Archive
2012 in review
Well it is the end of the year and whilst I am on holiday at Surfside, Texas (near Houston), I have been reflecting on the past year for the blog. During this time, WordPress kindly shared the annual report for the blog and we have had a very successful year. You can see all the glorious details below…
I would personally also like to take the time to thank you all for taking interest in the site, happy holidays to all new and existing authors and I can assure you that in the companies we work at, 2013 based projects for clients and internally are well under way, so expect lots more posts from all the authors as we find more interesting tidbits on SharePoint, Project Server, Office 365 and Project Online + anything else of relevance.
We are also starting to look at more thought piece posts in the coming year on project management as well as other relevant subjects, so stay tuned and we will bring you lots more content.
As always, if you have suggestions, questions or comments, get in contact and we actively encourage new authors to come on board either as the occasional guest author or something more that can add value to the community.
I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to interacting with you all in the new year.
So… Without further ado…
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 130,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
England, Project Server 2013 and learning
Before I begin I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I wish you all a great 2013!
A lot of great things will happen in 2013. SharePoint & Project Server 2013 are out and I will be playing around with that and off course Project Online the cloud version of Project Server is on the horizon. Happy times I would say.
Now in December I had the pleasure of going to England to our Partner/Colleagues Corporate Project Solutions. The purpose of this visit to play and learn everything I could within three weeks of Project Server 2013. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone at CPS for this great experience. It was a honor to work with such a talented bunch of people.
So what did I learn?
I tried to learn as much as I can on some of the below topics:
- Installing Project Server 2013.
- Configuring new Exchange features (Task aggregation and Out of Office Sync)
- ADFS and Office365 integration (Interesting topic with the coming of Project Online)
- The new Project Server SharePoint Permission Model
- The Transition from SharePoint Task List to Enterprise Projects
- New Timesheet enhancements
Off course I did a lot more but these are the highlights. I’ll will blog about all these subjects as soon as I get around to it to give some more insight in the installation and new features.
In this post Ill talk a little about my experience when installing Project Server 2013.
One of the first things I started with at CPS was the installation of Project Server 2013. If you are familiar with the installation of SharePoint and Project Server 2010 you quickly realize that the core installation process of SharePoint 2013 and Project Server 2013 is almost identical.
So I won’t bore you with that except one note. I was building my environment on Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012. Strangely you still need to install the SQL Server Native Client 2008 and SQL Server 2008 ASAMO10 for the cube to build successfully.
So what else?
Well there are some small changes like when you provision a Project Web App by default it will have the SharePoint Security Model. (I’ll talk about this model in a different post.) It can be turned back to the Project Server classic mode but only via PowerShell.
Project Server Mode (Classic)
Set-SPProjectPermissionMode –URL http://servername/pwa -AdministratorAccount domain\accountname -Mode ProjectServer
And if you wish back to SharePoint Mode. Note: Switching between SharePoint permission mode and Project Server permission mode deletes all security related settings.
SharePoint Mode
Set-SPProjectPermissionMode –URL htt://servername/pwa –AdministratorAccount domain\accountname –Mode SharePoint
With the coming of Project Online Microsoft has chosen to move some of the web functionality from the server setting to SharePoint Central Administration.
General Queue Settings also have been moved from PWA Server settings to the Project Server Service Application.
Is this it?
Well from what I learned these are the most notable. Off course there are some other additions but those are more SharePoint related then Project Server.
This is it for now in my next post I’ll talk about the new SharePoint permission model.
As for now I am done, again I wish you a good 2013 see you next year!
via SpeakingSilent » Robin Kruithof http://speakingsilent.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/england-project-server-2013-and-learning/
   I am Robin Kruithof. I am working at CXS in the Netherlands as a Microsoft Project Consultant. My passion lies in Project Management and everything in the Project Management domain.
This article has been cross posted from speakingsilent.wordpress.com/ (original article) |
#ProjectServer and #SharePoint 2010 December 2012 Cumulative Update #PS2010 #SP2010 #MSProject
 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 2010 December 2012 Cumulative Updates are now available, please see the links below:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2789671
Project Server 2010 Server Roll up package December 2012 CU (Recommended) – delayed:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2596956
Project Server 2010 December 2012 CU (Included in the Server Roll up package):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2553504
Project 2010 December 2012 CU:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2553188
Remember SP1 is a pre-requisite for the December 2012 CUs.
