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Some old buddies of mine from the Microsoft Consulting Services EPM team went NUTS and generated about 200 super high quality pages about Project Server 2010 reporting. Blaise Novakovic, Jean-Francois LeSaux, Steven Haden, and Amit Abrol outdid even the high standards MCS sets. Nice work guys!   Microsoft Project Server 2010 Reporting with Excel Services and also Creating Dashboards for Microsoft Project Server 2010 Excellent work!

I’m thrilled to announce the release of the following two white papers which provide step by step guidance on surfacing key Project Portfolio Management data into insightful reports and dashboards: Microsoft Project Server 2010 Reporting with Excel Services written by Jean-Francois LeSaux and Steven Haden from Microsoft Consulting Services. Creating Dashboards for Microsoft Project Server 2010 written Blaise Novakovic, Jean-Francois LeSaux, Steven Haden, Microsoft Consulting Services For additional information on Microsoft Project Server 2010 business intelligence & reporting please check out Business Intelligence in Project Server 2010 . Microsoft Project Server 2010 Reporting with Excel Services , 71 pages Overview Table Of Content The purpose of this document is to provide enough detail to be able to create and deploy reports which will support the deployment of Microsoft Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution. Microsoft EPM Solution relies on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or 2008 R2, Microsoft Project Server 2010 and Microsoft Project Professional 2010. Although each individual component of the solution is well documented on TechNet and MSDN (for the Business Intelligence), little documentation exists, as of today, which describes a step-by-step approach to building reports specific to Project Server 2010 data with Excel and Excel Services. This document is not intended to provide an in-depth description of all the features available in Excel 2007 or 2010 and Excel Services 2010 when building a report but rather provide the building blocks required to ‘be up and running’ quickly. Foreword Introduction Overview Build Your First Excel Report against OLAP Data in 10 Minutes Authoring Reports against Relational Data Use Excel PowerPivot Migrating Reports between Environments Troubleshooting Business Intelligence Features References List of Figures Creating Dashboards for Microsoft Project Server 2010 , 115 pages Overview Table Of Content The purpose of this document is to provide sufficient detail to fully design and implement Business Intelligence Dashboards that will support an Enterprise Project Management Solution (EPM), which consists primarily of SharePoint 2010 and Project Server 2010. It also includes detailed steps on how to replicate reports and dashboards included in the Project Server 2010 demonstration and evaluation pack available on the Microsoft Download Center. The purpose is to help you easily create reports and dashboards for your environment with similar characteristics. The target audience for this document is the business owner and report developers who are looking for a quick way to develop Dashboards that will support an Enterprise Project Management Solution for their organization. Introduction Understanding Report Types Creating Reports Creating Dashboards using PerformancePoint Services Creating Dashboard using a Web Part Page Conclusion Appendix A – Enterprise Custom Fields Appendix B – IPMO Stored Procedures References List of Figures List of Tables

One of the hardest questions I am asked is not one I get ‘on the job’. It is the one I get all the time from family, friends and people I meet at my kids basketball games: “So, what is it that you do for a living?” For a long time I struggled with a short, accurate yet meaningful response. “I’m a project manager” is too general. “I deploy project management software” is accurate but is a little bit vague for most people. What I have started saying is “I work with companies on the best ways to manage their projects and resources using Microsoft Project and Project Server.” If their face goes blank and they start looking for a way to escape I leave it at that. If they seem interested in knowing more I break into the more detailed version: “I learn how they decide which projects to do, how they manage them and how they use their people to work on them. Then I work with them on streamlining some of those processes and then on how to model those processes in the software.” By that time even people that love me are ready to talk about something else and I don’t blame them. What we do as Project Server consultants lacks the mass-appeal of a game developer but for our own purposes it is worth examining what it really IS that we DO. In no particular order: Listen to customers about what they do, how they manage their projects and resources. Build a picture of what is really happening with their projects, resources and other work. How do projects flow through the organization andor how does the organization flow through the projects. Examine how they are currently using data from their existing processes and systems to make decisions about what projects to start, what projects to keep doing, what resources to use or not use, what projects are costing, when projects will finish. Design reporting solutions, in some cases, from scratch to provide usable data to inform the decisions that need to be made Be the project manager for the Project Server deployment Manage customer expectations about what the system will and will not do Understand and model how users will interact with the system and design appropriate security constructs Train, train and then when you think you are finished training, train the people that did not think they needed training. Workflow design. This one is new to 2010 but it plays into the work we have been doing for years to understand how projects moved through their lifecycles, but now we have some cool tools to automateenforce the process. So this list is OBVIOUSLY not complete. I’m hoping to generate some comments from the community to round it out a bit. What are your additions to this list of what it means to be a Project Management Software or Project Server consultant?

