Archive
Presenting @HSPUG Transitioning from #SP2013 to #PS2013 for #EPM / #PPM November 20th 2013 #MSProject #ProjectServer
One of my first tasks at BrightStarr is getting myself known in the area and what better way than to start presenting at the local user groups. So without further ado:
Transitioning from SP to PS for Enterprise Project Management
Presenter: Giles Hamson
As a Project Manager, challenges exist with determining what are the best tools to use to help you be most effective. Project Server and SharePoint are two different tools for Project Management that include their advantages and disadvantages.
In this session, you will come away with the following information:
- A high level understanding of how SharePoint and Project Server work together
- The benefits of enterprise project management
- Project management maturity expectations as solutions become increasingly more complex
About Giles Hamson
Giles Hamson has been working with collaboration technologies since 2001 and has been implementing SharePoint solutions from 2004; starting with SharePoint Portal Server 2003 whilst working in the Microsoft Dynamics division in Reading, UK.
Giles has worked in multiple roles throughout his career working as a business analyst, moving into system analysis and development roles.
After gaining experience across Linux, Solaris and Microsoft disciplines, Giles moved into consultancy within the education market creating learning platform solutions based on SharePoint and integration with 3rd party vendors. After several successful implementations Giles moved into consultancy in SharePoint and Project Server across multiple industry verticals.
- Giles has recently moved from the UK to Austin, TX and joined BrightStarr.
Also being presented at the November H-SPUG meeting is:
Bringing it all together with the Content Search Web Part
Presenter: Paul McCollum
Finally take full advantage of the power of search. Construct powerful IT Pro solutions using the Content Search Web Part, Keyword Query Language and the new query builder. Gain perspective on enterprise-wide events and content from a single location.
About Paul McCollum
A very early computing adopter, Paul has been programming for more than 30 years, writing his first lines of code in the 2nd grade. The past 20 years have been focused on the Portal space starting by hand with Notepad and Vi. 
He hopped over to SharePoint in 2007 and hasn’t looked back. More recently his role is as an Enterprise Solution Architect and Platform Manager at 7-Eleven. His current focus is around empowering power users and IT pros with rapid development solutions without code or with highly accessible JavaScript and jQuery. In his spare time, Paul contributes to technology forecasting news sites and coaches volleyball
Location
Microsoft Office, 2000 West Sam Houston Parkway South, #350, Houston, TX 77042 (http://binged.it/17PdJ46)
Date & Time
20th November 2013 – 17:30 till 20:00
Registration
If you manage to make it, come up and say hello 
TechEd Europe 2012 Day Two #TEE12
I know TechEd Europe 2012 is over now and unfortunately it is only now that I have had a chance to recount my adventures of day two.
Day two for me was unfortunately my last day due to work commitments. It was however the day of my presentation on Integrating SharePoint and Project Server 2010.
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First of all, the sessions:
Keynote
The focus of the keynote on day two was around Windows 8. Now I know that Windows 8 has been available in its preview form for a long time now and we have seen it on tablets with the Samsung Series 7 Slate:
However, I have installed it in a VM and tried it out and felt the desktop experience was somewhat lacking. This is only based on initial trials and I hadn’t done any research into shortcuts etc. So it was just my initial impression.
I have to say though, after watching the keynote, I was pleasantly surprised. The ease of use for touch and mouse / keyboard interfaces is actually very good but is somewhat hidden from initial impressions and I can totally see that I will be using Windows 8 with ease in future.
As part of the keynote, they demonstrated Tablet use, Mouse / Keyboard use and even multi-touch aware touch pads on laptops. It is clear that a lot of thought has been put into this interface and more importantly every demonstration in this keynote was live, using the release preview of the software.
Then they demonstrated Windows To Go, which is a new feature of Windows 8 allowing you to run the OS and anything installed from a USB drive.
Once again a live demo which worked first time without issues and then whilst running the OS and demonstrating the solution he pulled the USB stick out:
And within 60 seconds, if you put the USB stick back in, the OS and the applications just keep running, totally amazing!!!
