EPM, Microsoft Project and You

This article is an overview for the diagram that can be found here:  http://pmpspecialists.com/WhitePapers.html  and is called “Timsheet and Task Update Workflow”.

The diagram and this article are a high level overview and are to help with understanding the workflow in Project Server 2010 for using Timesheets and Task Updates.  The goal is to demonstrate how the timesheet “splits” into two separate flows (from a system perspective).

First, it helps to understand that in Timesheets there are two basic types of work being accounted for:

1. Work assigned in schedules as tasks
2. NON-scheduled work called Administrative tasks

NON-scheduled tasks include things like Sick Time, Vacation, Jury Duty or other items that you want to track within your organization.

Secondly, there are two perspectives to think about – the Project Manager and the Timesheet Manager.  These are not necessarily the same person as the Timesheet Manager is the person approving the number of hours a person worked and may not even be a Project Manager.  The Project Manager may have only one task for an individual that takes only a few hours of their week and from their perspective, they don’t care whether or not the individual worked 4, 40 or 90 hours during the week.  They care about whether or not the individual worked on the tasks they were assigned and how that work (or lack thereof) affected the overall schedule.

When an individual enters their time, the timesheet “splits” into two separate flows:  one for the Project Manager(s) and one for the Timesheet Manager.  The splits are named based on their type – the updates of time on scheduled tasks are called Status Updates and the other items along with the overall timesheet are considered Timesheet Updates.

Not represented in the diagram is that Timesheet Managers can set up rules about accepting updates.  And, it is also an automatic setting that if you are your own Timesheet Manager that your update will be accepted.  So, it is important to understand that the diagram and this brief post are about the high level workflow and doesn’t try to include every setting that can be made to automate this process or the cases where a Project Manager and Timesheet Manager are the same person.

BY:  Collin Quiring

This is an updated version of the post from February, 2010, when Project Professional 2010 and Project Server weren’t really in the wild yet.  I have now included the 2010 versions and updated the 2007 information.  This information is everything I could find as of January 10, 2012.

I am asked “What release (version) of Project do I have?” and “What is the latest update?” quite often and this is an attempt to help answer those questions.  And, this also answers the question about what the differences are between a hotfix, patch, update and service pack.

Please note – always read the installation instructions on any update for software as there are pre-requisites that sometimes must be installed first or at best the update won’t work and at worst case it could stop your program from working at all.  And, of course, always back up your software and data prior to patching anything!  Also note that it is important that the Server and Client versions of the software stay as close to the same version as possible with updates as problems can occur if they are not equal.

2010 Versions

Note that along with Project Server 2010 you need to update SharePoint Server 2010.  They aren’t just dating like they we in 2007, they are fully married now and almost always both have to be updated for full effect.  (I put some SharePoint 2010 update information at the end of this post.)

To see what version of Project Professional 2010 is on your computer, open Professional, go to File, Help and on the right hand side will be the Version number under the “About Microsoft Project” heading.  This is known as the “Backstage” area and is listed that way in the table below.  There is also a link called “Additional Versions and Copyright Information” which gives a bit more information if you select it.  Or, you can go to your Control Panel and view the version at that location.  The version numbers will look different in the Control Panel or in the Professional.  The list of the Project Professional versions are in the following table.

The information in the tables below for Project 2010 and Project Server 2010 comes from Brian Smith’s blog (http://bit.ly/cHxHPW).

Project Professional 2010

June 2011                 Service Pack 1 – Build 14.0.6106.5000        KB 2460047

August 2011             Build 14.0.6109.5000                                      KB 2584056

October 2011           Build 14.0.6112.5000                                       KB 2596498

December 2011       Build 14.0.6114.5000                                       KB 2597006

For Project Server 2010

Also from Brian Smith’s blog (http://bit.ly/cHxHPW) is this information on how to run a query or use the control panel to get the version.

