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Friday, June 26, 2009 1:27 AM

Project Server - Service Pack 2 Update

A recent post from the SharePoint Team Blog.

The public update for the Service Pack 2 expiration date issue is now available for download. 

The update can be applied before or after Service Pack 2 installation.  If the update is applied prior to installing Service Pack 2 it will prevent the expiration date from being improperly activated during installation of Service Pack 2, if it is applied after Service Pack 2 it will remove the expiration date incorrectly set during installation of Service Pack 2.

The update is applicable to all of the products that this issue affected (see the list in the KB linked below).

Installation instructions and download links for x86 and x64 are available in this KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971620

The direct download link for x86 is: http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/F/5/2F51AB71-1325-49D2-9CB9-18DEC4780E99/office2007-kb971620-fullfile-x86-glb.exe

And for x64: http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/B/B/5BBD34A9-C528-42B0-8A5F-9A8997B25C32/office2007-kb971620-fullfile-x64-glb.exe

We will be updating the existing Service Pack 2 download package with a new package that includes this fix within the next 4-6 weeks.

Thank you for your patience.

Posted by jkalis | 0 Comments
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 9:08 PM

UPDATED: Webcast: Communication between Project Professional and Project Server - Active Cache processes and Architecture drill down (Level 300)

Great attendance – thank you!

  • The WebCast is available on demand here.
  • The slide deck is available here.

WebCast Overview
This webcast will uncover processes and key messaging between Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007 and Microsoft Office Project Server 2007. From first logon, through operations like project open, save and publish, we will describe in detail the ‘cache’ folder structure and registry settings. Network traffic between client and server will also be explained. Finally, we will discuss enhancements made to increase client/server communication scalability and reliability.

Jan

Posted by jkalis | 1 Comments
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 9:43 PM

Microsoft Project Conference 2009 Update

If you are heading to Phoenix in September to attend the Project Conference, or if you are still considering it – please check the following update from Christophe.

And yes we plan developer sessions as well – like:

  • Application Lifecycle Management with Project Server 2010
  • EPM Solutions 2010 – Programmability
  • Project Desktop 2010 – Programmability
  • … and much more real-world examples and best practices!

“This year’s conference will exclusively disclose the powerful capabilities included in Microsoft Project 2010 and Microsoft Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solutions while providing real world guidance on how Microsoft Project 2007 and Microsoft EPM Solutions are helping customers today with Project and Portfolio Management to save money, enhance efficiency and prepare for future growth. With in-depth content and hands-on opportunities to learn about Microsoft Project 2010 and Microsoft EPM Solutions, obtain unique insights into how the next release will continue to support your business tomorrow.” – from http://www.msprojectconference.com/

Hope to see you in Phoenix!

Jan

Posted by jkalis | 1 Comments
Monday, May 18, 2009 11:40 PM

Last Microsoft driven “EPM University” Developer course on schedule from May 26th

Larry Duff is an instructor for this Developer Course that is part of the EPM University education.

This is the last interactive, instructor-led Developer training delivered by Microsoft. If you want to invest in EPM specific developer training – this should be one of your strong candidates!

Also keep in mind that the spots are limited.

Questions or feedback? epmdev@microsoft.com.

Posted by jkalis | 1 Comments
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 6:15 PM

MSDN Webcast: EPM Auditing Solution Starter Drilldown (Level 300)

Dear Project developers! Let me remind you about Larry Duff’s WebCast on Thursday, May 14, 2009 8:00 AM PST.

“During this webcast we will explore a new solution starter for Microsoft Office Project Server 2007, EPM Auditing. EPM Auditing provides a framework to capture event data from Project Server 2007 and use the data for reporting, debugging, auditing, or whatever use you find. We will analyze all of the components that make up EPM Auditing. We’ll then dive into the code, because this solution is made to be extended and customized.”

Posted by jkalis | 1 Comments
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 9:01 PM

Project SP2!

