Estimate the Bandwidth used by EPM 2007 (part 1)
July 3rd, 2008
I recently did a study to evaluate the bandwidth requirements for an outsourced EPM 2007 deployment. The Tool Fiddler was used to measure the http traffic ( http://www.fiddlertool.com ). The bandwidth is hard to estimate with EPM because the amount of…(read more)
Originally by shaden from Steven Haden’s Blog on July 2, 2008, 4:21pm
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Resource Overallocation
July 2nd, 2008
Dim Tsk As Task
If Not Tsk Is Nothing Then
Tsk.Text1 = ""
For Each Res In Tsk.Resources
If Res.Overallocated = True Then
Tsk.Text1 = "Overalloc"
End If
Next
End If
Next
Originally from The Project Server Guru on July 2, 2008, 3:27am
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Medium Farm - Two Tiers or Three ?
July 2nd, 2008
There are some limitations with this topology, such as
- No consideration for application availability.
- Added performance hit as transactions traverse the network layer between WFE and App Servers.
- The number of Queue threads are constrained by a single apps servers ability to service the threads
ogy is a 2 tier farm where both servers operate as WFE and Application.
With this topology there are 2 servers providing WFE and application services therefore increasing the number of available Queue threads and providing added application availability. As transactions do not need to traverse the network layer between WFE and app server, a small performance gain can be achieved.
Assuming the SQL server and associated storage is capable of handling the extra Queue threads, you could expect to see an increase of Queue transactions by 10-20% over that given by a 3 tier topology.
Originally from The Project Server Guru on July 2, 2008, 4:11am
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Back to Basics: Understanding summary tasks and subtasks
July 2nd, 2008
When you sit down to think through a project plan, it often makes sense to group the project into several sections. For example, let’s say I’m planning a software development project. First, I need to identify the scope for the project, and then write functional specifications documents that detail how the software application should work upon completion. After the specs are written, then the development team gets to work coding the application and handing off builds to the test team. The test team sends the bugs back to the development team for fixing, and eventually a finished product is ready to head out the door to customers. If I take a step back and look at this process, I can identify three distinct phases in my initial description of the work: Planning, Development, and Release. I can represent these phases in my Microsoft Office Project plan using summary tasks and subtasks.
Looking at this example, the summary tasks are “Planning,” “Development,” and “Release,” and the subtasks are the tasks that are indented below each of the summary tasks.
How are summary task dates and durations calculated?
Subtasks determine the start and finish dates for each summary task, as well as the summary task’s duration. For this section, let’s look closely at the first summary task in the example above, and its subtasks.
|
Task Name |
Duration |
Start |
Finish |
| Planning | 40 days |
Thu 6/26/08 |
Wed 8/20/08 |
| Identify Scope | 10 days |
Thu 6/26/08 |
Wed 7/9/08 |
| Write functional specificatin | 30 days |
Thu 7/10/08 |
Wed 8/20/08 |
Duration. The duration of a summary task is the total duration of its subtasks. Using the example above, we can see that the duration of the “Planning” summary task is 40 days, which is the total duration of the two subtasks (10 days + 30 days).
Start date. A summary task gets its start date from the earliest start date among its subtasks. Using the example above, we can see that the “Planning” summary task takes its start date, 6/26/08, from the “Identify scope” subtask.
Finish date. The finish date for a summary task is the latest finish date among the subtasks. So, in this example, the “Planning” summary task takes its finish date, 8/20/08, from the “Write functional specifications” subtask.
What about resource assignments?
In a typical project, resources are assigned to subtasks, not summary tasks. However, there may be some situations where assigning a resource to a summary task is appropriate. If you decide to assign a resource to a summary task, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.
First, watch out for accidental overallocation. If you assign a resource to a summary task, don’t also assign that resource to the subtasks, or the resource may appear overallocated. When dealing with resource allocations, Project treats summary tasks the same as subtasks, so if a resource is 75% allocated to a summary task, and 75% allocated to one of that summary task’s subtasks, as well, the resource will appear to be 150% allocated. In actuality, the resource still has 25% availability, but it isn’t represented correctly in Project because the resource is assigned to the same task twice.
