MS Project Conference 2006

Microsoft Project Conference 2006 will be held from January 17-19 in Seattle, Washington.

As per details on conference website, there will be over 80 sessions. There will be sessions on how to configure, manage & deploy new version of Projet & Project Server.

Project Report Presentation Add-in

MS Project Report Presentation Add-in allows you to create a power point presentation from Project file.

Tips for using this add-in are available on the Office Online Work Essentials

Project Server SP2a & Project Professional SP2

Microsoft has released the service pack 2a for Project 2003 Server. It fixes the issues they had in SP2.

Project Server 2003 Service pack SP2a
http://tinyurl.com/bxau3

Description of Project Server 2003 SP2 here
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887621

If you have modified PWA files in your deployment, then you should check this KB article before deploying Project Server SP2.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906357

Project Professional 2003 service pack
http://tinyurl.com/7twa8

Description of Project 2003 SP2 here
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887620

To deploy Project 2003 SP2 across your organization check this article "Distributing Office 2003 Product Updates"
http://tinyurl.com/dgkhk

Plan to combine UMT Portfolio Management wit MS EPM

MS will combine UMT Portfolio Management Software with MS EPM. Check the details here.

Removing Unsubmitted Timesheets Messages From PWA

If you are not using timesheet approval feature in Project Server 2003, then PWA users keep getting messages on PWA homepage under timesheet section. The message states something like 'You have timesheets pending approval for the period.....' or 'You have not submitted timesheet .....' Those message might fill up the PWA homepage for users.

The following query removes the timesheet messages from the user's
PWA homepage.

insert MSP_WEB_WORK_APPROVAL(
WASSN_ID,
WRES_ID,
WPRD_START_DATE,
WPRD_FINISH_DATE,
WRES_ID_APPROVER,
WAPPROVAL_STATUS,
WAPPROVAL_NOTIFICATION_SENT)
SELECT WASSN_ID,
WRES_ID,
WPRD_START_DATE,
WPRD_FINISH_DATE,
WRES_ID,
1,
0
FROM MSP_WEB_ASSIGNMENTS MWA, MSP_WEB_TIME_PERIODS mwp
WHERE Not Exists (select * from MSP_WEB_WORK_APPROVAL
where CONVERT(VARCHAR, CONVERT(DATETIME, WPRD_START_DATE), 110) =
CONVERT(VARCHAR, CONVERT(DATETIME, MWP.WPRD_START_DATE), 110)
AND CONVERT(VARCHAR, CONVERT(DATETIME, WPRD_FINISH_DATE), 110) =
CONVERT(VARCHAR, CONVERT(DATETIME, MWP.WPRD_FINISH_DATE), 110)
AND WASSN_ID = MWA.WASSN_ID
AND WRES_ID = MWA.WRES_ID)

Go

UPDATE MSP_WEB_WORK_APPROVAL
SET WAPPROVAL_STATUS = '1'
WHERE WAPPROVAL_STATUS = '0'

Go

(Test this query in your lab environment first. I can't guarantee this query or anything which might be effected by this query in your environment. Consult your DBA &/or Project Administrator & use it at your own risk)

Two new KB articles on PS2003

Microsoft recently released two knowledge base articles on MS Project Server 2003.

One article is related to the duplicate Projects causing issues in OLAP cube & the other one is on Sharepepoint integration issue.

Check these following issues:

http://tinyurl.com/bwnhq

http://tinyurl.com/at7vx

Sharepoint Integration with MS Project Server 2003

Sharepoint technologies come in two flavors:

a. Windows Sharepoint Services (WSS - Free product)
b. Sharepoint Portal Server 2003 (SPS - Full fledged product)

http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/default.mspx

Sharepoint Portal server 2003 is a collaboration tool for medium to large enterprises. I'll not talk about its benefits here. Though I can talk about it for long, but its long discussion :D. Here I'll elaborate integration of Sharepoint technologies with Microsoft Project Server 2003.

Sharepoint is a component of Microsoft Project Server 2003 EPM. It enhances Project Server functionality by providing features like managing risks, issues and documents for your projects. You can use Sharepoint for lots of other features.

Configuring, integrating & later managing Sharepoint with Project Server 2003 requires good knowledge of both. Below are few links which might help you in understanding the integration of these technologies.

1. How to install SharePoint Portal Server 2003, Windows SharePoint Services, and Project Server 2003 on the same server
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;840701

2. Installing SharePoint Portal Server 2003 on a Server with Windows SharePoint Services
http://tinyurl.com/dmtj7

3. How To Integrate an Existing Windows SharePoint Services Installation with SharePoint Portal Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;824877

4. TechNet Webcast: Migrating to SharePoint Portal Server 2003 - Level 300
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032252551&Culture=en-US

How I integrated WSS with Project (PWA)
Check these two images to see for how I integrated WSS documents, issues, Announcements & Surveys features with Project Web Access (PWA) interface.

http://tinypic.com/biusf7.jpg
http://tinypic.com/biuxoi.jpg

Users will access WSS features from within their PWA interface. You can modify the theme of the Sharepoint site to match the PWA interface, can add other sharepoint features.

I hope this will be a good starting point for most if not all of you. Consult me for more Sharepoint / Project solutions. ;-)