EPM, Microsoft Project and You

Tanya Foster has just added a new document to our White Paper section which is formatted to print on one page - with sample images.  This document lists five of the new features and is designed for you to be able to print out to show others about some of the newest features.  It highlights the ribbon, timeline view, user controlled scheduling, team planner and inactive tasks features.  We plan to have more of these one page documents in the future and if you have suggestions for a document please let us know. 

This document is in our White Papers section at http://pmpspecialists.com/WhitePapers.html and is titled Project 2010 New Features - One Page Quick Summary.

BY: Collin Quiring

Microsoft Project Server and Project Professional work very well together most of the time. However, every now and then, particularly if you use multiple instances or Servers, some challenges can arise. Recently, I was confronted with an annoying issue that I have resolved in the past and thought that I would share it with you just in case they were experiencing the same issues. And, while I am at it, I am going to mention a few other errors that I receive every now and then when using Project Server and Project Professional.

First, the easy part: how it is supposed to work. I know that Microsoft has documentation about this but in a nutshell, here is how you connect Project Professional to Project Server.

1. Open Project Professional

2. Go to Tools, Enterprise Options, Microsoft Office Project Server Accounts

3. Select Add

4. Enter something you will remember in the Account Name field

5. Enter the URL in the Project Server URL field

6. If you are using forms or windows authentication select and enter the appropriate information

7. If this is the only or the main URL that you use, then select the default.

8. After clicking OK, you are back at the Project Server Accounts box

9. I always recommend that you select “Manually Control Connection State” in case you add more instances or often go “offline” but that is up to you.

10. And, that is it – just close Professional and the next time you open Professional it will connect (or give you the option to connect).

Now, that is the way it works for most people. And, it works fine for most of the time, especially for those that only connect to one instance. However, in other cases, interesting things that can happen.

To understand the issues that I run into you need to know my situation. I have both Project Professional 2003 and Project Professional 2007 on my computer. I also connect to about 15 different instances with 2007 and 6 different instances with 2003. Of those instances, only a few of them are local to my computer’s network so I am using my internet connection to access the majority of these sites. The servers I am accessing are either within a client’s domain or are being hosted by PMP Specialists. (This post is about Project Professional setup so assume for this post that the server and user/password are all correct.) Also, for clarity, I am running Vista and Office 2007.

Normally, having both 2003 and 2007 on my computer at the same time isn’t an issue with the way that Professional works. However, every now and then an update from Microsoft will render one of the versions of Project to stop working correctly. I usually find this out at the most inconvenient moment and when I don’t have the time to fix it!

One of the most common ways that I find there is an issue is when I try to open a file directly from Project Server. When in Project Web Access (PWA) and you select a project file to open, the Project Server automatically goes out and opens your Project Professional. The catch is that it sometimes tries to open the other version of Professional. This is because of a change on the local computer, not the server. The error messages are not necessarily intuitive either. And, the Server sometimes seems to time out or to be doing nothing at all so this is a time for patience. Clicking refresh or clicking on other items only makes it worse when the Server catches up. It sometimes takes a minute before the error message appears.

For example, the error message I get when I use 2007 and the server opens up 2003 is some version of the error message below. Note, I am using a 2007 file, created in Professional 2007 and a 2007 Server and the error still mentions Project 98.

Error message:

“Project cannot open the file

· Check that the file name and path are correct

· Check that the file format is recognized by Project

Project files save in a version earlier than Microsoft Project 98 can’t be opened.

If your file is from an earlier version, open it in that version, click Save As (File Menu), and save in MPX format. Open the MPX file in the current version of Project. When you use this method, project data is imported, but formatting is lost.”

At this point, I usually have an easy fix. I open up Professional 2003 first and go to the help drop down and select the Detect and Repair. After that runs, I can try again. This seems to fix the issue for me about 1/3 of the time.

If the issue isn’t resolved and the server is still trying to open the wrong version then the next step that I take is to go to Professional 2007 and run the Help, Microsoft Office Diagnostics.

Interestingly, that doesn’t seem to find problems usually. But, it must flip a bit somewhere because that seems to resolve the problem about ½ the time when I try it second.

