Microsoft Enterprise Project Management Content Publishing News https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/epmcontent/feed.xml Wed, 17 Apr 2019 03:59:35 GMT en-US hourly 1 Future EPM Content Publishing blog posts moving https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/epmcontent/future-epm-content-publishing-blog-posts-moving Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:58:23 GMT https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/epmcontent/2012/08/23/future-epm-content-publishing-blog-posts-moving/ In an effort to centralize blog content, we will be posting all future EPM Content Publishing blog entries on the main Project product team blog.

If you are looking for EPM content, try these resources:

  • TechNet – IT Pro content for Project Server
  • Office.com – IW content for Project Web App and Project Online
  • MSDN – Developer content for Project Server

Thank you to our readers for taking the time to learn more about the content we have published over the years. We look forward to sharing more with you in the future!

]]> Reporting Solution Packages on the TechNet Gallery: "Project Burn and Forecast Report" and the "Project Spend Report" https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/epmcontent/reporting-solution-packages-on-the-technet-gallery-project-burn-and-forecast-report-and-the-project-spend-report Fri, 08 Jun 2012 16:13:19 GMT https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/epmcontent/2012/06/08/reporting-solution-packages-on-the-technet-gallery-project-burn-and-forecast-report-and-the-project-spend-report/ Just wanted to make you aware to two recently release solution packages that are available on the Microsoft TechNet Gallery:

I am pleased to announced the release of two Microsoft Project Server 2010 reporting solutions on TechNet Gallery: Project Burn and Forecast Report and Project Spend Report. Both solutions can be deployed and tested with the Microsoft Project Server 2010 v2 Demo Virtual Machine. These reporting solutions leverages Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services and were created by Emmanuel Fadullon, a Principal Consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS).

  • The User Guide for the Contoso Project Burn and Forecast Report demonstrates how to use the Project Burn and Forecast Report to estimate the projected spend rate (“Average Monthly Burn Rate”) based on the current spend plan, and it also allows you to forecast a spend plan based on a what-if spend rate in a budget-reduction scenario.
  • The Contoso Project Spend Report User Guide walks you through using the Project Spend Report particularly the use of a key concept -- a unifying Expense Code, to track Project Total Actual Cost.  The Total Actual Cost is then categorized into its component costs by project work alongside sustainment and common services activities maintained in associated projects in lieu of Administrative Time and Timesheet entries in order to facilitate cost categorization by Expense Code.

 Please note that these reporting solutions are not supported by Microsoft Premier Support and instead are meant to demonstrated the rich reporting capabilities of Project Server 2010. We recommend working with Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) Partners or MCS to modify these solutions to meet your specific reporting needs.

]]> Now Available: Microsoft Project Server 2010 Upgrade SuperFlow https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/epmcontent/now-available-microsoft-project-server-2010-upgrade-superflow Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:38:09 GMT https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/epmcontent/2012/06/04/now-available-microsoft-project-server-2010-upgrade-superflow/ We recently released the new Microsoft Project Server 2010 Upgrade SuperFlow on the Microsoft TechNet Gallery.

The Microsoft Project Server 2010 Upgrade SuperFlow is a special kind of help file that provides you with information that you need to upgrade to Microsoft Project Server 2010. It provides information that is common to each upgrade path – planning, preparation, and specific procedures for each supported upgrade method.  This guide also provides you with information about how to download and use the Microsoft Project Server 2010 virtual migration environment – the recommended method for upgrading your Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 data to Office Project Server 2007 (which you can then upgrade to Project Server 2010).

The Microsoft Project Server 2010 Upgrade SuperFlow MSI file can be downloaded from the Microsoft TechNet Gallery and installed to your Windows computer.  .NET Framework 3.5 is required for installation.

Feel free to install it, look through it, and give us any feedback you may have!

Thanks!

 

]]> New "From the Trenches" white paper by Chris Vandersluis: "Top-down or bottom-up?" https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/epmcontent/new-from-the-trenches-white-paper-by-chris-vandersluis-top-down-or-bottom-up Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:20:00 GMT https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/epmcontent/2012/04/05/new-from-the-trenches-white-paper-by-chris-vandersluis-top-down-or-bottom-up/ We're happy to announce the publish of a new white paper by Chris Vanderluis of HMS Software for the "From the Trenches" column in the Project Server 2010 TechCenter and the Project Server 2007 TechCenter. This latest white paper - "Top-down or bottom-up" - discusses project management, portfolio management, and task management, and it compares the top-down and bottom-up management practices related to them.

