, to track Project Total Actual Cost.  The Total Actual Cost is then categorized into its component costs by project work alongside sustainment and common services activities maintained in associated projects in lieu of Administrative Time and Timesheet entries in order to facilitate cost categorization by Expense Code.  Please note that these reporting solutions are not supported by Microsoft Premier Support and instead are meant to demonstrated the rich reporting capabilities of Project Server 2010. We recommend working with Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) Partners or MCS to modify these solutions to meet your specific reporting needs.

Please find below a summary of the Microsoft Project and Project Server presence at both the upcoming Microsoft TechEd North America 2012 in Orlando June 11-14 and at Microsoft TechEd Europe 2012 in Amsterdam June 26-29. Beside sessions listed below, yes we will have a Project booth staffed by product experts so don’t be shy and ask questions about your favorite Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solution at the booth. Title Description Speaker OSP301 – Turning Project Data into Real-World Reports: An Overview of Business Intelligence Options Learn how Microsoft Project Server 2010 leverages existing SharePoint BI tools to provide elegant reporting options to the enterprise. Attend this presentation to see how Project Server data may be surfaced using such tools as Business Connectivity Services, Visio Services, Excel Services, PerformancePoint and the REST API. Specific reporting examples are provided that may be easily reused at any level of organizational project management maturity. Andrew Lavinsky OSP332 – Best Practices for Deploying Microsoft Project Server 2010 on a SharePoint Farm Are you interested in deploying Microsoft Project Server 2010, but don’t know where to start? In this session we provide you with an overview on how to deploy Project Server 2010 in a SharePoint 2010 Farm. Specifically, we discuss how to deploy Project Server in an existing or separate farm, asses the proper capacity planning, and how to tackle upgrading and migration. Gary Crich AAP313 – Scrum Under a Waterfall It would be so easy if everyone at our companies just used Scrum—or at least Agile. No one would lean on the team for dates and deadlines, and everyone would know that change is a good thing. It’d be one great big happy project management family. But let’s face it—an all-Agile organization isn’t always possible. Maybe you have a Project Management Office (PMO). Maybe you work for a government contractor. Maybe you have regulatory requirements. Maybe you’re the first Scrum/Agile project at your company. Maybe your company simply *likes* it this way. Whatever the reason, Agile teams frequently report into Waterfall organizations. Your team thinks “backlog” and your bosses think “project plan.” How do you make it work? How do you ensure communication and foster trust between the two groups? How do you bridge the project management impedance mismatch? Enter Team Foundation Server (TFS) and Project Server. The chocolate and peanut butter of the project management world. These products integrate and replicate so that the Agile/Scrum and Waterfall groups can work with the tools they want to work with, play nice together, and get what they need to do their jobs. In this session, we not only discuss how to use the TFS-to-Project Server integration but we also talk about strategies to improve communication between the two constituencies. Along the way we discuss some of the difficulties with making Scrum/Agile work in a Waterfall-centric organization and what you can do to minimize the headaches. Benjamin Day OSP02-LNC – Integrating SharePoint and Project Server 2010 – Deployment Approaches, Integration Options and making the most of the SharePoint Enterprise Features The key focus of this session is to understand three popular approaches to implementing SharePoint and Project Server together and the key benefits to each method. In addition you will also learn: •Understanding how SharePoint and Project Server work together •Using the enterprise features of SharePoint to leverage Project Server data •How SharePoint and Project Server techniques differ and can cause issues with implementation Giles Hamson   PS: I’ll personally be attending TechEd Europe.