For more details please see:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/projectsupport/archive/2012/12/19/microsoft-project-server-and-sharepoint-server-2007-and-2010-december-2012-cu-announcement.aspx
As always, test these updates on a replica test environment before deploying to production
Creating and adding Projects to #ProjectServer 2013 #PS2013 #SP2013 #Office365 Part 2
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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 Part 1, this post will look into the SharePoint Task List and Connected SharePoint sites. As mentioned in part 1, I did create a post on this for the Preview release of Project Server 2013.
For those of you that missed Part 1:
This post will revisit the SharePoint Task List and Connected SharePoint site functionality. Similar but simpler SharePoint Task List functionality does exist in Project Server 2010 with the New > From SharePoint List option in the Project Centre. This functionality has been improved and extended in Project Server 2013.
In Project Server 2010 you had to create the SharePoint task list before adding the project to Project Server, in Project Server 2013 this has changed and improved. Clicking the New > SharePoint Tasks List from the Project Centre button will now prompt you for a project name:
Clicking Create will create the SharePoint site, with a Tasks list and then take you to the newly created tasks list.
As you can see the project now exists in the Project Centre also:
Clicking the project name from the Project Centre view will take you to the tasks list on the SharePoint site, as you can see I have created two tasks:
You can also import other SharePoint sites to Project Server 2013 using the Add SharePoint Sites button on the Project tab in the Project Centre:
Clicking this button will load a new window displaying all SharePoint sites within the PWA site collection that contain a Tasks list:
In this example I am going to add the “Design new theme” site, the tasks can be seen below:
At this point it is worth noting that Paul Mather already exists in the Project Server resource pool but User H doesn’t. Also there are only 5 Apps on this site:
I will now select the “Design new theme” project and click Add, the pop will now advise you that the project is being created:
After a short amount of time you will see the project is in the Project Centre:
Now this project is in Project Server, you will notice any users that were assigned to tasks on the tasks list that didn’t previously exist in the Project Server resource pool now exist as resources in the enterprise resource pool. Also the other thing I highlighted, the Apps on the site. After adding the SharePoint site to Project Server you will see the familiar lists from the Project Site:
This is because the Project Web App Connectivity site feature is activated when the site is added to Project Server.
Using both methods to add SharePoint Task lists to Project Server will sync the task list data with Project Server. At the time you add a SharePoint task list site to Project Server, that data will be synchronised instantly. Additional changes to the tasks on the tasks lists such as adding new tasks, updating % complete etc. is not updated in Project Server instantly. This synchronisation is triggered by a SharePoint Timer Job called “Project Server: Task List Synchronizer for SharePoint Tasks List Projects job for Project Services Application”
Once changes have been made to the connected SharePoint sites and the timer job has run, all data in Project Server will be correct and in sync with the task list. This includes the resource assignments / availability views, Project Centre Gantt charts and the Reporting tables / views in the Project Server database.
The connected SharePoint site task lists can either be updated from the sites using the web browser or using Project Professional 2013. When using Project Professional 2013, connected SharePoint site projects are opened the same way as a full Enterprise Project. When editing a connected SharePoint site in Project Pro you only have the option to save, no publish. Saving this type of project from Project Professional automatically fires off a publish job keeping the data in the system in synch – you don’t have to wait for the Timer Job.
Connected SharePoint sites can become full Enterprise Projects and full Enterprise Projects can become just a SharePoint task list connected site. This is update in Server Settings > Connected SharePoint Sites:
Converting a SharePoint Task list project to an Enterprise Project will disable editing of the tasks list from the SharePoint site, the tasks can only be modified via the Project Web App or Project Professional 2013. Converting an Enterprise Project to a SharePoint Task list project will disable editing of the schedule in PWA and enable tasks to be edited in a SharePoint task list or Project Professional.
Overall a great way to manage simple lightweight projects and gain visibility of these projects in Project Server! 
Creating and adding Projects to #ProjectServer 2013 #PS2013 #SP2013 #Office365 Part 1
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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) |
As you are all hopefully aware Project Server 2013 is available to Volume Licensing, TechNet and MSDN accounts. No doubt you have seen may posts already about the great new features, some of which I have also previously blogged about. This post will look at the various options you have for creating and adding projects to Project Server 2013. In this series of posts I won’t cover the options of creating projects programmatically or the options that exist in Project Server 2010 already. These posts will look at the new options in Project Server 2013.