We have released SP2. For more details, check out Christophe's blog: 

http://blogs.msdn.com/chrisfie/archive/2009/04/28/announcing-service-pack-2-sp2-for-microsoft-project-2007-and-microsoft-project-server-2007.aspx

Chris

Posted by Chris Boyd | 1 Comments
Monday, April 20, 2009 5:33 PM

Project Developer Center has a new design!

Our “very” own Project Developer Center got a new design by the MSDN writers – it means richer and more discoverable content for you! Check it out, it’s really stunning!

Thanks for the hard work to Jim and Verna! As always any feedback, comments, ideas could be directed to EPMDev@microsoft.com.

Jan

Posted by jkalis | 1 Comments
Monday, April 20, 2009 10:35 AM

MSDN Webcast: PSI Programming Overview, Demos and Q&A

This is a little late, I missed that I didn’t post this.  Q&A and demos from the March 12th webcast.

Question Answer
Microsoft has BPOS (Business Productivity Online Services) which includes hosted Outlook and Hosted SharePoint, can SharePoint Server be installed on premise with its SharePoint components in BPOS and can the user extend this configuration using the things you are showing in this series? Project Server is not hosted in the BPOS. We are looking into this for the next release of Project Server
Could you please send the link for good documentation on registering project server events in a farm environment. An event is failing in a farm environment but working in a single server environment The SDK has good documentation on registering events.  But there is one little detail that doesn’t jump out in the documentation, I’m not even positive it’s in there.  Events are registered with SharePoint, so when you scale out the information is in the config database and goes to all servers in the farm.  What doesn’t happen is the binary is not copied to each machine in the farm, you have to do that manually.
Why don't I have the option of add Microsoft.office.project.server in the using? I added reference to Microsoft.office. The Project Server assemblies are deeper than Microsoft.Office.  Assemblies you would typically add then reference via “Using” when working with Project Server would be:
Microsoft.Office.Project.Schema
Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.Library
Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.Events.Receivers
So does the SDK tell me or instruct me as to what prerequistists have to exist in order to be able to use the PSI? meaning, do I have to be developing on the box that has PServer installed? or can I simply reference a few dll's pointing my uri to the project dev environment? Yeah there is a pretty good overview:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456485.aspx.

The way I develop is with a client machine and a VM (with Project Server installed).  I go into the VM and run this command: 
regsvr32 /u C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\shfusion.dll
That allows you to look at the GAC as files.  Then I copy everything that has Microsoft.Office to my client machine.  I tend to work with all the different Office products so I pull a lot of stuff I don’t necessarily need.  Once I have the files on my client machine, then I register them in the GAC.  Remember if you apply a service pack to your VM you’ll need to grab the files again.
Oh and remove the /u from the above command and rerun to get the files system back to normal.
Most of the samples of PSI I have seen are developed using c#, not much on VB. Do you recommend to use C# over VB? VB.Net is just as good for this as C#.  Actually any .NET language will work great.  I “cut my teeth” in C.  So my natural progression was from C to C++ to C#.
Hi, Resource demo...did I understand correctly? You read DS of all resources, check out and update one, and send "whole' DS back across web services for one resource update? I read the DS for one resource, check it out, then send the complete dataset for the single resource back.
Posted by lduff | 2 Comments

Attachment(s): MSDN Webcast- Programming PSI Overview Samples.zip
Monday, April 20, 2009 8:29 AM

Two More MSDN Webcasts Coming

It seems like I’ve been doing Project Programmability webcasts for months… oh yeah I have :).  There are still two more left, check them out:

Date

Session Title
April 23, 2009 Office Project Client Programmability
May 14, 2009

EPMAuditing Solution Starter Drilldown

Both start at 8:00 AM PDT.

Posted by lduff | 1 Comments
Monday, April 20, 2009 8:16 AM

MSDN Webcast: Project Server Events and Workflows, Demos & Q&A

Hi All,

Thank you for attending my MSDN webcast Project Server Events and Workflows.  Don’t forget about next weeks webcast on Project Client programmability.   Below is some of the Q&A I got during the webcast.  Attached is the demos from the webcast.

Question Answer

Will you chat at all about Project Server 2010? Are there any plans for changes in the new version?

