97 posts from: Catapult Systems EPM Team Blog
Schedule, Baseline and Baseline Estimated Start
(Indexed 2010-09-09):
One thing you may note as part of your upgrade process from 2007 to 2010 is that there are a number of custom fields that have been added to the Microsoft Project desktop client. Why is that, you ask? Well, it just happens that as part of the retooling to support the Manual Task Mode, a number of new fields were added. Unfortunately or not, some of these fields took over the names of existing fields. For a quick overview of some of the new fields, check out Jack Dahlgrens post from last February...(truncated)...
Troubleshooting Text Formatting Issues in Microsoft Project
(Indexed 2010-09-01):
I was looking through my LiveWriter queue this week, and realized that I had a couple of posts left over from the last several months that I never posted. This is one of those posts. I originally wrote it for Microsoft Project 2007, but it should be just as applicable to the 2010 version. (The screenshots are from 2007.)This is a question which has come up a couple of times both at work and in the newsgroups over the past couple of weeks. The challenge has been that one of my users wants to flag...(truncated)...
The Gartner IT PPM Report and the Commoditization of Math
(Indexed 2010-08-24):
That little post on Portfolio Analysis in Excel that I threw out into the Interwebs a couple of weeks ago seemed to engender a surprising amount of conversation both online and off. As Ive stated before, I am not a math major, but figuring that as of this writing we had three distinct comments posted and generally most posts generate zero comments, then by my calculations, if I figure 3/0, we had approximately an infinite% increase in postings (+-10%).In my books, that puts PPM Simulation post...(truncated)...
Adding Departmental Rollups to Risk and Issue Reports
(Indexed 2010-08-19):
This question came up in the newsgroup a little while ago, and intrigued me enough to play around with it. The question was how to add Departments to the Issues and Risks reports in Project Server 2010, so that you can report a rollup of how many issues or risks exist on projects by Department. I played around with it a bit, and the answer turned out to be pretty simple. Basically, we just have to add the field in the appropriate ODC files within the BI Center.This answer though is indicative of...(truncated)...
Displaying Near Critical Path Activities in Microsoft Project
(Indexed 2010-08-14):
One of the schedulers I support was asking me this question the other day, and it seemed like it might make a nice tip and trick. Hence, youre seeing it here as a blog post.The question was how to display both Critical and Near-Critical Path tasks on the Gantt Chart basically how to flag tasks with Total Slack below a specific predefined threshold. Youd want to do something like this to visually identify potential risks in your schedule, and it might be used in conjunction with the Resource Cri...(truncated)...
Chris Vandersluis on the Batphone
(Indexed 2010-08-06):
Chris Vandersluis hits another one out of the park with his article on implementing EPM (here). This is from his From the Trenches series posted to the Project Technet page. Definitely required reading if youre contemplating an EPM engagement.
Accessing Project Server from the iPhone
(Indexed 2010-08-06):
Well, its been a little while since Ive posted anything serious. We just got back from a relaxing vacation, and I am finding it hard to get up the motivation to pick up a couple of blog posts I have had lying around and get them ready for prime time. In the meantime, our IT guys just got a demo environment stood up in the cloud, and I figured Id try it out from my iPhone (3GS OS4) to see what the experience would be like. This is a completely unscientific survey conducted from my couch dur...(truncated)...
Austin PMO LIG Event: Beyond the Gantt Chart August 10
(Indexed 2010-08-05):
[Image] If youre in Austin on 8/10, you may want to check out this upcoming event by Dan Patterson of Acumen. Looks to be quite interesting. And after that, you can check out some Korean tacos at ChiLantro. I read about them last week, and now am looking for any excuse to make it out to Austin (or to go find a competing outfit here in the Houston area.) Note that registration closes tonight. Not sure what the walk in policy is. From the e-mail. You are invited to a special meeting jointly s...(truncated)...
Two Cool Blog Posts For Today
(Indexed 2010-07-19):
I wasnt planning on pushing anything out today, but a couple of really good blog posts on Project desktop caught my eye, and I wanted to make sure you all saw them:1) Dale Howard from MS Project Experts on deploying the default 2000-2007 macros to Project 2010. These macros have always been underused and underappreciated, but the Format_Duration macro has saved my project plans on many occasion. Ive also got a post on the Rollup_Formatting macro queued up and almost ready to go out (Stay tuned),...(truncated)...
Project Server At Houston Techfest 2010
(Indexed 2010-07-11):
[Image]Looks like Ill be speaking on Project Server at the Houston Techfest on October 9, 2010. (More Information) Well see if that MVP designation makes everyone think I am smarter or if it just unreasonably raises their expectations. The event is free, so I can definitely guarantee that if you attend my presentation, you will at least get what you paid for.Hope to see some of you there.
Portfolio Analysis Under the Hood: Developing the Scatter Chart
(Indexed 2010-07-11):
This is the next post in a series describing how the Portfolio Analysis pieces of Project Server 2010 work under the hood. This post will discuss how the Scatter Chart is calculated and provide an Excel model for assessing how it works. I wrote this post as part of an exercise to make sure that I understand whats going on in Project Server as well as making an initial attempt to lay the pieces out in a way that my clients would understand. My goal is to develop an Excel-based model that takes t...(truncated)...
