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Project Online a new step forward

July 24, 2012 Leave a comment

Just as always Project Online and Project Professional 2013 are out in the preview version. A lot of changes can still be made. I also want to point out that statements I make are mostly based on assumptions. As I don’t know what the final product will actually bring.

With the preview version coming out Microsoft also showed Project Online. So what is it? It is basically the office 365 version of Project Server. Project Server at the moment is only available as a Server product. For small – medium companies this might be too expensive to support.

With the coming of Project Online small-mid sized companies have the ability to benefit from almost all the capabilities of Project Server (Depending on the prize of course). Because it is based on office365 it a lot easier for small to mid sized companies to get there hands on it.

image

Project Online Home Page

This will open doors for these companies to start thinking about Enterprise Project Management (EPM). Meaning enterprise resource management, portfolio management en centralized project store for all the projects within the company.

Why would I still buy Project Server if Project Online is available? For me as it looks now in the preview version, Project Online can be categorized as a Project Server starter kit. It has a fare share of the functionalities and features of Project Server but has in its office365 environment somewhat limited configuration and development capabilities. Meaning branding, custom solutions, custom reports and probably more.

For bigger companies this might be a reason to go for a Project Server deployment instead of Project Online.

However I do think Project Online will be a great way for small to mid sized companies to experience Project. It is a great way for these companies to start managing Projects, Resources and Portfolios in a entirely different way.

If you want to test out Project Online you can do that here: http://www.microsoft.com/project/en-us/preview/default.aspx

I think Microsoft made a great leap forward with Project. I can’t wait to help new clients to set this up. Because don’t be fooled even Project Online needs a little bit of configuration before you can start using it for your company. Always remember the tool is easy, the process in your company around EPM is not.

via SpeakingSilent » Robin Kruithof http://speakingsilent.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/project-online-a-new-step-forward/

Robin Kruithof
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)
Categories: Robin Kruithof, Work Tags:

Best source code plugin for wordpress and Live Writer

July 23, 2012 Leave a comment

 

See here for the best source code plugin

 

http://richhewlett.com/wlwsourcecodeplugin/

via Buzz Blog http://paulbuzzblog.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/best-source-code-plugin-for-wordpress-and-live-writer/

Chris Stretton
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 speakingsilent.wordpress.com/ (original article)
Categories: Paul Busby, Work Tags: , ,

Practice makes Perfect Pt 1 – Timeline #MSProject #ProjectServer #Office365

July 23, 2012 Leave a comment

I am often asked “why should we upgrade from Project Professional 2007 to Project Professional 2010”. My answer would be “Why not” Project Professional 2010 has some new features/functions that can make a Project Managers live a lot easier.

In the first part of Practice makes Perfect I am going to talk about one of these new features; the Timeline.

“With the new office version Project Professional 2013 coming out in preview I used that to create most of the images. Remember this is still a preview version so things might change.”

The timeline is a new feature that allows a Project Manager to create a graphical presentation of his project. He can do this over his whole project or just select a few tasks he wants to show. This enable the Project Manager to use the timeline in presentations, documents or just put it against the wall.

The timeline looks something like this:

image

Click to enlarge.

Pretty neat i would say.

In the timeline you can do a couple of things.

You can change the format of all the task in the timeline. For instance you can color the most important task red. You can also change the format of the text styles to make something clear within the timeline.

image

Why would i use the timeline? Like I said it enables the Project Managers to create a easy to use view of the project in minutes. Easy to use in for example Word or PowerPoint. They way the data is presented it is also easier to read then a normal project Gant Chart.

There a numerous ways you can use this feature and I am not going sum up all of them. When you have access to Project Professional 2010 experiment with it. Trust me it will be worth your time.

So how do I use it?

There are two ways to you can add tasks into your timeline.

1. Right click your task and the one of the last commands you can give is “Add to Timeline”

2. Go to “Task Information” or double click your task and on the “General Tab” you will fine “Display on Timeline”.

Timeline3

Easy as that.

Enjoy your timeline!

