It will be available for all of the Office 2010 applications, including Microsoft Project Standard 2010, Microsoft Project Professional 2010 and Microsoft Project Server 2010.

In total, we fixed over 200 issues in SP1 for Project and Project Server. Additionally SP1 is a rollup of all the fixes that previously got shipped in cumulative updates that have been released to date.

Microsoft has invested in 4 key fixes. Stay tuned for post on additional details on each of these.

• Multi-Browser Support for time entry in Project Web App

With SP1, Project Web App pages needed by team members to submit task status and timesheets are supported on FireFox, Safari, and Chrome.

This definitely is going to address some of the key concerns about client side rollout and desktop standards for large enterprise customers.

• Enhancements to sync’ing Project tasks to a SharePoint task list

SharePoint task list sync now also supports auto scheduled tasks in addition to manually scheduled tasks

• Time-phased support for manually scheduled tasks

You can now edit time-phased data for manually scheduled tasks in Project and Project Server.

Well value of this feature depends on if customer was using manually scheduled task or not. But for some of the manufacturing domain customer this definitely is going to be value add.

• Improvements to project scheduling in Project Web App

You can now edit project plans that contain fixed work and effort driven tasks in Project Web App. Big one according me J

For more information on check webcast channel and www.microsoft.com/project

Microsoft has three key Data Warehouse offerings including SQL Server 2008 R2, Fast Track Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse. Together, these offerings enable customers to scale their warehouses from gigabytes to hundreds of terabytes on a SQL Server platform. Fast Track helps customers to scale up to tens of terabytes while Parallel Data Warehouse is ideal for workloads with hundreds of terabytes and very high performance. Finally, Microsoft has a unique Distributed Architecture that supports Data Warehouses deployed on both Fast Track and Parallel Data Warehouse.

 Key points

• Fast Track Data Warehouse is a set of Reference Architectures that help customers and Partners reduce time to solution and cost. Fast Track also provides significantly increased performance and scale through pre-tested and pre-tuned configurations.  Fast Track Data Warehouse 3.0 offers customers:
  • Faster performance – delivered via new Fast Track configurations that take advantage of the latest hardware innovations. The latest configurations have double the data throughput of their current counterparts. HP’s latest 8-processor Reference Architecture has peak data throughput of up to 15GB/s, which translates to much faster queries.
  • Increased scale than ever before! The latest configurations on HP’s G7 servers offer double the capacity of their current equivalents. Fast Track 3.0 configurations now scale to 80TB on a single 8-processor server!
  • Greater choice with configurations from several Partners. Existing Partners - HP, Dell, IBM, Bull, and EMC continue to innovate, while new Partners are being on-boarded e.g. Cisco, Hitachi Data Systems and Fujitsu, with EMC and NetApp being storage providers to a few configurations. We are also pleased to announce that WhereScape is the first ISV to build a solution for Fast Track Data Warehouse! Several System Integrators such Avanade, HP, EMC and Hitachi Consulting Services also offer services for Fast Track Data Warehouse. 
  •  In some cases, Fast Track Data Warehouse is helping customers reduce their DW costs by over 50% without compromising on performance and scalability.
  • Fast Track details -  https://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/data-warehousing/fast-track.aspx 
  • Fast Track 3.0 sizing tool - https://download.microsoft.com/download/5/4/8/54863BA7-DFC4-4AC5-B690-ED72119EDD80/Fast_Track_v3.0_System_Sizing_Tool_01252011.xlsx 

• Parallel Datawarehouse
  • Parallel Data Warehousing or PDW is an appliance based architecture that provides significant scale out capabilities based on the technology the acquired from Datallegro Corp in 2008. This MPP architecture provides more scalable and predictable performance for significantly greater workloads up into the 100′s of terabytes.
  • PDW's implementation is particularly exciting because PDW provides a much lower cost per terabyte as it can be implement it with commodity hardware instead of a proprietary system like Teradata or Neteeza
  • In symmetric multi-processing (SMP) architecture, query processing occurs entirely within one physical instance of a database. CPU, memory and storage impose physical limits upon speed and scale. A SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse MPP data warehouse appliance partitions large tables across multiple physical nodes, each node having dedicated CPU, memory and storage, and each running its own instance of SQL Server, in a parallel shared nothing architecture.
  • SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse delivers improved performance through its unique design as follows:
  • PDW Works by controlling several different physical servers each running their own instance of SQL Server 2008 R2. The database and it’s tables are spread across these physical servers but appear as one database and table(s) to the end user.
  • The appliance or brain of the PDW manages query execution and the meta data for what is stored and processed on what portion of the PDW.
  • In PDW implementation generally the fact data is distributed and dimensions are replicated to all nodes using PDW component itself.
  • Massive scalability to hundreds of terabytes. The largest appliance available currently scales to over 500TB of user data capacity and has up to 40 compute nodes
  • Enterprise class performance – Parallel Data Warehouse delivers up to 10X data throughput and 100X faster query performance than an SMP Data Warehouse
  • First-class integration with Microsoft BI tools such as PowerPivot, SQL Server Analysis Services, Reporting Services and Integration Services
  • Reduced risk through pretested configurations. Parallel Data Warehouse is also built on a mature SQL Server platform with ten releases of technology
  • PDW has in-built resource governor.
  • Save on costs through industry-standard hardware. Low cost with appliances starting from approximately $13K per terabyte. PDW uses latest generation of industry standard hardware with 2-socket servers that use 6-core Intel® Westmere processors
  • Take advantage of balanced reference architectures for better performance.
  • For PDW details - https://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/data-warehousing/pdw.aspx

