September, 2009

Great news we have just released Microsoft Security Essentials more info here: Introducing Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

Time to update all your PCs, no excuse not to be protected :)

[updated on December 21, 2009: US locations and dates are now: http://blogs.msdn.com/chrisfie/archive/2009/11/25/microsoft-project-2010-ignite-us-training-location-and-dates-in-march-2010.aspx] 

We are pleased to announce a series of Microsoft Project 2010 in-person training events targeted for Microsoft Partners and Microsoft Field in consulting, sales, and marketing roles.

 

Register for the appropriate track and location now!

• Project 2010 Technical Ignite Training, agenda, dates and locations
• Project 2010 Sales Track (“Are You Project 2010 Ready?”), agenda, dates and locations
• Registration page for both tracks, please note that by registering to this site does not in any way guarantee or result in a seat allocation, priority will be given to individuals that have not attended any prior “Ignite” training.

Frequently Asked Question
Q. My country is not listed in one of the locations, can I still attend either the technical or sales track?
A. Absolutely! Each delivery of the Microsoft Project 2010 training is meant to be a regional event open to Partners and Microsoft Field not only from the host country but open to other neighboring countries in the region as well.
Q. I cannot attend at any of the dates and locations, how can I have access to the content?
A. We are planning to make the content available online during the first half of 2010.
Q. What’s the registration cost of attending these training?
A. It’s free!
Q. Can I just attend one day of the three day Ignite training?
A. No, we believe all attendees need to have good understanding of each module.

Following Project Conference 2009, it’s great to see the number of solutions that have been created to extend the out of the box capabilities of Microsoft Project Server 2007 (PS07) timesheet capabilities. All these solutions demonstrate the two key pillars of timesheets in Project Server 2007: scalability and extensibility. With its new queuing mechanism PS07 can easily handle thousands of timesheets per hour (see this whitepaper for scalability lab results: Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 Performance Testing Lab – English). Additionally PS07 offers fully documented API (Project Server Interface timesheet web services are fully documented in the SDK) and hence enables rich extensibility as demonstrated below with this impressive list of solution built by Microsoft and partners.

To learn more about about the out of the box PS07 capabilities check this diagram: Timesheeting and Statusing Data Flow Diagram 

Timesheet Solution	Comment
Project Server 2007 Timesheet & Statusing Customization - Timesheet Tied-Mode v1.5 CodePlex solution does require C# skills, not supported by MSFT	First version of tied-mode solution (initially published in November 07), this solutions automatically imports a timesheet into My Tasks. One user review states: “Great solution to integrate My Timesheets with My Tasks, providing one central input for users/resources to report all their working & non-working time, followed by an automatic generation of submitted task updates.”
Project Server 2007 Timesheet Tied-Mode Service and Event CodePlex solution does require C# skills, not supported by MSFT	Second version of tied-mode solution published in January 08; the main difference with the version above is that its based on a Windows Services and timesheet imports are done asynchronously (done synchronously in the solution above)
Project Server 2007 Timesheet AutoStatus Plus CodePlex solution does require C# skills, not supported by MSFT	Third version of tied-mode: Project Server 2007 Timesheet AutoStatus Plus is a major rewrite of the AutoStatusService tied-mode for Project Server. Planned enhancements are: multiple instance support, farm support, and elimination of the Windows Service in favor of a SharePoint Timer Job.
TrackTimesheet SOLVIN, partner solution. TrackTimesheet Benefits Several time records per day Categorizing and comment per record possible adjustable to your requirements Extensions to your requirements Effective analysis for updater / approver and decision maker (e.g.: quick overview of all still not approved records) Possibility to enter a different amount of billable work Ease of  use Several export interfaces Ready for interfaces to other time-recording systems Ready for interface to SAP CATS via PS Link	Web part with great user interface and functional enhancements to the out of the capabilities, check out their documentation to learn about about all its features:
TimeControl 6 from HMS Software, partner solution. Multiple browser Support TimeRequest module tracks vacation requests and more Additional Rate Values and associated costs etc…
JustOnce from QuantumPM, partner solution. Team member only goes to ONE page to update Enter work and non-work time in My Timesheet Remaining Work dynamically changes as time is entered Update Remaining Work if needed Submit JUSTONCE to send updates to Timesheet Manager and Project Manager Everyone stays in synch
Innoware Project TimeTracker , from Innoware, partner solution. Main features and benefits of IW:PTT: Tasks synchronization from Project Server as calendar events and Outlook tasks Ability to report about tasks progress offline and further synchronization with Project Server Possibility to add/attach Outlook tasks to projects on Project Server Ability to do personal tasks reporting Possibility of administrative time (vacations, holidays, sick leaves) adding – resource availability synchronization (resource calendar) Possibility of semi-automatic project tasks performing time capturing and transferring captured information to Actual Work field on Project Server. (Start/Stop time counting buttons)
Project Timesheet for Project Server 2007 Indigo Group, partner solution (still in Beta)	Windows application that helps you manage your timesheets:

As disclosed at the Project Conference in Phoenix two weeks ago, Project Server 2010 offers additional enhancements to timesheets/statusing: tied-mode, new user interface and Exchange integration.

If you know of any other partner solution around timesheet and statusing please send me an email and I will gladly update this blog post.

Following this post from last may: Solid State Drive/SSD and SharePoint Server, Project Server Demo Image Benchmark I have had the chance to test two more Solid State Drives to demo Project Server 2010/Server SharePoint Server 2010 at our Microsoft Project Conference event last week. Lots of you have been asking what hardware/software was used for the super fast keynote demos for instance. The answer a Dell Latitude E6400 Dual Core T9900 @ 3.06 GHz with 8GB, with Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V and most importantly a secondary hard drive: a 160GB Intel Solid State Drive (SSDSA2MH160G1GC).