Robin Kruithof
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/
Categories: Robin Kruithof, Work Tags: , ,

#MSProject – Practice makes Perfect #ProjectServer #Office365

July 23, 2012 Leave a comment

During a three day Prince2 Practitioner course with me being a consultant that implements Microsoft Project. I asked the six project managers the following question: “How many of you use Microsoft Project to plan your projects” The responds was as what I expected “I use Excel”, “I only use it to draw up my initial plan and hang it against a wall”. While I do not like Excel as a planning tool, I can understand a lot of Project Managers use it.

My follow-up question is then do you update your plan on a weekly basis. The answer I usual get then is no. I have it in my head and update the plan when I need to (which usual takes a lot of time).

This is an example on what I see on day to day basis. There are still a lot of Project Managers that use Microsoft Project to make a plan and then never use it again to update it.

My question would be why? Microsoft Project has great functions that a Project Manager can use to make it a really easy job to update a project plan. I think the answer lies in that a lot of Project Managers do not take the time to explore Microsoft Project and it’s functions and features.

The next question would be is it really needed? I suppose not and depends on your style as a Project Manager, but what I do know is, that it can really save you a lot of time and effort. And that as a Project Manager is what we all want. We have a lot of things to do on a daily basis anyway.

To help any Project Manager that is interested in Microsoft Project and use it  or wants to start using it for their projects, I am going to start a series called “Practice makes Perfect” that will try to help to get the most out of Microsoft Project. For the series I will use Microsoft Project Professional 2010 or the new Project Professional 2013 (currently part of the Microsoft Office preview).

Microsoft Project 2010

This series will include for example:

  • Baseline usage
  • Views (Think of easy views a project manager can use to update their plan)
  • Reports

I hope that this series will help Project Managers to get more out of Microsoft Project and really help them on a day to day basis.

Robin Kruithof
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/
Categories: Robin Kruithof, Work Tags: ,

#SharePoint Slide Libraries #SP2010

July 22, 2012 1 comment

At a recent meeting of all the consultants, we were talking about the various tools that we use and how we use them. These can include various PowerPoint presentations. One of the more senior people in the room asked; “Wouldn’t it be great if we could have one central repository of all the PowerPoint slides that might want to use? It would be even better if we were told automatically when these slides are updated and we can be sure that we are using the most up to date slides in our presentation.”

I thought about this for a brief moment and then said “That sounds like SharePoint slide library to me. I’m pretty sure you can do all those things from a slide library”.

And, as it turns out, you can.

Adding slides to the library

To add one more slides from a presentation to the slide library:

  1. From within PowerPoint, right click on any slide to display the context men.
  2. Click on the Publish Slides option

    Publish slides

    Publish slides

  3. This will open the Publish Slides dialogue box. The slide that was right clicked on in the previous step will already be selected. Use the checkboxes to the left of the thumbnails to select other slides. Alternatively use the Select All button to select all the slides.

    Select files to publish

    Select files to publish

  4. Use the Browse button to locate the slide library:

    1. Clicking on the Browse button will open the “Select a slide library” dialogue box

      Browse to locate the slide library

      Browse to locate the slide library

    2. Enter the address of the slide library in the address bar. Alternatively enter a top level address such as http://cps.co.uk and then navigate to the required slide library
    3. Click the Select button
  5. Once the required slide library has been selected, click on the Publish button
  6. The required slides will be added to the slide library

Using slides from a slide library in a presentation

To add slides from a slide library to a presentation:

  1. Open the slide library that contains the required slides.
  2. Use the check boxes to the left of the slide thumbnails to select the required slides
  3. Click on the link to copy the required slides to a presentation

    Select files and add to presentation

    Select files and Copy slides to presentation

  4. If PowerPoint is not already open then it will be opened a dialogue box will prompt you to add the selected slides to a new presentation

    Copy slides to PowerPoint

  5. Copy slides to PowerPoint

  6. If there is already a presentation open then there will be the option to add the selected slides to a new presentation or the existing one.
  7. In either case the second check box should be selected. The next time the presentation is opened a dialogue box will appear, prompting the user to check for changes. 
  8. Clicking on the Check button will compare slides in the current presentation to slides in the slide library. If PowerPoint detects that the latter have been changed then a dialogue box will appear giving the user the chance to updates slides in the presentation.

Et Voila! One central repository for slides and notification of changes!

