Office 365 ProPlus Administrator Series: Client Deployment Options

Author: Jeremy_MSFT Originally published to the Office 365 Preview blog. Office 365 ProPlus offers flexible software delivery options to suit organizations of all sizes and desktop service architectures. From small businesses where users often install their own software, to large enterprises where hundreds of applications are centrally delivered by the IT department to every user, Office 365 ProPlus installation adapts to your processes and workflows. Install Office 365 ProPlus from the Internet Self-installation of Office 365 ProPlus allows users to install Office on their personal PCs directly from www.office365.com . After the administrator has created the user account, the user can log in to the Office 365 service and install Office 365 ProPlus. Users will need to be local administrators on their PCs when self-installing and the installation will always be the most up-to-date Office build and be enabled to receive automatic updates. When the user initiates the installation, a small setup file (roughly 400 KB) is downloaded and run from the local PC the filename (for example: Setup.X86.en-us_ProPlusRetail_56f7d927-5bf8-435e-a240-9eaeef2f53c5_.exe) contains the installation parameters and what is loaded from the content delivery network site ( http://officecdn.microsoft.com/ ) where Office installation files are stored. Software installation page in Office 365 Self-installation may be appropriate in certain organizations where users have administrative privileges and are expected to install their own software. Self-installation rights may also be provided in well-managed organizations where users by definition cannot install software on managed computers, but are given access to Office 365 ProPlus installation on home or personal PCs. Administrators may also centrally disable the right for user self-installation, but this is a global control within the Office 365 Admin Portal and will apply to all users in the tenant. Process for managed self-installation or home and personal device installation in a managed environment In the process flow above, the IT administrator may optionally define Office configurations using local configuration management tools like Group Policy prior to publishing self-installation steps to end users. End users will be responsible for installing any required add-ins, dependent applications or standardized Office templates if needed and in the self-installation scenario, users are by default configured to receive automatic monthly updates from the Office 365 service. Automated Deployments using Software Distribution Infrastructure Most large organizations use enterprise software distribution or image-based deployment automation to install software on behalf of their users. Office 365 ProPlus enables these tools and processes to install Office either from the network or with support from the Office 365 online service. As with the download process the Office Deployment Tool uses setup.exe to install and configure Office 365 ProPlus. These tools are designed with flexibility in mind so an administrator can point the setup engine at local, network or Web-based file sources. The configuration XML file governs the installation process to determine what products, architectures, languages, and versions are installed and from which sources. It also allows the administrator to suppress installation and first run experiences, accept licensing agreements on behalf of the user, determine where installation logs are stored, enable or disable automatic software updates and configure where Office looks for updates. Process for on-premises software delivery of Office 365 ProPlus With these tools you can follow classic enterprise software distribution approaches where software installation files are installed via local cache or directly from the management or distribution point. New to Office 365 ProPlus is the ability to distribute just the setup.exe file and instruct that Office Click-to-Run packages are installed from the Office 365 online service ( http://officecdn.microsoft.com/ ). This is a great scenario in off-LAN situations when VPN connectivity to a management point is slower than the target machine’s connection to the Internet. Because installations are usually much faster than with previous MSI-based packages, deploying Office pre-installed in a custom Windows image will not save as much time as with previous Office releases and it allows you to pre-cache Office Click-to-Run builds with multiple language support within a captured Windows image (WIM) file, then use scripting automation or your favorite task sequencing engine to install Office directly from the local file source within the WIM file. It is also recommended to install Office native to the language of the operating system as opposed to using language packs atop the EN-US installation of Office, but both options are still possible with Office 365 ProPlus and Click-to-Run. The configuration XML file governs both what is downloaded and how Office Click-to-Run is applied to the target computer. The controls relevant to using setup.exe /configure are the following. Option Description Sample Syntax Add Parent control to determine source, architecture, product and languages to download. From local folder:               From local network:               Remove Used to uninstall Office products.                                 Product Multiple products may be nested under the control and multiple languages may be nested under the control. Office 365 ProPlus      SourcePath Location where the Office is installed from. If SourcePath is unspecified, setup will first look for installation source in the local folder and if not present it will look to the CDN source. OfficeClientEdition Determines the architecture of the product to download, 32 or 64 bit. Note: 32-bit is still the recommended architecture for new Office versions. Cross-architecture installations are not permitted; if a 32-bit Office version is already installed on a system, the 64-bit Click-to-Run package will not install and vice versa.   Or: OfficeClientEdition=”32″ OfficeClientEdition=”64″ Language Language determines the language DAT files to be downloaded with the Click-to-Run package. Updates Configures automatic updating behavior. Updates may be either from the public Office 365 service, local location, local file share or private http:// site. To use a local file share: To use the CDN:   

Office 365 ProPlus Administrator Series: Office 365 ProPlus Security Considerations

