Category Archives: Project Management
Infrastructure Planning and Design guide for Exchange Server 2010 now available!
I cannot speak highly enough about the content being published by Infrastructure Planning and Design staff at Microsoft. They provide concise, informative design and planning guides for the Microsoft product line. Via Microsoft Connect you can provide the team value feedback regarding the latest offering.
Download the Beta Now!
This particular IPD guide takes the IT architect through a step-by-step process for successfully designing an Exchange Server 2010 infrastructure. Exchange Server 2010 supports a variety of infrastructure topologies that enable IT departments to deploy the messaging architecture that best suits their business needs. This guide will help organisations make informed decisions about the design of fault tolerance and scalability so that their overall requirements are met.
The guide covers these key steps in the Exchange Server 2010 infrastructure design process:
· Defining the project scope by identifying your individual business and IT requirements for a messaging infrastructure.
· Mapping features and functionality based on the defined scope to develop the appropriate Exchange Server 2010 design.
· Designing the infrastructure and role requirements for the proposed Exchange Server 2010 architecture.
· Determining the sizing, fault tolerance, and physical placement of Exchange Server 2010 roles.
The IPD Guide for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 with Service Pack 1 can help you reduce planning time and costs, and ensure a successful rollout of Exchange Server 2010-helping your organisation to more quickly benefit from this flexible and reliable platform.
Download the beta guide and tell Microsoft what you think!!! The Microsoft IPD team provide a comprehensive value add service for all IT industy professionals, keep up the good work!!!
If you have never heard of IPD guides before please review the complete Infrastructure Planning and Design guide series here . The team has provided a comprehensive listing for other Microsoft infrastructure products.
Latest Cumulative Update for Project, Project Server and SharePoint 2007
As announced on the Project Admin Blog a new cumulative update for Project is now available: February 2010 Cumulative Update (CU) for Project Server 2007, Office SharePoint Server 2007, WSS and Project 2007 now available! Following the normal scheduled two month release cycle, the next Cumulative Update will be due at the end of April 2010. With only months remaining before the launch of Project 2010 there isn’t many more 2007 cu’s left before the 2010 launch. Interested in Project 2010? Then check out the below resources
- Project 2010 Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/project/2010
- Project Server 2010 Beta TechCenter (TechNet): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/projectserver/ee263909.aspx
- Project 2010 Beta Resource Center (MSDN): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/ee695847.aspx
- Project 2010 webcasts and podcasts: http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/epm.aspx?tab=webcasts
- Project 2010 Forums: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/projectserver2010,projectprofessional2010
Upcoming Microsoft Project 2010 webcasts
Book your calendar for February, lots of great Project 2010 content delivered by the top Microsoft MVPs worldwide!
Microsoft Project Development Group Uses Its Own Product to Manage Development
The first official case study on Project Server 2010 is out; how the Project team used Microsoft Project 2010 to develop 2010! Expect a lot more in the coming months: http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?casestudyid=4000006413
The Microsoft Project Development Group, which develops project management solutions for the global software company, needed to manage the complex development effort for its new product, Microsoft Project 2010. The group decided to use prerelease versions of its own software to plan and track all of its engineering activities. The Project Development Group used Project 2010 to choose and plan a portfolio of potential software features, allocate resources to these feature development efforts, and track progress against changing goals. With Project 2010 features, the group increased end users’ participation in planning, time tracking, and status reporting. It also gained timely data and rich analysis tools—resulting in effective portfolio management that elevated product quality—along with a transparent, accountable planning process that improved the experience for workers.
Microsoft Project 2010 Beta Demo image available
Happy downloading as it is 10GB compressed!!!!!
Partners & Customers – Instructions on how to download the Microsoft Project 2010 EPM Solution demo image, installation instructions and associated presenter’s script can be provided by sending an email to the Proj2010@microsoft.com alias.
Please note that this is an Hyper-V image and hence it requires Windows Server 2008 as the base operating system for it to run (not to mentioned at least 8GB of RAM, and ideally a Solid State Drive for optimal performance, see this: http://blogs.msdn.com/chrisfie/archive/2009/08/13/the-ultimate-demo-machine-get-ready-to-demo-project-and-sharepoint-server-2010.aspx).