 Still too early to talk about Project Server 2010 other than to to say I’m looking forward to it.  We’re a few months away from announcing the features. 

What should you be thinking about as a developer?  Project is committed to the PSI and designed it to be extensible.  The new functionality will be extensions to existing functionality.  This means your work today should be backward compatible.  I did say should so please don’t shoot me if there are a couple “gotchas.”

Is the command (i.e save project) already queued, when an event is raised?

 The event will be raised when the call executes from the queue.

Based on your description of pre and post, the "project published" event is raised after save to the db. Would you say its best to eval business rules afterward, log violations, notify user and delete from db? is there an ability to only delete from PDB and leave in DDB so user can correct and attempt re-publish?

 I hate to waffle in my answers, but in this case it depends on the context.  I put together a little matrix below to help with this question.

Is it microsoft.office.project.schema.dll or microsoft.office.project.server.schema.dll?

microsoft.office.project.schema.dll is the correct DLL.

Is there anything to pay special attention for (i.e. concurrency, locking, etc.) with events on heavy loaded systems or is this solved by "serialized" execution through the project server queue?

 The queue helps to solve issues with heavily loaded systems.  Specifically with events you need to pay attention to the length of processing in pre-events.  In a pre-event you are disrupting the flow of Project Server, you should keep your processing to a minimum.

Using events to enforce business rules

  Easy Rollback Difficult Rollback
Short Business Rule Evaluation Evaluate in pre-event, rollback unnecessary. Evaluate in pre-event, rollback unnecessary.
Long Business Rule Evaluation Consider using a post event. This is the hardest case.  You’ll really need to evaluate the complexity of the rollback.  Maybe you could break the business rule evaluation in phases?
Posted by lduff | 1 Comments

Attachment(s): MSDN Project Server Events and Workflow Demos.zip
Monday, April 13, 2009 10:13 PM

Migrating from Project Server 2003 to 2007 – best practices white paper

As Christophe pointed out in this blog post, we have now a very comprehensive white paper “Best Practices for Migrating to Project Server 2007” that provides guidance, references, and best practices to observe when migrating to Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 from Project Server 2003.

But how does it apply to you as a developer? 

Project Server 2007 has a new API - Project Server Interface (PSI) that is a managed code interface opposed to the older Project Data Service (PDS) XML message interface found in previous versions of Project Server. And yes this means a lot :)

I’m pretty sure you have already investigated the content in the Project Server 2007 SDK (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms512767.aspx), so let me point you to this chapter in the 2007 SDK “PDS Parity in PSI Web Services” - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms197081.aspx. It has 3 articles inside, including equivalence table and code examples.

We would love to hear your feedback on the “PDS Parity in PSI Web Services” or any other feedback on the developer documentation and resources could be shared via EPMDev@microsoft.com. Thanks!

Posted by jkalis | 0 Comments
Friday, April 03, 2009 9:37 PM

MSDN Webcast: PSI Review, Demos and Q&A

Hi All,

Thank you for attending my PSI review MSDN webcasts, I really enjoyed delivering them.  I think if I deliver again it’ll need to be three webcasts, I barely finished part A, and left out three web services in part B.  Below is some of the Q&A I’ve gotten.

Question Answer

Create a custom timesheet import UI. So create timesheet from data in Excel for example (each row as a new timesheet maybe?)

 This is totally possible through the timesheet and statusing web services. The biggest challenge will be keeping your external line items names in sync with internal ones you define in Project Server.
Right now the rates table, you can only put 5 rates in there. Explore ways to put more than 5 rates per resource. Your right that there are only 5 rate available. There are a couple possibilities, all involving custom fields. You would save your extra rate information in a custom field. Then by some event triggering (either client or server side) you could move the appropriate cost information into the table. It’s not the best solution, but could be the start of a workaround for you.

I want to work on top of various projects that have a certain CustomField value. Going into every project's dataset takes waaaay too long. Is there a better way to do this with PSI?

 There really is no shortcut.  My best advice is to write some helper methods that get you to the values you want.

Is it ok to use VB for all this stuff or is it much better to use C#?

