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Today, Kurt DelBene announced Office 365 , which we believe will define the future of productivity. Office 365 is a new cloud service that brings enterprise-grade productivity to everyone. This is an important announcement for the industry and Microsoft. I encourage you to watch today’s global press conference about Office 365 on the Microsoft News Center ( www.microsoft.com/presspass ). I wanted to blog about this news to explain what it means for Microsoft Project 2010. As many of you know, we offer Project Server 2010 cloud hosting through numerous partners that many customers are already taking advantage of today. With SharePoint Online as part of Office 365, we now deliver great collaborative project management in the cloud through the Project Professional synchronization to SharePoint just as we do today for our on-premise customers.

With the recent release of Microsoft Project Server 2010 (PS) last May and its rapid adoption by customers, a recurring question I have seen and been asked is how can I integrate Project Server 2010 with application X? Where application X can be a combination of the following: Application Type Typical Scenario Application Example Accounting (ERP) Import financial information, and WBS SAP R/3, MSFT Dynamics SL and AX, Oracle etc. Billing/Invoicing (ERP) Export PS timesheet information to generate invoices, a classic in IT charge back and or service organizations SAP R/3, MSFT Dynamics SL and AX Human Resources Import resources information like skills, RBS, billing rate, etc.… SAP or custom systems Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Transfer customer service work information to PS MSFT Dynamics CRM, Siebel etc. Ticketing, Maintenance, Keep the Light on Import work performed in these other app. into PS via Statusing API or push project plan and assignments to another app. to track the execution System Center Service Manager, Remedy etc.… Time tracking, time sheeting Import data into PS to have full view of resources execution SAP CATS, etc. Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Transfer tasks and assignment to a team of developers MSFT Team Foundation Server, etc. Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Yes I have seen customer bring PPM data from competitors product in our stack due to the ease of use of our platform and the enhance collaboration and reporting capabilities with SharePoint 2010 IT PPM competitors The following Microsoft Project Server data type/entities are typically synched : Project Server Data Type/Entities Description Projects Projects can be tied to portfolios, programs, WBS, etc. Tasks Tasks are associated to WBS, work items, work package etc. Resources Resources typically are synched from Active Directory and additional information like skills/role come from another system etc. Task’s Status A common scenario where task updates are made in another system and needs to be transferred to PS the ChangeXml API Timesheets Timesheet data is typically transferred out of PS to another system for billing, etc. Lookup Tables Import LT data definition from another system. And there are more I have seen or heard but basically they revolve around the above application types. So how do I interface PS with these other mission critical applications (also referred to as Line Of Business Integration or LOBI) within my organization? This is obviously a very broad topic and this blog post is by no means exhaustive but let me try to get you started in answering this question. Well as you can guess IT DEPENDS! The biggest challenge and the most complex part of such integration is clearly defining the scenario , documenting what data will be transferred between the two systems, what’s the “master” and what’s the “slave”, exception handling (if an update is rejected what happens for instance? If a task is deleted what happens? etc.) The second phase is implementing the bridge and for that as mentioned in this recent post: Microsoft Project Server 2010 Integration with SAP you have two options: either use an existing partner solution that is publically available (search here for instance: https://www.microsoft.com/project/en/us/partners.aspx or BING it) or you can build your own connector and in that case look at the Microsoft Project 2010 Software Development Kit . Points to consider when integrating PS with LOB (by no mean exhaustive): What’s the specific use case ? Interface scalability and performance – was on a recent call with a partner who realized their interface to another system did not took too long to process updates… What PS data entities (Project, Task, Resource, Lookup Table) needs to be updated and transferred? How is the custom data mapping defined? Interface logging and monitoring – would expect any solution whether its of the shelve or custom made to provide visibility of data updates so that it can be easily monitored and maintained File format required to transfer data 9XML, CSV etc.)? Can validation rules and business rules be easily created and modified? What are the additional Custom Fields required in PS to enable the transfer? Are there existing partner solutions available or do I need to build a custom interface ? Reporting requirements for this interface? KPI, dashboards etc.

I have been following the activities of several competitors on the various digital channels for the past few months and I find it an honor to see how competitors are mimicking our product names, messaging and positioning to sell a product clearly different from ours… On one hand it’s always a good sign to see copycats and people mimicking a leader, but on the other hand I am worried that customers get confused and abused with a brand that is not Microsoft and potentially a product of lesser value that does not meet their business needs. Similar to politics it’s interesting to see competitors make inaccurate statements and for instance compare their offer against an older version (yes 2007 is “passe” and 2010 is OUT) or when they compare their server/online offering to our desktop product, so easy and cheap but so wrong…I am hopeful that in this day and digital age customers will hopefully find out the truth. So watch out for vendors using “EPM”, “Project Server”, etc… and do a thorough evaluation before signing the check! To sum it all, get the real Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft Project or at least look at our latest stack before making a purchase decision. We are transparent and offer free trial, so go to https://www.microsoft.com/project for the product information you need! Happy purchase decision