Portfolio Analysis Under the Hood: Calculating Strategic Alignment
(Indexed 2010-07-07):
This is the next post in a series describing how the Portfolio Analysis pieces of Project Server 2010 work under the hood. This post will discuss how the Strategic Alignment chart is calculated and provide an Excel model for assessing how it works. I wrote this post as part of an exercise to make sure that I understand whats going on in Project Server as well as making an initial attempt to lay the pieces out in a way that my clients would understand. My goal is to develop an Excel-based model ...(truncated)...
Portfolio Analysis Under the Hood: Calculating the Efficient Frontier
(Indexed 2010-07-02):
This is the next post in a series describing how the Portfolio Analysis pieces of Project Server 2010 work under the hood. This post will discuss how the Efficient Frontier is calculated for a portfolio of projects. I wrote this post as part of an exercise to make sure that I understand whats going on in Project Server as well as making an initial attempt to lay the pieces out in a way that my clients would understand. My goal is to develop an Excel-based model that takes the same inputs as Pro...(truncated)...
Portfolio Selection Under the Hood: Forcing Projects In or Out
(Indexed 2010-06-28):
This is the next post in a series describing how the Portfolio Analysis pieces of Project Server 2010 work under the hood. This post will discuss how portfolios are impacted by forcing in or out specific projects. I wrote this post as part of an exercise to make sure that I understand whats going on in Project Server as well as making an initial attempt to lay the pieces out in a way that my clients would understand. My goal is to develop an Excel-based model that takes the same inputs as Proje...(truncated)...
Portfolio Selection Under the Hood: Managing Cost Constraints
(Indexed 2010-06-25):
Here is the next post in my series describing how the Portfolio Analysis module works in Project Server. I wrote this post as part of an exercise to make sure that I understand whats going in Project Server as well as making an initial attempt to lay the pieces out in a way that my clients would understand. My goal is to develop an Excel-based model that takes the same inputs as Project Server and then generates approximately the same outputs. As such, I do not guarantee that I have captured Pr...(truncated)...
Excel Based Portfolio Optimizer Simulation v1 Release
(Indexed 2010-06-24):
DISCLAIMER: (Just to make sure this is clear, I am adding this disclaimer to the posting.) The worksheet referenced below is not a competing product to Project Server 2010, and does not contain references to any proprietary code. It was developed based on publicly available information as an Excel mock up of the server-side portfolio optimization calculations found in Project Server. The goal of this post is for educational purposes only.Building off of my efforts to mimic the Project Server 201...(truncated)...
Pairwise Analysis Revisited
(Indexed 2010-06-19):
In my previous post, I gave an example of how Pairwise Analysis works, and presented a conceptual model in Excel of the driver and project prioritization engine within Microsoft Project Server 2010. That model worked well with simple driver prioritization scenarios, but seemed to display a wide variance with Project Server calculations in more complex scenarios. This left me unsatisfied, and so I decided to play with the model a bit more to see if I could reasonably emulate the Project Server ca...(truncated)...
PMI Houston Follow Up
(Indexed 2010-06-17):
Thanks to everyone in Houston for attending my three presentations yesterday. I am already envisioning a couple of ideas to pitch for next years conference. (How does Project Management Lessons from Genghis Khan sound to you?)Herere a list of references that came up in discussion in the final session on MS Project 2010 changes:Support Forums:http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/cate...(truncated)... generally recommend posting to the first forum, and honestly am not entirely sure wha...(truncated)...
Problem Solving vs. Problem Finding
(Indexed 2010-06-15):
Chatting with a mentor from a previous life recently as I prepped for a presentation, and he pointed me to this excellent 1986 article by Herbert Simon, the late Nobel prize winning social scientist. If youre attending my PMI Houston presentation on Project Teams as Innovation Systems on Wednesday, then this would be a great follow up (or even pre) read.Its an overview of the state of decision making science and it talks about SEU, or subjective expected utility theory in other words, how peop...(truncated)...
Matt May on Leading Change
(Indexed 2010-06-10):
Change management has been on my mind of late as I prepare for an upcoming presentation on EPM Tool deployments. Heres a particularly relevant post from Matt May, who wrote the Elegant Solution, one of my favorite books on innovation (the other one being Berkuns Myths). He also wrote In Pursuit of Elegance, from which I pinched part of the fractals discussion for another upcoming presentation.http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/the-wo...(truncated)...
Portfolio Prioritization Under the Hood: Pairwise Analysis Demystified
(Indexed 2010-06-01):
Ive seen a couple of questions posted to the online forums of late asking about how the Portfolio Management heuristics work in Project Server 2010. Since I know that I will have to explain this to my own clients, I figured that I would take an initial stab at demystifying how the portfolio optimization calculations work. As a disclaimer, note that I refer to this process as Pairwise Analysis because thats just how I learned it in my Quality Management classes. If youre looking for additional in...(truncated)...
Daily Timesheet Comment Functionality from Ganesh Jat
(Indexed 2010-06-01):
Nice post from Ganesh on the GJ Tech Blog yesterday on adding daily timesheet comments to Project Server 2007 (and presumably 2010).Make sure to check it out:http://gj80blogtech.blogspot.com/2010/05/daily-timesheet...(truncated)...