Also, if a resource is assigned to a summary task, and that resource’s time spent on the subtasks stays the same regardless of how the total duration of the subtasks changes, then that resource should be assigned to the individual subtasks, rather than assigned to the summary task. That is, let’s say we have a resource, Ana Pavicic, assigned to the “Planning” summary task from our earlier example. Ana is a contract employee, and is required to log exactly 40 days on the subtasks associated with the “Planning” summary task. Currently, that’s just fine, because the two subtasks add up to exactly 40 days. However, let’s say the “Identify scope” task ends up taking 15 days instead of 10. The “Planning” summary task’s duration increases to 45 days. Ana’s assignment to the summary task now exceeds her required 40 day contract. Instead, it is better to assign Ana directly to the two subtasks, so that you can easily maintain control of her exact assignments.
Additionally, you should refrain from assigning resources to summary tasks if you do task status updates through Project Web Access. Since summary task dates are driven by their corresponding subtasks, this can cause issues if the resource enters actuals outside of these dates.
Where can I learn more about summary tasks and subtasks?
The following resources can help you learn more about using summary tasks and subtasks in your project:
· Goal: Define phases and tasks
· Outline tasks into subtasks and summary tasks
· Display outlined subtasks and summary tasks
· Create and link tasks with Project 2007
Originally by Heather O’Cull from Microsoft Office Project 2007 on July 1, 2008, 10:40pm
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It’s all Relative
July 1st, 2008
Last week I took a trip to visit friends. It has been a while since I last traveled (and I can say that is a first for about the last ten years). I flew through Memphis both ways. On the return trip, I had an interesting experience. I went to the airport-supplied-really-expensive-and-risky-to-eat food trough so thoughtfully allowed by the airport to hawk its wares, and struck up a conversation with a young man. Now, this wasn’t just any young man. Standing behind him, I noticed he had dog-tags, had a tightly shaved head, and sported desert combat boots. These are not run-of-the-mill REI weekend warrior type boots and his were worn well. Otherwise, he was garbed in civilian clothes.
It was obvious he was in the service. I lived in Washington DC for about 4 years working for a program management company that did plenty of DOD work and learned a thing or two about the military. I am not an expert, but I know the average recruit joining the armed service is hardly swimming in money.
So, I tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if I could buy him lunch. Actually, I insisted. I am not a fan of the current war or any war, for that matter; but these young people deserve our attention—and our support. We may not agree with our government’s policies in every case, but I think those wearing the uniform deserve absolute respect.
We stood there in line for just a few moments, talking about what he had been through. He had just spent six months in Africa protecting aide workers delivering food and medicine to the local population. As it turned out, this young man is a Marine. There is no way to understand the Marine viewpoint unless you are one, but I have friends and family that are or were in the Marine Corp, and I can tell you they are hard core; yet, this young man never fired a shot in anger—he simply enabled those in need to get the help they so desperately require. I asked him if he had been to Iraq and he said “no, nobody’s been shot for me to replace.” Wow.
Interestingly, this young man had a newly purchased book tucked under his arm that was a current events book (obviously written before Hillary conceded) contrasting Clinton against McCain. I had to ask…
“So, who are you voting for in this election?” I asked nonchalantly.
“McCain, because he will fund the [insert explicative] out of me and my guys…” He responded with obvious passion.
Well, what can you say to that? Things are mostly relative to one’s own viewpoint. I am by no means a wealthy person but I am healthy, I have a great family, and I earn a good living. This young man is laying his life on the line every day because his country asked him to (let’s not forget that the American military is entirely voluntary). He has to do it poor, scared, and dirty most of the time.
Buying him lunch was the best ten dollars I have spent in a long time.
Young Marine, if you are out there reading this, realize that there are many of us that don’t support the war, but we will always be faithful to you—after all, that is what Semper Fi means.
Originally from Colby Africa on June 30, 2008, 8:44pm
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Project Server 2007 - Additional Certification
June 29th, 2008
.- Microsoft Enterprise Project Manager
- Microsoft Certified IT Professional (EPM 2007)
- Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist (Project Server 2007 – Microsoft Partner Competency on Information Worker Solutions)
- Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist (Project Server 2007)
- Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist (Microsoft Project 2007)
0″ size=2>Now I am little bit confused on the next step. There are two paths that I can take one goes to PMP and Project Management and another goes to .NET 2.0 and 3.0 to Enterprise Architect. I will take the decision this week after discussion with my friends and collegeues.
