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Work typically isn’t difficult to describe. We all do it, and sometimes wish we had less of it. In Microsoft Project, on the other hand, defining work can get a little tricky, especially when setting up the working calendar for the team in your project schedule. Usually, Project considers working time to be Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m ., with weekends off. So far so good, especially the part about the weekends. But you can change this to any time you want. If you want everyone to work Saturdays or all evenings, so be it. The following graphic will show you how to use the Change Working Time dialog box to change the project work calendar. In the example graphic below, Saturday is made into a four-hour working day with, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m . That’s it. And sorry about the weekend part.

I was recently asked about how to display a custom Gantt bar in one of the PWA Gantt chart views. At first I did not see a way to do it but then tested and verified that the Duration1 –Duration10 bar styles available in several of the bar sets in PWA can be used. I had some some reading on the Internet that implied that they were non-functional but I found that they draw using the StartX-FinishX date sets for tasks. So Duration1 is drawn from Start1-Finish1, Duration9 between Start9 and Finish9. Server Settings | Gantt Chart Formats: Then this project draws like this:

When: Monday, June 11, 2012 from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM (GMT) Where: Technology House 1 Shottery Brook Office Park Timothy’s Bridge Road CV37 9NR Stratford Upon Avon United Kingdom Hosted By: Technology Associates International Limited 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 have deployed hundreds of EPM solutions and deployed more than 2,000 Microsoft Project solutions. With twelve Microsoft Competencies under our belt, and three at Gold level including PPM, ISV and Application Integration, we have built a solid reputation for delivering high quality services and solutions, and providing exceptional value for money. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, with Offices in New York, San Francisco, India and Barcelona, and a strategic partner network covering AsiaPac, Middle East and ROW, we work internationally in delivering EPM and SharePoint solutions to our customer base in over 39 countries. Register for this event now at: https://project201011062012-rss.eventbrite.com Event Details: Course Outline: The goal of this one-day instructor-led course is to provide students with the next stage in the education process. This day is a follow on from the 1 day Introductory course and together provides a complete course for users of Microsoft Project 2010. This day is also suitable for those people who may be already familiar with the basic features of Microsoft Project 2010 but who need a more in depth session on some of the features and useage of the application. Who Should Attend: This course is intended for Project Managers, Project Schedulers, Managers, Supervisors, Team Leads and other people responsible for managing projects. These individuals are involved in or responsible for scheduling, estimating, coordinating, controlling, budgeting and staffing of projects and supporting other users of Microsoft Project. Typical products and technologies that are used include Microsoft Project 2010, Microsoft Excel 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server. Note : Delegates booking both the first day and the second day together at the same time will be entitled to a discount on the cost of the two days. Once the first day is booked, please contact info@techassoc.com to obtain the discount code that can be applied to the second course to obtain your discount. Pre-requisites: Students should have a working knowledge of the following: • Basic project management concepts and terminology. • Basic Windows navigation skills. • Familiarity with the core features of Microsoft Project and/or attendance on the Intrductory course.   Objectives: After completing this course, students will : Understand the scheduling engine in more detail and how Microsoft Project performs calculations Understand how to initiate what-If Analysis and use Multiple Baselines Understand the use of groupings, especially in Task and Resource Usage views  Understand the uses, benefits and limittions of Resource pools    Be able to set up resources correctly and understand multiple cost rates Understand Project, Task and resource Calendars and their interaction be able to set up Project templates Use advanced tracking features of Microsoft Project Understand how to build contingency into project schedules Create effective reports Gain special tips and tricks of using Microsoft Project Understand how to interface to other applications like Excel Word, Sharepoint Present project information in the best possible way Understand how to print and generate effective output from Microsoft project plans    

Now that Project Conference 2012 is behind, I’ve just deployed he recently released April 2012 Cumulative Update (see this post from Brian Smith: Microsoft Project Server and SharePoint Server 2007 and 2010 April 2012 CU Announcement ). I’ve put below a few screenshots of the updated products versions. Don’t forget to attend the webcast tomorrow:  TechNet Webcast: Information about Microsoft Project and Project Server April 2012 Software Update Central Admin view: 14.0.6120.500 Winproj version: 14.0.6120.500 Reporting database version: 14.0.6119.500  

