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We recently published a new article set to our Microsoft Project Server 2010 TechNet Library:  ” Database Maintenance Plans for Project Server 2010 “.  A Project Server 2010 farm environment includes not only the databases required for Project Server, but also databases required for SharePoint Server 2010.   Ensuring that these databases are maintained properly is key to smooth performance in your Project Server 2010 environment.  This article set contains information and guidelines for maintaining the databases that host Microsoft Project Server 2010. It describes and provides examples of the database maintenance tasks that we recommend when you are using Project Server 2010.   This document provides detailed examples for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. External references for how to perform the same database maintenance tasks with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 are also included. The goal of this article set is to provide you the information to create a database maintenance plan that best fits your environment.  This article set includes the following articles: Overview of Project Server 2010 databases Creating maintenance plans for Project Server 2010 databases Defragmenting indexes for Project Server 2010 databases Shrinking databases in Project Server 2010 Monitoring maintenance plans for Project Server 2010 For more information about maintaining the databases that are required for SharePoint Server 2010, read Database maintenance for SharePoint Server 2010 .  You should read this as well before you implement any database maintenance tasks or modify your Project Server 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 databases.

We are pleased to announce newly redesigned Solutions Page that is highlighting the key solutions built on Microsoft Project 2010 – including: Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Integrating PPM and Application Development processes helps to improve visibility across projects throughout their life cycle. It ensures project managers and developers can follow their own methodologies supported by different productivity tools, while remaining seamlessly connected with each other. Application Portfolio Management (APM) Gain control, reduce costs, transform your application portfolio and link your business strategy to your application management strategy. Capital Planning & Investment Control (CPIC) Powerful collaborative and analytical tools that provide consistent and visible decision-making capabilities for managing investments from launch to conclusion. Financial Management and Earned Value Driven by challenging economic times and enhanced compliance requirements, financial management has become a priority for organizations investing in project and portfolio management best practices. Hosting / On-Demand Solutions Unleash the power of Microsoft Project Server 2010 with a browser-based hosted solution. Innovation Process Management (IPM) Innovation Process Management (IPM) enables organizations to foster innovation by capturing, evaluating, and developing ideas to drive growth and profitability, and to increase competitiveness. Line of Business Integration Seamlessly integrate Microsoft Project and Portfolio Management solution with different applications and systems in order to automate business processes. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) / New Product Development (NPD) Emerging as a strategic driver of business value, PLM helps manufacturers tackle complex processes and synchronize the efforts of distributed teams to consistently create the best possible products, capture greater market share and increase customer satisfaction. Project and Portfolio Management PPM/EPM Project and Portfolio Management helps organizations gain visibility and control across all work, enhancing decision-making, improving alignment with business strategy, maximizing resource utilization, and enhancing project execution to optimize ROI. Project Professional 2010 Microsoft Project Professional 2010 gives you a powerful, visually enhanced way to effectively manage a wide range of projects and programs. It is also a powerful platform for extensions that address specific business needs. For those that would like to see a list of solutions by product – the “ Solution By Product ” section links directly to PinPoint – a Microsoft directory of Partner companies and their offerings – and lists registered solutions in PinPoint by product. (Any partner with valid PinPoint profile can register their solutions and align them with Project 2010 products directly in PinPoint.) Thanks! Jan Kalis World-wide PPM Partner Lead, Technical Product Manager | Microsoft Project  https://blogs.msdn.com/jkalis/

I was in San Francisco recently to receive an award on behalf of the Project team from the Project Management Institute College Of Scheduling (PMICOS), the award presentation was happening in the context of the PMICOS Conference taking place this week. It’s great that Microsoft Project got recognized as having “significantly contributed to the project management scheduling profession” among a crowd who until recently was more inclined to lean towards traditional players such as Primavera, Artemis, Planview and the likes. In fact, Microsoft was the only PPM software vendor to be recognized this year, the other nominees being practitioners of the profession. It was also great to see Microsoft receive the highest rating possible in the recently released Gartner Project and Portfolio Applications MarketScope . On behalf of the Project Team, we are very grateful for the recognition, just another small indication of the impact Project and its millions of users have in the project management industry and the continued growth and momentum we’ve seen in recent years. Here’s a picture of the actual award. Ludo.