Best of Luck 
Originally from Jerry’s Blogs on June 28, 2008, 5:42am
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Deployment Practices: Why Resource Max Units Should Never Be 100%
June 29th, 2008
Reason number one is that in all but the most extraordinary situations it is modeling a situation that is just not possible.
But first some background on what Max Units really is. Max Units defines the percentage of a resource’s full calendar working “period” that they can be assigned to work on tasks before Project sees them as being over-allocated.
Example:
A resource’s calendar says they come in at 8am and work until 5pm and take a 1 hour lunch. They do this Monday – Friday. That is an 8 hour work day\40 hour work week. So if the Max Units is 100% then if the resource is assigned to work 9 hours in one day they will be seen as over-allocated. Same for if they are assigned to work on 2, 1 hour tasks during the same hour. This goes down to the minute level too so if two 1 hour tasks overlap by 1 minute then for that 1 minute they are over-allocated.
This helps the PM create models of assignments and get an idea of how many hours each team member is being assigned to tasks and how that falls across time, other assignments, etc.
So now you might be seeing what is wrong with 100% Max Units. It says that if I work an 8 hour day, I am available to work 8 hours on tasks. On it’s face this sounds logical but dive a little deeper and it becomes obvious that this is just not possible. Nobody ever arrived at work at 8am, took a 1 hour lunch, and then left promptly at 5pm AND got 8 hours of work done on tasks. EVER.
OK wait, I take it back. It is possible that someone did this on your project: IF your project schedule has tasks for things like: going to the bathroom, answering non-project related emails, going to a company meeting, being tapped on the shoulder by your cube-neighbor and being asked for “just a quick 5 mins. of help” (that turned into 30 mins), the list goes on and on. So if your project contains a task for every possible distraction from YOUR project and you expect your resources to track all of that then never mind. You can set your Max Units to 100%. (just count on a lot of churn on your team.)
But for most of us it is not possible to work 8 full hours on PROJECT WORK in an 8 hour day. Doing so means that you were present for more than 8 hours so that all the other things had time in your day along side your real work. The best way to help our models (because that what project schedules really are: models of what we want our project work to look like) be more accurate is to lower Max Units to something more like 85%. That would be the highest I would ever go on any project I was managing. I have seen it set as low as 75% at some sites but generally I see 80-85%.
What this means is that if you have a 1 day duration task and you assign a resource that has an 85% Max Units value, Project will calculate the Work for that task to be 6.8 hours. This means that you are modeling that on average this resource spends 1.2 hours of their 8 hour day doing something OTHER THAN working on your project. A Max Units value of 75% means that 2 hours is spent doing other things. Of course some will get more than 6.8 done in a day and some will get less done. It depends on the nature of their job, their relationship with other projects, other teams, etc. So the value you set will never be perfectly accurate but it WILL certainly be MORE accurate than 100% which is nearly always wrong. The point here is to make your model as accurate as you can.
____________________________________________________________
I’m hoping to start a small series of Deployment Practices posts here covering things I have found to be useful ideas, practices or methods for deploying Project Server. Please email me if you have suggestions or questions.
Originally by Brian Kennemer from projectified on June 27, 2008, 11:55am
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Write a Great Post When You Look for Help in the Microsoft Communities Newsgroups
June 27th, 2008
My participation in on-line communities began during the bad old days of dial-up BBS and continued through participating in UseNet groups since the very early days of Compuserve, and I have a deep appreciation for the wealth of information and support these forums provide. Through the years, I’ve often wished that I could point people to a good how-to for effective newsgroup posting. With the introduction of this blog, I thought it was high time to whip one up!
The first thing you should do when you seek help in the Microsoft Communities news groups is not to start writing! Rather, you should start by searching the archives to see if someone has already asked the same question and an answer is readily available, which spares you the wait time. You should consider leveraging Google Groups to do your searching as Google retains the most history available for your search, unlike the Microsoft news servers, which contain only 30 days of history. To search the Microsoft.public.project.server newsgroup on Google, use this URL: http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.project.server
Note that you can search other project newsgroups or other Microsoft Newsgroups if you substitute the name of the group after the last forward slash in the URL. For instance, “microsoft.public.project” for the Project client newsgroup or “microsoft.public.project.developer” for the developer’s group.