Just noticed that the Microsoft Project channel on Microsoft Showcase is hosting the sessions that Adrian and I did at this year’s Project Conference.  We covered a few different scenarios and tools that we use in our day to day jobs. We presented in two parts – part one was called PC319 and can be found at https://aka.ms/uhuix1 and part two was PC349 and can be found at https://aka.ms/frd1nl .  Other sessions are available too. I might also try and embed these – so they may appear below soon… (success!) PC319 PC349

When: Monday, May 21, 2012 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (GMT) Where: Technology House 1 Shottery Brook Office Park Timothy’s Bridge Road CV37 9NR Stratford Upon Avon United Kingdom Hosted By: Technology Associates International Limited 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 have deployed hundreds of EPM solutions and deployed more than 2,000 Microsoft Project solutions. With twelve Microsoft Competencies under our belt, and three at Gold level including PPM, ISV and Application Integration, we have built a solid reputation for delivering high quality services and solutions, and providing exceptional value for money. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, with Offices in New York, San Francisco, India and Barcelona, and a strategic partner network covering AsiaPac, Middle East and ROW, we work internationally in delivering EPM and SharePoint solutions to our customer base in over 39 countries. Register for this event now at: https://www.eventbrite.com/event/3477901497/rss Event Details: Course Outline: The goal of this one-day instructor-led course is to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively manage projects with Microsoft Project 2010 Standard or Professional Editions. Who Should Attend: This course is intended for Project Managers, Project Schedulers, Managers, Supervisors, Team Leads and other people responsible for managing projects. These individuals are involved in or responsible for scheduling, estimating, coordinating, controlling, budgeting and staffing of projects and supporting other users of Microsoft Project. Typical products and technologies that are used include Microsoft Project 2010, Microsoft Excel 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server. Pre-requisites: Students should have a working knowledge of the following: • Basic project management concepts and terminology. • Basic Windows navigation skills.   Objectives: After completing this course, students will be able to: • Explain the new user interface of Microsoft Project 2010. • Initialize Microsoft Project settings. • Create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) • Create task relationships in a project schedule. • Configure advanced task information and use the Task Inspector. • Create and manage resources. • Assign and level work resources. • Review and finalize the project schedule. • Track and update project schedules. • Customize Project 2010 features. • Communicate project information in your organization. • Manage multiple projects and resource pools.  