 VB.Net is just as good for this as C#.  Actually any .NET language will work great.  I “cut my teeth” in C.  So my natural progression was from C to C++ to C#.

I am trying to sync the values in a Look up table with an external SQL table so the two stay in sync. What is the best way to do this? the table is a customer table from the accounting system

 Going from the accounting system to Project Server should be easy with all the PSI calls available to update the business entities (Project, Resource, etc.).  Going from Project Server to the accounting system is more challenging.  The event system in Project Server will only tell you an entity changed, not the specifics of what changed.  So you’ll need to detect the change and then go into the entity to check for changes.

What types of programming tasks are going to take existing GUIDs, and what tasks will require us to generate our own GUID? Queueing? Object Creation? It would seem like Project Server would want to own the GUID, for sync'ing and stuff, right?

 Calls that create new entities will have you create a new Guid, for instance QueueCreateProject.  The most common thing you’ll create a new Guid for is the JobUid that’ll you’ll pass to queue enabled calls.

I don't mean to oversimplify, but if we have an admin backup scheduled daily, isn't that what you are referring to as the 'archive' (although with code you can have more control rather than an all or nothing).

 Archiving is moving entities to the archive database so they are no longer taken into account in the operational system.  BUT… they are available to restore when you need.  It’s way more complicate than that, you should look at the books online to get a good handle on the archive process.

Do you have any customers that are automatically tweaking the queue configuration settings in a production environment?

 None that I know of.

For AD Credentials, I use the NetworkCredentials class, which class do I use for the Forms logins? I don’t use it, just curious.... It blocks my outbound webservices connection, I can't seem to authenticate properly, any tips?

 Use the LoginForms web service and pass the username and password via that.
Posted by lduff | 2 Comments

Attachment(s): PSIDeepDive Demos.zip
Friday, March 27, 2009 9:57 PM

Do you EPMU?

Microsoft EPM University offers a comprehensive 4 to 5 days educational package for customers and partners who want to quickly ramp-up with EPM solution via rich instructor led online experience.

The courses are designed to build and enhance the required knowledge to successfully plan, deploy, configure and extend Microsoft Office EPM solution. You can review course details, schedules and register for the course of your choice. The courses currently being offered are:

You get access to EPMU’s virtual classroom environment that includes a professional instructor and hosted computer environment to run your labs on.

Check out the schedule and  be sure to register soon to get a spot in the class! The very last class begins in June 2009!

Posted by jkalis | 3 Comments
Monday, March 23, 2009 6:39 PM

MSDN WebCasts – Project Programmability Series and Other Updates

We are getting into the middle of the Project Server Programmability series by Larry Duff – this is the newest agenda and dates:

Name

Description

Presenter

Date/Time

MSDN Webcast: Office Project Server Programmability (Part 1 of 4): Project Server 2007 Architecture for Developers (Level 400)

During this webcast, we analyze all of the components that make up Project Server 2007. Once we examine the components, we discuss their importance in programming Microsoft Office Project Server 2007.

Larry Duff, Microsoft

On Demand Recording

MSDN Webcast: Office Project Server Programmability (Part 2 of 4): Project Server Interface Programming Overview (Level 300)

In this webcast, we provide an overview of what the Microsoft Project Server Interface (PSI) is and how the PSI is built. We also discuss the concepts of using Web services, custom datasets, and error handling.

Larry Duff, Microsoft

On Demand Recording

Revised: MSDN Webcast: Office Project Server Programmability (Part 3 of 4): Review of the Project Server Interface Web Services – PART A (Level 400)

In this webcast, we walk you through each of the Microsoft Project Server Interface (PSI) Web services, identify key usage of each of the Web services, and provide tips and tricks for working with PSI Web services. 

Part A of this WebCast covers the following Administrative PSIs: Admin, Archive, CubeAdmin, Events, LoginForms, LoginWindows, Notifications, ObjectLinkProvider, QueueSystem, WssInterop.