If neither of those work I go to Windows Update and run that. After running Windows Update, I sometimes have to repeat the steps above for 2003 and 2007 but have never had to do other steps – to get Server to open the correct version of Project.

Another type of error that I get when connecting Professional and Server is if I have Professional open already and connected to a different instance. Then, when trying to change some server settings or otherwise using PWA to open or use Professional a new error message appears. This is an easy one to resolve as the error message is pretty clear.

It says:

“Project Professional 2007 is currently running under a profile that does not match your current Project Web Access login. Restart Project Professional with a different profile, or exit Project Professional and then let Project Web Access automatically start Project Professional.”

So, close Professional and re-open it with the correct instance, or let Server try to open it for you.

The next error isn’t really an error – it just makes you think it is. When you use Server to open Professional, you sometimes get the message

“Project cannot be fully opened because it is awaiting your input. Either continue with the input process until Project is fully running or quit Project and click Update again.”

The reason for this one is simple, it is waiting for you to enter your credentials. If, like me, you have multiple instances setup and/or just have the “manually control” option setup, then Professional will be waiting for you input. Sometimes this doesn’t become the focus of your computer and so when you don’t enter your information after a bit, the Server is prompting you. Just find the login box prompt on your computer, make sure you have the right instance selected, and sign in.

Another error which appears to have two potentially different solutions is this:

“Project cannot recognize this file format.

Do you want to open this file as text only.”

This is caused by one of two different issues. The first is that you have Professional to open, but in the wrong version. This example was caused by the 2007 Server opening Professional 2003. As we know, this is correct, the 2003 and 2007 versions aren’t compatible. So, make sure that you have the correct version of Professional open.

The second cause of this issue is that you don’t have the Server URL in your IE Trusted Sites zone. I have had the correct version of Professional open and still get this message and then when I add the URL into the Trusted Sites (and close Professional) and try again, all works well.

Another error that may be caused by the Trusted Sites or an invalid URL is this one:

“Login Failed. Project could not connect to the server

Please check your username and password and try again.”

I have seen this error because of the URL not being in the Trusted Sites (usually this is because the URL’s network/domain settings or your network/domain settings have an option that allows traffic through only if the URL is in the Trusted Sites).

I have also seen this error when the URL is typed incorrectly in the Project Server Accounts connection box. In Professional 2003, there was a “test connection” option but in Professional 2007 there isn’t one so you can have a typo in the URL and not know it until you use Professional to try and connect. If you go directly into Professional and then try to connect, you should get a message similar to this one if the URL isn’t correct. (Remember, we are assuming that the Server, userid and password are all correctly configured and working.)

“Could not connect to Server

Project was not able to connect to Project Server because of the following error:

Project Server could not be contacted

If you retry and are still unable to connect, try the following:

· Check your network connection and see if you are able to connect to other websites

· Check the URL of the Project Server you are trying to connect.

· Use Internet Explorer and make sure you can connect to Project Web Access.

· Contact your server administrator for further assistance.”

The best way to make sure that the URL is correct is to go to PWA and then copy/paste that URL into Professional. BUT, be sure to take off the “default.aspx” or whatever extension you have. For example, if the URL in PWA is: https://projectserver/pwa/default.aspx only put https://projectserver/pwa in Professional.

Another issue that happens to me every now and then is that Server gives an error that it can’t open or use Professional. In fact, the error is usually that you have to open Professional – even though Professional is already open, or, sometimes, after it just opened Professional. I am not sure if it is the caching, a timeout between responses or something else that happens but sometimes the Server wants to be the cause of Professional being open and you have to close Professional first. And, other times, you have to open Professional first and then use Server. This seems to happen most often when working with administrative items like custom fields but it does happen in the Project Center every now and then as well. The only solution is to close/open Professional in the opposite order than it was before.

I have one more “error” to mention. Sometimes, after opening Project Professional from Server, it opens without the project opening. No error messages. It just opens Professional and then stops. So, you are looking at “Project 1” and not the project that you expected. In my experience, this has happened when using Forms Authentication and for whatever reason, and some point in the communication between Professional and Server the system decides that you don’t have permissions to open the project. This has been a user authentication issue– even when they can open Professional first and open the project file and even though they can see everything in PWA. This is a rare occurrence and seems to be restricted to certain systems.