I am pleased to announced the release of two Microsoft Project Server 2010 reporting solutions on TechNet Gallery: Project Burn and Forecast Report and Project Spend Report . Both solutions can be deployed and tested with the Microsoft Project Server 2010 v2 Demo Virtual Machine . These reporting solutions leverages Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services and were created by Emmanuel Fadullon, a Principal Consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS). The User Guide for the Contoso Project Burn and Forecast Report demonstrates how to use the Project Burn and Forecast Report to estimate the projected spend rate (“Average Monthly Burn Rate”) based on the current spend plan, and it also allows you to forecast a spend plan based on a what-if spend rate in a budget-reduction scenario. The Contoso Project Spend Report User Guide walks you through using the Project Spend Report particularly the use of a key concept — a unifying Expense Code, to track Project Total Actual Cost.  The Total Actual Cost is then categorized into its component costs by project work alongside sustainment and common services activities maintained in associated projects in lieu of Administrative Time and Timesheet entries in order to facilitate cost categorization by Expense Code. Please note that these reporting solutions are not supported by Microsoft Premier Support and instead are meant to demonstrated the rich reporting capabilities of Project Server 2010. We recommend working with Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) Partners or MCS to modify these solutions to meet your specific reporting needs. PS: while on the reporting topic, I also recommend to check Alex Burton’s recent post: SQL Server 2012 & Project Server, Part 2– Business data visualisation with PowerView

Following yesterday’s announcement on the main Microsoft Project blog: Microsoft Project Conference 2012 Session Recordings Are Live! please find below the full list of sessions (by code, presenter’s company and title). I have also attached an Excel spreadsheet with this list to this post (navigate to the end). Grab you favorite beverage and snacks and enjoy the shows! PS: there are four outstanding recordings we are still in the process of publishing and I will update this list once they are live. PC200, AMD Corp,Detangling project demand, resource supply and capacity with Project Server PC201, AXTEL, X-treme EPMO:   Creating the Enterprise Project Management Office and Culture at AXTEL PC202, Exxaro, Exxaro Resource: Project 2010 Case Study in Mining Industry PC203, Kemira Oyj, Rapid Implementation of the Microsoft PPM solution and SAP-integration in a global Chemical company PC204, Marquette University, Project and Project Portfolio Management that Works PC205, Pioneer Hybred, Doing More with Less: Effective Capacity Planning and Reporting PC206, Shire, Microsoft Project replaces Primavera:   Why Shire made the switch and trusts Microsoft Project Server 2010 to manage $300M PC207, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPM@EPA: Accelerating Maturity in the Cloud PC208, Verizon Communications, How Verizon saved millions with Microsoft PPM: Turning data into useful information PC210, Project Step by Step, Care and Feeding of the Zealots: Why Project users are disproportionately invested in their product, and how you can help spread the love PC211, Applepark Ltd, Project Server REAL LIFE (not Second Life!) customer case studies PC212, Advisicon, Landing Strategy in 3 Steps PC213, BrightWork, The Phoenix Shoot Out – Which is the best solution for Project Management – Excel or SharePoint or Project Desktop or Project Server? PC214, FOXit (Pty) LTD, Extending PPM to more than project and portfolio management, operationalize your business PC215, Innovative-e, Deliver SharePoint Success: Key Steps to Reap The Business Benefits PC216, Novant Health, Portfolio Management – Just what the Doctor Ordered PC217, SharkPro Software, Microsoft PPM Total Cost and Benefit Workshop – Finding YOUR ROI PC218, SharkPro Software, Moving on Up!   Migrating from other PPM tools to Microsoft Project Server 2010 PC219, The Project Group, 10 “Golden Rules” to work with Microsoft Project! PC220, The Project Group, Leveraging Microsoft PPM for Capital Project Management within the Utility and Construction Industries PC221, Tribridge, Achieve Complete Project Cost Planning & Insight: Integrating Microsoft Project Server 2010 with financial systems like Dynamics AX PC222, UMT, Quickly Build Governance Workflows & Effectively Control Financials with UMT Project Essentials Pro   PC223, UMT, Gartner Perspectives – Going Beyond PPM – Effectively Manage Your Entire IT Portfolio Decisions with Project Server 2010 PC224, SBS Group, The Integration of ProjectManagement and Project Accounting with Dynamics SL PC226, Gartner, The Gartner perspective: PPM Industry Trends and Adoption Best Practices PC227, Microsoft, The 411 on Office 365 PC228, Microsoft, Cloud Bursting Techniques with SharePoint Online PC229, Microsoft, Microsoft Project 2010 Desktop Overview PC230, Microsoft, Microsoft Project Server 2010 Overview PC231, Microsoft, Tracking a Microsoft Project Release Using Project PC232, Microsoft, Microsoft Project 2010 Desktop Reporting Overview PC233, Jornata, Critical