The version can be different depending where you look, so I will tabulate the version you will see in Control Panel, Programs and Features (binary version) or on the individual binaries – which is also listed in Central Administration under Upgrade and Migration, Check Product and Patch Installation Status – and also the version you will see in the databases. I’ll mention too various other components that might be of interest. I have listed just the Project Server KB for the CU – but the DB Version noted for SharePoint assumes that either a SharePoint Server or Server rollup has also been installed

As a reminder to get the version from the database there is a table in each SharePoint DB, and each Project Server DB called Versions so a query such as the following will return the current version, which will be the highest Version next to the NULL GUID.

USE <PROJECTSERVERNAME>_Published

SELECT * FROM Versions

WHERE VersionId =’00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000′

June 2011                       Service Pack 1 – Build ​​14.0.6029.1000      KB 2460047

August 2011                   Build 14.0.6109.5005                                     KB 2553049

October 2011                 Build 14.0.6112.5000                                      KB 2596506

December 2011             Build 14.0.6114.5000                                      KB 2597015

­2007 Versions

To determine the version of Project that you have, open Project Professional, go to Help and then select About.  (There are other ways to determine the version, but we will only cover this one method.)

A pop-up box will appear and the top line will have the information that answers the question “What version of Project do I have?”  The first part of the line will be descriptive of the version and will say something like “Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003” or “Microsoft Office Project 2007” (or 2000, 2002, 2010) as appropriate.

The next part of that line is the “File Version” or “Build” for that product.  If you have installed a Service Pack then the file version or build of the Service Pack is listed as well.  Here is an example:

“Microsoft Office Project 2007 (12.0.6524.5000) SP2 MSO (12.0.6425.1000)”

This means that this computer is using Project 2007 with the December 15, 2009 hotfix update (found by knowing what the number “12.0.6524.5000” means) and with Service Pack 2 that has been updated with the latest Office Service Pack (that is what “12.0.6425.1000” means).

I have included a list below of the Project 2007 release numbers as of today, with the Microsoft KB article explaining the modifications:

I don’t have a full listing for Project 2003 like I provided above for 2007, but here are the original release values for Project 2003:

How do you determine what version of Project Server are you running?  If you go to the Project Server itself, to the currently installed program list it will have a line for Project Server.  In the 2007 version, that is called “Microsoft Office Project Server 2007”.  When you select that line, there is a “Click here for support information” option.  Selecting that will bring up a pop-up with the server version of the product that you are using.

As a rule, the file version of the Server should be the same as the file version on the Client.  When the client says this:  “Microsoft Office Project 2007 (12.0.6524.5000) SP2 MSO (12.0.6425.1000)” the Server version should also be “12.0.6425.1000” – demonstrating that they are on the same Service Pack.

Here are the Project Server 2007 release numbers as of today:

Finally, here are the definitions and differences of the various update types (as taken directly from Microsoft’s TechNet Project information):

Hotfix:

A hotfix is a single cumulative package composed of one or more files used to address a problem in a product. A hotfix addresses a specific customer situation and is distributed by Microsoft Customer Service and Support. Customers may not redistribute hotfixes without written, legal consent from Microsoft.  Individual hotfix releases are no longer available. Hotfixes are released to customers by Microsoft Customer Service and Support through cumulative updates.

Cumulative Update:

A Cumulative update is a method of providing hotfix releases on a scheduled delivery basis for Office Server products, including Office Project Server 2007. Through this model, Office hotfixes are released every two months in the form of a downloadable package of current and previous hotfixes. The primary goal is to deliver high-quality fixes on a predictable schedule.

Service Pack:

A service pack is a tested, cumulative set of all hotfixes, security updates, critical updates, and updates. Service packs may also contain additional fixes for problems that are found internally since the release of the product and a limited number of customer-requested design changes or features. Microsoft service packs are public updates that are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center.

Infrastructure Updates:

The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers is a set of public updates to improve platform performance and also contains several customer-driven fixes.