Now, when you connect and disconnect from more than one instance or Project Server in a day it is easy to get confused about which instance you are in. Tony Zink wrote a great little article about it and so I refer you to his post titled “Which Project Server Instance Are You Connected To?” at http://www.projectserverhelp.com/Lists/Posts/AllPosts.aspx

BY:  Collin Quiring

One of the mantras of Project Management is COMMUNICATION.  Study after study shows that one of the consistent reasons for failure of a project is a lack of or poor communication.  This goes for both positive and negative information.  December was spent on holidays and dealing with the fact that bad news does not get better with age.  Rather than being told there was an issue and trying to help resolve it, I have spent my time trying to understand and adjust to the effects of the issue.

I think it is human nature to try and gloss over rough edges or to avoid tough conversations about issues that will be taken negatively.  However, the statement “Bad news does not get better with age” still applies.  When somebody avoids the tough conversation they might be making life easier on themselves for the moment, but it will probably only get worse as time goes on.

I once worked with a company that had a culture of avoiding negative issues.  This was strongly encouraged by management in the way they dealt with each other and with employees.  This only meant that more money and time was spent fixing issues that had become critical and unavoidable - when they could have been addressed much sooner during the project.  Most issues were seen early in the life of the project and if those that knew the information were encouraged to speak up, rather than punished, they would have become true partners in fixing the problems.  That company would be stronger today since it would have an employee base that was “bought in” to the company and were “part of the solution”.  Instead, as the economy got weaker, and more potential issues arose, the employees ran for cover, which created more issues and so on and so on.  The same concept holds true for vendors, customers and contractors. 

We all know that 2009 was a rough economic year for many companies.  Some managers/owners have shared the bad news of financial downturn with employees – ranging from pay cuts, to cutting all “discretionary” expenses (another post on that some other time!) to forced time off without pay; or, ultimately, layoffs.  Some have kept the bad news secret and then end up at the same point.  In these two cases, the facts don’t change but the ability of the employees to help does.  Even banks have come to the realization that it is better to work out new terms with loan customers than to foreclose on every mortgage or business that they can – because it is better for everybody in the long run.

A lot of companies won’t share bad news because they fear the consequences – some real and some perception.  They want to look strong and that they are weathering the economic storm.  However, when a company knows it is having a hard time, it should go to its vendors, customers, employees and contractors and ask for help.  I know of some companies that have gone to their vendors and asked for restructured payment terms.  I know of companies that have talked with contractors and employees about modifying work or payment structures, or any of a myriad of other options.

I also know of companies that have pretended all is well and then just not paid vendors.  I know of companies that have said everything was going great and then they shut the doors.  How many of those cases would have worked out if they had shared the bad news sooner?  Yes, some companies would still go out of business, and yes, admitting a problem sometimes creates additional issues.  However, what of the reputation of the company and management when they don’t admit to issues and end up having to shut the doors?  And, what about when people eventually find out there is an issue – it may be too late to correct it at all and it is possible that a vendor that could have helped weather the storm becomes the catalyst that forces changes nobody wanted (including the vendor).

Bad news does NOT get better with age!  If a company is experiencing issues, they should be honest enough to confront it themselves and then determine a communication plan.  That plan might be to tell only tell a select few vendors, contractors or customers.  It may be that if one or two big customers pay a little faster and one or two vendors accept getting paid a little later that everybody can weather the storm together.

BY: Tanya Foster

Did you know that all sorts of normal everyday activities can be projects?  We always think of these big, multi-million dollar things as projects… but in reality we start and complete projects all the time. Since it’s the holiday season, I thought we would use hanging Christmas lights as an example.  Now, you don’t have to use all five process groups since we’re just doing this for ourselves, but if you want to create a Project Charter and Scope Statement and have yourself sign it… by all means go right ahead.