Tip of the day I got from someone based on the recent SkyDrive update (read more Introducing SkyDrive for the modern web, built using HTML5 ): In IE go to https://skydrive.live.com/ and login using your Live ID (used IE9 in my case) Go to SkyDrive -> My Files and note the CID in the browser In Windows 7 open Windows Explorer, and select Map Network Drive Enter the following docs.live.net@SSLXXXXX (replace XXXXX with CID from above) and voila happy synching!

It’s now official as announced by Arpan Shah on the main Project blog on Monday: Microsoft is Rated in the Gartner Project and Portfolio Applications MarketScope . Following many years of leadership in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management (since at least 2007 which was the earliest report I could find on my computer), we are now excelling as well in the newly created MarketScope with our 2010 offering (Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management has been discontinued this year). It’s interesting to see that none of last year’s “leaders”: CA, Planview, HP, Compuware, Oracle,  got a “strong positive” rating this year except for Microsoft (last year’s MQ is here: Microsoft a Leader in Gartner 2010 Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management (IT PPM) ). Highlights from Gartner’s write-up about Microsoft PPM offering: Microsoft Project Server 2010 is a landmark release The inclusion of SharePoint 2010 as part of Project Server 2010, more seamless integration with the portfolio management capabilities of the product, the cost-competitive pricing, and advancements in native project creation capabilities independent from Project Professional earn Microsoft a Strong Positive rating. See for yourself: https://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/microsoft/vol14/article21/article21.html I respect everyone’s opinion and choice when it comes to choosing a Project and Portfolio Application but before choosing an alternative solution please take a look at our stack, and if you still have questions send me an email via my blog! 2010 Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management 2011 MarketScope for Project and Portfolio Management Applications

Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Project Server 2010 enables you to use the UpdateStatus method to edit timephased data for manually scheduled tasks. Before SP1, you could update status only for automatically scheduled tasks. The attached UpdateStatus_ManualTasks.zip file contains the Visual Studio 2010 solution that will be included in the next update of the Project 2010 SDK download. The UpdateStatus_ManualTasks example is a test application that does the following, for a manually scheduled task or an auto-scheduled task: Parses the project name, task name, number of hours worked, the optional assigned resource, and an optional status comment. If no resource is specified, assumes the application user is assigned to the task. Gets the GUID for the user assigned to the specified task. Gets and validates the assignment data. Assumes only one resource is assigned. Creates the changeXml string for the UpdateStatus method. For a simple test, converts reported hours to percent complete (maximum 100). If the application user specifies a different resource, adds the ResID attribute to the Assn element in the changeXml string. Calls UpdateStatus , and then calls SubmitStatusForResource , for the single assignment. Calls ReadStatusForResource to get an updated StatusingDataSet . The application also writes the datasets and the changeXml value to XML files, for use in testing. Note:   Until you install SP1, the UpdateStatus test application will work only with automatically scheduled tasks. SP1 will be available the end of June, 2011. To use the UpdateStatus test application, do the following: Use Project Professional to create a test project, add two manually scheduled tasks, set the task duration and start date, and then add yourself and one other user as resources. Assign one task to you and the other task to the other user. For example, name the project Test project, name the tasks T1 and T2, and then set the duration of each task to three days. Assume your user name is User 1, and the other user is User 2. Assign T1 to User 1 and assign T2 to User 2. In the app.config file, change the WCF endpoint address for the Project Web App instance you are using. Run tests, using various parameters. See the Usage method in the attached Program.cs file for parameter information. For example, run the following tests in a Command Prompt window: UpdateStatus -p “Test project” -t “T1” -hours 6 -c “This is a comment” The output shows: Updating status for User 1 on task ‘T1’: 6 hours         Manually scheduled task UpdateStatus -p “Test project” -t “T1” -hours 6 -r “User 2” -c “This is a comment” User 2 is not assigned to task T1, so the output shows: The assignment on task ‘T1’ is for User 1, not for User 2 UpdateStatus -p “Test project” -t “T2” -hours 6 -r “User 2” -c “This is a comment” The output shows: Updating status for User 2 on task ‘T2’: 6 hours         Manually scheduled task After each test, check the Approval Center in Project Web App for status updates. When you add a manually scheduled task that does not have a start date or duration, the default is eight hours of work. You can still assign a resource to the task and update the status. For example, if a task T3 has no start date or duration, and you use the UpdateStatus test application to set six hours of work for the assigned resource, Project Server sets the start date for T3 to the project start date, and then adds six hours of actual work. After accepting the status update, you can add the Actual Work column and the Remaining Work column to the Gantt Chart view in Project Professional . The work for T3 is eight hours, actual work is six hours, and remaining work is two hours. If you add the Actual Work row to the Details pane in the Resource Usage view or the Task Usage view, you can also see the six hours of actual work. For more information about changes in SP1, see Announcing Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Project & Project Server 2010 in the Project team blog.

