11 posts from: Bill Raymond's MPA Blog
How to create PowerPoint Reports for your projects
(Indexed 2006-03-29):
Have you ever wanted to get a nice screen capture of your project plan and show it off at a status meeting? Prior to Project 2003, there was no easy way to do that. The best approach was to do screen captures or print a plan to PDF format. With Project 2003, there are new or improved features to output your project to a report to Excel, Visio, PowerPoint and Word.Here is a quick tutorial on using the “Copy Picture to Office Wizard“ to output your plan to PowerPoint.While running M...(truncated)...
Top 10 List of new Project "12" Features
(Indexed 2006-01-26):
I just returned from the Project Conference held in Seattle last week. Microsoft put on a great event that was filled with very informative information on the next release of the product. Please keep an eye on the BLOG as I will be posting more specifics over the coming months.First, Project “12“ will be released in the so-called Office “12“ wave, meaning Office and Project are included in the same marketing blitz we should expect toward the end of this year. Another k...(truncated)...
Notes on using the EditSite Utility
(Indexed 2006-01-16):
Hello All,This is an exciting week, because the Project Conference is going on. Please keep an eye here for the latest information on the next version of Project, or “P12” as it is being called right now. If you are going to the conference, look me up.If you are a Project Server 2002 or 2003 administrator, then you know there is no built-in functionality to create new MS Project sites on the same computer. Having this capability is extremely helpful for any number of reasons. May...(truncated)...
Happy New Year!
(Indexed 2006-01-05):
Welcome to 2006! Well, the last month has been pretty hectic and taking some time off to enjoy time with the family provided some much-needed relaxation.So what's new? Well, you might have seen that Microsoft is planning to by a new company called UMT. Although there is no official word on this buyout, I am hopeful this will be added to the Microsoft Project platform, making MS Project a serious contentender in spaces such as IT Portfolio Planning. This is important to those of you who are t...(truncated)...
Running Project Server 2003 with SQL Server 2005
(Indexed 2005-11-18):
Warning: This post assumes you know SQL commands and are looking to test Project Server 2003 running in SQL Server 2005. This is not yet supported by Microsoft, so I do not recommend you perform these actions in a production environment.So, you might have learned that the long-awaited SQL Server 2005 product has been released. If you own a copy (or are patiently awaiting the DVD's arrival), you no doubt are interested in using SQL Server 2005 as a testbed for Project Server 2003. Although it ...(truncated)...
Scheduling Options in the Project Client
(Indexed 2005-11-14):
While spending some time at a few client sites recently, I learned many people are taking issue with how MS Project automatically changes the duration of tasks “for” them. This is because when you install MS Project out-of-box, it uses a feature called Effort Driven. This means MS Project will reduce the work effort required to complete an activity based on the number of users you add.This is a great feature if you are doing certain activities where the work effort will definately ...(truncated)...
About the ProjDateAdd Function
(Indexed 2005-10-10):
Recently, a request came in to my BLOG to discuss the use of the ProjDateAdd function and I noticed online that many people seem to have lots of problems with it, so figured it might be worthwhile to provide some detail on this function.The ProjDateAdd function is probably not the best description, but it's purpose is to take a Date and add a duration to come up with the new date. For example, if you add 5D to 10/10/2005, the result from this function would be “10/14/2005“.Since thi...(truncated)...
With all this project management, who has time to eat?
(Indexed 2005-10-03):
Visiting Seattle for the last two weeks re-opened my eyes to what makes this little city standout. Try out these great restaurants on your next trip to Seattle. If you live there already and haven't eaten at these restaurants, shame on you :-)For a great Steak, head to my fave. El Gaucho will leave you rubbing the Buddha’s belly. And before you ask, the answer is “yes“. They do have Ostrich steaks.http://www.elgaucho.com/elgaucho/ Now Brasa claims to be a Portuguese restau...(truncated)...
Some Office 12 Notes
(Indexed 2005-09-29):
For the last two weeks I have been completely immersed in Microsoft briefing meetings. I've learned about so much, it is hard to remember it all. There is Office 12, Project 12, SharePoint, SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and so much more.For now, I cannot talk about Project 12, but what I can tell you is this product is nearly 100% customer focused. Microsoft has addressed some of the most basic -- to some very advanced -- requests that we have all looked for. Microsoft really listened ...(truncated)...
Changing the E-Mail Notifications in Project Server
(Indexed 2005-09-27):
Warning: This is an advanced topic and should not be performed unless you have knowledge of SQL Server and a full backup has been made to your environment. With that little disclaimer out of the way, here we go...Having met a good number of people using the Project Server environment, I have to say one of the features everyone seems to love is the e-mail notification process. That said, when it is installed, you have a program e-mailing people using 'canned' terms, like “Timesheet approv...(truncated)...
Microsoft Project Conference Announced
(Indexed 2005-09-26):
Hello All... I've received a good number of e-mails asking when and where the Microsoft Project Conference will be held.It will be held January 17-19 at the Westin Hotel in Seattle, WA (love those heavenly beds!)There will be tracks for Project Managers, Executives, Business Analysts, Developers, Partners and others. Please take a look to get more detail and to sign up, visit the link listed below.IMPORTANT! Register before 9/30/2005 and you will get a 15% discount, making the total cost of the...(truncated)...