1 Year & 100 Posts Youd Think We Almost Planned That
(Indexed 2010-05-20):
[Image] Yep, our little ol blog was officially 1 year old last month. That means were ready to graduate from the baby cereal stuff to something with substance. I hope youre all getting half as much out of reading this blog as we get out of writing it.Heres a self-selected best of listing of some of the posts that weve published.CategoryPostDeploymentEpistemological Challenges in Tool DeploymentsIdentifying the Parameters of an EPM Consulting EngagementEstablishing EPM Tool OwnershipDeveloping an...(truncated)...
Project Server 2007 Timesheet Tied Mode Rev 2
(Indexed 2010-05-14):
I think I missed the memo on this one in March, but as I just found on the newsgroups, Stephen Sanderlin of MS Project Experts has released a new (and undoubtedly improved) version of the timesheet tied mode code onto Codeplex. http://autostatusplus.codeplex.com/Just making sure nobody else missed it- although I must admit that I am not entirely sure how many folks will be implementing this in 2007 as opposed to going to 2010 which comes with this functionality out of the box.
Houston, We Have Launch
(Indexed 2010-05-12):
Follow todays Project Launch events here, and check out all the great content that just got unveiled here.[Image]
The Newsgroups Are Dead. Long Live the Newsgroups.
(Indexed 2010-05-11):
Well, we knew it was coming, but at long last the Microsoft Project newsgroups will be gone in the nearish future, to be replaced by a whole selection of sleek, new feature-ridden Web-based forums. For more information, please check out Brian Smiths post Newsgroups Are So Yesterday. Forums Are the Future.Just wait a second. You mean that Microsoft has provided all sorts of useful functionality and excellent features, but in return, I have to actually change my behavior and give up my trusted off...(truncated)...
On Release Eve, a Look Back
(Indexed 2010-05-10):
Feeling a bit nostalgic as of late. Perhaps it was seeing Dan Aykroyd grand marshalling a parade over the weekend. More likely, its the Project 2010 release happening this week. For some reason, the event has made me a bit nostalgic for versions of old. I started poking around the Internet and found the following link, which is sure to tug at the heartstrings of those whove been using MS Project for more than a version or two:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/98026Look at the specs for the 1990 re...(truncated)...
Optimizing Drilling Schedules with Microsoft Project Server 2010 (Part 3) Creating the Visio File
(Indexed 2010-05-07):
This is part three of a series on optimizing drilling schedules in Microsoft Office Project Server 2010 and surfacing the data in a Visio map. In this case again, I owe credit to Visio guru, David Parker, for a couple of tips in a blog post on how to get maps out of Bing and to Rob Schneider an Edinburgh-based Microsoft Project consultant and Executive Secretary of the Scottish Oil Club, who helped me out with some of the concepts. My goal here is to marry Project Server data via an Office Data...(truncated)...
Optimizing Drilling Schedules with Microsoft Project Server 2010 (Part 2) Leveling the Rig Schedule
(Indexed 2010-05-03):
This is part two in our series on optimizing drilling schedules with Microsoft Project Server 2010. In our previous post, we discussed how this series is designed to be a case study in managing resource constrained projects. In this case, our goal is to optimize a rig drilling schedule across multiple oil wells and then to report this data in an easy to use graphical format.[Image] For Part I Setting the Stage, please click here.Creating the ProjectsThe easiest way to manage this challenge is b...(truncated)...
Optimizing Drilling Schedules with Microsoft Project 2010 (Part 1) Setting the Stage
(Indexed 2010-04-30):
When I started writing a previous post on how to map a Visio Services timeline to live Project Server data, I was looking for a relevant example of how to use Visios graphical representation capabilities to surface Project Server data a topic on which Ive already posted quite a bit. This is the actual post that I started writing at the time which then got sidelined for a little whilehow to map project or portfolio data to a geographic representation using Visio and Visio Services. (In this case...(truncated)...
2010 Business Intelligence, Now in PlexVision
(Indexed 2010-04-28):
[Image] A recent webinar I recorded has been posted here. Feel free to check it out for a brief overview of some of the BI opportunities in the Project Server and SharePoint 2010 stack. This is essentially a mashup of the presentation I gave at the Microsoft Houston Project Roadshow event in January of this year.with a couple of tweaks:1) This was my first attempt to deliver a presentation using pptPLEX, a PowerPoint add-in for nonlinear narratives. The tool gets a thumbs up from me, although Id...(truncated)...
All I Want for Festivus: My Reporting Wishlist
(Indexed 2010-04-18):
The fine folks at with the Microsoft Product Team issued a request for the community to help them out with real world reporting examples (here). Borrowing from the current Windows 7 campaign concept, this prompted me to come up with my own reporting wish list for future versions of MS Project. Note that most of this functionality is available currently through various workarounds, Excel acrobatics, third party tools, or VBA script, but Id like to see it make its way into core functionality one d...(truncated)...
EPMSource on Extending the Backstage
(Indexed 2010-04-12):
Looks like a good series of posts from newly minted Project MVP, Alex Burton How to extend the Project 2010 Backstage:http://epmsource.com/2010/04/11/extending-the-proj...(truncated)...