Success Factors for a Successful SharePoint Deployment PC234, Jornata, Managing and Finding Content in SharePoint 2010 PC235, LehnertCS, LLC, A Successful implementation with Microsoft Project Server is more than technical? PC236, msProjectExperts, Microsoft Project 2010 Mania PC237, Projectum, Manage your resources without Excel – yes it is possible! PC238, The Versatile Company, Modeling Traditional, Serial and SCRUM Techniques in Project 2010 PC239, Innovative-e, Leveraging Project 2010 with Office 365 for Project Management Success PC240, PlanFurther LLC, The painters, the policemen and the Pope… understanding task movement in   Microsoft Project 2010 PC241, PMP Specialists, Resource Management – Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together! PC242, PTC, Maximize Visibility & Accountability in New Product Development Portfolios PC300, Ameren, YOU CAN DO IT: How to Implement Project 2010 Server Yourself (with Little or NO Consulting $$) PC301, ARM, 8 Billion Reasons why ARM chose ProjectServer 2010 PC302, AT&T Business Services, Pearls and Pitfalls – Realizing Real Business Benefits with Microsoft Project Server and SharePoint PC303, Microsoft, Leverage the capabilities of SharePoint to light up Microsoft Project Server PC304, Ingersoll-Rand, Across Divisions, IT, Engineering and the World; a true Enterprise-wide PPM client case study with Ingersoll Rand PC305, WilmerHale, Critical Chain Project Management using Microsoft Project Professional 2010 and Prochain: Implementing Project Portfolio Management PC307, Microsoft, Lessons learned implementing Enterprise Innovation Programs PC308, Bogdanov & Associates, Delivering Microsoft EPM Success: Essential Steps to Map People, Process and Tools PC309, Campana & Schott, 3 steps to cut the Gordian knot in resource management PC310, Campana & Schott, Deliver successful program results in matrix organizations PC311, Expit, Bridging Project Management and IT Service Management domains using Microsoft Project Professional 2010 PC312, msProjectExperts, Implementing PMI’s Practice Standard for Scheduling in Microsoft Project PC313, Pcubed, Project Scheduling Revisited: Performance Tuning Your Scheduling Practices PC314, Revlon, Practical TFS and Project Server integration in mid size enterprise PC315, Meijer, Journey from 2007 to 2010 PC316, Microsoft, Migration Best practices from Project Server previous versions PC317, Microsoft, Everything you want to know about designing and implementing Project Server Security Model PC318, Microsoft, Take Control of the Timesheet and Tasks Updates in your Project Server 2010 Environment PC319, Microsoft, Best Practices Troubleshooting Project 2010 Deployments – Part 1 PC320, Microsoft, Getting up to speed with Project2010 Extensibility PC321, Microsoft, Exploring Project Server Technical Content PC322, Advisicon, Integrating Data from External LOB Systems (SAP, ClickSoft, etc.) for Strategic Resource Planning & Forecasting PC323, PMO Logistics Inc., Everything You Wanted To Know About Administering Project Server 2010 But Were Afraid To Ask PC324, Corporate Project Solutions, Integrating SharePoint and Project Server 2010 – Deployment Approaches, Integration Options and making the most of the SharePoint Enterprise Features. PC325, FluentPro, Project Server 2010 configuration management, migration, merge and documenting PC327, Project Hosts, Going online with PPM — what you need to know PC328, Microsoft, Project Server and Dynamics AX – Completing the Lifecycle from Project Estimation to Revenue Recognition PC329, Microsoft, Take Your Project Reporting To The Next Level: Dashboards And Other Tools PC330, SOLVIN, Breaking the Boundaries of Time Tracking in Project Server: TrackTimesheet a seamlessly integrated extension for time reporting PC331, msProjectExperts, Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices for Using Project Server 2010 PC332, Nintex, Building advanced Project Server workflows with Nintex Workflow for Project Server PC333, ProjectPro Corporation, Critical Path 2.0 PC334, UMT, Turning Project Data into Real World Reports: An Overview of Business Intelligence Options PC335, UMT, Unleashing the Value of Earned Value: Applying Schedule and Cost Controls to Measure ProjectPerformance PC336, Advisicon, Making the Most of Project Professional When Managing Multiple Projects PC337, Agora Consulting Partners, Be Loved By Your Development Teams: Using the Team Foundation Server – Project Server Connector PC338, SharePoint911, SharePoint Governance isn’t just for Grandma PC339, EPM Architects, Managing Resource Supply and Demand with Microsoft Project Server 2010 PC341, QuantumPM, Plannin
g Innovation Adoption with IPM : Tips for a Successful Pilot PC342, Milestone Consulting Group, YJTJ (Your Job Tool’s Job)™ – Working in Concert with Microsoft Project PC343, Symnoian, LLC, Closing the Status Loop with Windows 8 Metro and Project Server’s Task Update Feature PC349, Microsoft, Best Practices Troubleshooting Project 2010 Deployments – Part 2 PC400, Allianz Life, Bean Counting in the Cloud: Merging hosted EPM and internal GL data to optimize financial reporting. PC401, Ubisoft, Tracking Historical Project Activity Data using the Microsoft Business Intelligence Suite PC402, DeltaBahn, Planning and Executing a Multi-Instance, Multi-Version Project Server Migration PC403, Milestone Consulting Group, Extending and Customizing the Project Server 2010 Timesheet to Drive Adoption and Achieve Business Results