The first option I will cover in this post is creating projects from a list within PWA. For this example I have created a normal SharePoint custom list called Project Ideas with a Title field and Description field as shown below:
As you can see I have already created an example project idea. If I click on the Items tab and select the new project idea,notice the Create Projects button is enabled:
Click the Create Projects button and a new window will appear:
As you can see here I can map my Project Ideas columns with the Project Server fields. As this is an example I have only added a Description to the Project Ideas list and only have the default Project Server fields. These are mapped below:
The next option is to select the Enterprise Project Type. Again, I haven’t created any additional EPTs for this example:
I will set this project to be an Enterprise Project.
On there form there are additional options to create new Project Server custom fields, new EPTs and to reload the form with the new fields. Once the options are completed, click Create Project. The form will refresh to show that the project has been created:
Clicking View Details will display the project name:
Click Close and navigate to the Project Centre, you will see the new project ready to be scheduled:
The Project Details PDP shows the correct description from the Project Ideas list:
A nice and simple approach to transition project ideas to full Enterprise projects.
I will now create another Project Idea but this time select SharePoint Task List, see below.
New Project Idea selected:
Click Create Projects, notice the fields are already mapped:
Update the Enterprise Project Type to SharePoint Task List:
Click Create Project. Navigate to the Project Centre and you will see the new project:
Notice the different icon to indicate it is not an Enterprise Project. Clicking on this project will take you to the SharePoint site Task list:
The project tasks can be created in the task list, this is then synchronised back to Project Server using the “Project Server: Task List Synchronizer for SharePoint Tasks List Projects job for Project Services Application” Timer job.
In the next post I will take a look at the SharePoint Task list and Connected SharePoint sites in more detail. I did write a post on this for the preview version of Project Server 2013, that post can be found here:
I will expand on / review this post for the RTM version of Project Server 2013.
Building a Project Server app
EPMSource have just finished a very nice 4 / 5 part series on how to create an app for Project Online. It even walks through the submission process to the app store.
Here are the direct links to each post
Post 0
Building your first Project Server app – Part Zero–The introduction
Post 1
Building your first Project Server app – Part 1 – Getting Started – Setting up a development env
Post 2
Building your first Project Server app – Part 2 – Getting the basic app up and running
Post 3
Building your first Project Server app – Part 3 – Taking the app to the next level
Post 4
Building your first Project Server App – Part 4 – Submitting to the app store
via Buzz Blog http://paulbuzzblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/building-a-project-server-app/
 Paul is a an expert SharePoint and Project Server developer and is responsible for designing and implementing custom solutions on client systems using the latest SharePoint and .NET technologies.
Paul has extensive experience with SharePoint systems across all sizes of implementation, ranging from small to large farms and has an excellent understanding of all the elements of SharePoint. This article has been cross posted from paulbuzzblog.wordpress.com (original article) |
#SPSUK slides: Transitioning from #SP2013 to #PS2013 for #EPM #MSProject #SharePoint
Thank to all those who attend my presentation yesterday at SharePoint Saturday UK 2012. There were lots of questions throughout and a thoroughly engaged audience.
Presentation Slides
The slides are now uploaded here: http://www.slideshare.net/Ghamson/cps-transitioning-from-sharepoint-to-project-server-2013-for-enterprise-project-management
Via PowerPoint (Office Web Apps / SkyDrive)
Video Demonstration
I also created a video of the demonstration of the day. This is embedded as part of the presentation and is also available here:
Transitioning from #SP2013 to #PS2013 for Enterprise Project Management #SPSUK #MSProject #SharePoint
Just a quick note to say that I will be presenting at SharePoint Saturday UK on December 8th 2012 on:
Project Site to Project Management
Transitioning from SharePoint to Project Server for Enterprise Project Management
Session Objectives:
After attending this session you will understand the different tools for Project Management offered with SharePoint and Project Server, including the advantages / disadvantages of each method.
In addition you will also takeaway:
- A high level understanding of how SharePoint / Project Server work together
- The benefits of enterprise project management
- Project management maturity expectations as solutions become more complex
Agenda:
- What’s Project Server / Project Online
- Understanding Project Maturity
- Supporting Tools
- Transition – Simple to Complex
- Demo
- Decisions – Where to start?
- Conclusion
Where, When, How?
- Conference: SharePoint Saturday UK 2012
- Location: Nottingham
- Date: Saturday, 8 December 2012
- Conference Times: 09:00 to 17:00 (GMT)
- Presentation Time: 13:30 to 14:30
- Presenter: Giles Hamson
- Full Address:
East Midlands Conference Centre
University Park
NG7 2RJ Nottingham
United Kingdom
If you see me during the day, say hello and I hope you all enjoy the conference.
