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!

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.

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!

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: [email protected].

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

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.

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

• Download the guide as a .docx file
• Download the guide as a .pdf file
• Download the guide as a .xps file

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: [email protected].

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

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.

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

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

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

(once there I highly suggest clicking on 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 [email protected] with any comments or questions as your feedback is very valuable to us.

Thanks,

-Rob

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: [email protected].

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

Here’s a list of content that the team has been hard at work on delivering this summer:

Published the week of July 11, 2011

Updated article

Deploy cumulative updates (Project Server 2010) Updated with information about the June 2011 Cumulative Update.

Published the week of June 27, 2011

New articles for Project Server 2010 SP1

Deploy Service Pack 1 for Project Server 2010 Describes how to deploy Microsoft Project Server 2010 with Service Pack 1 (SP1). This article provides an overview of key enhancements, deployment instructions, considerations, known issues, and links to related resources.

Updated for Project Server 2010 SP1

Hardware and software requirements (Project Server 2010), Plan browser support (Project Server 2010), and Project Server 2010 with SharePoint Server 2010 architecture (overview) Updated to include information about additional supported Web browsers for Microsoft Project Web App Team Member pages in Project Server 2010 with SP1.

New articles

Database maintenance plans for Project Server 2010 Describes database maintenance recommendations for Project Server 2010.

Updated articles

Install and configure Project Server 2010 and Plan for deployment (Project Server 2010) Updated to specify that Project Server 2010 is not compatible with multi-tenant environments.

Run Migration Script 7 to compare Project Server 2003 and Project Server 2007 data validation snapshots Updated to include information about the script's possibly reporting a false mismatch of task identifiers between Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 and Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 tasks.

Published the week of June 13, 2011

New articles

Plan hardware architecture in Project Server 2010 Discusses the recommended hardware configurations for various Project Server 2010 dataset sizes.

Upgrade from a trial version of Project Server 2010 Describes how to upgrade your Project Server 2010 trial version to the fully licensed version.

Published the week of June 6, 2011

New resource center

Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Content Pivot Viewer Use the pivot viewer to browse a complete collection of articles, white papers, training videos, and models for EPM in Project Server 2010. Pivot on content by lifecycle, solution area, or content type.

We recently published a new article set to our Microsoft Project Server 2010 TechNet Library:  "Database Maintenance Plans for Project Server 2010".  A Project Server 2010 farm environment includes not only the databases required for Project Server, but also databases required for SharePoint Server 2010.   Ensuring that these databases are maintained properly is key to smooth performance in your Project Server 2010 environment.  This article set contains information and guidelines for maintaining the databases that host Microsoft Project Server 2010. It describes and provides examples of the database maintenance tasks that we recommend when you are using Project Server 2010.   This document provides detailed examples for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. External references for how to perform the same database maintenance tasks with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 are also included.

The goal of this article set is to provide you the information to create a database maintenance plan that best fits your environment.  This article set includes the following articles:

• Overview of Project Server 2010 databases
  
  
• Creating maintenance plans for Project Server 2010 databases
  
  
• Defragmenting indexes for Project Server 2010 databases
  
  
• Shrinking databases in Project Server 2010
  
  
• Monitoring maintenance plans for Project Server 2010

For more information about maintaining the databases that are required for SharePoint Server 2010, read Database maintenance for SharePoint Server 2010.  You should read this as well before you implement any database maintenance tasks or modify your Project Server 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 databases.

Please find below the SP1 and June CU announcement published on the main Project blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2011/06/28/announcing-the-release-of-service-pack-1-sp1-for-microsoft-project-and-project-server-2010.aspx

Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Microsoft Project Standard 2010, Microsoft Project Professional 2010 and Microsoft Project Server 2010 has been released to the Microsoft Download Center. SP1 contains a number of products updates based on customer feedback, as described in this announcement last May: Announcing Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Project & Project Server 2010.

Before you install SP1 it is essential that you understand its content described in the links below, and thoroughly read the guidance documented on TechNet and test out SP1 in a separate environment prior to a production rollout.

• Description of Project 2010 SP1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2460052
• Description of Project Server 2010 SP1 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2460047

The following TechNet article provides information on how to deploy Microsoft Project and Project Server 2010 SP1: Deploy Service Pack 1 for Project Server 2010.

