SharePoint (and Project Server) Shenanigans

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

Over the last few weeks when I have had a spare 5 minutes I have been playing with JavaScript /jQuery. It is something I have wanted to learn for a while and finally thought I would give it ago and see what I could do with SharePoint / Project data. After lots of reading and researching (lots of examples out there!) I came across some very useful jQuery libraries. This post covers the usage of a script I put together to display risks and issues on a project detail page from the associated project site. The full script can be downloaded from the Microsoft script gallery below:

http://bit.ly/1kARHI2

The script only uses default Project Server Issues and Risks columns so it will work as is but it can easily be updated to include other columns.

To get the script to work you will need to download the following jQuery libraries:

jquery-1.8.3.min.js – jQuery download

knockout-3.1.0.js – knockout jQuery download

ko.sp-1.0.min.Ex.js – knockout JS binder library – Extended Version (Includes Moment Js and numeral Js)

Later versions of these libraries may work but these were the ones I used / tested with.

Upload these to your PWA site collection then update the script file with the correct location. I uploaded these files to the site assets library as you can see in the code below:

Also note the references to the default SharePoint / ProjectServer JavaScript libraries.

Once the script is uploaded, save this to the PWA site collection. I uploaded the JavaScript file to the style library:

Now create a new PDP page, I called mine Risks and Issues. Then add a content editor web part on the page and reference the riskandissueonPDP.js file. After clicking save you should see the following message above the grids:

This is because the current page is not an actual projects project details page. Add the new PDP to the correct EPT/s. Now navigate to the Project Center and click on a project that contains risks and / or issues on the associated project site. Click the new Risks and Issues PDP and you will see the the risks and issues displayed:

The script is just an example I put together and should really be improved for a production environment  – error handling, update the displayed columns, visualise processing etc. Watch this space for more JavaScript examples as I dabble further!

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

The Office 2013 April 2014 Cumulative Updates are now available, please see the links below:

http://bit.ly/1lR8IgH

***There is no Project Server 2013 Server Roll up package for April 2014 CU***
Project Server 2013 April 2014 CU:
http://bit.ly/1g8zmuj
Project 2013 April 2014 CU:
http://bit.ly/1g8zmuk

Also worth noting, if you haven’t done so already, install the March 2013 Public update: http://bit.ly/1lR8IgK if installing the April 2014 CU.

The Office 2010 April 2014 Cumulative Updates are now available, please see the links below:

http://bit.ly/1g8zmul

***There is no Project Server 2010 Server Roll up package for April 2014 CU***
Project Server 2010 April 2014 CU:    
http://bit.ly/1g8zmuo & http://bit.ly/1lR8IgP
Project 2010 April 2014 CU:
http://bit.ly/1g8zkTe
Remember SP1 or SP2 is a pre-requisite for the Office 2010 April 2014 CUs.

As always, test these updates on a replica test environment before deploying to production.

For more details see:

http://bit.ly/1lR8JBq

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

Some good news, I’m very pleased to announce that my Project MVP award was renewed for the second time after first being awarded in April 2013. I am really grateful for the recognition, especially as I enjoy helping out the Project and Project Server community so much. It is kind of a hobby of mine I guess, or maybe just an obsession!

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

CPS’ 3rd app is now available in the Microsoft App Store. The app is called “Work Viewer” and can be downloaded here:

http://bit.ly/1jP3G4j

The Project Server Plus Work Viewer app will give users instant visibility of resource assignments and availability for the chosen resources over the selected timeframe.

The app will quickly alert the user to over allocations and availability using the customisable colour formatting options which are fully configurable per user and are persistent.

By default, resource plan work and proposed bookings are excluded from the data. However, these assignments can be added back in by simply checking the relevant box to aid accurate resource management decisions. Assignment information is available in the tooltips detailing the availability, remaining availability, project name, task names, the assignment type and the booking type.

At the click of a button the user can also see the resource’s line manager (timesheet manager) and the project owner. The app features a host of additional innovative features including Lync integration. The user can quickly see the Lync presence and easily communicate to either the resource, the line manager or the project owner using the Lync integration feature.

Download today and take a look using the free trial.

To see the CPS app store click the link below:

http://bit.ly/1jP3EJC

Look out for more new apps coming soon.