• All components are balanced against each other to reduce performance bottlenecks, and all server and storage components are mirrored for enterprise-class redundancy.

• A Control Node routes queries from applications to all Compute Nodes, then collects and returns the result

• Because data is evenly distributed across multiple nodes and processing occurs in parallel, queries can be many times faster than on single SMP database servers

• Fast Track is a Scale up solution while Parallel Data Warehouse is a Scale out solution. PDW is quite expensive compare to Fast Track and page compression is enabled in PDW by default while you need to enable manually in fast track.

 Sharing some of the links and resources for PDW and Fasttrack 3.0

• Free e-Learning clinic ‘Clinic 10333: Introduction to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse’: https://www.microsoftelearning.com/eLearning/courseDetail.aspx?courseId=187496&tab=overview
• Using SQL Server to Build a Hub-and-Spoke Enterprise Data Warehouse Architecture:   https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd458815.aspx 
• Detailed spec of HP’s PDW implementation: https://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13830_na/13830_na.pdf and https://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13830_na/13830_na.html
• Experience of Microsoft IT for 90TB PDW implementation: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg447063.aspx and https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/deploying-sql-server-2008-r2-parallel-data-warehouse-at-microsoft.aspx
• Start your learning from https://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/data-warehousing/pdw.aspx and https://www.microsoft.com/global/sqlserver/2008/en/us/RichMedia/Parallel%20Data%20Warehouse/Default.html 
• SQL PDW blog : https://www.sqlpdw.com/
• Deep-dive talk about PDW at TechEd: https://www.msteched.com/2010/NorthAmerica/BIE309
• PDW and FastTrack best practices: https://www.msteched.com/2010/NorthAmerica/BIE306

This iOS toolkit includes the following pieces:

• A compiled Objective-C library for working with services running in Windows Azure (e.g. push notification, authN/authZ, and storage)
• Full source code for the objective-C library (along with Xcode project file)
• Sample iOS application that demonstrates how to use Windows Azure Storage with full source code
• Documentation

Take a look at Windows Azure Technical Evangelist Wade Wegner’s post for a detailed technical review of the iOS toolkit. The Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS—along with all the source code—has been released to github:

• https://github.com/microsoft-dpe/watoolkitios-lib
• https://github.com/microsoft-dpe/watoolkitios-samples
• https://github.com/microsoft-dpe/watoolkitios-doc

You can grab the Cloud Ready Package for Devices on github to get started. Additionally, you can watch the following screencasts to learn more: Getting Started with the iOS Toolkit.

Look out for the Windows Azure Toolkit for Android in June 2011 :)

Also look out and Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone 7 v1.2 around TechEd with below new capabilties

• Integration with the Access Control Service (e.g. a wizard, automatic setup, tooling, and code)
• Full support for Windows Azure Storage Queues
• Updated UI/UX for the supporting web application

With Windows Phone 7, iOS, and Android toolkits availablity it will become very easy for developers to use Windows Azure to provide services across device platforms.