Carl Sprake
After beginning my career in pharmaceutical sales I moved into IT training, initially in the pharmaceutical sector but then moved across to the NHS to teach basic computer skills and the ECDL. I then changed companies and moved into a primarily Microsoft Office training and support role. I joined CPS in 2008 as a training consultant and now provide configuration as well as training services.

This article has been cross posted from carlsprake.wordpress.com/ (original article)

Categories: Carl Sprake, Work Tags: , , ,

#PS2013 #MSProject Online CSOM documentation links #ProjectServer #Office365

July 20, 2012 Leave a comment

So as I continue my investigations into the CSOM for Project Server 2013 and Project Online (Office 365), I came across the following articles on MSDN.

Hopefully others will find these articles useful also:

High level project CSOM details

What’s new for developers in Project 2013 – CSOM

Client-side object model (CSOM) for Project Server 2013

Project Server CSOM – Sample Code – JavaScript and .NET

Getting started with the Project Server 2013 JavaScript object model

Getting started with the Project Server CSOM and .NET

How to: Create, retrieve, update, and delete projects by using the Project Server 2013 JavaScript object model

Project Professional 2013 CSOM – Sample Code – JavaScript

Project 2013 client programming

Task pane apps for Project Professional 2013

Task pane apps for Project

How to: Create your first task pane app for Project 2013 by using a text editor

JavaScript API for Office

Understanding the JavaScript API for Office

Schema map (apps for Office)

Categories: Work Tags: , , ,

Retrieving the Project GUID with JavaScript CSOM #PS2013 #PS2010 #MSProject #Office365 #in

July 20, 2012 5 comments

So the Microsoft Office preview is out and unfortunately my colleagues and I are still consulting on current and previous versions, so only limited time around client work allows for play.  Luckily we have had access to earlier versions for several months now so as a company Corporate Project Solutions is prepared for 2013 and we are even running knowledge sessions and upgrade validation checks.

Moving on… whilst in the hotel, we started playing with Napa and the possibilities around what can and can’t be done.

Although this example is not relevant to Napa (due to the environment the apps run in), we did manage to product some code that would be useful for Sandbox Solutions or Composite solutions using the Content Editor Web Part in Project Online, Project Server 2013 and potentially Project Server 2010.

In this example, we use the SharePoint Client Side Object Model to view the property bag within a Project Site to retrieve the following:

  • Internal Project UID
  • Project Wep App URL
  • Project Web App Site UID.

NB: The Project UID is for the plan associated within to the site in Project Server.

The Result

image

SharePoint CSOM code running within a Project Site in Project Online (Office 365 Preview)

 

image

Closer look at the output

 

So you may be wondering, why we need this information.  Well with the introduction of Project Online / Project Server 2013, the client side object model can interact with the PSI to return Project and Resource data.

In many cases you will need the Project UID as a starting point!

Here are the details of getting things up and running in the IE Development Toolbar Smile and trust me, there is much more CSOM goodness to come.

 

Final Code Example:

function getWebProperty() {
    var ctx = new SP.ClientContext.get_current();
    this.web = ctx.get_web();
    this.props =  this.web.get_allProperties();

    ctx.executeQueryAsync(
       Function.createDelegate(this, gotProperty), 
       Function.createDelegate(this, failedGettingProperty)
    );
}

function gotProperty() {
    alert("Project UID: " + this.props.get_fieldValues()["MSPWAPROJUID"]
     + "\nPWA URL: " + this.props.get_fieldValues()["PWAURL"]
     + "\nPWA Site UID: " + this.props.get_fieldValues()["MSPWASITEUID"]
    ); 
}

function failedGettingProperty() {
    alert("failed");
}

getWebProperty();

Debug Code Example:

To get this detail out, me and my colleague had to do some digging in the object model using debug code to alert out to the console values at the Web and Property object areas:

function getWebProperty() {
    var ctx = new SP.ClientContext.get_current();
            for(var p in ctx)
            {
                        console.log("T: " + p);
            }
    this.web = ctx.get_web();
    this.props =  this.web.get_allProperties();
    ctx.load(this.web);
    ctx.load(this.props);

    ctx.executeQueryAsync(
       Function.createDelegate(this, gotProperty), 
       Function.createDelegate(this, failedGettingProperty)
    );
}

function gotProperty() {
            //alert(props.isPropertyAvailable('allowdesigner'));
            for(var itm in this.web){
                        console.log(itm);
            }
            for(var prop in props){
            console.log(prop);
            }
            for(var fv in this.props.get_fieldValues())
            { 
                        console.log(fv);
            }
            alert(this.props.get_fieldValues()["MSPWAPROJUID"]); 
}

function failedGettingProperty() {
    alert("failed");
}

getWebProperty();