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

Following on from my post earlier today regarding the SSIS component that enables you to extract data from ODATA feeds in Office 365, I have created a blog post that demonstrates this new functionality. See the steps below:

Firstly I installed the SQL Server data tools and Integration Services feature on my Test Project Server / SharePoint 2013 box (only server I had available at the time). Once you have access to SQL Server data tools, download and install the ODATA SSIS component from the link below:

http://bit.ly/NSC8fs

Also if this isn’t on a SharePoint / Project Server 2013 server – which in reality it wont be, you will also probably need the SharePoint client DLLs, these can be downloaded here:

http://bit.ly/1dqRowf

When I tried the new SSIS component on the SQL 2012 Server the connection failed and it complained about the SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll:

I didn’t test deploying the SharePoint client components to the SQL Server but I guess this should work.

Once everything is in place, launch SQL Server data tools for SQL Server 2012 and create a new Integration Services project:

Click OK and you will see the following screen:

On the control flow tab, at the bottom you will see Connection managers. Right click and create a new OLEDB Connection to the target database:

Before I created this, I did create a new empty SQL database:

Create another connection to the ODATA feed URL using the New Connection > ODATA option:

Create the ODATA connection to your ODATA tenant:

Specify an account that has access to the ODATA feed. Notice the Service document location is just the base ProjectData ODATA URL.

Click the All button and change the Microsoft Online Services Authentication to True:

Test the connection to confirm it is successful then click ok.

Add a Data Flow Task to the control flow:

Double click the data flow task and you will go to the Data flow tab:

Drag ODATA source from the toolbox to the data flow sheet:

Double click the ODATA source to see the properties:

Complete the details, selecting the ProjectOnlineODATAFeed connection and you will see the Collection property load the collection, in this case it is the tables on the ODATA feed:

Once loaded you will see the familiar ODATA entities:

In this example we will only use the Projects feed:

Click the Columns page on the left hand side and select the columns you want:

Click OK.

Drag the Destination Assistant from the SSIS toolbox to the Data Flow sheet and the new destination window will open:

Select the previously created SQL Server OLE DB connection:

Click OK.

Double click the OLEDB Destination component to load the editor:

Click the New button next to to the table details to create a new table, give the table a name, replace “OLE DB Destination” with the table name you want:

Click OK. At this point if we look at the SQL database we will see the new table and columns:

Back in the SSIS package click the Mappings page, here you can see the field mappings from the ODATA feed to the SQL table:

Click OK and you will see the following flow:

Run the package using the green arrow:

Once run successfully you will see the following:

If we switch back to the SQL server and see what is stored in the table you will see the project data from your Project online tenant:

Now the data is local you can use SQL Server Reporting Services to create reports, you can integrate this data into other LOB systems or create a custom OLAP cube etc. Once you are happy with the package you can set the package to run on a schedule to periodically copy the data down. There are plenty of references on the web for creating SSIS packages so have a search.

This is a basic example but hopefully gives you the idea of what is now possible

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

Quick post to let you know that the SSIS component to export data via ODATA that was mentioned here is now available for download, see the link below:

http://bit.ly/NSC8fs

This will enable you to copy data from Project Online into a custom SQL database, from there you can easily create SSRS reports, custom OLAP cubes, integrate into other LOB systems etc. Look out for more details soon.

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

I recently had to bulk delete and then bulk create project sites for a client. Rather than engaging one of our devs I wrote a PowerShell script to do this. This does need PowerShell 3.0 or later to work. This post covers the bulk create script as this is generic, the bulk delete was specific to the client so I haven’t published that. The script can be downloaded from the script galley below:

http://bit.ly/1fZVPN8

The web service proxy URLs will need to be updated for your PWA instance, replace the http://vm753/pwa with the correct URL.

The script can be seen running and creating sites below:

From the PowerShell ISE:

From PowerShell:

Project Sites are created using the correct site template that is associated to the EPT.

If all projects have a site associated, the following is returned:

Test this on a test / dev farm before running a live production farm.

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

The Task Auditor app from CPS won first place for the “Most Business Value Project” App at the SharePoint Conference 2014 in Las Vegas:

This is a free Project task pane app, go try it out and see what you think

See the links below for details:

App store: http://bit.ly/1n6Ciwu

Product site: http://bit.ly/1dlln6v 

Blog post: http://bit.ly/1dlln6y

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

Service Pack 1 has been released today for Office 2013, the links can be seen below:

SharePoint 2013 SP1:
http://bit.ly/1c5sXUw

Project Server 2013 SP1:
http://bit.ly/1o3Vc5N

Project 2013 SP1:
http://bit.ly/1c5sVvV

SharePoint 2013 and other server related SP1:
http://bit.ly/1c5sVvX

A list of the fixes for Office 2013 SP1:

http://bit.ly/1o3V9ai

As with all patches, deploy to a non production farm and fully test before deploying to a production system.