Please find below results running on a Dell E6400 for the following two SSD:

• Intel Solid State Driver  SSDSA2MH160G1GC - 160GB
• Samsung MMCRE28G5MXP-0VB -128GB

Key Takeaways:

• Not all Solid State Drives are created equal :) but as usual budget might be a factor in your purchase decision (average read of 201 MB/sec for the Intel vs. 170 MB/sec for the Samsung, or 81 MB/sec for the older generation Samsung SSD). There are plenty of sites to help you shop around, see links at the bottom of this post + Bing Bing Bing. So if you buy a new laptop check the SSD that it comes with (specifically the brand and its performance)
• The Intel SSD is significantly faster than the Samsung SSD
• Both generate significant performance gains to run demo images (Project Server/SharePoint Server 2010 demo image/VHD for instance), and hence are a must in my humble opinion if you are going to demo Project Server 2010/SharePoint Server 2010 extensively
• All SDD were mounted internally (replaced DVD bay with HD bay)
• If you are planning to have an external SSD ensure its connected to the laptop using eSATA so transfer speed is optimal
• Don’t invest in faster CPU or RAM first, spend money on a fast SSD first!
• If you are planning to purchase a new laptop buy the SSD separately so you know exactly what you are getting
• As a reference I have included below the performance benchmark of the Dell primary hard drive, a traditional “spindle” drive (Western Digital WD800BJKT, 80GB)

I have also tested the Samsung on a HP 8530W (2 Intel Extreme Q9300 @2.53 GHz (four core), 8GB + Windows Server 2008 R2) and found similar results, more CPU does help but does not improve performance as much as a faster SSD.

Intel SSD	Samsung SSD
Intel SSD	Samsung SSD
Western Digital WD800BJKT (spindle)	Western Digital WD800BJKT (spindle)

 Related links:

• The Ultimate Demo Machine: Get Ready to Demo Project and SharePoint Server 2010
• What’s SSD (from Sansung)?
• Datamarck Benchmarks
• Hard Drive Bench Marks

Excellent Microsoft Project 2010 Q&A from my colleague Doug: Latest Q & A on Project 2010 , including how to access beta

One of my favorite videos from last week, plenty more here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MSFTProject

Might missed some but thanks to BING please find below what I have seen so far (excluding plenty of great blog posts/tweets from the experts in the community), first as a reminder the official Microsoft Project Virtual Press Kit is here (contains videos, screenshots, etc…)

Title	Source
Microsoft Project revamp could soar where predecessor struggled	IT In Canada
Microsoft Gives First Look At Project 2010	Channel Web
Microsoft Project 2010 Promises Significant Improvement	Web Worker Daily/GigaOM
Microsoft pulls covers off Project 2010	Computerworld
Microsoft’s Project 2010	ZDNET
Project 2010 Products Announced at Microsoft Event	RedmondMag/The Journal
Microsoft Debuts Project 2010, Beta Test Soon	InternetNews
MS Project 2010: Goodbye Portfolio Server, Hello SharePoint	CMSWire
Microsoft announces Project 2010	InfoWorld
Project 2010 to get three editions, public beta before 2010	Ars Technica
Microsoft Project 2010 Beta	Softpedia
Microsoft Unveils Microsoft Project 2010	RTTNews

Please check out Vincent Capitaine’s post for the equivalent French press articles: Microsoft Project 2010 : rapide revue de presse (Internet) francophone

As disclosed last week during the Project Conference, Project Server 2010 will be built on SharePoint Enterprise 2010 (more info. here: Microsoft Project Conference 2009 – Project 2010 Keynote Videos); so as I mentioned to Ignite attendees in Phoenix, going forward you need to know your SharePoint 2010, hence please register or send your top architect to the upcoming SharePoint Conference in Last Vegas in less than a month; the event is selling out fast (SharePoint Conference 2009 Update: We’re SELLING OUT FAST!) so hurry if you have not done so already. If you can’t make it you should also consider this readiness event: SharePoint Ignite SharePoint 2010 Partner Training for SharePoint 2007 Partners!

As mentioned before, we will have Project 2010 sessions and presence at the event: Microsoft Project 2010 Events This Fall 

I am still looking for volunteers that have experience with Project and Project Server 2010 to staff the Project kiosk and answer questions on 2010, so if you are planning to come and/or considering it send me an email. I will fund an exhibitor pass to help with the kiosk but as mentioned above I highly recommend registering to the full event.

For those of you who missed the Project Conference 2009 last week, the Project 2010 keynote recordings from both Ludovic Hauduc and Chris Capossela are available here, additionally check out our official site here: http://www.microsoft.com/project/2010/en/us/default.aspx:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/projectserver/default.aspx

Official press pass from MSFT: Microsoft Unveils Microsoft Project 2010

Part of the next wave of Office-related products, Microsoft Project 2010 helps customers reduce costs, improve efficiency, and simplify project and portfolio management.

Similar to SharePoint 2010, notice how the “Office” has been removed from the name:

We officially disclosed the next version of the EPM solution at the Project Conference 2009 in Phoenix this morning: Microsoft Project 2010

It’s so exciting to finally be able to discuss the next version to the outside world and how it will solve our customer’s needs. This is the beginning of a journey to a milestone release.

Microsoft Project 2010, generally available next year, will provide teams and organizations of all sizes with the right project collaboration tools, and a pathway to step up to more advanced Project and Portfolio Management capabilities as their needs evolve.

http://www.microsoft.com/project/en/us/default.aspx