We strongly recommend that you deploy the June 2011 Cumulative Update for Microsoft Project and Project Server 2010 when you install SP1. You can download the June 2011 Cumulative Update from the KB Articles from the links below:

• Description of the Project 2010 hotfix package (project-x-none.msp): June 28, 2011 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2536590
• Description of the SharePoint Server 2010 and Project Server 2010 Cumulative Update Server Hotfix Package (MOSS server-package, Project server-package): June 28, 2011 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2536600

The following TechNet article provides information on how to deploy Project Server Cumulative Updates: Updates for Project Server 2010

There will be a webcast on July 6th, 2011 at 8:00 am Pacific Time to give an overview of this Service Pack (which will be recorded for later viewing): TechNet Webcast: Information about Project 2010 and Project Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (Level 200). Please check out these posts for additional SP1 production information: Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 Availability and Service Pack 1 for SharePoint 2010 Products is Now Available for Download.

Finally, our Microsoft Support Team is available to assist should you run into any problems installing these updates; feel free to follow your internal support guidelines to use Premier Support or open up a case directly at http://support.microsoft.com.

I just wanted to highlight (copy) Christophe’s blog post regarding the release of two new white papers just published this week:

It is with great pleasure that I announce today’s launch of the EPM Content Pivot Viewer app on TechNet which can be accessed at:

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

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

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, please email [email protected] with any comments or questions as your feedback is very valuable to us.

Thanks,

-Rob

We're happy to announce the publish of yet another 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 - Enterprise System Best Practices -  describes operational best practices for enterprise systems in general (including Project Server).  It describes how although enterprise systems strive to provide an easy-to-use interface or display at the user level, the technology and infrastructure required to provide it is often very complexed.  This requires you to exercise some basic best practices that can give you the best chance of maintaining a high degree of reliability in your enterprise system.  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 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 Association (MPA) users group. 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.

One of the new additions we did for the Project Server 2010 TechNet content is to embed videos into the content.    The newest additions are of five new upgrade videos to the Database Attach Core Upgrade to Project Server 2010 TechNet article.  These videos add a lot of value to the online article by graphically describe concepts as well as demonstrating steps that are described within the content itself.   The five new videos added to the video include:

• Overview
• Prepare your data
• Backup your Project Server 2007 databases
• Restore your Project Server 2007 databases on the SQL Server hosting your Project Server 2010 installation
• Create a PWA Instance from your restored Project Server 2007 databases

If you want to see additonal articles in which we embed videos, they are available in the following video sets:

• Plan groups, categories, and RBS in Project Server 2010
• Deploy Project Server 2010 to a Server Farm Environment
• Deploy Project Server 2010 to a Test Environment
• Configure Reporting for Project Server 2010

Published the week of April 25, 2011

New resource center

Time and Task Management in Project Server 2010 Visit this new resource center to get started with time and task progress tracking in . Learn how to use Microsoft Project Web App to submit time spent and progress on tasks.

New article

Accessing Project Web App and Project Professional from a Macintosh-based computer Describes two options for those who want to access a Project Web App site or use the Microsoft Project Professional 2010 client application from a Macintosh-based computer.

Published the week of April 18, 2011

New articles

Project Server 2010: A financial management solution for projects, programs and portfolios (white paper) Describes how Microsoft Project Server 2010 can be used by finance professionals as a financial management solution for their organizations' projects, programs, and portfolios. The paper was written by Arbutus Solutions.

Queue (Project Server 2010 settings) This section includes the following new articles:

• Manage Queue Jobs (Project Server 2010 settings) Describes how to use the Manage Queue Jobs settings on the Project Web App Server Settings page.
• Queue Settings (Project Server 2010 settings) Describes the Queue Settings that are available on the Project Web App Server Settings page.

Updated article

Run Migration Script 3 to capture a Project Server 2003 data snapshot Updated to include an important note about pre-creating a blank SQL database to which the script will write results.

Published the week of April 11, 2011

New blog post

Creating an EPM deployment plan and Creating an EPM Deployment Plan: white paper (Project Server 2010) This white paper describes how to deploy the Enterprise Project Management solution in phases, and it includes key issues and estimated durations for each phase. The paper was written by Chris Vandersluis for the "From the Trenches" column in the Project Server 2010 Tech Center (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=208599).