Author: Jeremy_MSFT Originally published to the Office 365 Preview blog. Office 365 ProPlus changes the security and data management story from securing end points and activities on the end point to decisions for securely accessing data. In order to enable users to switch from one device to another and resume working with their content, it means that either they log into a remotely hosted environment or that endpoints have access to remotely-stored documents. Office 365 ProPlus optimizes for the best experiences on devices while also providing rich browser-based experiences with Office Web Apps. In either constellation, Office 365 ProPlus does not use a Remote Desktop Protocol-based architecture where the user logs into a remote system and views that from the endpoint. Files and content will move to the consuming device whether viewed through a browser or with rich clients, so securing access to files is a key consideration. If your organization is not quite ready to move email or file storage workloads to Office 365 Enterprise services – with Exchange and SharePoint functionality available – then Office 365 ProPlus may be the best fit because your email services and files will be stored on your premises. The only data Office 365 ProPlus will need to store in the cloud are User Principle Names and related minimum user attributes for handling activation and roaming settings information (primarily HTTP links to files and custom dictionary entries).  Everything else in that case remains in your infrastructure using traditional data management and access models. Securing the Service Some of the primary vectors for Office 365 security have been discussed in this series as they relate to authentication and authorization to Office 365 services and which services are permitted as save-to or open-from locations. For the latter configuration, Office 365 ProPlus and Office Professional Plus 2013 may be managed by new Group Policy settings to optionally restrict storage to SkyDrive or third party cloud storage locations. You may also limit sign-in credentials to Organizational IDs and disable sign-in to personal IDs or disable sign-in altogether. Disabling sign-in completely applies best to Office Professional Plus 2013 installs of Office, where activation is performed via Key Management Service (KMS) or Multiple Activation Key (MAK). Access to files and services may be augmented by Rights Management Services and/or multifactor authentication used in conjunction with Active Directory Federation Services to provide secure authentication and authorization to your organization’s files. Securing Clients Office 365 ProPlus includes enterprise-class security controls and fully-supports Group Policy configuration management. Additional features carried over from Office 2010 include Protected View, Data Execution Prevention (DEP) support, trust locations and documents, Office file validation and file block and ActiveX Kill Bit. For many organizations, the default security settings for Office 365 ProPlus are suitable and for those of you with highly locked-down environments, Group Policy enables thousands of settings via ADMX administration templates to fine-tune Office settings to fit your needs. Securing Office on Demand and Web Apps Office on Demand is a new delivery model allowing users to stream complete Office applications from a SkyDrive Pro location. It enables users to get quick access to Office applications and their files on essentially any Windows 7 or newer PC with an Internet connection – and without ActiveX controls disabled by the admin. But what does this mean for the files accessed via these unmanaged or non-owned PCs? Because the user in this case has access to SkyDrive Pro from the unmanaged PC, Office on Demand works to provide an excellent viewing and editing experience. If that user elects to download a copy and view it in Notepad or a browser, the file has already made it to the local hard drive of the computer. While Office on Demand does enable a more compelling user experience in this case, it doesn’t diminish security if those files were already accessible from that unmanaged computer. Much more to come This post only scratches the surface of security considerations scoped to the client and essentially was written to answer a few very frequently-asked questions I get when presenting Office 365 ProPlus to large organizations. Check out the  Security overview for Office 2013 Preview on TechNet for further information on product and service security as it relates to Office Professional Plus 2013 and Office 365 ProPlus. Also be sure to download the Office 2013 Preview Administrative Template files (ADMX/ADML) for Group Policy management.

Requuirements and security considerations for SkyDrive Pro

Here’s some basic information you’ll want to have if you want to support SkyDrive Pro libraries and Sync services in your organization. If you just want to get your bearings around SkyDrive Pro, you can start here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/what-is-skydrive-pro-HA102822076.aspx   Regarding SkyDrive Pro prerequisite software and services: To support SkyDrive Pro libraries in your organization, the latest SharePoint or Office 365 personal sites (also known as My Sites) need to be deployed in your organization, and the user profile service needs to be running. This is because social features, such as sharing documents, depend on personal sites and user profiles. To support Sync in SkyDrive Pro (the ability to synchronize SkyDrive Pro documents with local desktops), make sure that either Office 2013 (Standard or Professional) or an Office 365 subscription that includes the Office 2013 applications is running on Windows 7 or Windows 8 client devices.  Regarding security concerns: SkyDrive Pro client exchanges with SharePoint sites rely on synchronization protocol and external mechanisms for security, such as those provided by VPNs or Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. SkyDrive Pro data is not encrypted over the network when the SkyDrive Pro client talks to SharePoint (which is required to support SkyDrive Pro), unless the transport protocol is being used for server communication is through https (which uses SSL or Transport Layer Security – TLS). Server administrators can configure SSL encryption for data sent over the network between the SkyDrive Pro and the SharePoint servers. On-disk data can be encrypted using the Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption. For more information see ‘BitLocker Drive Encryption’ at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=163122 . Note: SSL is recommended for SharePoint connections from outside a corporate domain. If you’re using Active Directory, you can configure the following Group Policy setting: Sync Only On Domain Network: Requires a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection for SkyDrive Pro clients trying connect to SharePoint Server 2013 (or SharePoint 2010) from outside the organization’s intranet. In addition, you can secure the SharePoint site from unauthorized access by setting access control lists appropriately. For guidance about how to set access control for users to synchronize with SharePoint libraries and lists, see ‘Overview of site permissions in SharePoint 2013’ at  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219771.aspx .