Epistemological Challenges in Tool Deployments
(Indexed 2010-04-09):
Organizations often implement EPM tools to capture tribal secrets at imminent risk of walking out the door as newer generations supplant more seasoned employees. This phenomenon provides the context for identifying one of the key challenges to any EPM deployment, a topic that I have been spending some time considering over the last couple of weeks as I put together an upcoming presentation for PMI Houston.My conclusion is that one of the key challenges to PM tool deployments is really epistemolo...(truncated)...
Back to the Basics: Rolling Up % Complete and Elapsed Duration
(Indexed 2010-04-07):
% Complete and Actual Duration are two of those fields that everyone uses, but few people actually understand the background calculations. Most of my students seem to assume that Actual Duration is the elapsed duration between the start of a task and the finish of a task. Well it is most of the time. Sometimes it isnt. Similarly, a lot of people Ive worked with assume that % Complete is a measure of how much duration has been burned since the beginning of the task. Again, thats how its calculat...(truncated)...
Identifying the Parameters of an EPM Consulting Engagement
(Indexed 2010-03-26):
Every good consulting engagement begins with a good written proposal. Most proposals that Ive seen include some section somewhere buried amongst the boilerplate which discusses the specific roles and responsibilities of the consulting and implementing organizations.Typically, the verbiage appears something like the following:The Consulting Agency Responsibilities:Install the tool Understand the clients processes Configure the tool to support the processes Identify and mitigate risks The Implemen...(truncated)...
Establishing EPM Tool Ownership
(Indexed 2010-03-23):
Part of my ongoing preparation for a presentation on EPM Deployment best practices.A colleague of mine remarked a couple of months ago that the number one indicator of success in a MOPS deployment is identifying the owner of the Server implementation going forward. More often then not, the owner is a PM or PMO member who is dragooned into Server ownership. Alternatively, the owner is a member of IT who has little or no background in project management. In some cases, nobody steps up to take owne...(truncated)...
Developing an EPM Training Program (Part I)
(Indexed 2010-03-21):
(Working on my presentation on EPM Deployment Best Practices, and decided to work out a couple of ideas via blog posting.) As I think nobody would argue, a significant part of the EPM deployment story is of course in the training deployment yet, often the training component is either an afterthought, not paid attention to, or simply delivered at the end of a consulting engagement, right before going live with the pilot deployment. This post is my attempt to put my thoughts on paper and try to o...(truncated)...
More SharePoint BI Links
(Indexed 2010-03-19):
Great post from Doug Ware rolling up some of the top SharePoint BI features with linksI know weve talked about how some of them enable us to surface Project Server data, but this list has a couple more items on my hit list.The Top SharePoint Server 2010 Feature Set You Probably Dont Know About
Speaking at the June PMI Houston Shindig
(Indexed 2010-03-11):
Havent been quite so active on the blog as of late as Ive been working on a couple of presentations and enjoying this beautiful south Texas weather with the kids. Stay tuned as we have some good content getting queued up and due to be released in the next couple of weeks.In the meantime, please note that Ill be delivering three presentations at the upcoming June PMI Houston blowout (more details here).Interestingly enough, they all ended up getting organized in descending order on the schedule:1...(truncated)...
Using Intelligent WBS Codes in Microsoft Project
(Indexed 2010-03-03):
This is a question thats come up multiple times with folks Ive worked with, and is something I consider best practice. The last time someone asked me about this, I figured Id just blog it up with screenshots and send him the URL. So Daniel, this post is for you.For years Project has had a function which remarkably few people know about, and even fewer people use that is the intelligent WBS Code. The intelligent WBS code basically entails swapping out the default numerical outline (1.2.3) with a...(truncated)...
Getting Back to Scheduling Basics.
(Indexed 2010-02-25):
Thereve been a number of good blog posts/articles in the last week or two on the basics of scheduling and project planning. I havent had the time to capture each and every one of them, but I thought it was worth collecting some of the best ones in a short list here. If youre in the scheduling business, then these are well worth the time to check out.Mosaic Projects on Metaplanning in Construction SchedulesDan Patterson on Scheduling as a ScienceBruce McGraw of Fear No Project on Developing Quali...(truncated)...
Announcement: Nintex Workflow for Project Server 2010
(Indexed 2010-02-19):
From EPMSource via Twitter:http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/seattle10/pe...(truncated)... forward to playing with this.should be a great add-in to the tool specifically the Portfolio Management aspects of it.
A Taxonomy of Desktop Reporting Tools
(Indexed 2010-02-19):
I was doing a bit of research into bolt-on desktop reporting tools, and figured Id post some of the results. My goal is not to point to specific 3rd party reporting packages, but rather to talk about the concept of desktop reporting tools and propose a taxonomy that may be of help to those currently looking to supplement Microsoft Projects native capabilities. Note that I do not intend to talk about server based reporting tools in this post.First off, lets do a quick summary of Microsoft Projec...(truncated)...
Not all Visio Charts are Created Equal.
(Indexed 2010-02-15):
Following up on our last two posts about authoring resource reports in Visio:1) Creating an org chart using Resource Pool data.2) Marrying enterprise data to an org chart.I wanted to talk about a fundamental concept of reporting with Visio and Visio Services thats probably self-evident in the Visio world, but requires some introduction to the Microsoft Project community at large the concept of the PivotDiagram. PivotDiagrams were introduced as part of Visio Professional (not Standard) in 2007, ...(truncated)...