The SharePoint updates also are important.  I ran across this blog posting from Technet’s Joe’s SharePoint Blog (sorry, I don’t know the author’s name).  (http://blogs.technet.com/b/sharepointjoe/archive/2011/02/01/sp2010-sharepoint-2010-build-level-and-version-numbers.aspx)

I removed non-SharePoint information and the download and revisions columns.

​October   2010 CU​SharePoint Foundation​ 2010KB2394323​14.0.5128.5000​October   2010 CU​SharePoint Server 2010​KB2394320​​​​​14.0.5130.5002​​December 2010 CUSharePoint Foundation 2010

​KB2459125   ​14.0.5130.5002​

​December 2010 CU​SharePoint Server 2010​KB2459257​​​​​14.0.5136.5002​February 2011 CU​SharePoint Foundation 2010

​KB2475880​14.0.5136.5002​February 2011 CU​SharePoint Server 2010​KB2475878​​​​14.0.5138.5000​April 2011 CU​SharePoint Foundation 2010​KB2512804​14.0.5138.5000​April 2011 CUSharePoint Server 2010​​KB2512800​14.0.6029.1000​Service Pack 1​SharePoint Server 2010​KB2460045​14.0.6029.1000​Service Pack 1​Office Web AppsKB2460073​14.0.6029.1000​Service Pack 1​SharePoint Foundation 2010KB2460058​​​​​14.0.6105.5000​June 2011 CU Version 1​​SharePoint Server 2010​KB2536599​14.0.6105.5000​June 2011 CU Version 1​SharePoint Foundation 2010KB2536601​​​​​14.0.6106.5002​​June 2011 CU Version 2​​​SharePoint Server 2010​KB2536599​14.0.6106.5002​​June 2011 CU Version 2​SharePoint Foundation 2010KB2536601​14.0.6105.5000​June 2011 CU​Office Web AppsKB2553919​​​​14.0.6109.5002​August 2011 CU​SharePoint Server 2010KB255304814.0.6109.5000​August 2011 CU​​SharePoint Foundation 2010KB255311714.6112.5000​October 2011 CU​SharePoint Server 2010KB259650514.6112.5000​​October 2011 CU​​​SharePoint Foundation 2010KB259650814.6112.5000​​October 2011 CU​​Project Server 2010KB2596506

This article, written by Collin Quiring, first appeared in Wellington Project Management newsletter in December  2011. (http://www.projectserver2010.co.uk/2011/11/08/resource-management-with-project-server-2010/)

Last time we started this two-part article by asking some questions about resource management that might be on your mind.  We focused on six questions.  They were:

• ·         Who is working on what projects?
• ·         What tasks are they doing on those projects?
• ·         When are they doing those tasks?
• ·         How many hours of work are assigned for those tasks?
• ·         What is the capacity of each person?
• ·         Who is scheduled to their capacity, over-capacity or dramatically over-capacity?

We also focused on how to see all the resources assigned to one project and then seeing how one resource can see their information.  Our goal in this article is to see how Project Server 2010 allows us to see the information for a resource assigned to many different projects and to see all the resources from the perspective of a schedule or multiple schedules.

In Part One, we looked at our resource, Shelly Smith, for a time period where she was assigned to one schedule.  Now, we need to look at a time period where Shelly is assigned to many different schedules.  Since the picture view might be more easily understood, we will review that one first.  The black line represents Shelly’s capacity – at 40 hours a week.  The blue bar represents the amount of work assigned.  We can easily see that she is way over capacity! 

Now we can review which projects are causing these problems by reviewing the data view.  (We review this in image form at the end of this article.)  We can see that she is over capacity by between 24 and 104 hours for January.  Be able to review this information allows you to go to the various Resource Managers or Project Managers (or the resource) and discuss what the priorities are and what tasks can be moved to other resources or other time periods.  From this chart, we can determine that the Resource Managers for both the “Infrastructure Plan” and the “Residential Construction” schedules think they have 100% of Shelly’s time for the week of 1/9/12.