This problem has been around for a while and I know some customers were running into it very soon after the release, but we had been struggling to get a repro and understand exactly what was causing it.  We now understand the root cause and have a fix coming hopefully in the June 2012 Cumulative Update for Project Professional 2010 (no promises – but that is the current target) and there are some ways of working that can limit your chances of running into this – so decided we should share this to avoid continued inconvenience until we get the fix out there. First lets take a look at the symptoms.  The most usual indication of the problem, as the title suggests, is orphan baseline values leading to the error when publishing – a Failed But Not Blocking Correlation problem on a Reporting (Project Publish) job that will show several of the following errors if you click through for the error details: ReportingProjectChangeMessageFailed (24006) – The INSERT statement conflicted with the FOREIGN KEY constraint “FK_MSP_EpmTaskBaseline_ProjectUID_TaskUID”. The conflict occurred in database “ProjectServer_Reporting”, table “dbo.MSP_EpmTask”. The statement has been terminated.. GeneralQueueJobFailed (26000) – ReportingProjectPublish.ReportProjectPublishMessageEx These failures are for the reporting job – so will mean that reports based on the reporting database, and any fresh OLAP cube builds could be missing data. Sometimes there may also be a crash on saving, either with a fairly generic MSSOAP 16 Send Incomplete error from Project Professional 2010 (though a subsequent save will work fine), or from PWA a queue error – GeneralQueueException (9131) A Project Operation failed due to a Queue Exception. Sub Job ID is: . Exception details are: System.NullReferenceException: …at Microsoft.Office.Project.DataEdit.Assignments.AssignmentCalendarUpdateHelper.ConvertActualContourToElapsed(,,, There may then be issues with users accessing timesheets – The view failed to load.  Press OK to reload this view… (and OK will not help). The error that will be found in the ULS logs will refer to a Calendar whose UID cannot be found… Exception occurred in method Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.Statusing.StatusingGetMyWorkForGridJson System.InvalidOperationException: CacheProjectBaseCalendars could not find project calendar for project. CalUid=0c13de33-2a07-4310-b091-c77990d9dd6a    The root of all these issues is that when you use any of the Save & Send options (XML, CSV, Excel etc.) that we are incorrectly changing some of the GUIDs associated with entities such as the tasks and calendars.  Now this isn’t affecting the main tasks and assignment GUIDs as these bad values are not persisted back to the database – but we do however create a new baseline for these non-existent new task GUIDs, and can also save a bad calendar GUID – which leads to the Timesheet problem. First the best way to avoid this issue, and then on to the detection and clean up at the database level. If you do need to use Save & Send then the best practice until we release the fix for this is to first save the plan to the server, and publish if you need to.  Then do whatever you need to with Save & Send, and then immediately after this – close and check in the plan – but do not re-save to the server.  Discard changes if it asks – but of course you will have needed to save BEFORE you did the Save & Send (just making sure you are paying attention) to avoid losing any changes you really needed.  As the bad stuff will also get persisted to the local cache, this is one of those rare occasions when you will find me suggesting that the project is removed from the local cache – after ensuring that the save and check-in completed successfully. WARNING – the following steps are direct queries against the Project Server databases – please be sure you are working against the right databases when using these – and have a database backup should any problems occur. The detection of this condition is pretty straightforward, as we are just looking for baselines that exist for a task that does not exist, so the following query executed against the Draft database will do this (Change the name to match your specific DBs – the default ProjectServer_ names are used below: — Detect for orphan baseline task records that can cause reporting publish job failures. USE ProjectServer_Draft — specify the appropriate draft database select PROJ_NAME, MTB.PROJ_UID,TASK_UID,TB_BASE_NUM from MSP_TASK_BASELINES MTB inner join MSP_PROJECTS MP on MTB.proj_uid=MP.proj_uid where TASK_UID not in (select TASK_UID from MSP_TASKS) This will