Here is some bio information about the author:

Chris Vandersluis is the president and founder of Montreal, Canada–based HMS Software, a Microsoft Certified Partner. He has an economics degree from McGill University and over 24 years experience in the automation of project control systems. He is a long-standing member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and helped found the Montreal, Toronto, and Quebec chapters of the Microsoft Project Users Group (MPUG). Publications for which Chris has written include Fortune, Heavy Construction News, Computing Canada magazine, and PMI’s PMNetwork, and he is a regular columnist for Project Times. He teaches Advanced Project Management at McGill University and often speaks at project management association functions across North America and around the world. HMS Software is the publisher of the TimeControl project-oriented timekeeping system and has been a Microsoft Project Solution Partner since 1995.

Chris Vandersluis can be contacted by e-mail at: chris.vandersluis@hms.ca.

If you would like to read more Enterprise Project Management related articles by Chris Vandersluis, see his blog: EPM Guidance.

]]> Finding Project Server documentation on TechNet https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/epmcontent/finding-project-server-documentation-on-technet Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:19:00 GMT https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/epmcontent/2012/03/08/finding-project-server-documentation-on-technet/ Need help finding Project Server documentation on TechNet? Watch this video to learn more about where to find Project Server content, what content is available, and how to provide feedback.

]]> Now Available: Microsoft Project Server 2010 Project Manager's Guide for Project Web App https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/epmcontent/now-available-microsoft-project-server-2010-project-managers-guide-for-project-web-app Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:52:00 GMT https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/epmcontent/2011/12/16/now-available-microsoft-project-server-2010-project-managers-guide-for-project-web-app/ In order to follow up on our promise to provide you with more Project Server 2010 role guide content, we are pleased to announce the recent publish of the Microsoft Project Server 2010 Project Manager’s Guide for Project Web App. Much like the Project Server 2010 Administrator's Guide that we released earlier this year, this guide was created with great consideration given to the great customer feedback we've received.  In putting together this guide, our writing team addressed the three big asks customers had for this content:

  • It is graphical.  We've Included a lot of screenshots of the user interface, making it easier to see where you are at within a procedure.
  • It is customizable.  We have it in Microsoft Word format to make it easier for customers to customize parts of the guide to train their own users.
  • It is downloadable in .docx, .pdf, and .xps file formats.   Feel free to print it off and read it at your convenience.

The Microsoft Project Server 2010 Project Manager's Guide for Project Web App provides detailed information about how to use Microsoft Project Web App (PWA) to work with Microsoft Project Server 2010 data and to perform project management-related tasks. This guide helps project managers in your organization to better understand elements of project management in PWA, such as projects, resources, tasks, approvals, updates, and notifications. It includes many step-by-step procedures and accompanying user-interface screen shots of Project Web App.  It is important to note that although Microsoft Project Professional 2010 can be used with Project Server 2010 to perform many project management tasks, this guide only covers procedures done through PWA.

The Microsoft Project Server 2010 Project Manager’s Guide to Project Web App contains the following seven chapters:

  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1, “Navigating Project Web App”
  • Chapter 2, “Managing projects in Project Web App”
  • Chapter 3, “Managing resources”
  • Chapter 4, “Managing task updates”
  • Chapter 5, “Managing issues, risks, and documents”
  • Chapter 6, “Managing status reports”
  • Chapter 7, “Configuring e-mail notifications and reminders”

File size: approximately 3 MB

]]> New "From the Trenches" white paper from Chris Vandersluis: "They Say They Want a Resolution" https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/epmcontent/new-from-the-trenches-white-paper-from-chris-vandersluis-they-say-they-want-a-resolution Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:24:00 GMT https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/epmcontent/2011/12/15/new-from-the-trenches-white-paper-from-chris-vandersluis-they-say-they-want-a-resolution/ We're happy to announce the publish of a new white paper by Chris Vanderluis of HMS Software for the "From the Trenches" column in the Project Server 2010 TechCenter and the Project Server 2007 TechCenter. This latest white paper -  "They Say They Want a Resolution" - describes some common challenges you may face when scheduling projects. It describes coming up with the best approach when you try to determine how long tasks should be and how many tasks there should be to optimize a project schedule. It discusses how different industries typically require different types of schedules (for example, software development, EPM (engineering, procurement, and construction), and plant shutdown).  It also discusses several factors in choosing project resolution (for example, length of project, resources involved, management or division of resources, speed and effort required in collecting data, and data update schedule). 