If one of the potential results of seeing a view like this is to determine if we can move work to other resources we need to be able to see those resources for the same time period.  We can look at each resource individually as we have done or we can see all the resources that we want to during this time period.  For this example, I have chosen to include two more resources, Ryan and Jessica.  I now have a new black line that represents the capacity of all three individuals and I can see the work assigned for the three of them combined.  Note that Shelly is now the yellow and that Ryan is green but Jessica is Blue and she is seriously UNDER capacity.  In one quick look we know who can get some of Shelly’s work.  And, we have also discovered that Ryan is over capacity.

These last few images were from the resource’s perspective but we can also view the work from the schedule perspective.  Earlier, while we were concentrating on Shelly, we looked at which projects were assigning her the most work.  But, we can view how many hours of work are being assigned to resources based on the perspective of projects.

In this chart we are still only looking at three resources but this time by project – that is why the black line representing capacity is still at 120 hours a week (40 hours each per week).  But on the right hand side the names of the projects are all color coded.  Just by reviewing the chart we can determine that the “Commercial Construction” project is taking the most time for the most weeks.

There is another really positive aspect to all of this – it is in real time.  If you are looking at this chart and a Project Manager changes the dates on a schedule and then published that schedule, as soon as you hit refresh the data changes!  Also, you can deselect projects or resources or change the date range and hit the “Apply” button and the graph changes to your new parameters.

These examples just touch on the amount of information that Project Server 2010 can provide.  There are numerous other views and reports and ways to get data that is meaningful to your specific situation.

I am excited about being one of the presenters at the Microsoft Project Conference 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona.  My topic is going to be “Resource Management – Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together!”.  I will be talking about some of the settings that interact together to make the Resource Management piece of Microsoft Project work effectively.

This is the premiere Microsoft-led event for Microsoft Project. To quote Microsoft: “Get more out of your Project 2010 investment by attending this special event for the worldwide Microsoft Project Community Attended by a world-wide audience of project professionals, business and technical decision makers and the Microsoft Project team this unique point-in-time event is your opportunity to learn, network and get more out of you Project 2010 investment!”

For more about the conference and to sign up, go to this website:

http://www.msprojectconference.com/pages/default.aspx

This article, written by Collin Quiring, first appeared in Wellington Project Management newsletter on November 8, 2011.  (http://www.projectserver2010.co.uk/2011/11/08/resource-management-with-project-server-2010-part-12/)

There are many questions about resource management that probably keep you awake all night.  Ok, maybe you can sleep just fine, but perhaps there are questions that perplex you during the day.  There might be dozens of questions that you have but here is a small sample that you (or maybe management) might be wondering about.

• Who is working on what projects?
• What tasks are they doing on those projects?
• When are they doing those tasks?
• How many hours of work are assigned for those tasks?
• What is the capacity of each person?
• Who is scheduled to their capacity, over-capacity or dramatically over-capacity?

Of course, the way to get the answer to each of these is very simple.  All you have to do is walk around, talk to each person individually and ask them.  You can write their answers down (assuming they all tell you the correct information) and then combine your notes and it will be totally valid!  And, when management surprise you with a request for this information for a meeting they are having in a few hours you just have to walk around faster.

Or, maybe there is an easier way!  An easier method would be to click on a link and get a report that gives you the answer to one or more of those questions.  Just think of all the walking time that you will save!

Project Server 2010 can provide you this information quite easily.  To get this information doesn’t require meticulous hours spent entering every possible detail from the first day you start using Project Server.  At some point in the future you may want to add more detail, like skill sets, but it is easy to start gaining valuable information right away with Project Server 2010. (Even if you don’t use Project Server, it is possible to use Project Professional to get this information.  I won’t go into more detail here about how you can get this information without Project Server but it is covered in my new book “Mastering Resource Management Using Microsoft Project and Project Server 2010”.)