New articles

Manage delegates (Project Server 2010 settings) This section includes the following new articles:

• Set up who can act as a delegate (Project Server 2010 settings) Describes how to set up user-level or group-level permissions that enable you to determine which users or groups can act as delegates for other people.
• Set up who can have delegates assigned to them (Project Server 2010 settings) Describes how to use categories in Project Web App to determine which users or groups can have delegates do work on their behalf.

Workflow and Project Detail Pages (Project Server 2010 settings) This section includes the following new articles:

• Change or Restart Workflows (Project Server 2010 settings) Describes the Change or Restart Workflow section in Project Web App, which enables you to change a project's in-progress workflow or change a project's current stage in a workflow.
• Project Detail Pages (Project Server 2010 settings) Describes how to create a Project Detail Page (PDP), which represents a single Web Part Page in Project Web App.
• Project Workflow Settings (Project Server 2010 settings) Describes the Project Workflow Settings page, which designates the Workflow Proxy User account so that the Project Server Interface (PSI) calls in a workflow can be performed.

Enterprise Data (Project Server 2010 settings) This section includes the following new articles:

• Enterprise Global (Project Server 2010 settings) Describes the Enterprise Global file and how you can make changes to it.
• Resource Center (Project Server 2010 settings) Links to articles that describe how to use the Resource Center in Project Web App.

Edit an existing calendar (Project Server 2010 settings) Describes how you can modify the default standard enterprise calendar to account for the working and nonworking times observed by your organization.

Updated articles

Deploy language packs (Project Server 2010) Updated to include additional languages that are supported in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 language packs but not in Microsoft Project Server 2010 language packs. This article also describes how the June 2010 Cumulative Update can prevent Project Server 2010 upgrade issues if your SharePoint Server 2010 farm is using a language pack that is not available in Project Server 2010.

Hardware and software requirements (Project Server 2010) Updated with a link to the SQL Server 2008 Analysis Management Objects (AMO) that are needed for reporting. Additionally, this article has been updated with information about Internet Explorer 9 compatibility with Project Web App.

Published the week of April 4, 2011

New articles

Reporting with Microsoft Project Server 2010 (white paper) Describes the various tools available for Project Server 2010 Reporting and how to use them.

Workflow Stages (Project Server 2010 settings) Describes how to create a new workflow stage, which is one step in a project life cycle in Project Web App.

Manage Views (Project Server 2010 settings) The articles in this section describe the different kinds of views in Project Web App and provide information about how to create, modify, copy, and delete these views.

Fiscal periods (Project Server 2010 settings) The articles in this section describe how to define and delete fiscal periods.

Time Reporting Periods (Project Server 2010 settings) The articles in this section describe how to set up and delete time reporting periods in Project Web App.

Updated articles

Plan browser support (Project Server 2010) Updated to describe Internet Explorer 9 support in Project Web App for Project Server 2010

This newly-publshed white paper outlines how Microsoft Project Server 2010 can provide the tools necessary as part of a good, practice-driven finance function, with regard to project appraisal and capital allocation. This paper also reviews key things to consider during the implementation of a solution. Finally, for readers who are looking for more detail and have additional requirements, the paper outlines additional technologies available from Microsoft and other companies to further extend the base functionality of Project Server 2010. The intended audience for this paper is finance professionals who are responsible for budgeting, corporate strategy, or project accounting. As the processes of project financial management and budgeting affect varying levels and areas within many organizations, this white paper may also benefit those who have a role within, or responsibility for, financial management processes that relate to projects.

This white paper was written by Arbutus Solutions.

Download as a PDF file (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=216201)

Download as an XPS file (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=216204)

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 - "Creating an EPM Deployment Plan" - describes how to separate your Enterprise Project Management solution deployment into logical phases, and identifies main points that need to be addressed during each phase.  From the perspective of a mid-sized organization with several hundred EPM system users, Chris also estimates durations for each phase in this useful white paper.  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.  

Many of you have given us feedback over the years that you enjoy having role guides in the EPM community much like what we had for the Project Server 2003 release. Well we’ve answered the call and created a Project Server 2010 Administrator’s Guide which has been published and gone live today. You can now download the guide here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=212383

We are currently planning more role guides, so please email us ([email protected]) with any feedback you may have. If you like this role guide, please let us know so we know we’re on the right track by creating more.