 

Example References

Just in case you need to add sources for JavaScript frameworks.  Here are some references below:

<script type="text/ecmascript" src="/_layouts/SP.Core.js" />

<script type="text/ecmascript" src="/_layouts/SP.Debug.js" />

<script type="text/ecmascript" src="/_layouts/SP.Runtime.Debug.js" />

<script type="text/javascript" 
     src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js" />

 

Categories: Work Tags: , , ,

#ProjectServer 2013 online change permission mode #Office365 #PS2013 #SP2013

July 19, 2012 Leave a comment
Paul Mather
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 detail the steps to change permission mode for Project Server 2013 online. The default permission mode is the SharePoint permission mode, to change this to Classic permission mode (Project Server mode) see the steps below:

Open PWA and click Admin > Project:

image

Select the PWA site and click Project Web App > Settings from the ribbon:

image

Check the Classic permission management radio button, specify an administrator and click OK.

image

Please note, switching between permission modes deletes all security related settings.

Categories: Paul Mather, Work Tags:

First Look at #ProjectServer online #Office365 #PS2013 #SP2013

July 19, 2012 1 comment
Paul Mather
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 probably all aware the preview for next version of Office was released earlier this week. http://pwmather.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/projectserver-2013-preview-sharepoint2013-msproject/

In this post I will give a brief intro to the new version of Project Server 2013. I will cover the look and feel and highlight some of the new features. The screen shots from the post are from the Project online version as I haven’t got around to installing the on-premise version yet. For this example I have created a simple example project called PM Test Project 1.

Firstly lets take a look at the default PWA homepage:

image

The reminders web part has been updated with the cool new metro style “Track your work” web part to summarise your work. Clicking one of the icons takes you to that page to see the details, for example the Tasks page:

image

This page looks the same as it did in 2010.

The project centre now has the timeline view available:

image

You will also see a new button on the Projects tab, Add SharePoint sites:

image

When you click this button a new window will pop up populated with a list of the SharePoint sites based on the SharePoint Project Site template, below you can see the example site I created on the PWA site collection.

image

Once these SharePoint project sites are added they are visible in Project server but I will create a separate post for this soon!

The Project sites have nice new Project Summary web part where you can switch between the timeline or upcoming and late tasks:

image

image

All the project task are visible but not editable on the project site in the Tasks list:

image

There is also a notebook on the project site, this uses OneNote:

image

Project 2013:

image

The built in reports have been updated, take a look at the Project Overview report:

image

The report is editable, with new charts and tables etc.

image

image

The existing charts are all editable:

image

These are just a few examples of the new features in Project Server 2013 and Project 2013. I will be posting more details in the coming weeks.

Categories: Paul Mather, Work Tags:

Office 15 preview announcement notes #SharePoint #SP2010 #MSProject #PS2010 #ProjectServer

July 16, 2012 1 comment

Well, just as the rumours predicted, Microsoft has officially announced the Office 15 Preview. 

The live webcast announcement has just finished and I took some notes whilst I was watching.

Before I get to the notes, the Office 365 preview is available now to all users to try out:

 

1_officecta_page

http://office.com/preview

 

I’ve just signed up for a preview enterprise account and the preview appears to include:

  • Exchange
  • SharePoint
  • Lync
  • Office 15
    Just for showmanship here are the new icons of the Office 15 suite:
    hp_icon_word hp_icon_excel
    hp_icon_powerpoint hp_icon_onenote
    hp_icon_outlook image
    Office365O15 image
    image  

Just as you would expect from an Office 365 preview.