Demo image contains (SharePoint Server Enterprise 2010, Project Server 2010, Office 2010, Project Professional 2010, Visio 2010, Visual Studio 2010 and more…):
- PPM Governance: Separate governance workflows for both major and minor projects
- Demand Management:
- Major Project business case includes general information, strategic impact, resource plan, cost and benefit templates and risk assessment survey
- Minor project includes general information and schedule PDP
- Includes custom workspaces for both Major and Minor projects
- Portfolio Selection & Analytics
- Business Driver Library
- Saved Business Driver Prioritizations
- Saved Portfolio Analysis to run both Cost Constraint and Resource Constraint Analysis
- Detailed Planning: During the detailed planning stages the project manager
- Finalizes the project schedule
- Finds and assigns named resources
- Completes a secondary cost assessment
- Baselines the plan
- Manage:
- Team Member: Team member receives and updates tasks and completes timesheet
- Project Manager: Receives and approves task and timesheet updates
- BI: Demo includes Corporate, Departmental and Project Level reports
Project and SharePoint 2010 integration
My colleague, Chris Forbes, is a fountain of all knowledge regarding SharePoint 2010. This video is a common area of interest from users of Microsoft Project, integration with SharePoint. Now more than ever SharePoint is a key component of the EPM infrastructure. Although what is available out of the box is a great step forward for Microsoft the development in SharePoint that can be achieved is keeping Chris and his team very busy….
What’s New in Project Server 2010?
End-to-end project and portfolio management
A single server which combines the best of Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 with deep capabilities of Project Server 2010
Built on SharePoint Server 2010
Bring together powerful business collaboration, business intelligence, and structured execution capacities.
Microsoft Project Server 2010, built on SharePoint Server 2010, delivers flexible work management solutions. The innovative new capabilities in Project Server 2010 lead to improved productivity and better business performance.
Unified project and portfolio management
Familiar SharePoint UI and a common data store make Project Server 2010 easy to use. A comprehensive API enables you to customize and extend both project and portfolio capabilities.
Effective use of resources
Select the right project portfolios and maximize resource utilization—effectively prioritizing projects from multiple dimensions.
Flexible Web-based Project editing
Easily build schedules online and conveniently make project edits from anywhere.
Demand management simplified
Capture all work from simple tasks to complex projects in a centralized repository. Develop and deploy effective governance workflows to drive accountability and capture project information, cost and resource estimates, and other valuable project data.
More powerful dashboards and reports
Gain transparency and control with the Microsoft Business Intelligence Platform: Excel Services, PerformancePoint Services, Visio Services, PowerPivot for Excel 2010 and SQL Reporting Services are all at your fingertips. Customise reports in a familiar Excel editor and create powerful dashboards to effectively monitor and share portfolio performance.
What customers are saying about Microsoft Project 2010
Feedback from the Microsoft TAP program has been very promising, find out what they are saying…
Microsoft Project 2010 ignite training is finally here
For those of you like myself that completed the Microsoft Office Project EPM university training you will certainly be pleased of the lastet ignite training from Microsoft. For Microsoft partner they have announced this month the availability of the Microsoft Project 2010 Ignite beta training slides on Microsoft’s download site: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff358349(office.14).aspx
The downloadable file contains the following eleven presentations that are used in the three-day training course delivered worldwide:
- Project 2010 Ignite Introduction
- Project 2010 Overview
- Project 2010 Planning, Design, and Deployment
- Project 2010 Upgrade and Migration
- Project 2010 Demand Management
- Project 2010 Portfolio Strategy
- Project 2010 Timesheets and Statusing
- Project 2010 Reporting
- Project 2010 Administration
- Project 2010 Operations
- Project 2010 Developer
Ignite agenda and registration: https://dynamicevents.emeetingsonline.com/emeetings/websitev2.asp?mmnno=327&pagename=SITE52841
I am Project 2010 ready, are you?
What makes a good project manager?
Recently at a trade show I had the chance of meeting with a project management lecturer from a local university. He was very interested in understanding the latest technologies available for project managers but the topic of discussion changed quickly onto what makes a good project manager. Certainly I fully appreciate the need for students to follow a course curriculum and be prepared with the necessary theory before entering any profession. However whilst the theory of project management practices have changed and certifications have come/gone or been improved the foundations of success remain the same. Successful project managers are those who deliver the basics - that is a project delivered on time, within budget and with a level of deliverables that are satisfactory to the client and signed off during project initiation.
Microsoft project management products can aid both fledgling graduates and experienced project managers alike to accomplish the following,
- Prepare a proper top-down, structured project plan comprising a product breakdown structure, work packs, Gantt charts, management reporting, time writing and issue/risk management.
- Define the proper organisation, resource requirements, skills required of the resources etc. to deliver the project to which he/she has been assigned.
- Manage and monitor the project plan to ensure successful completion of the plan activities and delivery of the project on schedule.
- Manage and monitor costs to ensure that the project is delivered within budget.
- Establish, implement and manage processes and procedures risk and issue management
Unfortunately what Microsoft products cannot deliver is the softer skills and real world experience which differentiates a project manager from a great project manager. Excellent communication skills, clear thinking when problems arise, enthusiasm, commitment to success and the ability to motivate a team is perhaps something which cannot be taught in an academic curriculum!!!
