SQL Server, .NET and EPM 2007 Geek

Microsoft Makes Strategic Changes in Technology and Business Practices to Expand Interoperability

Gaurav Aggarwal — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:01:00 GMT

Microsoft announced a set of broad-reaching changes to its technology and business practices to increase the openness of its products and drive greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for developers, partners, customers and competitors.

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

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

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

Latest on EPM 2007

Gaurav Aggarwal — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:01:00 GMT

Single reference point for some of the latest stuff on EPM 2007 and other useful stuff for EPM 2007 admin & developer community

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 http://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

RML Utilities for SQL Server 2005

Gaurav Aggarwal — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:51:00 GMT

Most awaited tool for SQL Server DBA and experts (heard of ReadTrace!). Till sometime back these tools were only accessible to Microsoft SQL Server support team.

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 !

Office Hours: How Bill Gates uses Office

Gaurav Aggarwal — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:51:00 GMT

Intresting read - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA102402071033.aspx

Watch Out: Portfolio Server 2007 - Special Characters in Project Name in Portfolio Server 2007

Gaurav Aggarwal — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:29:00 GMT

First one in "Watch Out: Portfolio Server 2007"

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.

I am back!

Gaurav Aggarwal — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:22:00 GMT

I am back after a long break. Spending lot of time travelling and working on complex project using SQL Server, EPM 2007 and adding credits for Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF !)

In addition to normal stuff I would start couple of series:

a. Watch Out - Portfolio Server 2007 – to provide some of the common mistakes and watch out items for Portfolio Server 2007 implementation and configuration

b. Get ready for SQL Server 2008 – to provide technical contents for SQL Server 2008

Visual Studio Team Foundation Server – Project Server 2007 Connector

Gaurav Aggarwal — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 02:27:00 GMT

Finally the much awaited missing link between EPM 2007 and Visual Studio Team Foundation Server is released to technical community.

Latest release of Visual Studio Team Foundation Server – Project Server 2007 Connector which is available at http://www.codeplex.com/pstfsconnector/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=4887

The Visual Studio Team Foundation Server - Project Server 2007 Connector is designed to integrate the project management capabilities of TFS with Project Server 2007. It's been developed by the Visual Studio Team System Rangers in response to significant customer demand for a connector solution. Future versions of Team System will have native integration with Project Server, in the meantime this Connector solution is the best way to integrate the two Microsoft products. This solution builds on the previous PS2003 VSTS Connector, published on GotDotNet. This solution is intended to provide guidance, provided as source code that can be used "as is," extended, or modified.

For Project Link: http://www.codeplex.com/pstfsconnector/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=4887

For Setup Guide: http://www.codeplex.com/pstfsconnector/Wiki/View.aspx?title=Setup%20Guide&referringTitle=Home

Mapping Custom Fields between Project Server and Portfolio Server 2007

Gaurav Aggarwal — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:41:00 GMT

EPM 2007 provides "Project Server Gateway" for mapping the data between Portfolio Server 2007 and Project Server 2007.

One of the common query that I have noticed is 'why attribute from project server is not gettign listed for mapping?.

Well key lies in the type mapping followed by the gateway:

Custom fields are mapped based on their type following the above table:

PS project custom field types	PPS attribute types
Text	String
Text with lookup table	List
Text with lookup table + “Allow multiple values to be selected from lookup table” option checked	Multiple Text
Cost, Cost with Lookup Table Number, Number with Lookup Table	Number
Date, Date with Lookup Table	Date

Note:

Export to PS or import from PS deletes existing value and updates it with the new one.

This is why for PPS attributes mapped on Lookup Table custom fields, if the value that has to be updated doesn’t exist on the Lookup Table or List instances, the result will be Blank

Deploying Multiple Instances of Portfolio Server 2007 on single server

Gaurav Aggarwal — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:32:00 GMT

From official support perspective running multiple instances of Portfolio Server 2007 on single server is not a supported scenario. Even the setup program for the tool has no way to achieve the same.

But from development and testing perspective sometimes it is more than handy to run multiple instance on same server (especially when you want the instance to have same set of configuration / customization).

Follow the small tricks below to achieve the same:

Copy the PPS 2007 ASP.NET application folder manually and publish that as a separate virtual directory or web site.
Copy the 'PPSAccountIndex ' and 'PPSAccountData' database (or use SQL backup / restore options)
In the newly created 'PPSAccountIndex' database update the database name of newly created 'PPSAccountdata' database
Modify the config files on the newly created virtual folder to point to new folder paths and new database.
Ensure only one copy of the Scheduler service is running on one physical machine, and additional PPS instances should be added in the principal (and only) scheduler config file.

Warning -

Please check the licensing requirement with local licensing expert and this is not an supported scenario.

Synchronizing the Schedule Information between PS 2007 and PPS 2007

Gaurav Aggarwal — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:19:00 GMT

One of the common query that I have seen is how to synchronize the schedule information between Project Server and Portfolio Server.

Ideally once you setup and Project Server Gateway and export the project to Project Server 2007 - things should work seamless. Indeed it does with small catch that sometime you might notice that "% Complete" is not updated after synchronization.

Solution is to ensure that in the current workflow stage you have the "Lock Business Case ( Post-approval) check box checked.

Sorting values in attribute in Portfolio Server 2007

Gaurav Aggarwal — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:08:00 GMT

One of the common ask - how can we sort the list of values displayed in the Portfolio Server 2007 attribute.

Well - This is kind of common feature but currently product does not support any such feature. Easiest way - Sort the list values in Microsoft Excel and add the value list in the sorted order in Portfolio Server 2007 attribute

Project Conference 2007

Gaurav Aggarwal — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:00:00 GMT

One of the most important event for EPM community is around the corner. The session list for the Project 2007 Conference has been posted to the http://www.msprojectconference.com site.

Getting into the world of EPM 2007

Gaurav Aggarwal — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:58:00 GMT

Adding another series to my blog list - EPM 2007.

I would be posting tips and tricks, announcements and technical content on Project Server 2007 and Portfolio Server 2007.

Latest Certification for SQL Server 2005

Gaurav Aggarwal — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 02:34:00 GMT

Microsoft has finally launched the public version of "Microsoft Certified Architect : Database" certification.

The Database Architect program, the newest Technology Architect program under the Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) umbrella, provides training and certification in Microsoft SQL Server to help you become a trusted database architect. The program ensures success in three ways.

Refer to http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/architect/database/default.mspx for complete details.

My personal experience from the successful attempt for the same during BETA - Certification is real tough but worth the effort (costly but .. worth again !). Best part is we get to work and interact with best brains around on SQL Server across the world - an experience in itself.

Highly recommended reading for SQL folks in the field - Another Best Practice Articles

Gaurav Aggarwal — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:06:00 GMT

Latest addition to the best practice series. I highly recommend the same for DBA and architects !

SQL Server 2005 Predeployment I/O best practices http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/bestpractice/pdpliobp.mspx