Larry Duff, Microsoft

Thursday, March 26, 2009

8:00 A.M.–9:30 A.M. Pacific Time

Revised: MSDN Webcast: Office Project Server Programmability (Part 3 of 4): Review of the Project Server Interface Web Services – PART B (Level 400)

In this webcast, we walk you through each of the Microsoft Project Server Interface (PSI) Web services, identify key usage of each of the Web services, and provide tips and tricks for working with PSI Web services.

Part B of this WebCast covers the following Project PSIs: Calendar, CustomFields, LookupTable, Project, Resource, ResourcePlan, Security, Statusing, TimeSheet.

Larry Duff, Microsoft

Thursday, April 2, 2009

8:00 A.M.–9:30 A.M. Pacific Time

New Date: MSDN Webcast: Office Project Server Programmability (Part 4 of 4): Project Server 2007 Events and Workflow (Level 400)

During this webcast, we describe how events extend Microsoft Office Project Server 2007, build handlers for different events explaining when or when not to use them, and demonstrate how to use workflow as a way to illustrate event usage.

Larry Duff, Microsoft

Thursday, April 16, 2009

8:00 A.M.–9:30 A.M. Pacific Time
Posted by jkalis | 1 Comments
Thursday, February 26, 2009 12:29 AM

Microsoft Project Conference 2009

The Microsoft Project Team is pleased to invite you to the 5th Project Conference in Phoenix, Arizona from September 14-17, 2009.

 

Keynote speakers announced!

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September 16, 2009

Chris Capossela

Senior Vice President, Information Worker Product Management Group

Chris Capossela manages the Microsoft Office System of products, which includes desktop applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, InfoPath, Groove, OneNote, Project and Visio, server products such as Office SharePoint Server, Exchange Server, Office Communication Server and Project Server, and hosted software services such as Office Live, Office Live Meeting and Office Online – all of which deliver end-user productivity and companywide unified communications and collaboration, business intelligence and enterprise content management capabilities. Capossela is responsible for worldwide product and business management for the Office System. This includes defining pricing, packaging, go-to-markets, branding and advertising, as well as developing sales integration and the partner ecosystem around the world.

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September 17, 2009

Professor Gary Hamel

The Wall Street Journal recently ranked Gary Hamel as the world’s most influential business thinker

and Fortune magazine has called him “the world’s leading expert on business strategy.” For the last

three years, Hamel has also topped Executive Excellence magazine’s annual ranking of the most sought after management speakers. Hamel speaks frequently at the world’s most prestigious management conferences, and is a regular contributor to CNBC, CNN, and other major media outlets. He has also advised government leaders on matters of innovation policy, entrepreneurship and industrial competitiveness.


Join us to celebrate the successes of Microsoft Project and to see what’s coming, as we exclusively unveil the powerful capabilities included in the next release. At this year’s conference, you will learn how Project is helping customers today to save money, enhance efficiency and drive growth, as well as obtain unique insights into how the next release will continue to support your business tomorrow.

Project Conference 2009 is the global event to attend. It’s sure to be one of the most exciting and valuable Project Conferences yet with high-impact keynotes, 75+ in-depth breakout sessions, hands on labs, demonstrations and many opportunities to connect and collaborate with your peers, industry practitioners, certified partners and the Microsoft Project team. In the current economic climate, it’s vital to keep both your individual skills and organizational capabilities moving forward – don’t miss the opportunity!

LEARN what can be achieved today and what’s coming tomorrow with the next release.

CONNECT with your peers, industry practitioners, certified partners and the Microsoft Project team to share experiences.

GROW your skills and investments to realize remarkable cost reductions, enhance efficiencies and move your business forward.

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For more information, please visit the Project Conference Website at http://www.msprojectconference.com.

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Don’t miss your chance to attend Project Conference 2009!  See you in September!
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The Microsoft Project Conference 2009 Team | projconf@microsoft.com

© 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved

_______________________________________

You can shape the conference to your needs by taking the survey and telling us what you want to hear the most!

Do you want to deliver a session? Do you know about anyone who would? Submit your idea for content!

Looking forward seeing you in September!

_______________________________________

Posted by jkalis | 0 Comments
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