return rows if the condition exists – and identify which projects – as before clean-up you will probably want to get them removed from the PM’s local cache as otherwise they could be re-introduced. The next scripts do the cleaning up in the DB, and they are simply deleting baseline records where the tasks are non-existent. — Script to run on the draft DB USE ProjectServer_Draft — specify the appropriate draft database delete from MSP_TASK_BASELINES where TASK_UID not in (select TASK_UID from MSP_TASKS) — Script to run on the published DB USE ProjectServer_Published — specify the appropriate published database delete from MSP_TASK_BASELINES where TASK_UID not in (select TASK_UID from MSP_TASKS) I hope this helps to understand the nature of the issue and ways to avoid it until the fix comes along.  Our apologies for the inconvenience I know this has caused many of our customers – and hopefully for those who have needed to re-run the clean-up scripts regularly this may give a way to reduce the pain. If you need any assistance with these steps then feel free to open a support incident – and when I say free I mean free – this is a bug and we do not charge for incidents that are due to bugs (or we will refund – which amounts to the same thing). The ULS log entry associated with the initial Queue errors above (for the benefit of the search engines): 05/01/2012 11:57:55.67    Microsoft.Office.Project.Server (0x1D74)    0x335C    Project Server    Reporting    atwj    Critical    Standard Information:PSI Entry Point:   Project User: REDMONDbrismith  Correlation Id: e1f4e953-7dea-448a-a528-709075c698bf  PWA Site URL: https://brismith8100/PWA   SSP Name: Project Server Service Application  PSError: ReportingProjectChangeMessageFailed (24006) RDS: The request to synchronize change(s) to project Project UID=’216733b0-e194-469a-afc3-9235da4ce4c1′. PublishType=’ProjectPublish’ failed.  Message: ‘ReportingProjectChangeMessageFailed’. Message Body: The INSERT statement conflicted with the FOREIGN KEY constraint “FK_MSP_EpmTaskBaseline_ProjectUID_TaskUID”. The conflict occurred in database “ProjectServer_Reporting”, table “dbo.MSP_EpmTask”.  The statement has been terminated. Error:(null)    e1f4e953-7dea-448a-a528-709075c698bf and for the Timesheet error: 05/01/2012 12:13:29.65    w3wp.exe (0x2444)    0x23D8    Project Server    Task Statusing and Updates    btw9    High    CacheProjectBaseCalendars: could not locate data for calendar 0c13de33-2a07-4310-b091-c77990d9dd6a for project 216733b0-e194-469a-afc3-9235da4ce4c1    e5dd4eaf-551a-469b-a3e0-1f60e2f3d1af 05/01/2012 12:13:29.85    w3wp.exe (0x2444)    0x23D8    Project Server    General    0000    Exception    Exception occurred in method Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.Statusing.StatusingGetMyWorkForGridJson System.InvalidOperationException: CacheProjectBaseCalendars could not find project calendar for project. CalUid=0c13de33-2a07-4310-b091-c77990d9dd6a     at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.TimePhasedDataAccess.CacheProjectBaseCalendars()     at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.TimePhasedDataAccess..ctor(StatusingPageLoadDataSet dataset)     at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.Statusing.ReadStatusTimephasedDataForResource(IList`1 gridChanges, Guid[] vAssnUids, IDictionary`2 assn2proj, StatusingTimephasedPeriod[] tpd
Periods, DateTime tpStart, DateTime tpEnd)     at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.Statusing. c__DisplayClass57. b__56(IEnumerable`1 Keys)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.JSGrid.GridSerializer.BuildOutput()     at Microsoft.SharePoint.JSGrid.GridSerializer.ToJson(Serializer s)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.JsonUtilities.Serializer.SerializeToJson(Object o)     at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.Statusing.GetMyWorkForGridJson(JsGridSerializerArguments gridSerializerArgs, String gridChangesJson, String projectAssignmentsMap, Guid viewUid, String timephasedStart, String timephasedEnd, Byte pane, Int32 durationType, Int32 workType, Int32 dateFormat, Boolean clearPersistedProperties, Nullable`1 rowFilterType)     at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.Wcf.Implementation.PWAImpl.StatusingGetMyWorkForGridJson(JsGridSerializerArguments gridSerializerArgs, String gridChangesJson, String projectAssignmentsMap, Guid viewUid, String timephasedStart, String timephasedEnd, Byte pane, Int32 durationType, Int32 workType, Int32 dateFormat, Boolean clearPersistedProperties, Nullable`1 rowFilterType)    e5dd4eaf-551a-469b-a3e0-1f60e2f3d1af