Marrying Server Data to a Resource Pool Org Chart
(Indexed 2010-02-12):
still playing with the reporting options in Microsoft Office Project Server 2010 and Visio Services. This is a follow on post to our last story on how to create an org chart using Resource Pool data. In that post, I talked about how to export the resource data into the Visio Org Chart Wizard. I am still not sure why, in fact, someone would choose to do this, but one possible option would be to provide a reporting hook to hang all sorts of resource data on.In this post, Ill introduce some methods...(truncated)...
Exporting the Resource Pool to Visio as an Org Chart
(Indexed 2010-02-11):
More along the lines of playing at the intersection of Visio reporting and Microsoft Office Project Server 2010. The question I was looking at today was how to export the Resource Pool from Project Server into an organization chart format in Visio. I used the Microsoft demo image and was able to generate a rough Contoso org chart as appears below:[Image] The first question is why would anyone want to do such a thing? Honestly, I am not sure what that answer is quite yet, but this sort of report ...(truncated)...
Goodbye KAPOW! Hello New World
(Indexed 2010-02-05):
Ive seen this question show up a couple of times in the forums for Microsoft Project 2010.whatever happened to the Copy Picture to Office Wizard tool? or as I like to call it, the CPOW (pronounced KAPOW).Heres the tool in 2007. If you squint your eyes, it looks kind of like a camera with a blue lens:[Image] or it can be found in the Reports menu.And heres what it looks like in 2010. The two overlapping documents.[Image] Logically enough, In the Copy Menu, youll find it as the second option[Imag...(truncated)...
Tips and Tricks: Saving an MPP File to Access
(Indexed 2010-02-03):
A lot of folks ask in the newsgroups how to save a Project file to Access. This may be done for a number of reasons:Connecting to a reporting structure. (See an old article by Neville Turbit on project reporting in Access) Connecting to a SharePoint front end. (Richard Fennells take on Access Services in SharePoint 2010, a video demo of Access Services 2010) Interacting with homegrown or third party systems. Exporting to a Microsoft Project viewer product. Reverse engineering some of the quirks ...(truncated)...
Austin PMO LIG: PM & SharePoint (2/24)
(Indexed 2010-02-02):
I am not sure how the Austin PMO LIG stacks up, but the Central Ohio one I used to attend was a great forum for sharing ideas and mixing with local program/portfolio managers. This event is at the Texas Association of School Boards. From the invitation e-mail I received yesterday******Have you wondered at all buzz regarding SharePoint and Project Management? Well, come join us for a demonstration of the most touted features for project managers and teams, along with real world implementation gui...(truncated)...
Innovation, Project Portfolio Management, and Fractal Organizations (Part 3)
(Indexed 2010-01-29):
Well, I started this three part post back in September, then got caught up in other things, and never quite got around to finishing it. I thought for a while of taking the Douglas Adams approach to trilogies: Check out these two blog posts, giving a whole new meaning to the term Three Part Series. However, finding myself to be a posterchild for the Language Action Perspective, I felt that it was finally time to get back to wrapping it up.So a bit of summary to get us to the right place:1) Part 1...(truncated)...
What-If Analysis with Microsoft Project 2010
(Indexed 2010-01-27):
Ive attended a couple Microsoft Project 2010 events as of late, but of yet, I havent seen this functionality getting much play. On first glance, I think this could be one of the most compelling new features added to Project: the task level Active field.Usage ScenariosScenario #1: The project manager has been requested to calculate the cost and schedule impact of a potential change order. The change order is developed as a series of extra tasks in the MPP file. Based on that model, the change req...(truncated)...
Why You Should Care About ITIL
(Indexed 2010-01-25):
Ive had a couple of ITIL conversations as of latemostly centering around the question of what exactly it is. Ive given the standard response as to British government best practices on IT operations supported by a vibrant collection of user groups around the world. That never seemed to resonate.Then I was chatting with an ex-oilfield equipment sales representative, and I was trying to find terms that he could relate to. Hows this:ITIL is merely taking all of the best practices around expensive ca...(truncated)...
Creating a Dynamic Project Timeline Using Visio Services
(Indexed 2010-01-21):
Continuing with the BI thread, I was demoing dynamic reporting using SharePoint 2010 Visio Services during a recent Project Server BI spiel in Houston. What struck me with the crowd, which was primarily from the oil and gas industry, was the interest in the Visio timeline. I must admit, having used Microsoft Project for so long, I kinda forgot how many folks still use the Visio timeline view for reporting and scheduling purposes. So it seemed to me that this would be a great example for a post o...(truncated)...
Modifying the Default ODC Files to Filter on Specific Projects
(Indexed 2010-01-19):
This is another posting from our BI presentations last week in Houston and Dallas. This is the first part of creating a dynamic Visio report, with the second part coming out later this week. For that post, I plan to tackle the question of creating a dynamic Visio timeline linked to project data. In the meantime, this is the prerequisite information on how to modify the Office Data Connector (ODC) files to do single project reporting. (The same principles should apply to creating an ODC file in 2...(truncated)...