Microsoft Project Online frequently asked questions #ProjectOnline #Office365

Following the recent worldwide Project Ignite tour my colleague Jan Kalis organized as well as presentations at events like SharePoint Conference 2012 last week, please find below a summary of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Microsoft Project Online I have been asked by customers and partners. Before I start please note that this is a journey and I’m sure you have plenty more questions and yes we will have plenty more answers and content to help you understand the value of Project Online and how it can bring value to your organization. Also please note that the 8 questions below are not sorted in any specific order, and yes if you have additional questions please leverage the Project Online forum on TechNet . Delivers full Project Portfolio Management (PPM) in the cloud Yes Microsoft Project Online delivers full project portfolio management capabilities in the Office 365 cloud. Project Online delivers all key scenarios/functionality expected from a PPM solution such as demand management , resource management, financial management, time management, collaboration & social, etc. As mentioned during the Ignite tour the product team only built and shipped one product called Project Server 2013 which gets delivered in different channels like online in Office 365 or on-premise like TechNet & MSDN subscribers. So yes there is full PPM functional feature parity in Online and on-premise whether you want to be firing on all 12 cylinders with a maturity level 3 or if you are just starting with a PPM system. We are also working on document that will be published on TechNet that describes some of the technical differences. Achieve on-premise to Online migration A very common request from many customers, how can I move to Project Online from my existing PPM system whether it’s an older version of Project Server or whether it’s from a online competitor? Again we will provide guidance, but at a high level you can either do it manually once depending on the amount of data, or you can automate the process using third party tools such as: FluentPro Cloud Migrator Pro ( Want to test-drive Project Online? How to migrate data from on-premises to Online? ); please also remember that you will also have to migrate the SharePoint content to SharePoint Online (plenty of tools available today to help you achieve this, BING them!). Connect Online to on-premise Line Of Business Apps Moving to Project Online does not isolate you from your mission critical on-premise line of business applications such as an ERP, CRM, ticketing, etc. SharePoint Online and Project Online provide a very rich extensibility model to help you connect the two world regardless of your needs. It could as simple as leveraging existing API such as OData or CSOM, or you could leverage Business Connectivity Services for instance. We are working on whitepaper that will get published early next year that will demonstrate the integration (how to push data from on-premise to Online and how to retrieve data on-premise from Online) and provide starting points to enable it. Track using ODATA and customize using CSOM In an Online world we cannot give you direct database access for obvious security reasons! and hence the protocol/mechanism to access all your beloved PPM data (yes including timephased data) is via the OData protocol. To build apps and do any custom code the API of choice is CSOM, please check the Project & SharePoint Software Development Kit (SDK) on MSDN to learn about each. Preview is for temporary use only (see Preview FAQ ) The preview has been available since July 16th 2012, when Steve Ballmer disclosed the new version of Microsoft Office (which Project desktop, Project Server and Project Online is part of!). The Preview is free but it’s for temporary use only until the commercial service is available, you read the Preview FAQ and navigate to the very end which says: “the Preview will expire approximately 60 days after the next version of Office becomes available in your market. As the date approaches, you will receive notifications in the Office applications alerting you to the pending expiration. Once the Preview has expired, the applications enter read-only mode, which means that you can view or print documents only, it isn’t possible to create new documents, edit, or save them. You must uninstall the Preview version of Office before installing a newer version of Office.” So yes, please kick the tires, try it out, check out some some of the cool new scenario and features (I love this one …: Microsoft Project Online on Xbox ) but please remember that at the end of the Preview all the data will be lost unless you save it locally. With that in mind and specially with a PPM system, a lot of learning and processes needs to be put in place before a production rollout, so treat this as a free proof of concepts environment! Office 365 is an evergreen service. Customers need to stay current What started with a Preview in our Office 365 worldwide data centers (aka a beta/pre-released version of Project Server 2013), and since the RTM announcement last month and the availability of the products on TechNet/MSDN/Volume Licensing/Trials, the online service has been updated with the RTM products during the past month. So yes it’s a Preview offer but with the latest version of the product! Yes we are still all learning and we are continuously updating the services until it’s ready for general availability (GA). So back to my point earlier, please try it out because it contains the latest fit and polish not to mention the latest bug fixes. In the end, one of the key value of online is that it will always have the latest and greatest version of Microsoft’s PPM, and that includes Exchange, Lync, SharePoint, Office, hence think of the “evergreen PPM”! Azure VM (IaaS) vs. Project Online (SaaS) Azure Virtual Machine (VM) which a preview was disclosed last May, is an upcoming offer from the Windows Azure team which will give you the ability to purchase CPU, memory, and storage in the cloud to run your application in a virtualized environment such as  SharePoint and Project Server for instance. As announced last may, SharePoint 2010 is supported on Azure VM (see SharePoint Deployment on Windows Azure Virtual Machines ), and yes Project Server 2010 will also be supported initially and later 2013 will be. The question one need to think about is whether to go with Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) or other options such as software as a service (SaaS) or partner hosted or on-premise. Bottom line, Microsoft PPM is about choice and we will provide plenty of options to deploy and use it! Again we are working on a white paper and guidance on these options and how they can fulfill your needs today and tomorrow. Use the Project Online Forum and Wiki for Questions & Answers As mentioned at the beginning of this post, I’ve only covered a few question above and I’m sure you have a few more based on some the answers provided above and also based on other Project Online questions you might have so from this point forward I want you to start leveraging the following resources to get answers: Project Online forum , yes it’s monitored by Microsoft product experts, by Microsoft support personnel, by Microsoft Project MVPs and many others so don’t be shy, it’s free! Project Online Preview Wiki Portal , going forward our wiki will get richer and richer with key service information. Other valuable Microsoft Online resources : Steve Ballmer’s letter on October 9, 2012:  TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS, CUSTOMERS, PARTNERS AND EMPLOYEES Global Foundation Services (and their blog ) Office 365 Trust Center (check out the industry standards for instance) Service Updates for Office 365 for enterprises (check out monthly updates)

SharePoint Online: PDF in-browser viewing & MP4 file streaming

We are very excited to announce two compelling updates for SharePoint Online. The service will support in-browser viewing of PDF files and improved streaming of MP4 video files . We received a lot of feedback noting PDF viewing was limited while a number of customers expressed that they did not want PDF files to be downloadable to user’s desktops. In addition, users found that some MP4 files were being downloaded in full before playback would begin. What will this update mean to the user? A PDF document stored in a SharePoint Online library it will simply launch within their Internet browser. This too applies to PDFs embedded as attachments within list items. Note: Users are required to have Adobe Reader on their machines to ensure the proper browser plug-in is available: http://get.adobe.com/reader . Note: In some isolated instances, you may encounter an error when trying to open a PDF document in your Internet browser. If this happens, please try disabling the Adobe ActiveX plugin by going to  Settings > Manage add-ons , highlight the Adobe PDF Link Helper add-on from the list of add-ons, and then click Disable . An MP4 video file stored in a SharePoint Online library will begin streaming much faster without downloading the full file first. We are at the tail end of rolling out the most recent SharePoint Online service update. The PDF adjustment will soon be a notable experience enhancement for all SharePoint Online customers across all Office 365 plans and offerings. The same applies to MP4 files stored in SharePoint Online – let the streaming begin! Microsoft expects to complete this service update rollout worldwide by the end of September 2012. We continue to improve the experience while maintaining the level of security you expect from Office 365. Thank you for your patience and actionable feedback. SharePoint Online progressively evolves each quarter. At its core, the service is driven by AND adapts to the preferences of how users use it every day. Please keep it coming. You can read about this and all of the latest features and innovation on the Office 365 Service Update wiki . Thanks, The SharePoint Online Team