We’re going to start with the planning phase for our Christmas lights project.  Plan out what type of lights you want; those great big ones? Small ones?  Icicle lights? Where are you going to put them; on the edge of the roof only? The edge of the roof and around the window panes?  The bushes and trees in the front yard?  Will our lights be on a timer?  Are we putting up that giant inflatable snow man that’s folded up in the garage that takes an hour to inflate?  I could go on and on here, but I think you get the point.  You can even create a work breakdown structure.  I highly recommend Microsoft Project for your WBS, but I know that the average Joe might not have that program handy… so you can use whatever you do have handy; Word, Excel, pen and paper work ok too.  I’ve gone ahead and created a WBS for us using Microsoft Project 2007.  Please feel free to copy this and use it at your leisure… I don’t have it copyrighted.

Now we can execute our project plan.  You’ll notice that I only have two resources listed in our project, but of course you can add other resources to your project plan (i.e. your children, spouse, pets, etc.).  Our project is rather small, but some of you may do very elaborate decorations around the holidays, so your plan might be a smidge larger than this one.

We can monitor and control our plan by marking our assignments complete once we’ve finished them… although if you really have that much egg nog, you may not be able to mark much off after the third or fourth glass, just do the best that you can.  Whether your schedule finishes on time and within or under budget… again depends on the egg nog consumption.

As for closing our project, we’ll just release our resources and probably take note of our lessons learned for next year.  As for our lesson learned… don’t return Jim Bob’s ladder after that last glass of egg nog… sleep it off and return it the next day!

This was just one example of how everyday things can be projects too.  So don’t think of these little things as chores or simply a pain in the backside… think of them as project adventures that you as the mighty project manager are going to conquer!  Happy Holidays!

BY:  Collin Quiring

For those that may be getting this blog’s RSS feed but don’t visit our website very often I am sending this out as a quick note.  We have added TWENTY-EIGHT documents to a new White Paper page on our website.  At this time, the majority of them are on Microsoft Project but there are some on Microsoft Portfolio Server as well.  What makes these unique is that some of them are meant to explain in detail the BUSINESS REASON to set something up.  For example, the document on Understanding Project Server Cubes isn’t a technical document, it is an explanation of what the cubes are and what they do.

For those interested, here is a listing of the documents we just added:

Accepting Updates in Project Server 2007
ActiveX Work Around for Project
Activity Creation in Project Server 2007
Administrative Project Check In for Project Server 2007
Checking In a Project with Project Professional 2007
Setting up Document Alerts in Project Server 2007
Enterprise Resources in Project 2007
The Enterprise Global File and the Standard Template in Project
Exam Summaries for Microsoft Project Certification
Linking Projects in Microsoft Project
Schedule Movement - Dates that Represent Actual Information
Resources Assigned to a Task
Installing Outlook Task Synchronization with Microsoft Project Server
Using Outlook with Microsoft Project Server Documents
Project 2007 - Professional and Server - New Additions
Connect Project Professional to Project Server
Proposals and Activities Defined
Proposal Creation in Project Server
The Difference Between Save, Save As and Publish
Task Drivers in Microsoft Project
Templates - Creating and Using
Updating a Task in Project Server 2007
Using Visual Reports in Microsoft Project Professional
Using the Outlook Add-in for Project Server 2007
Project 2010 and Project Server 2010 Highlights
Creating a New Project in Microsoft Portfolio Server 2007 - Part One and Part Two
Understanding Project Server Cubes
Viewing a Project in Microsoft Portfolio Server

Just go to www.PMPSpecialists.com and select the “White Papers” section.

BY:  Tanya Foster

Ever wondered how many tasks you can put into a single project? Or how many resources you can assign to a specific task?  Believe it or not, Project does have its limits!  Here are some limits that I found helpful to know and hopefully you will too.

Now… keep in mind that some of these numbers are really outrageous and I would never recommend that you use up to the maximum number allowed on some of these!