 

** Update **

On further searching, all the various previews including Project, Microsoft Project Server Online! and Visio is available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/officepreview/try-more-products

 

** Update 2 **

Office Preview Feature Pages:

FAQ Link: http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en/faq (Includes specifications etc…)

 

** Update 3 **

IT Pro / On-Premise Downloads + Useful links:

    SharePoint 2013 Requirements:

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/Preview/sharepoint-requirements.aspx

      How to install by Eric Harlan:
        What you need to know about 2013 by Andrew Connell:

      http://www.andrewconnell.com/blog/archive/2012/07/16/sharepoint-2013-what-you-need-to-know.aspx

        ** Update 4 **

        Discontinued Features

        Microsoft Support have posted the following article on discontinued features:

        http://officepreview.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/discontinued-features-and-modified-functionality-in-microsoft-sharepoint-2013-preview-HA102892827.aspx

         

        ** Update 5 **

        Setting up team development environments for SharePoint 2013

        http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/setting-up-team-development-infrastructure-for-sharepoint-2013-development/10tcd4al4

         

        ** Update 6 **

        Useful Links from Jeremy Thake (http://wss.made4the.net/archive/2012/07/16/office-2013-preview-announced-today.aspx)

        ** Update 7 **

        Training Material

        Announcement Notes:

        Now on to my notes taken during the keynote announcement and more blog posts will follow as I try things out the Customer Preview version:

         

        Office 365

        • new website capabilities
        • new social capabilities
        • new office web access with inline preview
        • mentions of yammer for a more social enterprise including future social connectors
        • annotation built in to Microsoft Office

        PowerPoint

        • full touch interface
        • pinch and zoom
        • hide / show ribbon including pin
        • new animation (1 of many) – “drape”

        Presentation editing updates

        • finger swipe or tap to switch slides
        • pinch and zoom available
        • inking used for annotation

        Presentation mode updated

        • shows next slide (very useful addition)
        • slide notes (as standard)
        • metro style
        • clock / timer still present

        Outlook

        • same ribbon capability
        • full touch
        • quick actions tab on right for easy touch based control
        • inline reply, no more multiple pop-ups required

        Peek functionality

        • hover over calendar or tasks for a window to appear showing current calendar or todays tasks
        • Double click on the section to open calendar or tasks

        Office developer model (Codename: Agave)

        Outlook used as the example but it is available across the suite of Office applications.

        can be hosted anywhere (Azure, Amazon and other web services for example)

        Example shown:

        • Bing maps and suggested appointments – scans current email and shows maps or appointment suggestions

        OneNote

        • updated to metro style
        • full touch, slide between notebooks
        • ink enabled
        • radial menu enables style changes easily with touch (font size like a spinometer)
        • integrated camera support in windows 8 (full touch cropping)

        Word

        • metro ui
        • office live sign in
        • shared settings
        • uses skydrive to save and share templates between devices
        • by default it will store it in the cloud
        • live layout with touch enabled (Allows you to drag pictures around the screen for positioning)

        Reading mode

        • inverse colours for reading modes
        • presence within comments
        • collapse and expand sections

        Cloud integration

        • embed youtube clips into word now
        • flickr and other picture services integrated
        • share document capability – skydrive, social networks, publish to blog
        • Shared device capability (pick up where you left off – remembers exact document position no matter the device)
        • settings and documents sync’d via sky drive
        • windows mobile 7.5 and 8 works the same way

        SharePoint

        Social

        • follow documents, sites, tags and people
        • suggestions on what you should follow
        • activity feed
        • like capability
        • document previews (Office web apps)
        • inline video playback (including youtube)
        • tag creation with #tags
        • people suggestions as you type
        • news feed and presence + pictures inline
        • feed appears in sharepoint, office and includes facebook, twitter, yammer via social connectors (coming soon i’d expect)

        Skype

        • presence built into office just like lync

        Excel

        flash fill – assumes formulas on the fly

        • based on typing it analyses the columns in the sheet and suggests what you are trying to do
        • chart suggestions intelligent based on the data in the sheet

        Windows 8 scales

        • perceptive pixel (company recently bought by Microsoft)
        • 80+ inch screen with multi touch

        Lync

        • touch aware also
        • drag users to tele or video conferences
        • live meeting functionality built in with touch capability
        • open one note from lync and meeting details are automatically brought in.
        • Using windows 8 you can pin it for side by side conferencing
        • NB: All the above shown on the perceptive pixel screen
          Now for all those excited about the announcement, what are you doing reading this? Go get on the preview and started learning!

        http://office.com/preview

        Categories: Work Tags: , , ,
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