Project Server 2010: Duplicated Outlook tasks after Exchange Sync–June CU

Thought it worth explaining some of the intricacies of the June 2012 Cumulative Update packages, especially for those of you waiting for the fix for the Exchange Sync issue where you see duplicated tasks in Outlook, or are having problems with editing categories in PWA if you have renamed projects in your archive.  Maicco e-mailed asking about the Exchange fix – and thanks for bringing this to my attention.  These two fixes were delivered in the June Cumulative Update cycle, but were not in the ‘default’ Project Server only package http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598375 , but had their own hotfix – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598376 . Issues that this hotfix package fixes Consider the following scenario: You create a user account in Project Web Access (PWA), and you enable Exchange Synchronization for the user account. You create a new plan that contains many tasks in Project 2010. You assign the user account to all the tasks. You save and then publish the plan in Project Server 2010. You log on to the mailbox of the user account that you created to see whether the task list is synchronized. In this scenario, duplicate tasks are created in the task list in Microsoft Outlook. You cannot edit security categories that contain more than 1000 projects when one or more projects in the security categories are archived and then renamed. Just to add to the confusion this hotfix doesn’t explicitly say that it includes the 2598375 fixes – but it does.  The reason for the split is that these two fixes needed some globalization changes – which you can see from the full description (Description of the Project Server 2010 hotfix package (Pjsrvwfe-x-none.msp, Pjsrvmui-x-none.msp): June 26, 2012) where MUI is Multilingual User Interface.  The file list also lists all of the language files. The complete Project Server 2010 June 2012 Cumulative Update package – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598355 – does include everything, and the KB does list both of the KB’s mentioned above.  This hopefully clarifies things and explains what the two KBs listed in the full package article are all about. Thanks again Maicco, and in future I’ll keep my eye out for these split CU packages and we will add more details to the notification mail (and I’ll also add an update to the current posting).

Project Server 2010: Duplicated Outlook tasks after Exchange Sync–June CU

Thought it worth explaining some of the intricacies of the June 2012 Cumulative Update packages, especially for those of you waiting for the fix for the Exchange Sync issue where you see duplicated tasks in Outlook, or are having problems with editing categories in PWA if you have renamed projects in your archive.  Maicco e-mailed asking about the Exchange fix – and thanks for bringing this to my attention.  These two fixes were delivered in the June Cumulative Update cycle, but were not in the ‘default’ Project Server only package http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598375 , but had their own hotfix – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598376 . Issues that this hotfix package fixes Consider the following scenario: You create a user account in Project Web Access (PWA), and you enable Exchange Synchronization for the user account. You create a new plan that contains many tasks in Project 2010. You assign the user account to all the tasks. You save and then publish the plan in Project Server 2010. You log on to the mailbox of the user account that you created to see whether the task list is synchronized. In this scenario, duplicate tasks are created in the task list in Microsoft Outlook. You cannot edit security categories that contain more than 1000 projects when one or more projects in the security categories are archived and then renamed. Just to add to the confusion this hotfix doesn’t explicitly say that it includes the 2598375 fixes – but it does.  The reason for the split is that these two fixes needed some globalization changes – which you can see from the full description (Description of the Project Server 2010 hotfix package (Pjsrvwfe-x-none.msp, Pjsrvmui-x-none.msp): June 26, 2012) where MUI is Multilingual User Interface.  The file list also lists all of the language files. The complete Project Server 2010 June 2012 Cumulative Update package – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598355 – does include everything, and the KB does list both of the KB’s mentioned above.  This hopefully clarifies things and explains what the two KBs listed in the full package article are all about. Thanks again Maicco, and in future I’ll keep my eye out for these split CU packages and we will add more details to the notification mail (and I’ll also add an update to the current posting).