Thanks to everyone who joined Adrian and I for this morning’s webcast – we sure covered a lot of stuff (well mostly Adrian – with the June CU update).  For those who couldn’t attend you can listen to the recording https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032487727&CountryCode=US . One thing I mentioned towards the end was a bug that both Adrian and I had seen since loading SP1 and the June Cumulative Update around provisioning PWA sites if you had more than one web application to choose from on your ManagePWA page.  Well we just had our first customer hit this same issue – so looks like it is out in the wild and not just something Adrian and I broke on our servers.  Still digging in to the detail and trying to find the root of the issue – but the workaround is simple – just use PowerShell to create the PWA site.  More on that later – first some details of the error so the search engines find this posting.  You will either get it when selecting a web app other than the default and filling the page and clicking OK – but you can also see it if you just change from a web app that is not the default to another one in this dialog: and this will be the error you get and the text for the search engine – String was not recognized as a valid boolean.: and from the ULS logs: 07/06/2011 16:27:50.59    w3wp.exe (0x1E10)    0x1FF4    SharePoint Foundation    Runtime    tkau    Unexpected    System.FormatException: String was not recognized as a valid Boolean.    at System.Boolean.Parse(String value)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.EntityEditor.ParseSpanData(String spans)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.EntityEditor.LoadPostData(String postDataKey, NameValueCollection values)     at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessPostData(NameValueCollection postData, Boolean fBeforeLoad)     at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)    c52c7488-9e1f-4a26-a256-de796d689c12 The PowerShell workaround is really straightforward – you can use the New-SPProjectWebInstance command, and either give all the parameters or just hit return and respond to the prompts.  The URL is the full URL of the Project Web App you wish to provision.  Full details on using Windows PowerShell for Project Server 2010 can be found at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee662497.aspx and here is the syntax listing from the {PowerShell get-help command on the  New-SPProjectWebInstance command NAME     New-SPProjectWebInstance SYNOPSIS     Creates a new instance of a Project Server service application. SYNTAX     New-SPProjectWebInstance -AdminAccount -ArchiveDbname -DraftDbname -PrimaryDbserver –publishedDbname -ReportingDbname -ReportingDbserver [-PrimaryDBMirrorServer ] [-ReportingDBMirrorServer ] -Url [-AssignmentCollection ] [-HostHeaderWebapplicationUrl ] [-Lcid ] [-Wait ] [ ] DESCRIPTION     Use the New-SPProjectWebInstance cmdlet to create a new instance of a Project Server service application. An instance of a Project Server service application is referred to as a Project Web Access (PWA) instance. RELATED LINKS REMARKS     To see the examples, type: “get-help New-SPProjectWebInstance -examples”.     For more information, type: “get-help New-SPProjectWebInstance -detailed”.     For technical information, type: “get-help New-SPProjectWebInstance -full”. Once you’ve used this you will never want to go back to the UI!  I’ll update this entry as we find more information and have news on any fix.