Project Server 2010 BI Presentation Posted
(Indexed 2010-01-18):
Thanks to everyone for turning out to the Project Server 2010 BI Reporting presentations we did this week at the Microsoft offices in Dallas and Houston. As per request, I am posting the slide deck of the Houston delivery (which has only several minor modifications from the Dallas version):PDF VersionIf youd like to chat about the presentation or arrange an on-line presentation for colleagues who may have missed it originally, please feel free to contact your local Catapult Systems office.[Image...(truncated)...
Another Reason to Move to Austin.OpsCamp
(Indexed 2010-01-16):
From the RedMonk Blog comes the the Operations Unconference, OpsCamp, in Austin on 1/30. where attendees propose, discuss and debate issues related to operations and monitoring. Proposed topics include Automation, Monitoring, Configuration Management, Cloud Technologies, Agile Infrastructure, DevOps, Infrastructure as Code, ITSM/BSM or Visible Ops.http://www.opscamp.org/austin/2010-01-30Seeing as Enterprise Project Management often is implemented hand in hand with operations optimization process...(truncated)...
cc-Pulse Critical Chain Add In for MS Project Giveaway
(Indexed 2010-01-16):
Saw this on Clarke Chings blog, and yep, its true. Tony Rizzo is giving away copies of their single project Critical Chain add-in to MS Project:http://www.pdinstitute.com/AllFramePages/FP_Critical...(truncated)... em while theyre hot. Note that as far as I can tell, the requirement is that you install the 30 day trial version of the multi-project add-in (cc-mPulse) to get the single project add-in (cc-Pulse).
Document Automation with the REST.API
(Indexed 2010-01-12):
One of the top client requests I often see is document automation. Many clients have bits and pieces of reusable content that they wish to automatically populate into PowerPoint or Word documents. Ira Brown of Project Widgets did an impressive webinar the other day on using macros to automatically move data from MPP files to Office files. Continuing on the BI thread this week, heres how you can use the REST.API in SharePoint 2010 to easily implement a good portion of this functionality.The REST....(truncated)...
First Thoughts: Project Server 2010 and ReportBuilder 2.0
(Indexed 2010-01-10):
It would seem to be BI Week in the Project Server blogosphere (see here and here, with an excellent recorded webinar on the topic by Marc Soester here). I guess thats kind of like Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, but thankfully without the blood and rotting fish. Seeing as I have been spending a fair amount of time putting together a BI presentation of late, I figured Id add my contribution to the discussion.The 2010 BI StoryMy initial thoughts are that Project Server 2010 reporting features...(truncated)...
Do Your Homework Before Implementing EPM
(Indexed 2010-01-07):
Ive been buried under Project 2010 for a couple of weeks, only surfacing to get dragged back to Central Ohio for a wintry vacation and a series of random minor but annoying illnesses. Figured it was about time to get back into the blogging saddle (cue the flinch and sudden flashback to Central Asian saddles from my Peace Corps days).For my first topic in the New Year, Id like to ease into things with a couple of recommendations for items to iron out before shopping around for EPM solutions. Here...(truncated)...
The Project Manager and the Realtor
(Indexed 2009-12-03):
My stepbrother is a realtor a good realtor at that. He bought and sold our last house, and in this economy, kudos to him.I remember when we were shopping for that house that in one day he mustve taken my wife and I to at least 20-30 different houses. After a while, they all became a blur of bedrooms and basements, and kitchens with islands, and kitchens without islands, and backyards.. Eventually, my wife and I narrowed down the options to 3 houses that we really liked. At this point, I remembe...(truncated)...
EPM Software and PMs Next Big Thing
(Indexed 2009-12-01):
I see a lot of discussion within my client organizations about the proper role of EPM software to support Agile and other project management methodologies. It just so happens that Glen Alleman hit upon that very topic over the weekend on his Herding Cats blog.Almost all of his posts are a must read for PMs, but since this one mentions Microsoft Project (as a representative of almost all of the EPM suites) , I figured it was worth posting the link.http://herdingcats.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/11/...(truncated)...
Good Practices in Documenting MOPS 2007 Security
(Indexed 2009-11-19):
Heres whats evolved into my own personal method of documenting security for a MOPS implementation. Figured that I would throw this out and welcome any and all suggestions on how to improve this. MOPS 2007 security can be broken out into two major chunks: functional requirements and configuration specifications:Functional Security RequirementsFunctional MOPS 2007 requirements must be broken out into language that the Business users (and approvers) will understand. Typically, what that means to me...(truncated)...
Architecting a Migration Ready 2007 Deployment
(Indexed 2009-11-16):
Parked this one aside back in September, and just realized that it never went out. Here's a flashback to what I was thinking just a month or two ago:Watching the Ignite presentation today on the migration path from 2007 to 2010, it just confirmed that if youre planning a 2007 deployment right now, you should deploy it as follows:PWA in its own site collection and content db.Project Workspaces in their own site collection and content db.This will save you a whole lot of effort come migration time...(truncated)...