• Upcoming webcast on May 2011 Software update Information About Microsoft Project and Project Server May 2011 Software Update Tuesday, May 10, 2011 8:00 AM Pacific Time
• A new Time and Task Management resource centerhas been added on TechNet! This resource center provides links to articles, training, videos, and downloads that focus on time and task management using Project Server 2010. If you're looking for information on setting up or using timesheets and task progress tracking in Project Web App, the Time and Task Management resource center is a great starting point.
• Other Technet learning centers
  • Business Intelligence
  • Demand Management
  • Updates
  • Upgrade and Migration
• Recent White papers
  • Reporting with Microsoft Project Server 2010 - This document is a great read to learn and understand the reporting options of Microsoft Project Server 2010.
  • Microsoft Project Server 2010: Get the Most for Your Organization, Now and for the Future. The white paper is targeted at decision makers and its purpose is to address some of the main factors for scalability, best practices, and opportunities for creating wins from the potential challenges often faced when implementing a solution such as Microsoft Project Server 2010 .
  • Portfolio Analysis with Microsoft Project Server 2010, A Guide for the Business User. This document will explain in details the mechanism and functionality of portfolio analytics capabilities.
  • Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 White Paper: Microsoft Project Server 2010 Integration - pre-release white paper that might be of interest if you have or are planning to deploy Project Server 2010 and Dynamics AX. This document explains the integration architecture for Microsoft Dynamics ® AX 2012 and Microsoft ® Project Server 2010 and provides instructions for setting up integration between the two programs. By setting up integration between the two products, project managers can create projects in either of the products and synchronize project data between them. This solution enables you to draw on both the core project management capabilities in Project Server 2010 and the financial management capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics AX.  
• • Reconciling the Agile Team with Enterprise Project Management PDF - XPS
  • Project and Work Management with Project Server 2010 and Team Foundation Server 2010: PDF - XPS
• “Project Developer Curriculum” unified information center that references all key resources – from blogs, SDK chapters, SDK code samples, Solution Starters to extensive list of on demand webcasts
• Whether you are advanced or a novice user or in the process of considering Microsoft Project 2010 Desktop or Project Server 2010 you might find library of Training and Learning resources very helpful to maximize your pleasure from using Project 2010.

SQL Server Compression Estimator (SSCE) will allow you to estimate the best compression for your objects. It will estimate both ROW and PAGE compression for all objects, and will optionally report the Index Maintenance Ratio (a ratio that indicates how often an index is updated versus how often it is used to satisfy queries). You can then use that information to perhaps choose a less aggressive compression algorithm for heavily updated indexes.

For more information on the benefits of data compression please visit the SQL Customer Advisory Team site and view some in depth information regarding data compression

• Data Compression: Strategy, Capacity Planning and Best Practices - https://sqlcat.com/top10lists/archive/2009/01/30/top-10-sql-server-2008-features-for-the-database-administrator-dba.aspx
• Top 10 SQL Server 2008 Features for the Database Administrator (DBA) - https://sqlcat.com/top10lists/archive/2009/01/30/top-10-sql-server-2008-features-for-the-database-administrator-dba.aspx

Actual post @ https://blogs.msdn.com/b/bobtaylor/archive/2011/05/09/now-available-a-smaller-leaner-database.aspx 

Specifically, Microsoft is implementing four new interoperability principles and corresponding actions across its high-volume business products:

1. ensuring open connections;
2. promoting data portability;
3. enhancing support for industry standards; and
4. fostering more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open source communities.

A must read - for complete details refer to https://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/feb08/02-21ExpandInteroperabilityPR.mspx

1.      Check Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007.

2.      Check System Center Operations Manager 2007 WSS 3.0 and MOSS Monitoring Packs

3.      Still not on SP1 for EPM 2007 - read:

o    Read SP1 resource center

o    Read - Description of the 2007 Microsoft Office servers Service Pack 1 and the 2007 Microsoft Office servers Language Pack Service Pack 1

o    Read - Description of the Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1

o    Read - Description of the Microsoft Office Project 2007 Service Pack 1

o    Read - Description of the Office 2003 Web Components Service Pack 1 for the 2007 Microsoft Office System

o    Read - Is your cube build slower, and your tempdb larger since loading EPM 2007 SP1

For list of issues fixed in SP1, please refer to the following knowledge base articles on https://support.microsoft.com/ :

·         Issues fixed in Project 2007 by 2007 Office suite Service Pack 1

·         Issues fixed in Project Server 2007 by Office 2007 Servers Service Pack 1

·         Issues fixed in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 by Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1

·         Issues fixed in Office SharePoint Server 2007 by 2007 Office System servers Service Pack 1

Another set of must read before you start SP1 upgrade

o    Planning and Deploying Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 in a Multi-server Environment

o    Deploying software updates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

o    Deploy software updates for Office Project Server 2007

4.      Need to verify if component version number after EPM SP1 – your best bet is blog from product team

5.      Having issues with outdated data on EPM 2007 reports based on updates done on Portfolio Server – Here you go! - EPMSync Utility

6.      Using Terminal Service for MSPP 2007 – read Troubleshooting Project Professional 2007 in a Terminal Services environment

7.      If you are responsible for admin and monitoring EPM 2007 - Download and get started with

o    Project Server 2007 Queue Watch Tool

o    Project Server 2007 Log File Report Tool

o    EPM 2007 Test Data Population Tool

o    EPM Timesheet & Status Customization Samples

8.      Interested in checking what at backend of EPM2007 is not working well – check the RML tools (Be careful – running SQL profiler trace will slow down the system – so plan you tracing window carefully and do not forget to stop it !!)