A New SQL Server–and some different cube building errors

At SP1 Project Server 2010 and SharePoint introduced support for SQL Server 2012.  I had a question posted on some issues a customer had hit – so I thought I’d set my server up for building an OLAP cube against SQL Server 2012 – just to see if I could.  I already knew I’d need to set up a few things – but as I wanted to see errors I just went for it – and started with a PWA instance that built successfully against my SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services machine.  My Project Server databases were also in this SQL Server 2008 R2 server – so that would add some other interesting things to consider.  I should also point out that my SQL Server 2012 was sitting on a Windows Server 2012 RC machine – so not a supported scenario currently – but I like to live on the edge (I know – I should get a life instead…) Just to recap what goes on when we request to build a cube, which will help you understand where the errors might be coming from – and there may well be other errors you could see if things are configured differently to my scenario. A Cube Build request goes on the Project Server queue The details of the requested configuration are picked up – and the application server contacts the Analysis Services server (firewall permitting) with the cube details.  Also the account running the queue service will need the right permissions to do this – needs to be added as server administrator on Analysis Server Once the Analysis Services server has the cube details then it will know where to get the data from (Reporting DB) so makes a connection. A couple of points here – if you are using an alias for the database server from your Project Server farm then this is the server name passed to AS – so it will also need to know what the alias refers to.  This is true even if the AS machine is also the DB Server.  And the account running Analysis Services needs data reader access to the reporting DB. So I’ve done none of that preliminary setup, so I’m expecting some errors.  The first however, was unexpected: Error 1. [7/3/2012 7:00 AM] Failed to build the OLAP cubes. Error: Failed to connect to the Analysis Services server . Error: Deserialization failed: Requested value ‘EnterpriseCore64’ was not found. This was reported by the cube build – I’ll add the ULS and Event Log errors at the foot of the posting for the search engines to digest – and talking of search engines a quick Bing gave me the answer to this first issue – SQL Server 2012 Cumulative Update 1, which contains the fix described here – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2683293 – Error message when you use AMO to connect to SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services: “Deserialization failed: Requested value ‘ ‘ was not found”.  The ServerEdition could be one of EnterpriseCore64 (as mine was) EnterpriseCore BusinessIntelligence64 BusinessIntelligence The Cumulative Update itself can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2679368 – Cumulative update package 1 for SQL Server 2012. Installed the CU and moved on… Error 2. [7/3/2012 7:50 AM] Failed to build the OLAP cubes. Error: Failed to process the Analysis Services database Test2012 on the server. Error: Errors in the back-end database access module. The provider ‘SQLNCLI10’ is not registered. The following system error occurred:  Class not registered Errors in the high-level relational engine. A connection could not be made to the data source with the DataSourceID of ‘Project Reporting data source’, Name of ‘Project Reporting data source’. Errors in the OLAP storage engine: An error occurred while the dimension, with the ID of ‘Resource Type’, Name of ‘Resource Type’ was being processed. Errors in the back-end database access module. The provider ‘SQLNCLI10’ is not registered. The following system error occurred:  Class not registered Errors in the high-level relational engine. A connection could not be made to the data source with the DataSourceID of ‘Project Reporting data source’, Name of ‘Project Reporting data source’. Errors in the OLAP storage engine: An error occurred while the dimension, with the ID of ‘Timesheet Status’, Name of ‘Timesheet Status’ was being processed. Server: The current operation was cancelled because another operation in the transaction failed. Errors in the back-end database access module. The provider ‘SQLNCLI10’ is not registered. The following system error occurred:  Class not registered Errors in the high-level relational engine. A connection could not be made to the data source with the DataSourceID of ‘Project Reporting data source’, Name of ‘Project Reporting data source’. Errors in the OLAP storage engine: An error occurred while the dimension, with the ID of ‘Timesheet Period Status’, Name of ‘Timesheet Period Status’ was being processed. This is very similar to an error you would see even before 2012, and refers to the Native Client for SQL Server SQNCLI10 – not being registered.  This is where we need to be very specific – and the version of the native client is related to our client application code that is requesting the build than either the Analysis Services or the SQL Server version.  Regardless of if you are running 2005 or 2008 or 2012 (or anywhere in between) you will need to have the 2008 Native Client installed from here – http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=8824 – Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack, October 2008 – and specifically the sqlncli.msi which is about half way down the page – and the direct link to the X64 package is here .  Also note that this is referring to the build FROM the Analysis Services server – and it is complaining about the Native Client being missing from there – which it needs to connect to my database server (which happens to be 2008 R2 – but that is irrelevant).  If you look on the AS server you will see that the structure of the cube has been created – so we successfully connected to the server, but it could go off to the database server to get the data.  In a fresh install against SQL Server 2012 you would also need to add the Native Client to the application server – but as it is one of the SharePoint pre-reqs this is normally taken care of.  To confirm the native client requirement you can also look at the Connection string already created on the AS Server as part of the Project Reporting data source – Provider= SQLNCLI10 ;Data Source= ;Initial Catalog=ProjectServer_Reporting;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False.  I have seen some workarounds described suggesting changing the Provider here – and that would work if you were to rebuild from AS it would get over-written at the next build.  Added the Native Client to my Analysis Services 2012 machine and continued… Error 3 [7/3/2012 8:33 AM] Failed to build the OLAP cubes. Error: Failed to process the Analysis Services database Test2012 on the server. Error: Internal error: The operation terminated unsuccessfully. Server: The current operation was cancelled because another operation in the transaction failed. OLE DB error: OLE DB or ODBC error: Login failed for user ‘DOMAIN $’.; 28000. Errors in the high-level relational engine. A connection could not be made to the data source with the DataSourceID of ‘Project Reporting data source’, Name of ‘Project Reporting data source’. Errors in the OLAP storage engine: An error occurred while the dimension, with the ID of ‘Task List’, Name of ‘Task List’ was being processed. Errors in the OLAP storage engine: An error occurred while the ‘Start Date’ attribute of the ‘Task List’ dimension from the ‘BriSmith2012’ database was being processed…. This error was longer – just repeated for different attributes of the dimension.  The key to this is the Login Failed – and in this case it refers to a machine name (the $ on the end) as my Analysis Services is running as NT ServiceMSSQLServerOLAPService So the connection is via the machine name.  Added the DOMAIN $ as a Login on the Databse Server with db_datareader role membership to my ProjectServer_Reporting database and continued.  If your Analysis Services is runni