Can you imagine using your new Microsoft Surface tablet with all your sales demos and POC machines booting from the USB (perhaps a bit aspirational, but still… it sounds possible)
Anyway… on to the sessions… I only really had time for one session:
BI Semantic Models: Multi-dimensional vs. Tabular
Now I am have been using the BI tool part of the SharePoint for a very long time and recently my projects has started to become more involved in the backend infrastructure of the data and the way it is stored and accessed.
This is particularly useful when you consider the newer BI technologies such as PerformancePoint (not that new I know), PowerPivot (a bit newer) and PowerView (cutting edge) which rely upon either Analysis Service cubes and PowerPivot cubes.
The tabular approach is new by comparison and uses DACS rather than MDX to query and process the data.
The session discussed the differences and which is more performed better under different scenarios.
The presenters were excellent and clearly knew this stuff inside out!
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The session can be viewed here:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/Europe/2012/DBI319
After the session, I caught up on emails and work and then straight into my session:
Integrating SharePoint and Project Server 2010
Essentially a slightly cut down version of my original presentation at the Microsoft Project Conference 2012 (which is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/showcase/details.aspx?uuid=06fff348-8836-497b-a5eb-b5ed63a3b6c9)
The presentation went well and I even had my groupies in the form of Robin Kruithof (CXS – who has just started his blog here) and Barbara Henhapl (Project MVP – Austria).
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I was also honoured to have Christophe Fiessinger in the audience too.
And that was it for me, I said my goodbyes to all the colleagues and people I networked with and headed back to the airport for the flight home (and work the next day…)
Presenting and staffing at TechEd Europe 2012 next week #TEE12
Just a quick blog post to say that I will be presenting at TechEd Europe 2012 next week with my slide deck:
Integrating Project Server & SharePoint 2010
Deployment Approaches, Integration Options
& making the most of the SharePoint Enterprise Features
Code: OSP02-LNC
- Level: 300
- Category: Office, Office 365 & SharePoint
- Presenter: Giles Hamson
- Date: Wednesday, June 27th 2012
- Time: 13:30 to 14:15 (45 mins)
- Location: Hall 2
The key focus of this session is to understand three popular approaches to implementing SharePoint and Project Server together and the key benefits to each method.
In addition you will also learn:
- Understanding how SharePoint and Project Server work together
- Using the enterprise features of SharePoint to leverage Project Server data
- How SharePoint and Project Server techniques differ and can cause issues with implementation
I will also be staffing the Microsoft stand to discuss Project Server, Project, SharePoint & Office with anyone who stops by. So if you have any questions about the product set or you just want to say hello, come along.
My Schedule:
- Tuesday: Booth 13:30 till 15:30
- Wednesday: Presentation 13:30 till 14:15 (link)
- Flight out Wednesday night – Airport for 7pm ish.
Look forward to seeing you there!
Project Conference 2012 video presentations now available #PS2010 #ProjectServer #MSProject #in
Over the past couple of months, you may have seen posts about my presentation at the Project Conference held in Phoenix, AZ. Now that some time has passed, Microsoft has uploaded all the video presentations to the Project channel on Microsoft Showcase.
The Project team officially announced the availability here.
As part of the Microsoft Project Conference 2012, Corporate Project Solutions (my company) not only sponsored my presentation, but also the client I have been working for over the last couple of years, ARM.
So without further ado, I offer both video presentations for your consideration:
URL: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/showcase/details.aspx?uuid=06fff348-8836-497b-a5eb-b5ed63a3b6c9
URL: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/showcase/details.aspx?uuid=17a5610c-8d0f-49f2-869c-d6d1021d472a
If you would like to skim through the slides, I have uploaded them to SlideShare for your convenience:
Integrating SharePoint and Project Server 2010
8 Billion Reasons… Why ARM Chose Project Server 2010
Enjoy and if you have any questions about the above or would like to know more, please get in contact!
SharePoint (and Project Server) Shenanigans 