Tasks in a single project               400,000
Resources per project                  700,000
Task dependencies per project    No limit
Predecessors per task                  50,000
Successors per task                      50,000
Outline levels per project             65.535
Consolidated projects                   998
Baselines                                      11
Characters in a text field              255
Earliest date allowed                    1/01/1984
Latest date allowed                      12/31/2049

I told you… some of these numbers are outrageous!  400,000 tasks in a single project?  Can you imagine trying to manage that monster!  Or trying to manage 700,000 resources in a project?  I think I’d want to quit my job if I had to manage all of that in a single project!  What about looking at the Gantt chart in a project that had 50,000 predecessors for a single task… No thanks!  I know that you’ll probably never hit the limit on any of these, but it is nice to know this information.  I’ve had people ask me before how many tasks could be in a single project or how many consolidated projects can you have and I didn’t know the answer at the time.  So hopefully this information will be helpful to you in the fact that you can put a lot of tasks or resources in your project without worrying that you’re going to hit a maximum limit.  Now there are two on this list that I have hit the maximum on before and chances are you have too.  That’s the baselines and characters in a text field.  It wasn’t the end of the world when I did hit that max on those two, but I improvised and I’m sure that you will too if the situation arises.  There are some more limits if you would like to read up on them… the ones listed in this blog are just the ones that I have had people ask me about.  You can read more about specific limitations here http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/HP101065651033.aspx.

BY:  Tanya Foster

Two great products… each one has its own specialty, but so many people try to use them interchangeably.  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people using Excel to schedule their projects.  Don’t get me wrong, Excel is a great tool, but not necessarily as a scheduling tool.  Project can do so much more for you regarding scheduling, resource management, cost, etc. than Excel can.  And I’ve also seen people using Project no different than an Excel spreadsheet.  Both of these products has their own special bells and whistles.  Project has so many bells and whistles it’s hard to even know where to start with a list! 

One of the things that Project can do that Excel can’t is reschedule your work for you.  You tell Project how long the task should take, who will do it, and the actual start date, and it will reschedule that task if it needs to be.   Now… could you do that in Excel? Sure… but it’s manual, whereas Project does this automatically.  You can create an entire work breakdown structure with dependencies in Project.  Can you do this in Excel?  You can create a work breakdown structure, but the dependencies would be more difficult.  Once you have your work breakdown structure in Project, all you do is determine which task is dependent on another one and click a button.  Maybe you really like the reports that Excel gives you.  You can do some of those same types of reports in Project.  Or if you have an Excel formatted report that you just can’t live without, you can even export your data from Project into Excel and then create the same reports that you’re used to.  That way you can let Project do the scheduling and use Excel to view and report on some of the data.

I’m all about keeping it simple!  If I try to use Excel for any type of scheduling I typically spend more time and energy doing manually what Project can do for me automatically.  Save yourself some time, energy and money!  If you currently schedule with Excel, take a trial run at Project and see what you think.  I think you’ll be glad that you did!

BY: Tanya Foster

I was able to attend the PMI Global Congress this year.  I always enjoy this conference.  You get to network with so many people and it’s nice to get to see some of the faces behind newsletters, blogs, etc. that I read.  One thing I did this year that I haven’t done at this conference in the past is to “tweet”.  Yes, you read it right… I said “tweet”.  For those of you who don’t know what tweeting is… it’s updating your status on the ever popular social media site Twitter.  You basically just type in what you’re doing, in 140 characters or less, and send your tweet to your followers.  They can read your tweet, send you direct messages, etc.  So Collin and I were playing dueling tweets this year.  We were only in the main sessions together, but whenever we were, it was a race to see who could tweet the fastest!  Usually he won, but that’s ok.  It’s the content that counts, not the speed! J

After the first night of the conference was over, I logged onto Twitter from my trusty laptop and searched for some others that were tweeting from the conference.  I found several, so I started following them (on Twitter, not at the conference! I’m not a stalker!).  During breaks in the conference, I would read everybody’s tweets from my phone.  I got to where I really looked forward to reading some of them and finding out what other people were doing at the conference.  Then it just so happened, that I attended one of the sessions and low and behold, there were several people whose names I knew, but had never met.  This session was on social media and there were several presenters, one was a fellow tweeter, one wrote a blog that I read all the time, the other does a podcast that I listen to.  It might sound kind of silly, but it was almost like they were famous!  I wanted to go up and meet them and tell them how much I enjoy their tweets, blog and podcast.  If I’d have been thinking clearly I would have had them sign my autograph hound!

I really enjoyed most of the sessions that I went to this year.  There were a couple that were just outstanding, but all in all, I think I was able to learn something in every one that I attended.  I like to go through the exhibit hall and see the different things that are set up.  I also take a free pen from all of the booths that have them so that I don’t have to buy any for next couple of years!  Hey… it might sound silly, but some of these pens are awesome! This was a very good conference and I’m really glad that I was able to attend.