ng under some other credentials then you may need to enter these rather than a machine name. [7/3/2012 9:03 AM] Cube build request completed successfully. In my installation I didn’t hit any permissions issues regarding the AS administrator, or any firewall issues – just because my server and domain setup was already taking care of these potential problems – your mileage may vary. Overall, apart from the 1st error these are very similar, if not identical, to problems you could run into with any version of SQL Server – but hopefully a worthwhile reminder of the cube building process and the components and permissions it relies on.  Only Bing and any other search engine needs to read on from here… Logs. Error 1 ULS Logs – a string of errors here – the first few were Medium, then a couple of criticals – I’ve just posted a couple – these should contain anything worth finding on a search.: 07/03/2012 07:00:21.46    Microsoft.Office.Project.Server (0x27B4)    0x2834    Project Server    Analysis Cube Building    myne    Medium    PWA: /PWA”> http:// /PWA , ServiceApp:Project Server Service Application, User:DOMAINUser, PSI: Error generating Project Server cubes. Error: ‘Failed to connect to the Analysis Services server . Error: Deserialization failed: Requested value ‘EnterpriseCore64′ was not found.’    4c420a8a-c27c-47b8-88c9-46baaf8ab1ec 07/03/2012 07:00:21.47    Microsoft.Office.Project.Server (0x27B4)    0x2834    Project Server    Analysis Cube Building    8swo    Medium    PWA: /PWA”> http:// /PWA , ServiceApp:Project Server Service Application, User:DOMAINUser, PSI: [CBS] Status message: ProjectServer BuildOlapCubes failed with exception: Microsoft.Office.Project.PI.CBSCommon.CBSProcessException: Failed to connect to the Analysis Services server brismith12-15. Error: Deserialization failed: Requested value ‘EnterpriseCore64’ was not found. —> Microsoft.AnalysisServices.XmlSerializationException: Deserialization failed: Requested value ‘EnterpriseCore64’ was not found. —> System.ArgumentException: Requested value ‘EnterpriseCore64’ was not found.     at System.Enum.Parse(Type enumType, String value, Boolean ignoreCase)     at Microsoft.AnalysisServices.DesignXmlReader.ReadPrimitive(Type type, XmlAttributes attributes)     … 07/03/2012 07:00:21.47    Microsoft.Office.Project.Server (0x27B4)    0x2834    Project Server    Analysis Cube Building    8icz    Critical    Standard Information:PSI Entry Point:   Project User: DOMAIINUser  Correlation Id: 4c420a8a-c27c-47b8-88c9-46baaf8ab1ec  PWA Site URL: /PWA”> http:// /PWA   SSP Name: Project Server Service Application  PSError: CBSASConnectionFailure (17003) Cube build failed to connect to the Analysis Services server. Verify the data source connection is valid. Error: Setting UID=19d8edf4-019c-437a-a435-2fd160b71592 ASServerName= ASDBName=Test2012 ASExtraNetAddress= RangeChoice=0 PastNum=1 PastUnit=0 NextNum=1 NextUnit=0 FromDate=07/02/2012 06:55:08 ToDate=07/02/2012 06:55:08 HighPriority=True    4c420a8a-c27c-47b8-88c9-46baaf8ab1ec The Application Event Log just shows a pretty generic Cube Building failure message. Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-Project Server Date:          7/3/2012 7:00:21 AM Event ID:      7682 Task Category: Analysis Cube Building Level:         Error PSError: CBSASConnectionFailure (17003) Cube build failed to connect to the Analysis Services server. Verify the data source connection is valid. Error: Setting UID=19d8edf4-019c-437a-a435-2fd160b71592 ASServerName= ASDBName=Test2012 ASExtraNetAddress= RangeChoice=0 PastNum=1 PastUnit=0 NextNum=1 NextUnit=0 FromDate=07/02/2012 06:55:08 ToDate=07/02/2012 06:55:08 HighPriority=True Event Xml: Error 2 ULS logs – plenty of errors here, mostly saying the same thing – so I’ll just post the critical one: 07/03/2012 07:49:52.90    Microsoft.Office.Project.Server (0x27B4)    0x12A4    Project Server    Analysis Cube Building    8icz    Critical    Standard Information:PSI Entry Point:   Project User: DOMAINUser  Correlation Id: 5984d4c1-558e-4bb2-9373-68053f894a7d  PWA Site URL: /PWA”> http:// /PWA   SSP Name: Project Server Service Application  PSError: CBSOlapProcessingFailure (17004) Cube build failed during an OLAP Processing operation. CBS queued message: Setting UID=19d8edf4-019c-437a-a435-2fd160b71592 ASServerName= ASDBName=Test2012 ASExtraNetAddress= RangeChoice=0 PastNum=1 PastUnit=0 NextNum=1 NextUnit=0 FromDate=07/02/2012 06:55:08 ToDate=07/02/2012 06:55:08 HighPriority=True. Error: Failed to process the Analysis Services database BriSmith2012 on the brismith12-15 server. Error: Errors in the back-end database access module. The provider ‘SQLNCLI10’ is not registered. The following system error occurred:  Class not registered  Errors in the high-level relational engine. A connection could not be made to the data source with the DataSourceID of ‘Project Reporting data source’, Name of ‘Project Reporting data source’. Errors in the OLAP storage engine: An error occurred while the dimension, with the ID of ‘Resource Type’, Name of ‘Resource Type’ was being processed. Errors in the back-end database access module. The provider ‘SQLNCLI10’ is not registered. The following system error occurred:  Class not registered  Errors in the high-level relational engine. A connection could not be made to the data source with the DataSourceID of ‘Project Reporting data source’, Name of ‘Project Reporting data source’. Errors in the OLAP storage engine: An error occurred while the dimension, with the ID of ‘Timesheet Status’, Name of ‘Timesheet Status’ was being processed. Server: The current operation was cancelled because another operation in the transaction failed. Errors in the back-end database access module. The provider ‘SQLNCLI10’ is not registered. The following system error occurred:  Class not registered  Errors in the high-level relational engine. A connection could not be made to the data source with the DataSourceID of ‘Project Reporting data source’, Name of ‘Project Reporting data source’. Errors in the OLAP storage engine: An error occurred while the dimension, with the ID of ‘Timesheet Period Status’, Name of ‘Timesheet Period Status’ was being processed.    5984d4c1-558e-4bb2-9373-68053f894a7d The Event Log entry was very similar – Source: Project Server  Event ID was 7691 and Task Category Analysis Cube Building, followed by a generic Queue failure Event ID 7704. Error 3 Here is the critical one from the ULS logs: 07/03/2012 08:32:44.12    Microsoft.Office.Project.Server (0x27B4)    0x2CF4    Project Server    Analysis Cube Building    8icz    Critical    Standard Information:PSI Entry Point:   Project User: DOMAINUser  Correlation Id: fdf04238-ff5a-4153-baca-723f634011cd  PWA Site URL: /brismith8100/PWA”> http:// /PWA   SSP Name: Project Server Service Application  PSError: CBSOlapProcessingFailure (17004) Cube build failed during an OLAP Processing operation. CBS queued message: Setting UID=19d8edf4-019c-437a-a435-2fd160b71592 ASServerName= ASDBName=Test2012 ASExtraNetAddress= RangeChoice=0 PastNum=1 PastUnit=0 NextNum=1 NextUnit=0 FromDate=07/02/2012 06:55:08 ToDate=07/02/2012 06:55:08 HighPriority=True. Error: Failed to process the Analysis Services database Test2012 on the server. Error: Internal error: The operation terminated unsuccessfully. Server: The current operation was cancelled because another operation in the transaction failed. OLE DB error: OLE DB or ODBC error: Login failed for user DOMAINSMachineName$’.; 28000. Errors in the high-level relational engine. A connection could not be made to the data source with the DataSourceID of ‘Project Reporting data source’, Name of ‘Project Reporting data source’. Errors in the OLAP storage engine: An error occurred while the dimension, with the ID of ‘Task List’, Name of ‘Task List’ was being processed. …. Event log same as before the – Source: Project Server Event ID was 7691 and Task Category Analysis Cube Building, followed by a g
eneric Queue failure Event ID 7704.