In the February Cumulative Update for Project 2010 we fixed an issue described as: You create an .mpp file that was saved from a Project server by using the Save for Sharing command. When you try to resave the .mpp file back to the Project server in Project 2010, the save process fails, and you receive the following error message: Project Server was unable to find the specified resource. If the problem continues, contact your server administrator. This issue occurs when the list separator character that is contained in resource names within the .mpp file on the client differs from the list separator character on the server. We are now finding that in fixing this, we broke a couple of other things that you may be running into if you are using a list separator that is a semi-colon (;).  This is most likely in Europe or Canada, but I’m sure there are plenty of other places that could see this too.  The issues are all related and we are working on a fix for them all, but just wanted to share some workarounds in case you are hitting these.  The different scenarios I have seen so far are:   Using Task Information dialog to remove or add resource assignments to a task Using the Assign Resources dialog to add multiple resource assignments Using the Task Information Dialog to set predecessors or successor information So here are some examples of what can go wrong – and these examples need certain settings to be in place before you would ever see them, so don’t feel left out if you don’t experience any of these issues. This first example assumes you have the semi-colon as list separator and also this is used in your resource names as a separator between first and last names.  So you have a task that is already assigned to Smith; Brian and Jenkins; Adrian, and you want to add Fiessinger; Christophe.  So initially your Task Information dialog looks like this: Then you add Fiessinger; Christophe – and click OK – then you will see this: That doesn’t look quite right?  Opening up the Task Information dialog again I see: It has split each name in two, and created 6 new local resources – and assigned them.  A couple of things here – it will not lose actual work – any assignments that already have work will be OK – and will not get un-assigned – but the extra local resource will still get created.  Undo will also put things right.  The same thing can occur even if you are removing a resource using this same dialog.  If I removed Jenkins; Adrian, it would create Smith and  Brian as two local resources.  The workaround here is to use the Resource Names column in one of the views such as the Gantt view – and select/deselect from the drop down. The second issue is with the Assign Resources dialog (which is why it isn’t a good workaround for the first issues) and it has a couple of different scenarios depending on your use of the list separator in the resource names.  If you do have the separator – like the example above – then you cannot assign from the Assign Resources dialog – the Assign button is disabled – as I show here.   However, if I choose a resource with no list separator in the name the Assign button is active: The further issue with the Assign Resources comes when you make multiple selections that do not contain the list separator, such as the following: When I click Assign – I see an extra resource in my list, with a very cool name – “adrian jenkins;brian smith;christophe fiessinger” – and he/they has/have been assigned to the task. If I look at the resource sheet I can see “adrian jenkins;brian smith;christophe fiessinger” has been added as a new local resource.  The workaround here, assuming you do not have the list separator in the name, is to assign one at a time, or of course the Resource Name column in the Gantt view can be used as for the previous example. The last scenario is back to the Task Information dialog, but this time we are looking at the Predecessors tab.  Say we have 3 tasks, T1, T2, and, you guessed it, T3.  We open the Task Information dialog for T3, go to the Predecessors tab and enter either the IDs of the first two tasks, or select them in the drop down like this, then press OK, we get the following error message.  There is a problem with the predecessor information. The workaround for this one is to go to a view such as the Gantt view, and use the Predecessors column, and enter 1,2. For each of these you could also work around them by setting your list separator to not be the semi-colon – but I appreciate that might give you some issues elsewhere – as it is a global setting on your PC.  If you wish to try this you can go to Control Panel – Clock, Language and Region – Change the date, time or number format, then select Additional Settings then change the List Separator from a semi-colon to a comma, for example.  Sorry for any inconvenience this problem has caused you – and I will update this posting once I find out when a fix will be coming along – and potentially any other scenarios that I am made aware of where this bug rears its ugly head, and thanks to the customers that have quickly brought this to our attention.