It’s my pleasure to announce that Microsoft received the highest rating possible in the recently released Gartner Project and Portfolio Applications MarketScope. This report is an evolution of the 2010 Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management (PPM). Specifically, Microsoft received a “Strong Positive” rating . You can see the full rating table at the bottom of this blog post and download the report at https://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/microsoft/vol14/article21/article21.html . We listened closely to customer and partner feedback and built a high quality PPM stack with Microsoft Project Professional 2010, SharePoint 2010 and Project Server 2010. It’s been one year since we launched our latest software, and it’s great to see this report recognize us! I urge you to take a look at the full Gartner report linked above. Microsoft is committed to being a leader in the PPM market through continuous innovation. So if you’re looking to deploy a PPM solution, look no further! I highly recommend learning more about our Microsoft Project & Portfolio Management solution at https://www.microsoft.com/project/en/us/solutions.aspx . There you’ll find pointers to product guides, demos and evaluation software. Sincerely, Arpan Shah Director, Microsoft Project https://blogs.msdn.com/arpans Twitter @arpanshah The MarketScope is copyrighted 2011 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The MarketScope is an evaluation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the MarketScope, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest rating. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This MarketScope graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research note and should be evaluated in the context of the entire report. The Gartner report is available upon request from Microsoft.

This week in BPOS news is a recurring segment on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog that covers news from all sectors of Cloud Computing and the Microsoft Online Services business suite known as the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). You can read all past This Week in BPOS News segments here. For this week in BPOS news we look at a household brand making the move to BPOS, and we take a step-by-step look at setting up your very own Cloud. 1.       Coca-Cola Amatil turns Microsoft, won’t look back 15,000 Coca-Cola Amatil employees are BPOS users. CIO, Barry Simpson, understands the need for better collaboration and has invested heavily in Microsoft’s BPOS productivity tools. Barry touches on the cost saving advantages of moving to Microsoft BPOS. “’When companies run their own e-mail infrastructure, you tend to have large capital spikes and it’s very hard to keep current with the releases that the software companies are bringing out.'” The ability for staff to work from any location, easy integration of mobile devices, constant updates and increased cloud capacity has enabled Coca-Cola to be on the leading edge of their field. Coca-Cola Amatil upgraded their Cloud solution from Lotus to BPOS and was able to see results: 300MB to 5GB of storage 69 servers relieved of hosting Mobile device integration We are glad to have Coca-Cola Amatil in the Cloud with us! Are you in the Cloud with Microsoft? Tell us your story in the comments below. 2.      The Big Build – Parts 1 through 4 Are you a BPOS user that is looking to migrate to Office 365? Then our first BPOS story may be for you. Jorge R. Diaz , Senior Microsoft Engineer at Planet Technologies and Office 365 Grid member , writes four posts about his experience with deploying a client to Office 365. The four part blog post features fantastic images and step by step instructions on how to deploy Office 365. The four parts can be broken down: Part 1 – Review the overall configuration of the migration Part 2 – Configure the CAS/HUB array to allow Exchange delegation Part 3 – Public folder Free/Busy configuration Part 4 – Deploy the sign-in assistant Do you have a migration story? Was this walkthrough useful to you? Leave your comments below. What are your thoughts about the stories we shared with you this week? Did you see a story you want to share with us? Let us know what other topics you’d like to see. You can comment on this blog post or send an email to our community mailbox . Follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook   page.

Exciting news today about the release of the Beta of Kinect SDK for Windows, I can’t even imagine what developers worldwide will come up with; and really looking forward to the creativity! Check this official post: Kinect for Windows SDK – It’s Here! Who can make this a reality: Microsoft Project 2010 Kinect Edition: You Are the Controller! ? Start your downloads: https://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/ PS: For Project Server developers make sure you attend this upcoming free webcast on June 23: Upcoming MSDN Webcast (6/23): Understanding Project Server Interface (PSI) in Project Server 2010 (Level 300)

Just to highlight a webcast not to miss… Starts: Thursday, June 23, 2011 8:00 AM, Time zone: (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) Duration: 90 Minutes This webcast helps you understand the changes and new features of Project Server Interface (PSI) in Microsoft Project Server 2010. We cover the following topics: dual interface ASMX and WcfImpersonation with WCFTimesheet, event handlers with impersonation, Single Entry Mode (SEM), and using a Project Web App (PWA) web part in other Microsoft SharePoint sites. Presenters: Steven Haden, Senior Consultant, Microsoft Corporation and Olivier Laymand, Senior Consultant, Microsoft Corporation Steven Haden is a senior consultant working for Microsoft Services in France. He is involved in large Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft SharePoint deployments. Steven is interested in both the architecture and the development of solutions. He is the author of the white paper “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Demand Management”; to download it, visit https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=200608 . Olivier Laymand is senior consultant from Microsoft Services working on large SharePoint and Project Server deployments. He is involved in solution architecture definitions, development best practices and governance. More details and registration.