Here is some bio information about the author:

Chris Vandersluis is the president and founder of Montreal, Canada–based HMS Software, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. He has an economics degree from McGill University and over 27 years’ experience in the automation of project control systems. He is a long-standing member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and helped found the Montreal, Toronto, and Quebec chapters of the Microsoft Project Users Group (MPUGA). Publications for which Chris has written include Fortune, Heavy Construction News, Computing Canada magazine, and PMI’s PMNetwork, and he is a regular columnist for Project Times. He teaches Advanced Project Management at McGill University and often speaks at project management association functions across North America and around the world. HMS Software is the publisher of the TimeControl project-oriented timekeeping system and has been a Microsoft Project Solution Partner since 1995.

Chris Vandersluis can be contacted by e-mail at: chris.vandersluis@hms.ca.

If you would like to read more Enterprise Project Management related articles by Chris Vandersluis, see his blog: EPM Guidance.

]]> Test a Project Server 2010 Deployment https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/epmcontent/test-a-project-server-2010-deployment Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:11:57 GMT https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/epmcontent/2011/12/06/test-a-project-server-2010-deployment/ We recently published a series of nine articles about how to test a Microsoft Project Server 2010 deployment as an enterprise project management system administrator or solution tester.

Use the series as a guide to test the functionality of a newly deployed Project Server 2010 instance. The articles in this series discuss the functionalities that are on the Server Settings page, and some initial tests that you can run to connect and check server communications by using the Project Professional 2010 client application.

image

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg502592.aspx

]]> The EPM Content Pivot Viewer https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/epmcontent/the-epm-content-pivot-viewer Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:40:48 GMT https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/epmcontent/2011/10/11/the-epm-content-pivot-viewer/

I just wanted to highlight again the EPM Content Pivot Viewer app on TechNet which can be accessed at:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/projectserver/hh240184.aspx

(once there I highly suggest clicking on image for a better experience)

We’ve had some great feedback from customers, but also in recent communications with the Project Server customers noticed that a significant portion of customers have not heard of the pivot or tried it.

The idea behind developing the EPM Content Pivot Viewer was to help provide you the customer with an easy to use interface that allows you to view, sort, and search through our extensive content library. We’ve provided logical pivot points to help you find content for your area of the deployment lifecycle from planning through operations and technical reference, as well as pivot content by Project Server solution areas so you can pinpoint TechNet articles, training, and white papers that will be most helpful to what you are looking to do.

If you find the EPM Content Pivot Viewer useful and would like to see future versions and new features, please email EPMDocFeedback@microsoft.com with any comments or questions as your feedback is very valuable to us.

Thanks,

-Rob

]]> New "From the Trenches" article by Chris Vandersluis: "Dashboard directions" https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/epmcontent/new-from-the-trenches-article-by-chris-vandersluis-dashboard-directions Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:50:00 GMT https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/epmcontent/2011/09/27/new-from-the-trenches-article-by-chris-vandersluis-dashboard-directions/ We're happy to announce the publish of a new white paper by Chris Vanderluis of HMS Software for the "From the Trenches" column in the Project Server 2010 TechCenter and the Project Server 2007 TechCenter. This latest white paper -  "Dashboard directions" -  describes some of the common challenges you may face when deciding to use dashboards in your EPM environment. It describes how the prettiness of a professional-looking dashboard might sometimes hide the need for users to look into the quality of the data — "pedigree" and updated data, for example.  It mentions how data for dashboards should go through an approval process to ensure high data quality and completeness.  It includes a few techniques to prevent people from skewing data under their control to misrepresent the data that is displayed in the dashboard.  Additionally, it states some basic rules you should take into consideration when you create dashboards for EPM.   Make sure to look at this and other white papers in the From the Trenches column, as they are sure to provide you helpful insight into deploying and using Project Server in your environment.

Here is some bio information about the author:

Chris Vandersluis is the president and founder of Montreal, Canada–based HMS Software, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. He has an economics degree from McGill University and over 27 years’ experience in the automation of project control systems. He is a long-standing member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and helped found the Montreal, Toronto, and Quebec chapters of the Microsoft Project Users Group (MPUGA). Publications for which Chris has written include Fortune, Heavy Construction News, Computing Canada magazine, and PMI’s PMNetwork, and he is a regular columnist for Project Times. He teaches Advanced Project Management at McGill University and often speaks at project management association functions across North America and around the world. HMS Software is the publisher of the TimeControl project-oriented timekeeping system and has been a Microsoft Project Solution Partner since 1995. 

Chris Vandersluis can be contacted by e-mail at: chris.vandersluis@hms.ca.

If you would like to read more Enterprise Project Management related articles by Chris Vandersluis, see his blog: EPM Guidance.

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