Let’s briefly look at the first three questions – ‘Who is working on what projects?’ ‘What tasks are they doing on those projects?’ and ‘When are they doing those tasks?’.  The easiest way to obtain this information is to assign a Resource to each task on your projects (when applicable) and provide a Start Date and Finish Date for those tasks.  This action will give us the ability to see in one combined report who is working on which tasks, on which projects, and when they are working on them.  You can see this information from the Resource’s perspective or by Project.  For example, this screenshot shows how this might look when viewing a single Project:

The view shows us that Shelly Smith is one of the Resources assigned tasks.  Now let’s look at the information from the perspective of Shelly Smith for this same time period as the screenshot above.  When we dive into the information for one single resource we will also get the information that answers the others questions posed at the beginning of this article.  How many hours are assigned?  What is the resources capacity?  And, who is over capacity?  For Shelly Smith, for the time period as shown in the screenshot above from the project perspective, we can see that she normally has a capacity of 40 hours a week.  And, based on her current assignments, she has work assigned to her of about 40 hours per week.  There are two exceptions in this data – the first and last weeks of this time period.  During the week of 11/1/2011 she is assigned 64 hours on the schedule called “Sample” and with a capacity of 32 hours, she is 32 hours OVER capacity.  The week of 12/26/2011 she is 36 hours over capacity.

Sometimes, pictures are worth a 1000 points of data in a grid.  Here is that same information represented in a graph.  The black line represents Shelly’s weekly capacity and the blue bars represent the amount of work assigned to her for that week.

You might be thinking that this is nice for ONE resource and ONE project but when you walk around and ask resources what they are assigned to now they have multiple assignments on multiple projects and it overlaps.  No problem!  Stay tuned for next month’s installment when we show how this information rolls together from multiple projects for multiple resources.

NOTE:  The information provided by these views depends upon some of the business decisions and corresponding setup of Project Server.  These examples are using the Standard Calendar and Fixed Duration tasks.  You can get more detailed information by using different calendars and different task types.  Even if you are using Fixed Duration for task assignments, you can still get a useful perspective of the amount of work being assigned to a Resource!   (For a deeper explanation of task types see http://pmpspecialists.com/WhitePapers/PMP_Specialists_Task_Types.pdf )

BY Collin Quiring

In our book, “Mastering Resource Management Using Microsoft Project and Project Server 2010” we concentrate on the tool itself and on Work Resources.  This document is an addendum of sorts to that and is designed to better define specifically the Budget Resource Type and the Cost Resource Type that are available in Project.

From Chapter 5 of the book:

A Resource can be defined as a Work, Material or Cost Type.  Material Resources are consumable items like concrete or paint.  Cost Type Resources are meant for controlling or reporting costs such as airfare or lodging.  Work Resources are people or equipment and can be generic or actual (sometimes called named).  A Generic Resource is a resource identified by the skill set or type of resource and an actual resource is a person.

For example, a Generic Resource might be called something like Carpenter, Painter, System Administrator, DBA or Project Manager.  The Generic Resource is then replaced by an actual resource with the appropriate skill set at a later time

To more deeply define the Cost and Budget Resources I have come up with this:

A Cost Resource is a specific cost that occurs that is usually related to a specific task.  For example, to accomplish a specific task you may incur some airfare.  But, throughout the life of the Project, there may be numerous times where airfare expenses are incurred – each one based on the deliverable for a specific task.  (Yes, if you want to, you can be more advanced and spread a cost across multiple tasks but that requires a bit more effort on your part and we are going to stay simple in this document.)

And, each time you assign the Resource to a task, you can put in the amount of the cost as it pertains to that specific task.  For example, I have created the Cost Resource named Airfare and on these two tasks have two different cost amounts for each ticket – the first one being $750 and the second being $250.  I assign the same Resource (Airfare) but with different costing.  When you enter the information into the Resources tab of the Task Information box the amount of the cost will appear in the Resource Name field.