Brian Ru just published a blog post over on the main Project blog announcing the release of all the recorded content from the Project Conference 2012 – on the Project Channel of Microsoft Showcase .  So if you didn’t get to Project Conference 2012 this is a great chance to catch up with all the great content.  For good support topics see PC319 and PC349 – as recently “leaked” on this very blog… Enjoy!

When: Monday, May 21, 2012 at 9:00 AM – Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at 5:30 PM (GMT) Where: Central London Hosted By: Technology Associates Technology Associates International Limited is one of the leading global project management consultancies specialising in Microsoft Office Project and Enterprise Project Management Solutions. Since 1990, Technology Associates have provided deployment, consultancy, development and training services to more than 500 organisations including some of the world’s leading companies, and we have an international presence throughout the world.   Technology Associates is proud to partner with RMC Project Management Inc . Technology Associates brings the highly acclaimed courses developed by Rita Mulcahy and her organisation to the UK. Courses are run using the same structure and RMC materials as used on the RMC courses in the USA and utilise experienced RMC PMP Exam Prep instructors so that delegates get the full benefit of these courses without having to travel to the USA! Register for this event now at: https://www.eventbrite.com/event/3565906723/rss Event Details: PMP® Exam Prep Course (2 days) This accelerated learning course is designed to help you prepare for the PMP ® Exam—and gain the most understanding   with the least amount of study. Developed by Rita Mulcahy, this course is designed to decrease your after-class study time from hundreds of hours to less than forty. We offer unique activities and exercises designed specifically to increase learning and knowledge retention—without rote memorization. The course materials include Rita Mulcahy’s entire PMP ® Exam Prep System (retail value $399). Please contact us if you would like information on in-company courses. Course Learning Objectives This course will also assist you in finding and documenting the gaps in your knowledge, so you can leave the class knowing exactly what you know, and exactly what you need to work on prior to sitting for the exam. By the end of this course you will: Have focused training on areas where students have the most difficulty with the current exam. Have the latest information from over 19 years of experience helping thousands of project managers pass the exam. Be ready to take the exam – this is a preparation and review course. Have learned “what you don’t know”. Develop a personalised study plan to help reduce your follow on study time to less than forty hours. Why Take This Course? Study Time Only 40 hours of study or less needed after this course. That is 70% less study than is usually necessary with other courses. Retention Students recently scored an incredible average 83.25% on a sample PMP ® exam after taking this course, before they even began studying. Passing level is 61% for the PMP ® exam. Materials and Extras A comprehensive education system. These materials include the best-selling book PMP ® Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy, PM FASTrack ® Exam Simulation Software, and Hot Topics flashcards. Also included in this course are materials not available to the general public. Instruction This course uses accelerated learning techniques . Project managers who are also expert trainers teach our courses! We hear, “This was the best class I have EVER attended on ANY topic!” On completion of the course, you will be awarded 16 contact hours (16 PDU’s). Course Outline Overview of the exam: How to study and create a study plan Tricks for memorizing formulas Tricks to help you understand how the PMP ® questions are written Tricks for shortening your study time Tricks for taking the exam Tricks for finding holes in your project management knowledge Reasons people fail the exam and how to make sure you do not do the same Exercises to help you understand, memorize and conceptualize the information you need to know Understanding PMI ® -isms Detailed coverage of: The process of project management The framework of project management Integration management Scope management Time management Cost management Quality management Human resources management Communications management Risk management Procurement management Professional responsibilities Develop a personalised Study Plan Course Materials You will receive the following exceptional training products which were developed by Rita Mulcahy, p ublished by RMC Publications, Inc: ·          JumpStart ~ E-learning course (pre-course work up to four hours) ·          PMP ® Exam Prep Book ·          Hot Topics PMP® Exam Flashcards ·          PM FASTrack® PMP® Exam Simulation Software   Created with the assistance of a psychometrician (just like the actual exam) PM FASTrack ® is designed to simulate the actual exam in every detail. The program’s database of 1,500+ questions allows you to take exams by knowledge area, process group or keyword/concept.