Project Server 2007: Reporting (Project Publish) queue job fails to complete

This is an issue that several of my readers raised in response to the posting about the orphan baseline posting a few weeks ago, and we know that this is something that more and more customers are now hitting.  The problem was introduced with the February 2012 Cumulative Update for Project Server 2007, and was also present in the April CU too – so if you have installed either of these and have started seeing Reporting (Project Publish) queue job fails to complete then read on. The symptoms are that a project will successfully save and publish, but the Reporting (Project Publish) job will fail to complete, and the error will look something like this (truncated – but the ReportingProjectChangeMessageFailed piece will be repeated based on your queue setting for the retry limit. Error summary/areas: Reporting message processor failed ReportingProjectChangeMessageFailed Queue GeneralQueueJobFailed Error details:                                 The issue occurs because we are missing a NULL check when accessing the task baseline cost – so if it is NULL we get the “Object reference not set to an instance of an object” message.  We are working on a hotfix to correct this behavior, but we also have a workaround that can provide some immediate relief.  This is a macro that can be run on affected project and will set a zero (non-NULL) assignment baseline fixed cost in place of the NULL we are tripping up on.  Below is the macro code that will need to be added to Project in the macro editor, and executed against the plan.  DISCLAIMER: As with any macro code you should review and understand exactly what this code is doing and that you are comfortable to run this on your own plans (and read the disclaimer) – and should also execute this in a test environment first.  It would also be good practice to take an Administrative Backup in your production system to ensure you have good backup copies of your plans (in addition to any normal SQL Server backup).  Also worth mentioning at this point that you should really have the number of project administrative backups set to give you several versions of your plan (Project Retention Policy (versions) – under Server Settings, Database Administration, Schedule Backup. ‘DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY ‘ ‘THIS FIX CODE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. ‘MICROSOFT FURTHER DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING WITHOUT ‘LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR OF FITNESS ‘FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR ‘PERFORMANCE OF THE CODE REMAINS WITH YOU. ‘ ‘IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES ‘WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF ‘BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, ‘OR OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE ‘THIS MACRO, EVEN IF MICROSOFT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ‘SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR ‘LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ‘ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.   ‘This macro attempts to work around the reporting publish failure that occurs when there are tasks ‘with baselines and where the BaselineCost contour is NULL. The symptoms that you see in the queue ‘for the “Reporting (Project Publish)” job has details similar to: ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘This code simply walks through the tasks in the tasks in the project and if there are ‘baseline(s) set, then the code sets a time scaled baseline cost = 0 on the day prior to ‘where the baseline start is scheduled.  This sets the baseline contour so that the ‘”Object reference not set to an instance of an object” problem can be overcome during the ‘reporting publish job. Sub FixPublish() Dim t As Tasks Dim tsv As TimeScaleValues Dim i As Long Dim bCalc As Boolean On Error Resume Next ‘get the current application calculation state bCalc = Application.Calculation ‘set calculation to manual (helps with performance while the code runs) Application.Calculation = pjManual Set t = ActiveProject.Tasks ‘walk through the tasks in the project. If a task as a baseline(s) then set a timescaled baselinecost = 0 For i = 1 To t.Count     If Not t(i) Is Nothing Then         If t(i).BaselineStart “NA” Then             Set tsv = t(i).TimeScaleData(t(i).BaselineStart – 1, t(i).BaselineStart – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaselineCost, pjTimescaleDays)             If tsv(1).Value = “” Then                 tsv(1).Value = 0             End If         End If         If t(i).Baseline1Start “NA” Then             Set tsv = t(i).TimeScaleData(t(i).Baseline1Start – 1, t(i).Baseline1Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline1Cost, pjTimescaleDays)             If tsv(1).Value = “” Then                 tsv(1).Value = 0             End If         End If         If t(i).Baseline2Start “NA” Then             Set tsv = t(i).TimeScaleData(t(i).Baseline2Start – 1, t(i).Baseline2Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline2Cost, pjTimescaleDays)             If tsv(1).Value = “” Then                 tsv(1).Value = 0             End If         End If         If t(i).Baseline3Start “NA” Then             Set tsv = t(i).TimeScaleData(t(i).Baseline3Start – 1, t(i).Baseline3Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline3Cost, pjTimescaleDays)             If tsv(1).Value = “” Then                 tsv(1).Value = 0             End If         End If         If t(i).Baseline4Start “NA” Then             Set tsv = t(i).TimeScaleData(t(i).Baseline4Start – 1, t(i).Baseline4Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline4Cost, pjTimescaleDays)             If tsv(1).Value = “” Then                 tsv(1).Value = 0             End If         End If         If t(i).Baseline5Start “NA” Then             Set tsv = t(i).TimeScaleData(t(i).Baseline5Start – 1, t(i).Baseline5Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline5Cost, pjTimescaleDays)             If tsv(1).Value = “” Then                 tsv(1).Value = 0             End If         End If         If t(i).Baseline6Start “NA” Then             Set tsv = t(i).TimeScaleData(t(i).Baseline6Start – 1, t(i).Baseline6Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline6Cost, pjTimescaleDays)             If tsv(1).Value = “” Then                 tsv(1).Value = 0             End If         End If         If t(i).Baseline7Start “NA” Then             Set tsv = t(i).TimeScaleData(t(i).Baseline7Start – 1, t(i).Baseline7Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline7Cost, pjTimescaleDays)             If tsv(1).Value = “” Then                 tsv(1).Value = 0             End If         End If         If t(i).Baseline8Start “NA” Then             Set tsv = t(i).TimeScaleData(t(i).Baseline8Start – 1, t(i).Baseline8Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline8Cost, pjTimescaleDays)             If tsv(1).Value = “” Then                 tsv(1).Value = 0             End If         End If         If t(i).Baseline9Start “NA” Then             Set tsv = t(i).TimeScaleData(t(i).Baseline9Start – 1, t(i).Baseline9Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline9Cost, pjTimescaleDays)             If tsv(1).Value = “” Then                 tsv(1).Value = 0             End If         End If         If t(i).Baseline10Start “NA” Then             Set tsv = t(i).TimeScaleData(t(i).Baseline10Start – 1, t(i).Baseline10Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline10Cost, pjTimescaleDays)             If tsv(1).Value = “” Then                 tsv(1).Value = 0             End If         End If     End If Next ‘fix the project summary task With Activ