For the rest of this post, view the full document:  http://pmpspecialists.com/WhitePapers/PMP_Specialists_Resource_Types.pdf

BY: Collin Quiring

Our book has been published!  It is titled “Mastering Resource Management: Using Microsoft Project and Project Server 2010″ and was written by Tanya Foster and Collin Quiring.  It was written to be an effective tool for Project Managers and Resource Managers who use Microsoft Project (whether Standard or Professional) and for the Project Managers and Resource Managers that use Microsoft Project Server.

It can be found at www.Amazon.com, www.BN.com (Barnes and Noble), www.jrosspub.com (J Ross Publishing) and other book selling sites.

Here is the high level summary about the book:

In the new economy, organizations in a myriad of sizes and industries are now more than ever seeking a better understanding of how to best utilize and manage the scarce resources devoted to their project portfolios. Microsoft® Project and Project Server are the most widely used and one of the top-rated enterprise project management software packages in the marketplace today and understanding how to properly use it allows an organization to cut costs, share information, and increase efficiency and effectiveness. However, due to the size and complexity of the software, covering all the numerous features, within a single text, may not meet the needs of those specifically involved with resource management.

Mastering Resource Management Using Microsoft® Project and Project Server 2010 provides the guidance needed to master resource management and exploit the full potential of Microsoft® Project and Project Server as it pertains to this critical function. It will also serve as a great companion to practical guides demonstrating the breadth of features and functionality available in this software.

Key Features:

• Presents step-by-step illustrated instructions on using Microsoft Project with Project Server 2010 as well as stand-alone Project Professional to best utilize and manage scarce resources devoted to project portfolios
• Explains the philosophy and methodology the software tool uses “behind the scenes” which will enable you to use it with confidence and clarity, become an expert user, and better manage your project portfolios and business
• Provides practical insights into how to maximize the resource management capabilities of Microsoft Project to obtain better information on resource usage, costs, and future needs, and in turn, gain better planning, scheduling, awareness and control of your scarce resources
• Highlights the things a manager must remember to do daily, weekly, monthly and annually to keep the system in place and working as expected

By: Collin Quiring

This seems to be a question, or more often, a phrase stated as a true comment, quite a bit lately.  I just saw a post by somebody that is trying to get a job and he said to the recruiter that he understood how Project worked (he thinks this because he uses Outlook, Word, Excel and some other Microsoft applications).  He was posting a “quick, tell me in 5 minutes what I need to know” question.  He didn’t think that Project could be that much different than other Microsoft software and felt that a few minutes of internet sound bites would teach him everything he needed to know.

I think that this line of thinking comes from a number of origins.  Part of it is that Microsoft used to market Project as if it were a part of Office that “any user can just use”.  Another large part is the many users just use Project to hold a list of tasks and they never use the majority of the features and functions available to Project.  (And, I am just talking about Project Standard or Project Professional and NOT referring to the even more powerful Project Server empowered tools.)  And, many organizations just purchase technological tools and don’t train their users.  So, you end up with users who find Project as a tool available to them and they use it based on their needs.  I think I have said it before, but it bears repeating, that I think one of the reasons that so many users are frustrated with Project and think that it doesn’t work right is because of the complexity of the tool and their lack of training or knowledge about it.  When people think that Project is just like Excel or some other tool they know and they try to use Project they usually get pretty annoyed fairly quickly.  There are many background processes and calculations that drastically affect the way the tool works.  (Some of those background settings and default options are wrong for the way businesses use the tool, and that frustrates users more – but that is a separate post.)