Watch this space for more info as we make hard copies of the guide available for purchase, along with announcing new guides.

Thank you all,

Robert Hoover, PMP

Published the week of February 21, 2011

New articles

Videos: Time and task progress workflow overview (Project Server 2010) These videos illustrate the workflow for entering, submitting, and approving time and task progress by using a single view (single entry mode), separate views, or through a delegate. Videos also address what to do after a time reporting period has closed or after a task has been locked from being updated.

About the Quick Launch in Project Web App Describes the Quick Launch in Microsoft Project Web App. You can use the Quick Launch to access Project Web App features such as tasks and timesheets.

Published the week of February 14, 2011

New article

SQL script for known Project Server 2010 upgrade issues Provides a SQL script you can use to detect known issues that might cause the upgrade process to fail when you attempt to upgrade from Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 to Microsoft Project Server 2010.

Published the week of February 7, 2011

Updated article

Project Server 2010 global permissions Added the Manage Drivers global permission.

The Project Web App Help content, available on Office.com, is now also available on TechNet.

While the Help system within Project Web App continues to point to Office.com, this content has been made available on TechNet for those who may have an easier time browsing through content in the TechNet Library.

This content is also available in a downloadable CHM file that contains all Project Server 2010 technical library content on TechNet.

Want to provide feedback?

We would love to hear your feedback on this content. To provide feedback on TechNet articles, first determine which view you are using: Classic, Lightweight, or ScriptFree.

If you are using the Classic view, in the bar just above the article, you can use a five-star rating system. When you click to provide a star rating, a box appears where you can type in comments specific to the current article.

If you are using the Lightweight view, scroll to the bottom of the article and click Feedback. From there, you can type comments specific to the article you are viewing.

If you are using the ScriptFree view, click Feedback in the top-right portion of the article. This takes you to the MSDN, TechNet, and Expression Library Feedback Forum, where you can provide feedback on the script-free version of an article.

You are also welcome send feedback directly to our writing team at [email protected].

Customer requests fueled two new documentation resources for Project Server 2010! These resources went live at the end December. If you have feedback on either of these resources, feel free to leave comments here, or send email to [email protected].

Article: Archive a completed project

This article details the standard method for archiving completed projects, as performed by a project manager and administrator. It also provides a high-level look at some alternate archiving methods, as well as some best practices for long-term archival.

Diagram: Tracking time and task progress in Project Server 2010

This Visio file contains diagrams that illustrate five different timesheet and task progress workflow scenarios.

I wanted to echo Brian Smith’s latest post over on the Project Admin Blog about the release of the Project Server 2010 and 2007 CUs being live:

Microsoft Project Server and SharePoint 2007 and 2010 December CU 2010 are (mostly) Live!

Brian Smith

15 Dec 2010 12:23 PM

Great News!  The latest Cumulative Updates (CU) for Project and Project Server 2010 and 2007 have been released.  There was a problem found in both the 2007 and 2010 Server Rollup Packages which required a fix and for the patches to be rebuilt.  The current guidance is that we should see it released during the week of 12/27/2010.  Feel free to open a support case if you have any questions around this or need assistance getting these patches deployed.

Additionally, you are welcome to join us on TechNet for a webcast on January 11, 2011, 8:00 am Pacific Time, where we will be discussing this issues in detail and answering questions regarding the December Cumulative Update.  The information on this webcast can be found at the URL below.

TechNet Webcast: Information About Microsoft Project and Project Server Cumulative December Update (Level 200) - January 11, 2011, 8:00 am Pacific Time

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032454956

Project and Project Server 2010

This include a number of fixes, so Microsoft strongly recommends that you test this in a test environment based on your production environment before putting this fix live in production.

The article below provides information on how to deploy the Project Server Cumulative Update.

Updates for Project Server 2010

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/projectserver/gg176680.aspx

As Project Server 2010 is now based on the MOSS we strongly recommend that you install the Server Rollup Packages as there are a large number of individual server packages for MOSS.  There is a set of two rollup packages which contains all the fixes for SharePoint Foundation Server, MOSS and Project Server.  Both Server Rollup Packages should be installed to ensure that the underlying technology that Project Server depends on is up to date.