In case you missed it over on the Admin blog site – the April CU announcement went out last week.  This covers the April 2012 Cumulative Update (CU) for Microsoft Project 2010, Microsoft Project Server 2010, Microsoft Office Project 2007 and Microsoft Project Server 2007.  More details see https://blogs.technet.com/b/projectadministration/archive/2012/04/27/microsoft-project-server-and-sharepoint-server-2007-and-2010-april-2012-cu-announcement.aspx .  The Project Server 2010 April 2012 CU also includes the fix for the duplicate Custom Field problem (unknown error in Project Center relating to filters, and also duplicates displayed in the PDPs) that was released just around the time of the February CU, please see the KB at https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598251 for the detection and clean up scripts if you suffered from this issue.

When: Monday 21 May 2012 at 09:00 – Friday 25 May 2012 at 17:00 (GMT) Where: Technology House 1 Shottery Brook Office Park Timothy’s Bridge Road CV37 9NR Stratford Upon Avon United Kingdom Hosted By: Technology Associates International Ltd Technology Associates International ( www.techassoc.com ) is an Approved Training Organisation (ATO), accredited by the APM Group – the leading accreditation, certification and examination body – to deliver PRINCE2® courses.    As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we have over 18 years experience of delivering training solutions.   Our PRINCE2® trainers are skilled experts who take pride in guiding delegates through the PRINCE2® methodology and help them understand how the material applies to their specific personal and organisational circumstances. Register for this event now at: https://taiprince2fp210512-rss.eventbrite.ie Event Details: The course provides a balance between a learning experince about structured project management and PRINCE2®, and maximising the delegate’s chances of passing the Practitioner examination. On passing the examination, the delegate becomes a Registered PRINCE2® Practitioner. The course starts with a period of directed self-study commencing approximately 2 weeks before the classroom event.   This brings everyone up to a common standard of basic familiarity with the language and underlying principles of PRINCE2®, and ensures that the course gets off to a smooth start. Delegates should plan their time for this self-study to ensure that they gain maximum benefit from this essential element of the course.   A minimum of 10 hours should be scheduled if at all possible. The first three days in the classroom follow the lifecycle of a project, explaining the use and benefits of the PRINCE2® processes, themes and techniques, and how these can be adapted to suit a variety of project types and scenarios.   Approximately 30% of this time is spent on practical work and discussion using a “continuous” case study as a basis for exercises that help to reinforce delegate learning.    The Foundation examination takes place on day 3.  The following two days are dedicated to reinforcing what has been learnt and to preparing for the Practitioner examination that takes place on the last afternoon.   Full explanation is provided of the types of question used in the examination, together with guidance on how to answer them to best effect. Evening work is provided (approximately one-hour) to enable revision and practice of what has been learned each day. Terms & Conditions of Booking: Payment is due on booking.   Cancellations and Transfers More than 20 working days notice before course commences – £50 cancellation fee is payable From 0 to 20 working days inclusive before course commences – 100 % of the course fee is payable   VERY IMPORTANT: If you are unable to complete a course due to illness or any other reason, you will have to pay the full course fee to attend a future course. No refund will be offered for failing to attend any part of the whole course.   A full copy of our terms and conditions of sale is available on request.                 PRINCE2® is a registered trade mark of the Cabinet Office.

When: Monday 21 May 2012 at 09:00 – Wednesday 23 May 2012 at 17:00 (GMT) Where: Technology House 1 Shottery Brook Office Park Timothy’s Bridge Road CV37 9NR Stratford Upon Avon United Kingdom Hosted By: Technology Associates International Ltd Technology Associates International ( www.techassoc.com ) is an Approved Training Organisation (ATO), accredited by the APM Group – the leading accreditation, certification and examination body – to deliver PRINCE2® courses.    As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we have over 18 years experience of delivering training solutions.   Our PRINCE2® trainers are skilled experts who take pride in guiding delegates through the PRINCE2® methodology and help them understand how the material applies to their specific personal and organisational circumstances. Register for this event now at: https://taiprince2f210512-rss.eventbrite.ie Event Details: The course provides a balance between a learning experience about structured project management and PRINCE2®, and maximising the delegate’s chances of passing the Foundation exam. This exam is the first of two required to achieve Registered PRINCE2® Practitioner status. The course starts with a period of directed self-study commencing approximately 2 weeks before the classroom event. This brings everyone up to a common standard of basic familiarity with the language and underlying principles of PRINCE2®, and ensures that the course gets off to a smooth start. Delegates should plan their time for this self-study to ensure that they gain maximum benefit from this essential element of the course. A minimum of 10 hours should be scheduled. The course covers the full PRINCE2® Foundation syllabus, following the lifecycle of a project, explaining the use and benefits of the PRINCE2® processes, themes and techniques, and how these can be adapted to suit a variety of project types and scenarios. Approximately 30% of the course is spent on practical work and discussion using a “continuous” case study as a basis for exercises that help to reinforce delegate learning. Evening work is provided (approximately one-hour) to enable revision and practice of what has been learnt each day.   Terms & Conditions of Booking: Payment is due on booking.   Cancellations and Transfers More than 20 working days notice before course commences – £50 cancellation fee is payable From 0 to 20 working days inclusive before course commences – 100 % of the course fee is payable   VERY IMPORTANT: If you are unable to complete a course due to illness or any other reason, you will have to pay the full course fee to attend a future course. No refund will be offered for failing to attend any part of the whole course.   A full copy of our terms and conditions of sale is available on request.                 PRINCE2® is a registered trade mark of the Cabinet Office.