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Verify that you cannot find a post that sheds light on your problem, and then start writing. The most important information you should specify in your post is the software version you are using, and if possible, include the service packs or updates applied to your system. Keep in mind that three versions of Microsoft software can be considered supported at any one time, so if you don’t include this information, your first turnaround message is likely going to be someone asking you for this information.
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Next, include a careful and complete description of the problem. Be certain to explain the actions to take to recreate the problem. Always include copies of any error messages that you receive being careful to copy and paste, or carefully transcribe them if necessary. Do not try shorthand or abbreviate this information! More is better.
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Include information describing what you have done to troubleshoot the problem. For instance, if one user experiences a problem, do other users experience the same problem when they take the same actions? Does the user experience the problem on one machine or all machines? Do only some users experience the problem and not others? If so, what might these users have in common? If you haven’t used some probing techniques like this before you start posting, go back to the system, experiment a little, and report your findings. This type of preliminary trouble-shooting can save days of back-and-forth in the newsgroup.
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Avoid “me-too” posts. By this I mean, you find a post that sounds like it may be your problem, so you jump in and add a reply that starts with “I have this same problem…” and ends with “have you found a solution?” There are several problems with this type of approach. Firstly, you might have similar symptoms, but a very different problem. Keep in mind that many software errors are “catch-all” in nature and can be quite meaningless in that they can apply to hundreds of error conditions. In these situations, you are starving your potential respondents of valuable information. Another problem with “me-too” posts is that the original post may no longer be available on the server for a respondent to retrieve. Remember that someone reading directly from the Microsoft source servers can only access 30 days of history, so do not make your volunteer helper have to go off searching and hunting, as your question will seem more like work than a pleasure to answer. Always take the time to describe as much about your experience as possible and do not jump to conclusions that same symptoms equals same problem.
Originally from Project Server Help Blog: Posts on June 26, 2008, 5:14pm
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Interesting 3rd party timesheet add on
June 27th, 2008
Finally QuantumPM, from what I can see beeing a great EPM organisation ( no I have not worked with them before 
) have released a great product called “JustOne” which fills the biggest gap that Project Server 2007 timesheet and task update has.
Essentially it allows users to update timesheet data AND remaining work in the timesheet, it then updates the task automatically. It means a one stop shop for task and timesheet update.
Having said this, I have not used it as yet, but hope to check it out soon. Anyway, for all of your Task and Timesheet users in Project Server 2007 check out this product.
http://www.quantumpm.com/products/JustOnce.html
Here is the description directly of their web page:
- Easily report time for each task
- See Remaining Work dynamically recalculated as actual time is updated
(change remaining time if needed)
- Time automatically imported from timesheet to tasks
- Timesheet sent to Timesheet Manager and status updates sent to Project Manager
- Timesheet and task submission status are kept in synch automatically
- keeps timesheet and task status in synch
- Comments and Rejected status displayed on My Timesheet page per timesheet
- Corrective dialog box reminds users to make updates
Originally from Sparkles EPM Blog on Project and Portfolio Server on June 26, 2008, 10:37pm
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Microsoft Hypervisor Technology (Hyper-V) is RTM
June 27th, 2008
Released today, a good overview in this press release: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2008/jun08/06-26hyperv.mspx
Time to upgrade your EPM VPCs: http://blogs.msdn.com/chrisfie/archive/2008/06/25/how-to-upgrade-microsoft-project-vpc-to-hyper-v.aspx
Hyper-V RTM Packages
This is the complete Hyper-V RTM package for Windows Server 2008 x64. This package must be installed on the Hyper-V Parent Partition. It includes the Hyper-V Server components for Full and Core installations. In addition, is contains the Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Management components for Full installations. Note This package is permanent. Once installed, it cannot be uninstalled.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F3AB3D4B-63C8-4424-A738-BADED34D24ED
Hyper-V Management
- Windows Vista SP1 x64 Management package http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=88208468-0AD6-47DE-8580-085CBA42C0C2
- Windows Vista SP1 x86 Management package http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=BF909242-2125-4D06-A968-C8A3D75FF2AA
- Windows Server 2008 x86 Management package http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6F69D661-5B91-4E5E-A6C0-210E629E1C42
Originally by chrisfie from Christophe Fiessinger’s Blog on June 26, 2008, 1:24pm
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