The Project 2010 SDK download and the MSDN online release are both updated. The updates have the same URLs as previous releases: SDK Online : https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms512767(office.14).aspx SDK Download : https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=46007f25-b44e-4aa6-80ff-9c0e75835ad9&displaylang=en When you install the download, it adds links in the Start menu, under Microsoft SDKsProject 2010 SDK . Project Developer Center : https://msdn.microsoft.com/project New conceptual / how-to topic: How to: Use the QueueSystem Service (Rewrite of the Project 2007 SDK article, including a new code example.) · Topic updates for MSDN online , since the last update on March 7, 2011: 20 conceptual and how-to topics have updates. Most changes are relatively minor; the Change History table at the bottom of each topic shows significant changes. Assn Element ChangeList Elements ChangeList Schema Reference Developing Project Server Workflows How to: Create a Project Server Event Handler and Log an Event How to: Create a Proxy Assembly for WCF Services (SP1 note) How to: Modify the Ribbon in PWA Introduction to the ChangeList Schema and Statusing ChangeXML Introduction to the SetAssignmentWorkData Schema Prerequisites for ASMX-Based Code Samples (SP1 note) Prerequisites for WCF-Based Code Samples (SP1 note) Project 2010 SDK Documentation (overview of the Project 2010 SDK) Project Server 2010 Programming Tasks Project Server Error Codes SetAssignmentWorkData Elements SetAssignmentWorkData Schema Reference Supported Project Fields and Field Information for Statusing ChangeXML (updated the valid change types for the Actual Overtime Work and Remaining Overtime Work fields) Tables of VBA Object Model Changes Walkthrough: Developing PSI Applications Using WCF What’s New for Developers in Project 2010 (programmability changes for SP1) 600 managed code types (classes that include new descriptions for one or more properties, methods, and events) are updated. There are new code samples for the following PSI methods: QueueDeleteProjects ReadResource UpdateStatus ReadProjectStatus SubmitStatusForResource ReadStatusForResource ReadEventHandlerAssociationsForEvent UpdateEventHandlerAssociations CreateEventHandlerAssociations New / updated items in the Project 2010 SDK download , which was last updated March 7: Project2010SDK.chm is an HTML Help file that includes the same updated content that is online. In the managed code reference section, 99.8% of the types and members now have descriptions (26,530 out of a total 26,576 topics). That is up from 77.7% at RTM. WINPROJ.DEV.hxs remains unchanged from the March update of VBA Help. There are instructions for replacing the local VBA Help file that was shipped with the Project RTM release. IntelliSense files are updated for the PSI proxy assembly and the Project Server assemblies, to show descriptions of classes and members while programming in Visual Studio. The type and member descriptions have the same updates as in the HTML Help file (and in MSDN online). The Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.Library.dll assembly is updated for distribution with third-party solutions for SP1. Event handler solution: TestProjectEventHandlers . Test application for the Queue System : UsingQueueSystem shows an example of when to wait for the queue, and when you don’t need to wait. ProjTool has a minor update, so the functionality of the Project Details dialog matches the description in Using the ProjTool Test Application . New PSI code samples include complete WCF-based solutions for the following events: ProjectEventReceiver: OnCreating, OnCreated, OnSaved . Other new solutions show the use of the following PSI methods: QueueDeleteProjects , CreateEventHandlerAssociations , UpdateEventHandlerAssociations , ReadEventHandlerAssociationsForEvent , using the ReadResources and ReadResource methods to get the RBS custom field, creating a changeXml parameter for a different resource with the UpdateStatus method, and using SubmitStatusForResource and ReadStatusForResource .

As announced yesterday on the main Project blog: Announcing The Release Of Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Microsoft Project and Project Server 2010 , two major product updates were launched this week: Service Pack (SP1) for Project Standard, Project Professional, and Project Server 2010 (alongside Office 2010 and SharePoint SP1) June 2011 Cumulative Update (CU) for Project Standard, Project Professional, and Project Server 2010 (alongside Office 2010 and SharePoint SP1) Plenty of guidance in the post above (including links to TechNet documentation on how to deploy these updates), my 2 cents is not to forget to run PSCONFIG after installing the binaries to ensure your server/farm is actually updated. I’ve just applied the June 2011 CU (had applied SP1 back in May as shown below) in my favorite PPM demo virtual machine and please find below version numbers from the PUBLISHED database (SELECT * FROM VERSIONS): Service Pack 1 – 14.0.6027.1000 June 2011 CU –  14.0.6105.5000 Please note that DLL will have slightly different version number as documented in each KB (knowledge base) articles. I also recommend you attend this upcoming webcast from Brian Smith and Andrian Jenkins next week on July 6th, 2011 at 8:00 am Pacific Time to get an overview of SP1 and the June CU (which will be recorded for later viewing): TechNet Webcast: Information about Project 2010 and Project Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (Level 200) PS: Exciting Office 365 launch yesterday as well, see this related topic: Microsoft Project Professional 2010 and SharePoint Online in Office 365

We are pleased to announce out-of-the-box integration of Microsoft Project Professional 2010 with SharePoint Online in Office 365!  Extend the power of Project to your whole team—no matter their location! Project managers can collaborate with teams to share schedule details quickly with Project Professional 2010 and SharePoint® Online (Office 365) task list synchronization. Individuals throughout the organization can view the task list and quickly see task status and update progress in SharePoint Online—from virtually anywhere! Project managers can then easily synchronize and update the project plan from Project Professional 2010. Synchronization is bi-directional, providing greater flexibility for communicating with the team. Want to see how simple it is to keep your team in sync—from virtually anywhere? Learn more about Project Professional 2010 with SharePoint Online Learn more about Project Professional 2010 Learn more about Office 365 Try Project Professional 2010 Get the Office 365 Trial Read the related post Enabling Better Collaborative Project Management with Office 365 and Project Professional 2010.