Missing options in Central Admin #SharePoint 2013 #SP2013 #PS2013
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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) |
A quick post to highlight an issue that you might run into. Mange Services on Server link missing in Central Admin when running Internet Explorer on the App / Web Server? New Service Application button disabled?
Missing Manage Services on Server link:
New Service Application button disabled:
Run Central Admin as an Administrator and these options will be available. 
Steps to format a SP2013 site differently depending on the device
This week I was doing some research on how to design to use the new Sharepoint 2013 “device channels” feature which allows designers to show a different MasterPage per device (link), as opposed to just enabling a unique mobile format for all devices.
How to make this
looks like that 
took me a good part of the day !
I found a bit of help in various places and will say that JussionSharepoint probably has the most comprehensive steps however he doesn’t discuss designing the Master Page and Layout Page in HTML which is now the recommended way in SP2013, Sonja’s Sharepoint2013 blog also has some valuable reading, but because my brain tends to think in a bullet list kind-of-way so here are my quisksteps on the subject.
[warning] I was going to describe all the steps to configure so that you can navigate your site with a mobile device. However while I was doing so I couldn’t figure out why it still didn’t work on the homepage of my 2013 environment. So here are the pre-requisite before attempting any design. [/warning]
Pre-requisites
1- only works with Publishing Feature enabled
2- only works with Mobile Brower View Feature disabled (otherwise it takes over)
3- finally (this one too me even longer to figure out!) only works if Wiki Page Home Page feature is disabled.
So now that we got that figured out, we can proceed to the customisations.
My 5 or 6 Steps
| 1) | First of all you need to be able to access your Sharepoint site from an HTML editor (I used Notepad++) , so you need to map your computer to the Sharepoint site as a network drive. |
| 2) |
Open Site Designer
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| 3) |
Create mobile master page
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| 4) |
Create a new Channel for the mobile device (here you can see iPhone)
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| 5) | Edit Site Master page settings  to assign the Channel to the mobile Master page  |
| 6) |
Optionally …. Create new Layout page, however in my case it showed an error in Design Manager:
To fix:
(same as for Master Page use Design Manager to add snippets of code to your HTML file that you will open from your client HTML editor and save again) |
I said Optionally for step 6, because there is not point creating a LayoutPage just for a certain device unless you are designing a site specific for a device OR you are going to create a page for each device.
Now open the site in Chrome or IE9 and you can change the user-agent so that it simulates you browsing from a mobile device. My preference at the moment is “User-agent Switcher for Chrome”.
Other tips to share
A few things I experienced that I would place in the “good to know” :
– rename the alternative MasterPage for a channel and it will break all channel (ie I renamed the masterpage for iPhone only, the home page errored when opening it using the defaut channel (IE or Chrome), until you edit the MasterPage settings and fix the missing MasterPage for that channel you renamed.
– after I edited the HTML of the Master page a few times, for no reason there was a large blank space that would be added between some DIV elements, even though they were not showing in the code. I had to remove the .master, it will get re-created form the .html within the same second but fixing the blank lines.
Conclusion
Now I have to say I am not impressed… Basically it would be great to build a LayoutPage for each device so that when you load the page one device A it will be LayoutPage A that opens. This way the webpart zone that have been defined horizontally for computer devices could be changed vertically for phone devices.
But that’s not the way it works, because each webpage uses a LayoutPage and that one is not dependant on the channel. The Master Page is the one that depends on the channel however MasterPage do not hold Webpart Zones but the Content Place Holder for the Layout Page.
Therefore there is still some good design work to do if you want to have a full any-devices-friendly sharepoint site.
In the meantime I will play more with the Mobile Browser View features that turns a site into mobile as it may just be the answer.
Of course it will not be adapted to all devices, and what would be nice is to use this feature “most of the time” and for a couple of page to create a layout that uses our special channel Master Page, but since both cannot co-exist it’s a no go for now.
via François on Sharepoint http://sharepointfrancois.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/steps-to-format-a-sp2013-site-differently-depending-on-the-device/
 French native Sharepoint Consultant living in London. A crossway between a designer, developer and system architect. Prefers stretching the limit of out-of-the-box features rather than breaking them into code. When not working with Microsoft Sharepoint François is often found on Web2.0 News sites and related social networking tools.
This article has been cross posted from sharepointfrancois.wordpress.com/ (original article) |
SharePoint (and Project Server) Shenanigans 
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