11/17 PMI Houston Presentation: PMIS and Project 2010
(Indexed 2009-11-02):
Ill be delivering my spiel on Leveraging Technology to Build a PMIS (with a Special Preview of Project 2010) at the University of Houston chapter on 11/17. Hope to see some of you there.To my knowledge, this may be the first public demo of the Project 2010 features in Houston. The event is free. For additional information, please click on the link below:http://www.pmihouston.org/index.php?mo=cm&op=ld&fid=29&eid=370
ProjectPro: Setting Buffers (Part 2: Cost Buffers)
(Indexed 2009-10-14):
Following up on a previous post on setting schedule buffers, I figured it was about time to revisit the topic of buffers, this time with cost. This post will discuss best practices in setting cost buffers using the budget resource feature in Microsoft Project 2007.First off, why should we set buffers on a project? Simply put, buffers make projects more predictable and allow better planning for potential project overruns. Buffers allow for us to plan for both programmatic and technical project ri...(truncated)...
Become a Project Server 2007 Admin in 1 eMon
(Indexed 2009-10-10):
I developed this for a client a while back, and have had to refresh it and resend it multiple times. Updated for 2009, heres my latest version. Note to the naysayers that this is not the end all be all of becoming a Project Server admin, but if you are on the business side, and have been appoin... (More)
Configuring IE to Search the Project Newsgroups
(Indexed 2009-10-09):
Figured that I would end the week by providing a useful tip for all of the Project Server administrators out there. Heres a neat trick to searching the Project newsgroups directly from your IE search window by using the Search Providers feature.1) Add the Search Provider to your current listt... (More)
Project Server Blogroll
(Indexed 2009-10-07):
Updating my blog list after the EPM Conference a couple of weeks ago. Figured I'd share with the crowd. Note that this is not scientific, and some of these may be dead links. Some of these blogs haven't been updated in a while, but still have good information posted. Some of these blogs aren... (More)
A Cyclical View of Organizations
(Indexed 2009-10-05):
[Image]Autumn is when I first landed in Beijing back in 1995, and for some reason, the September/October time frame always brings back memories of chipped teeth on candied hawthorn, blustery Siberian windstorms - and two week holidays three times a year. In the spirit of the season, I proffer up this story.A couple of years ago, I was delivering Microsoft Project desktop training for a private client. We were working on site, and using their equipment. Id done my discovery, and reviewed their pr...(truncated)...
Top Ten Administrative Headaches in Project 2010
(Indexed 2009-09-29):
(I am gonna park my ITSM credentials at the door for this somewhat tongue in cheek post.) Whats good for the User often is not good for the Administrator. With Peters help, I have compiled a list of the top ten(nish) things which may drive up aspirin sales to the EPM implementing community... (More)
Innovation, Project Portfolio Management, and Fractal Organizations (Part 2)
(Indexed 2009-09-28):
So if you read my previous post, youre probably wondering just what this has to do with Project Portfolio Management, ITIL and Fractal Organizations or why I equate PPM and ITIL and probably some of you are wondering just what ITIL is exactly. Well, today, lets talk about Project Management... (More)
Innovation, Project Portfolio Management, and Fractal Organizations (Part 1)
(Indexed 2009-09-17):
When I was doing PMP training in Central Ohio, I used to have a lot of students from the Honda plant in Marysville, and from a lot of the Honda suppliers. I dont know how true this is, but several of them told me the following story, which is a great illustrative anecdote:At Honda, its the ... (More)
ProjCon - Today's agenda
(Indexed 2009-09-17):
Yet more in-depth info on Project and Project Server 2010. The more we get into it, the more I like it.Today's agenda includes a session on EVM and another on either IPM or Project 2010 Demand Management. Beyond that? We shall see...Microsoft has, as usual, put on a great show. There's way... (More)
Quick Highlights from the first public Project Server 2010 Demo!
(Indexed 2009-09-16):
It's still early in the conference with much more detail to come. But my preliminary picks for favorite new improvements to Project Server 2010 are (in no particular order): Timeline view Drag and drop milestones to build your project timeline.very cool! Integrated Portfolio Management (p... (More)
ProjCon Were working in harsh conditions here
(Indexed 2009-09-15):
The Bloggers Lounge at the Phoenix Convention Center. Its tough, dirty work, but we are making the best of it in order to bring you the best in Project Conference coverage!
Some Cool Third Party Project Tools
(Indexed 2009-09-15):
One of the great benefits of attending the Project Conference is the ability to network with the larger Microsoft Project implementing community. After the reception, a group of us headed out into the quiet night of downtown Phoenix for dinner. (Peter will be posting the video of the discussion ... (More)
ProjCon Airlift highlights
(Indexed 2009-09-15):
Now that Wednesdays start line has been crossed, we can post the mountain of info we gathered during the Ignite Project Technical Airlift (hey, I didnt come up with the name) over the past two days. Theres FAR too much to hit in one single blog post, but I do want to pull out some highlights. I... (More)
ProjCon Killing time til Wednesday
(Indexed 2009-09-14):
Andrew: Seeing as we cant talk about much of this great content until the Project Server 2010 Official Release on Wednesday, I figured that we could fill the time throwing a post to our SharePoint team sitting back in Texas, Colorado and Florida deploying custom webparts, GACing their DLLs, and ... (More)
Catapult's coverage of the Project Conference begins!
(Indexed 2009-09-12):
Hello, and welcome to the Catapult EPM Team's wall-to-wall blogging coverage of the 2009 Microsoft Project Conference, live (or nearly so) from lovely, and warm, downtown Phoenix Arizona.Your correspondents for this week's shindig are:Andrew Lavinsky - Managing Consultant from our Houston o... (More)
Looking to Catch Up at the Project Conference Next Week?