Please find below the SP1 and June CU announcement published on the main Project blog: https://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2011/06/28/announcing-the-release-of-service-pack-1-sp1-for-microsoft-project-and-project-server-2010.aspx Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Microsoft Project Standard 2010, Microsoft Project Professional 2010 and Microsoft Project Server 2010 has been released to the Microsoft Download Center. SP1 contains a number of products updates based on customer feedback, as described in this announcement last May: Announcing Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Project & Project Server 2010 . Before you install SP1 it is essential that you understand its content described in the links below, and thoroughly read the guidance documented on TechNet and test out SP1 in a separate environment prior to a production rollout. Description of Project 2010 SP1 https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2460052 Description of Project Server 2010 SP1 https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2460047 The following TechNet article provides information on how to deploy Microsoft Project and Project Server 2010 SP1: Deploy Service Pack 1 for Project Server 2010 . We strongly recommend that you deploy the June 2011 Cumulative Update for Microsoft Project and Project Server 2010 when you install SP1. You can download the June 2011 Cumulative Update from the KB Articles from the links below: Description of the Project 2010 hotfix package (project-x-none.msp): June 28, 2011 https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2536590 Description of the SharePoint Server 2010 and Project Server 2010 Cumulative Update Server Hotfix Package (MOSS server-package, Project server-package): June 28, 2011 https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2536600 The following TechNet article provides information on how to deploy Project Server Cumulative Updates: Updates for Project Server 2010 There will be a webcast on July 6th, 2011 at 8:00 am Pacific Time to give an overview of this Service Pack (which will be recorded for later viewing): TechNet Webcast: Information about Project 2010 and Project Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (Level 200) . Please check out these posts for additional SP1 production information: Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 Availability and Service Pack 1 for SharePoint 2010 Products is Now Available for Download . Finally, our Microsoft Support Team is available to assist should you run into any problems installing these updates; feel free to follow your internal support guidelines to use Premier Support or open up a case directly at https://support.microsoft.com .

Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Microsoft Project Standard 2010, Microsoft Project Professional 2010 and Microsoft Project Server 2010 has been released to the Microsoft Download Center. SP1 contains a number of products updates based on customer feedback, as described in this announcement last May:  Announcing Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Project & Project Server 2010 . Before you install SP1 it is essential that you understand its content described in the links below, and thoroughly read the guidance documented on TechNet and test out SP1 in a separate environment prior to a production rollout. Description of Project 2010 SP1 https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2460052 Description of Project Server 2010 SP1 https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2460047 The following TechNet article provides information on how to deploy Microsoft Project and Project Server 2010 SP1: Deploy Service Pack 1 for Project Server 2010 . We strongly recommend that you deploy the June 2011 Cumulative Update for Microsoft Project and Project Server 2010 when you install SP1. You can download the June 2011 Cumulative Update from the KB Articles from the links below: Description of the Project 2010 hotfix package (project-x-none.msp): June 28, 2011 https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2536590 Description of the SharePoint Server 2010 and Project Server 2010 Cumulative Update Server Hotfix Package (MOSS server-package, Project server-package): June 28, 2011 https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2536600 The following TechNet article provides information on how to deploy Project Server Cumulative Updates: Updates for Project Server 2010 There will be a webcast on July 6th, 2011 at 8:00 am Pacific Time to give an overview of this Service Pack (which will be recorded for later viewing): TechNet Webcast: Information about Project 2010 and Project Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (Level 200) . Please check out these posts for additional SP1 production information: Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 Availability and Service Pack 1 for SharePoint 2010 Products is Now Available for Download . Finally,  our Microsoft Support Team is available to assist should you run into any problems installing these updates; feel free to follow your internal support guidelines to use Premier Support or open up a case directly at https://support.microsoft.com . Christophe Fiessinger Senior Technical Product Manager, Microsoft Project Blog | Twitter

The MSDN Webcast: Understanding Project Server Interface (PSI) in Project Server 2010 (Level 300) presentation is available for download, when you register for the event. Several of the sample applications that were demonstrated in the webcast are available in the Project 2010 SDK download. The TimesheetSamples.zip file that is attached to this blog post includes the two example solutions for timesheets. (Steven Haden and Olivier Laymand, Microsoft Corporation, did the webcast and created the sample code.) MyTsSample shows how to update a  timesheet for a resource, where the timesheet is in single entry mode. TimesheetEventHandler shows how to use impersonation with a TimesheetEventReceiver.OnCreated event handler, to update the timesheet name.