BY:  Collin Quiring

Just because I have changed the oil on my car nobody would believe that I am a mechanic.  I understand debits and credits, but nobody would call me an Accountant.   And, just because I have worked on a Project, or part of a Project, I am not a Project Manager.  It seems to me that there is a disconnect that many people and organizations have when it comes to Project Management.

I have been thinking about how this logic doesn’t seem to be resonating with many individuals and organizations.  It seems to happen most often in the Information Technology area but it happens in all areas of a company.  There is some work that is assigned to a person and whether they do some, most or none of the work, they are held responsible for the end result.  The outcome notwithstanding, the work comes to an end at some point and either the company or the person assigned suddenly believes that they are a Project Manager and that they do that thing called “Project Management”. 

I have seen where somebody does a significant amount of work in a key area of a project and because they had the majority of the deliverables and were central to the project, they start to think of themselves as a Project Manager.  With no “true” Project Manager, they are a key person and they do end up leading most meetings and giving status reports – formally or informally.  So, the person and the company start to believe that this is Project Management.

This both amuses me and saddens me because it hurts everybody involved AND it hurts the reputation of Project Management in general.  The person who is now viewed as a “Project Manager” is given projects and they don’t necessarily have the skill set (or desire) to be a full time Project Manager.  If they don’t succeed, then both they and the company can come to view Project Management as something that just doesn’t work.  If they do succeed, then they both start to believe that this whole Project Management concept is simple.

There are professions that some organizations and individuals don’t fully realize can be done so much better by trained, competent people (like Project Management, Business Analysis, Human Resources, Bookkeeping, and Purchasing).  We need to better educate management about what Project Management truly is and does and the value of it in general.  And, we need to encourage those individuals that are “Project Managers” to get the training and expertise to do that thing we call Project Management.

Most companies will not do their financial reports without an Accountant and they won’t take care of legal matters without a Lawyer.  We will know that we have arrived as a profession when a company wouldn’t work on a Project without a Project Manager.

BY: Collin Quiring

This is a quick primer on the difference between a summary task and a milestone task. 

In the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), version four, the term “Summary Activity” is defined as:  “A group of related schedule activities aggregated at some summary level, and displayed/reported as a single activity at that summary level.”  And, a “Milestone” is defined as “A significant point or event in the project.”

A milestone is usually used to indicate when a specific phase or group of tasks is to be completed.  It can be considered a deadline date.  It is possible to have numerous milestones in a schedule.  While a milestone can be assigned a resource that is responsible for its completion, it is more common to use the milestone without resources.  This is because the milestone is often a successor to a number of other tasks that all have to be completed prior to its completion.

In Project Professional, a milestone is what the system automatically creates when a task is given a zero duration.  To add a deadline date to the milestone task there is an option to add that date in the task information.

A summary task is just that – a task that summarizes another set of tasks.  Normally, the summary task is not assigned a resource.  This is because the summary task’s start and completion dates are derived from the earliest subtask’s start date and latest subtask’s finish date.  As each task is completed, the summary task’s overall completion is updated as well.  Normally, a summary task is not linked to other tasks.  Using summary tasks makes reading a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) easier when using a logical grouping.  Creating a WBS usually involves determining the summary tasks and then the subtasks to complete them but it is possible to put all the tasks into a WBS and then determine the summary  tasks later.

In Project Professional, the subtasks are indented and that makes the summary task bold and outdented.  Many levels of summary and subtasks can be created.

Just as a reference point, here are the definitions as defined by Microsoft.  For Microsoft Project, a milestone is defined as: “A milestone is a reference point that marks a major event in a project and is used to monitor the project’s progress. Any task with zero duration is automatically displayed as a milestone. You can also mark any other task of any duration as a milestone.”  And, a summary task is defined as: “When organizing the tasks for a project, you can group the tasks that share characteristics or that will be completed in the same time frame under a summary task….You can use the summary tasks to show the major phases and subphases in the project. Summary tasks summarize the data of their subtasks, which are the tasks that are grouped beneath them.”