(Indexed 2009-09-11):
Follow us on this blog or on Twitter:@alavinsky@tcastronovo
Migrating Project Server Settings with Playbooks
(Indexed 2009-09-08):
Like many Project Server folks, I have been heavily using the Playbooks tool to move settings hither and thither in multiple Project Server environments. A couple scenarios where I might use the tool would be:1) Restore system settings to a VPC for security testing, planning, or just to help... (More)
Project and Project Server 2007 Webinar Recording
(Indexed 2009-08-05):
In case you missed the EPM Webinar on Maximizing Your Investment in Microsoft Project Professional and Project Server 2007, you can access the recording at mms://videos.catapultsystems.com/Marketing/epm1.wmv.Please also visit http://www.catapultsystems.com/NEWS/EVENTS/Pages/default.aspx in order... (More)
Formatting the Gantt Chart in MS Project 2007
(Indexed 2009-07-23):
Still working on documenting the instructions from the Houston MPUG event a couple of weeks ago. Its amazing how much can be condensed into a one hour presentation. Todays post is about formatting the Gantt chart, which is a popular topic in many of the sessions I teach. Note that this postin... (More)
How can a resource be over allocated when they work less than 8 hours in a day?
(Indexed 2009-07-17):
Challenge: A resource on my project is scheduled to work 5 hours on one particular day. MS Project is showing them as being over allocated for that day. Isnt 8 hours a normal workday? Why would the resource be over allocated?Solution: Microsoft Project reports over allocations if a reso... (More)
Upcoming EPM Webinar - registration link is posted!
(Indexed 2009-07-08):
Click here to register for our first EPM Webinar - Maximizing Your Investment in Microsoft Project Professional and Project Server 2007. This session will be held on Wednesday, July 29 at 11:00 a.m. Central.As a reminder, this is the first in a series of three EPM Webinars we will be conducting... (More)
Poor Mans Earned Value (Part 1)
(Indexed 2009-07-06):
Earned Value is certainly one of the most powerful project management tools out there. Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Server provide a wealth of options for implementing and reporting on Earned Value and wherever native functionality is lacking, a multitude of third party vendors have ... (More)
ProjectPro: Setting Buffers (Part 1: Schedule Buffer)
(Indexed 2009-06-29):
Seeing as my last post was on how to incorporate risk assessments into schedule design, I decided to post information on how to create buffers in Microsoft Project Professional. Note that this post is not the definitive guide to incorporate risk-loaded schedules in Microsoft Project, but instead r... (More)
ProjectPro: From Deterministic to Probabilistic Schedules
(Indexed 2009-06-27):
This is a blog post that Ive been kicking around for a couple of years, and is based on a demonstration that I often do in my Scheduling classes. Note that this posting is meant more to demonstrate a concept within the tool, and as it is based on a customized third party macro, is not a step by ... (More)
Replacing Default WSS Project Workspace
(Indexed 2009-06-25):
OverviewThe following instructions are for replacing the current default WSS Site Template with a newly created template. As with any set of instructions that involves editing system file names or running commands, it is strongly recommended that this first be practiced in a test or developmen... (More)
It matters HOW you publish in MOPS 2007
(Indexed 2009-06-25):
Interesting lesson learned the other day: HOW you publish your schedule has an impact on how your data is visible in MOPS 2007. Publishing from PWA is handy and easy to do, but it doesnt actually publish everything. We noticed some discrepancies between our timesheet data and our project data, and... (More)
Project Conference let us know if you will be there!
(Indexed 2009-06-25):
The Catapult Systems EPM team will be well-represented at the Microsoft Project Conference in Phoenix this September. Many of the contributors to this blog will be in attendance, looking to soak up the goodness of Project Server 2010 and its components. The Project Conference is always a well-run ... (More)
Project Pro: Leveraging the Resource Graph
(Indexed 2009-06-16):
The Resource Graph provides some interesting functionality in Microsoft Project, functionality that most users are never aware of. Heres a couple of ways to modify it to make it easier to use.This post will show you how to:1) Modify the Resource Graph to show multiple resources2) Depict... (More)
Upcoming Catapult EPM Webinars
(Indexed 2009-06-15):
The Catapult EPM team will be presenting a series of Webinars covering Project Server and SharePoint. The three Webinars will be held in July: Maximizing Your Investment in Microsoft Office Project Professional and Project Server 2007 - Wed, July 8, 11:00 a.m. Central Maximizing Windows Shar... (More)
Houston MPUG Reboot Presentation on 6/30.
(Indexed 2009-06-05):
Tips and Tricks for Microsoft Project Professional and Microsoft Office Project ServerTuesday, June 30, 2009 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (CT)Description: This session is designed to demonstrate tips and tricks to make the process of scheduling projects with Microsoft Office Project and Microsoft ... (More)
New requirements for SharePoint Server 2010
(Indexed 2009-05-22):
The new requirements for SharePoint Server 2010, hence Project Server 2010 have been disclosed on TechEd:- SharePoint Server 2010 will be 64-bit only- SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit Windows Server 2008 or 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2- SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit SQL Se... (More)