So, let me answer the question for you – Project is NOT like Excel.  It is not like any other Microsoft application.  Yes, Project has some familiar Microsoft interface features.  Yes, it has some functionality like Excel but that doesn’t make it Excel.  It has so many options, variables and levels of capability that are designed for scheduling that it is unique.  Excel is a spreadsheet program designed to calculate numbers (at its basic level).  You wouldn’t write a letter in Excel, you would use Word.  Why?  Because they are different tools for different purposes!  The same holds for Project and Excel – they are different tools with different purposes.  And yes, I know that there are people who successfully use Excel to track lists of tasks for projects – but that doesn’t make it a scheduling tool.  (Tanya posted a short note about this about almost two years ago as well in her post – http://pmpspecialists.com/Blog/2009/10/microsoft-project-vs-excel/ )

The point of this short post is that just because you know one, or two, or twenty, Microsoft applications or tools you can’t claim that you know Project.  And, no, they aren’t all the same – they are designed for different purposes and different needs.  Project is one of those tools that requires time to learn and to learn the levels of complexity that is has available.  Just as it takes time to become a Power User in Excel rather than just a “regular” user.  And, the more you learn, the more valuable that knowledge is to you and to others.  I have talked in other posts about certification but as a strong believer in certifications I always hope that if somebody is claiming to be an expert in a tool they should be able to prove it with more than just saying that since they know one Microsoft tool, they know them all.

By Tanya Foster and Collin Quiring

How can you classify your Resources so that they can be grouped in some way for security, sorting and comparing to each other?   How do you classify some type of reporting structure or chain of command for your Resources?  One built in method for this in Project Server 2010 is the Resource Breakdown Structure, or RBS.

According to the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) guide the Resource Breakdown Structure is defined as “is a hierarchical list of resources related by function and resource type that is used to facilitate planning and controlling of project work.” (Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) – Fourth Edition, page 145. Project Management Institute, 2008.)

According to Microsoft in the world of Project Server 2010, “the Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS) is a hierarchical security structure typically based on the management reporting structure of your organization, although it can also be structured in other ways. The RBS can be an important element in your Project Server security model when it is used to define the reporting relationships among users and projects in your organization. When you specify an RBS value for each Project Server user, you can take advantage of the dynamic security options that can be defined for each security category.”  (Guide for IT Pros for Project Server 2010, page 46, Microsoft, June 2010)

Before you can use the RBS as an effective tool for your organization, you need to know how to set it up.  Therefore, we have created a new document and posted it in the White Papers section of our website – http://www.pmpspecialists.com/WhitePapers.html .  The document is under the heading of “Sample RBS File – Setting up the RBS Custom Field”.  The purpose of this document is to help explain how to set up a Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS) for your organization with Microsoft Project Server 2010.

BY: Collin Quiring

Well, it used to be the “Magic Quadrant” but I guess like everything else it had to be renamed.  Gartner renamed the “Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management” this year to “MarketScope for Project and Portfolio Management Applications.”  A link to the full report is below but the high level summary is the Microsoft’s Project and Portfolio Management software was rated as “Strong Positive” (the highest possible rating).

As an organization that helps companies with their Project Management needs AND their Project and Portfolio Management tools we are always watching to see what happens in the marketplace with software technologies.  We are highly biased towards Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Server and have felt for some time that this is the technology that is the best in the marketplace.  We also think that in the 2010 release, Microsoft moved even further away from its competitors by adding functionality and abilities that make life easier for its clients.  And, the ability to integrate the Microsoft Project tool with other software like Dynamics AX or even competing products we continue to think this is the best software on the market for Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management.

As an organization, we want to always be careful to watch what the market is doing because we don’t want to have blinders on and be recommending, implementing and consulting with clients on a software package that isn’t the best available.  While we believe that Microsoft’s tool is the best one on the market it is good to get confirmation that the market agrees with us. That is one reason we are happy to let you know about the report that just came out by Gartner.  It is also interesting to us to note how many of the other tools being rated are based upon Microsoft Project or can be considered as “add-ons” or “variations” of Microsoft Project Server (like a web-enabled only version).  We think this is another proof in the market that Microsoft Project and Project Server are valued tools.

For a summary, here is the Gartner Rating Chart:

Get all the gory details about the entire report here:

http://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/microsoft/vol14/article21/article21.html