eProject.ProjectSummaryTask     If .BaselineStart “NA” Then         Set tsv = .TimeScaleData(.BaselineStart – 1, .BaselineStart – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaselineCost, pjTimescaleDays)         If tsv(1).Value = “” Then             tsv(1).Value = 0         End If     End If     If .Baseline1Start “NA” Then         Set tsv = .TimeScaleData(.Baseline1Start – 1, .Baseline1Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline1Cost, pjTimescaleDays)         If tsv(1).Value = “” Then             tsv(1).Value = 0         End If     End If     If .Baseline2Start “NA” Then         Set tsv = .TimeScaleData(.Baseline2Start – 1, .Baseline2Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline2Cost, pjTimescaleDays)         If tsv(1).Value = “” Then             tsv(1).Value = 0         End If     End If     If .Baseline3Start “NA” Then         Set tsv = .TimeScaleData(.Baseline3Start – 1, .Baseline3Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline3Cost, pjTimescaleDays)         If tsv(1).Value = “” Then             tsv(1).Value = 0         End If     End If     If .Baseline4Start “NA” Then         Set tsv = .TimeScaleData(.Baseline4Start – 1, .Baseline4Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline4Cost, pjTimescaleDays)         If tsv(1).Value = “” Then             tsv(1).Value = 0         End If     End If     If .Baseline5Start “NA” Then         Set tsv = .TimeScaleData(.Baseline5Start – 1, .Baseline5Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline5Cost, pjTimescaleDays)         If tsv(1).Value = “” Then             tsv(1).Value = 0         End If     End If     If .Baseline6Start “NA” Then         Set tsv = .TimeScaleData(.Baseline6Start – 1, .Baseline6Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline6Cost, pjTimescaleDays)         If tsv(1).Value = “” Then             tsv(1).Value = 0         End If     End If     If .Baseline7Start “NA” Then         Set tsv = .TimeScaleData(.Baseline7Start – 1, .Baseline7Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline7Cost, pjTimescaleDays)         If tsv(1).Value = “” Then             tsv(1).Value = 0         End If     End If     If .Baseline8Start “NA” Then         Set tsv = .TimeScaleData(.Baseline8Start – 1, .Baseline8Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline8Cost, pjTimescaleDays)         If tsv(1).Value = “” Then             tsv(1).Value = 0         End If     End If     If .Baseline9Start “NA” Then         Set tsv = .TimeScaleData(.Baseline9Start – 1, .Baseline9Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline9Cost, pjTimescaleDays)         If tsv(1).Value = “” Then             tsv(1).Value = 0         End If     End If     If .Baseline10Start “NA” Then         Set tsv = .TimeScaleData(.Baseline10Start – 1, .Baseline10Start – 1, pjTaskTimescaledBaseline10Cost, pjTimescaleDays)         If tsv(1).Value = “” Then             tsv(1).Value = 0         End If     End If End With             ‘set the application calculation state back the way it was Application.Calculation = bCalc             End Sub To use this macro you can follow these steps: 1. Open Project Professional 2007 and connect to your server instance having the problem. 2. Go to Tools > Macro > Security . 3. Note the Security Level . 4. Set Security Level to Low or Medium .  This will allow the macro to run. 5. Go to Tools, Macro, Visual Basic Editor (or alt+F11) 6. Copy the text from the macro above, from the first line of the disclaimer to the End sub line 7. Double click ThisProject in the Visual Basic Editor, and paste in the macro to the window that opens (probably titled Project1 – ThisProject(Code) 8. Save this plan as a file if you need to use again, as FixPublishError.mpp, and return to the normal Microsoft Project view (Alt+F11) 9. Open the plan whose Reporting (Project Publish) job fails. 10. Go to Tools > Macro > Macros… 11. Select the FixPublishError.mpp!FixPublish macro. 12. Click Run . It will take a few seconds to a minute for the macro to run. 13. Save and publish the plan. 14. Monitor the queue by going to PWA > Personal Settings > My queued jobs. 15. Confirm that the jobs related to your plan complete successfully. 16. Reset Security Level to what is was before changing it to Low. There is one condition that currently isn’t resolved by the macro, and that relates to hitting the NULL value for any ghost tasks you might have in your plan (these can exist due to dependencies on tasks from other plans).  It is possible that this will be resolved if the source project has already been fixed up – we are still reviewing this. Thanks to Adrian for the fix up macro, Sriram for helping get this blog post out and for DFS and Christoph for the posts on my blog raising the issue. Sorry for the inconvenience this issue has caused you, and I will update this post as we get more information regarding a more permanent fix. Finally here are some lines from the ULS logs that relate to this problem – just to ensure that the search engines have something to digest and to help those searching on these terms. 05/23/2012 10:38:09.29    Microsoft.Office.Project.Server (0x0AE4)    0x0EE8    Project Server    Project Server Reporting    9e09    High    PWA:http://servername/PWA, SSP:SharedServices1, User: DOMAINUser, PSI:   [RDS] ReportProjectPublishMessage for project 0b9e52ec-6bb6-4ca3-823b-d7561d821d1c failed. Error: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.     at Microsoft.Office.Project.DataEdit.Reporting.ReportingData.GetTaskBaselineCoreTimephasedDataSet(BaselineEntity[] baselineEntityArray, Int32 nIntervalLengthMinutes)     at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.DataAccessLayer.ReportingProjectDal.TransferTimephasedData[T](Guid projectUID, TimephasedTransferInfo transferInfo, ReportingData timephasedReportingData, ProcessSourceData`1 processSourceData, GenerateTimephasedDataSet`1 generateTimephasedData, Int32 pageSize, LogStatsMethod logStats)     at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.DataAccessLayer.ReportingProjectDal.UpdateTasksTimephasedData(Guid projectUID, ReportingProjectData projectData, ReportingData timephasedReportingData, Int32 pageSize, String& transferPhase, LogStatsMethod logProjStats)     at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.ReportingLayer.ProjectPublishMessageProcessor.SaveProjectTimephaseData(String& transferPhase)     at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.ReportingLayer.ProjectPublishMessageProcessor.runRDSTransformation(ReportProjectPublishMessageEx projectChangeMessage). Phase: SetAssignmentBaselineTimephasedFixedCost    3ff34f2c-815e-4f95-9798-7f17dc5737db 05/23/2012 10:38:09.29    Microsoft.Office.Project.Server (0x0AE4)    0x0EE8    Project Server    Project Server Reporting    9e05    Critical    Standard Information:PSI Entry Point:   Project User: DomainUser Correlation Id: 3ff34f2c-815e-4f95-9798-7f17dc5737db  PWA Site URL: http://servername/PWA  SSP Name: SharedServices1  PSError: ReportingProjectChangeMessageFailed (24006) RDS: The request to synchronize change(s) to project Project UID=’0b9e52ec-6bb6-4ca3-823b-d7561d821d1c’. PublishType=’ProjectPublish’ failed.  Message: ‘ReportingProjectChangeMessageFailed’  Error:Object reference not set to an instance of an object.    3ff34f2c-815e-4f95-9798-7f17dc5737db 05/23/2012 10:38:10.30    Microsoft.Office.Project.Server (0x0AE4)    0x0D18    Project Server    Project Server Queue    7h5x    Medium    PWA:http://servername/PWA, SSP:SharedServices1, User: DOMAINSSPAdmin, PSI:   [QUEUE] ProjectQ: Group  d4364343-3402-45ef-afd0-f84c8834e5d3 type = ReportingProjectPublish aborted at Message 1    e45e8c63-38fa-49d8-9555-710851b22c90

100 hours of free Microsoft PPM Content from customers, partners, MVPs and Microsoft!

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. 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