For those accustomed to Project Server 2007 Cumulative Updates, you should note that the MOSS Server Rollup Package does not contain the Project Server patches.  You will need to make sure that you install the MOSS + Project Server Rollup Package (the link is provided below).   As in Project Server 2007, the Server Rollup Packages are much larger (~150MB each) but they will greatly simplify your Project Server patch deployment.

You can read about the fixes included in the December CU from the following articles:

Server Rollup Packages:

ETA for release is the week of 12/27/2010.

• Description of the SharePoint Foundation 2010 hotfix package (Sts-x-none.msp): December 14, 2010
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2459125

ETA for release is the week of 12/27/2010.

• Description of the SharePoint Server 2010 and Project Server 2010 Cumulative Update Server Hotfix Package (MOSS server-package, Project server-package): December 14, 2010
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2459258

Project Client Package:

Available Now

• Description of the Office Project 2010 hotfix package (project-x-none.msp): December 14, 2010
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2466263

Client Installation:

Installation of the client patch is straightforward and is the same as it was in Project 2007.  The instructions for installing the client patch are below.

  NOTE: Microsoft strongly recommends testing within a NON-Production environment prior to rollout. 

1. Download the hotfix from the link in the KB Article.
2. Extract the patch package by running the .exe file that you downloaded.
3. Run the extracted .exe file to apply the patch to your Project Professional/Standard client.

Project and Project Server 2007

This include a number of fixes, so Microsoft strongly recommends that you test this in a test environment based on your production environment before putting this fix live in production.

The article below provides information on how to deploy the Project Server Cumulative Update.

Deploy cumulative updates (Project Server 2007)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd239177.aspx

Service Pack 2 for both WSS and Office Servers 2007 are required for this Cumulative Update.  The KB articles below provide information on how to download and install SP2 if you have not already done so.

• Description of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP2 and of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack SP2
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953338

• Description of 2007 Microsoft Office servers Service Pack 2 and of 2007 Microsoft Office servers Language Pack Service Pack 2
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953334

The Server CU is released in two different versions.  The first version is in Individual Packages specific to a particular product like WSS and Project Server.  These are smaller downloads but they do not include language packs or patches for other products so patches for those products would have to be downloaded and installed separately. 

The second version is the Server Rollup Packages.  This is a set of two rollup packages which contains all the fixes for WSS, Project Server and MOSS.  These packages should be used when MOSS is part of the deployment and/or you have language packs installed.  The Server Rollup Packages are much larger (~200MB each) but they will greatly simplify MOSS patch deployment.

You can read about the fixes included in the December CU from the following articles:

Note:  There was an issue found in the Server Rollup patches so they are currently unavailable until the issue is fixed and a new set of patches built.  The links below are where you will be able to access the articles when they become available.  We are working towards a release date during the week of 12/27/2010.  Both the Server and Client Project packages are fine and are ok to install.

Server Rollup Packages:

ETA for release is the week of 12/27/2010.

• Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Cumulative Update Server Hotfix Package (WSS server-package): December 14, 2010
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2458606

Available Now

• Description of the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Cumulative Update server hotfix package (MOSS server-package): December 14, 2010
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2458605

Individual Product Packages:

ETA for release is the week of 12/27/2010.

• Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package (sts-x-none.msp): December 14, 2010
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2458600

Available Now

• Description of the Project Server 2007 hotfix package (pjsrvapp-x-none.msp, pjsrvwfe-x-none.msp): December 14, 2010
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2458607

Available Now

• Description of the Office Project 2007 hotfix package (project-x-none.msp):December 14, 2010
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2479429

Client Installation:

In order to install this hotfix, you will need to have Microsoft Project 2007 SP2 installed on the client.

• Description of Office Project 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) and of Office Project Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953326

Once we know that SP2 is installed, you will install the hotfix by performing the following steps:

  NOTE: Microsoft strongly recommends testing within a NON-Production environment prior to rollout. 

1. Download the hotfix from either the KB Article or by using the information at the end of this email.
2. Extract the patch package by running the .exe file that you downloaded.
3. Run the extracted .exe file to apply the patch to your Project Professional/Standard SP1 client.

Feel free to open a support incident at http://support.microsoft.com if you run into any issues with the installation and we will be happy to help!