9.      Having issues with Project Local Cache – (some respite should come due to SP1) but still read the latest release article - Understanding the Local Project Cache feature and Configure the Local Project Cache settings

10.  Download and read the December update of the Project SDK

o    Most important – Sample for Project Server 2007 and SAP integration!

11.  Read useful article - Manage security in Project Server 2007

12.  Looking for integration of EPM 2007 with VSTS – Download and get started with Project Server 2007 VSTS Connector

13.  Check the new look and contents of EPMConnect

14. Looking for workflow on Project Server 2007, start with - Work with proposals in Project Server 2007

14.  Developing webparts for EPM 2007 –

Check if AJAX can help you as with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP1, developers can use AJAX to create custom Web Parts. Check Microsoft Knowledge Base article 941955 for more detail on the workarounds

Other Technical Areas might be of interest -

1.      Get ready for Windows Server 2008

o    Evaluate Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate 1

o    Download free eBooks for Windows Server 2008

o    Read - Installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on Windows Server 2008

2.      Ramp up on PerformancePoint Server 2007.

3.      Read what's new in Visual Studio 2008, download it and start coding! 

4.      Upcoming events

o    Office Dev Conference

o    SharePoint Conference 2008

o    TechEd US 2008 Developers or IT Professionals 

5.      Looking for training on EPM 2007 – check EPM University

The RML Utilities for SQL Server provide you a set of tools and processes to answer these questions and much more. The RML utilities allow you to process SQL Server trace files and view reports showing how SQL Server is performing.

With the RML Utilities you can answer questions such as the following:

• Which application, database or login is consuming the most resources, and which queries are responsible for that.
• Whether there were any plans changes for a batch during the time when trace was captured and how each of those plans performed.
• What queries are running slower in today's data as compared to a previous set of data?

Most important these tools can help you on:

• Testing how the system will behave with some change (different service pack or hot fix build, changing a stored procedure or function, modifying or adding indexes, and so forth) by using the provided tools to replay the trace files against another instance of SQL Server.  If you capture trace during this replay you can use the tools to directly compare to the original baseline capture.
• Simulating application testing where using the real application is impractical or impossible. 

For example, it may be difficult to generate the same user load in the test environment as you see in production. 

This release of the utilities supersedes the previous version, as described in KB articleThis release supports SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000 trace file formats and should be used any time you have SQL Server 2005 in your environment.  This release contains important bug fixes, new features and performance enhancements over the prior release.

For complete details refer to Quick Start section on the help file of tool (Start | Programs | RML Utilities for SQL Server and selecting RML Help.xps).

Download links:

·         RML Utilities for SQL Server (x86)

·         RML Utilities for SQL Server (x64)

Enjoy working with RML Utilities and other tools like SQLDiag, PSSDiag, SQLNexus !

Portfolio Server 2007 has no check for special characters in Project Name.

All the functionality of PPS 2007 works fine till the time we hit and try to synchronize a project with a special character in it.

Like it or not! – Project Server 2007 has validation checks and do not allow below special characters in project name.

§  Project name should be less than 200 characters

§  . (period)

§  \

§  "

§  /

§  :

§  ;

§  |

§  ?

§  '

§  < 

§  > 

§  *

§  #

So all PPS 2007 admin – get ready for some proactive stuff; train the users for not using special characters in project name in PPS

How do we find the projects already created with special character?

Below SQL can help (not the best / optimized SQL but will do the job).

SELECT * FROM sfSTRUCTURE_ENTRIES

WHERE (NAME LIKE '%.%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%\%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%"%') 

OR (NAME LIKE '%/%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%:%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%;%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%|%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%?%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%''%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%<%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%>%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%*%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%#%')

OR (NAME LIKE '"%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%"')

OR (NAME LIKE '''%')

OR (NAME LIKE '%''')

Run this SQL on the PPS database.

Obvious questions – Should we add a trigger to perform the validation.

Well – from PSS support policy perspective answer is NO.

As an simple alternate – create a simple report and deploy the same to the Reporting Service instance of PPS. Subscribe to report .. Take manual action of requesting users to extend help.