Another great new case study thanks to Joyce and Tad: https://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000008422 Great job MS IT! Microsoft IT, which manages technology resources for the global software company, wanted to improve the consistency of decision-making processes across planning governance bodies. Assisted by Microsoft Services consultants, Microsoft IT implemented Microsoft Project Server 2010. It used Project Server 2010 to plan its fiscal year 2011 new-program budgets and will expand that scope. It is also building workflows, dashboards, and other customizations using Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and complementary technologies. With Project Server 2010, Microsoft IT is consolidating its toolset to reallocate training budgets and cut support costs. It is also improving the quality and visibility of its IT project portfolio planning, more effectively tracking benefits through projects’ life cycles, and establishing a single source of truth for reporting on project management data. Favorite Quotes : My number-one benefit is cost reduction. Using Project Server 2010 to simplify our toolset, we have been able to reallocate our training budget for next year. All employees can use Project Server 2010 to see the strategy more easily—to see why certain programs are chosen, and how each program benefits each line of business. With all of our project data available in Project Server 2010, we save people time when they’re looking for information. Also check out the picture on Arpan’s blog A Great Week at the PMI Global Congress , good to see lots of attendees at the Microsoft Project booth compared to others For more Microsoft Project Server case studies go here: https://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Search_Results.aspx?Type=1&Keywords=”project%20server”

An invitation for all European , Middle East and African Microsoft Project 2010 & Microsoft Project Server 2010 customers to join us in Barcelona, Spain on November 16 – 18, 2010

With the PMI Global Congress this week in Washington DC, two new offerings have been officially announced today on Microsoft Project 2010. It’s very exciting to see partner creating new offerings on our stack, a great testament on the value of Project 2010 and how extensible it is. SharkPro Software ( https://www.sharkprosoftware.com ) BeMo Project Intelligence ( https://bemopro.com/ ) Additionally check out this other announcement from Arpan Shah on the main Project Blog: Project 2010 Customer Success and Dynamics SL 2011 Integration

My name is Arpan Shah and I’m the Director of Microsoft Project Product Management at Microsoft. I moved into this role this past June 2010 having led Technical Product Management for the SharePoint team for the SharePoint 2007 and 2010 releases. I’m especially excited to lead the Project Product Management team given the exciting new in-market Project 2010 technologies, the strong partner ecosystem, passionate customer community and fascinating vision! With a customer base that exceeds 20,000,000 Microsoft Project users and over 10,000 organizations that use Microsoft Project Server, it’s definitely a great place to be! Since launching Project 2010 in May, we’ve seen a tremendous amount of excitement from Project Managers, partners and decision makers. We’ve had an incredible number of downloads of the beta and evaluation software and we’re getting positive feedback from users on new client features like the Ribbon UI, timeline view and SharePoint sync, just to name a few. When it comes to Project Server 2010 , enterprises such as Volvo , Amdocs and Marquette University are deploying Project Server 2010 today to manage their IT portfolios, reduce costs, maximize resource allocations and improve workflows. Along with great customers, we have a large skilled Microsoft Project partner community and you can learn more about them at https://www.microsoft.com/project/en/us/solutions-partners.aspx . What makes the Project 2010 release special is how it enables individuals, teams and organizations to manage all their work, not just projects. It’s a vision we strongly believe in and something we’ll continue investing in the near and longer term. To execute on this vision of providing a holistic set of Project Management technologies, one of our focus areas is to integrate with other key systems such as the Office, SharePoint, SQL BI capabilities, Team Foundation Server and Dynamics. Integration with other technologies helps users seamlessly manage and maintain all their projects across systems. In fact, just last week, the Dynamics team announced that Microsoft Dynamics SL 2011 will be generally available in March 2011 across North America and will have out-of-the-box integration with Project Server 2010. This will bring together project management and project accounting for mid-sized project-driven organizations through functionality that reduces redundant data entry, provides synchronization of project and accounting information, as well as the creation and viewing of budgeting and net profit information. This release continues a long history of Project and Dynamics integrations beginning with the 2003 release. So what’s next? Over the next few months, you’ll continue to see innovation coming from Microsoft, our partners and customers. We’d love to hear from you through our blog, forums and at events. In fact, this week, we’re one of the key sponsors for the PMI Global Congress conference in DC. So if you’re here, swing by our booth (#1001), try Project 2010 and tell us about your Project Management experiences! You can also visit https://www.microsoft.com/project and watch videos, download a free trial and get more product information. Arpan Shah Director, Microsoft Project https://blogs.msdn.com/arpans

Yes, they are letting me out!

You’re invited to Project Momentum 2010—EMEA, an EMEA customer and partner event, to be held in Barcelona, Spain on November 16 – 18, 2010. Key Highlights of Project Momentum 2010—EMEA: · Obtain unique insights from customers and partners into how Project 2010 delivers flexible work management solutions · Learn about innovative capabilities in Project 2010 that solve your organization’s unique and specific needs · Share best practices and learn new ways to win in challenging business scenarios · Understand how to leverage your investments across related Microsoft technologies · 15+ in-depth breakout sessions across business and technical tracks · Hands on labs and product demonstrations · Thought provoking keynotes and guest speakers · Connect and collaborate with industry practitioners, partners, executives, technologists, and the Microsoft Project team Called the most significant Project release in more than a decade. Come learn what the buzz is all about. To register, please select the “register now” button below. Registration for this event is $75.00 (USD). For more information about Project 2010, please visit www.microsoft.com/project . See you in November! Project Momentum 2010—EMEA Planning Team | projevnt@microsoft.com

Following on from my posting on adding custom fields https://blogs.msdn.com/b/brismith/archive/2010/08/25/project-server-adding-custom-fields-to-projects-and-tasks-using-the-psi.aspx I had a few questions on changing fields – or deleting them.