BY:  Collin Quiring

Now that the “non-disclosure” agreement that I have with Microsoft about 2010 is basically over, I will be going into more details about some of these in future posts.  In the meantime, here are some of the highlights about Project Professional 2010 and Project Server 2010.  Note: since the product isn’t released into the wild yet, it is possible that some of these may change.

 

Microsoft worked on Project with some goals in mind that set the framework for 2010.  The framework that Microsoft worked under for Project 2010 was:

·         Unified Project and Portfolio Management

·         Enhanced Collaboration and Reporting

·         Simple and Intuitive User Experience

·         Scalable and Connected Platform

 

Even though I tried to separate Professional from Server for this list, many features and capabilities are now available on Server that we would traditionally think are Professional only.

 

Highlights of Project Professional 2010:

·         The Ribbon – currently used in Office 2007 and 2010

o   Known as “Fluent” user interface

o   Makes for a highly customizable interface

o   Organizes common tasks together

·         Runs on Windows 7, Vista and XP

·         Office Backstage

o   Puts printing options in one place – gives a WYSIWYG preview

o   Replaces the “file” view

·         Text Wrapping

·         Filter Improvements

·         Auto-Complete

·         Copy and Paste

o   Indentions stay in place when copying in or out of Project

o   Can copy and paste between many Office applications

·         User-Controlled Scheduling

o   Manually versus Automatic scheduling

o   You can now put notes in columns that used to be data (date/number) only

o   Adding placeholder tasks is easy

·         Inactive Tasks

·         Team Planner

o   Quickly view assignments across resources

o   Easily manage assignments

·         Task Inspector

o   An improvement over the Task Driver in 2007

·         Report Improvements

·         Timeline View

o   Report on selected tasks in timeline format

o   Format online

o   Shares easily

·         Synchronize with SharePoint lists

·         Two versions of the Product

o   Project Standard 2010

o   Project Professional 2010

·         Incremental Leveling

·         Versioning

·         Supports Total Work and Percent Complete tracking

·         Zoom slider

o   Zoom in and out rather than clicking “+” or “-“

·         Resource Selection

o   Select multiple resources from the drop down at one time

·         Add new columns easily

·         Office Suite integration

o   Able to use items like WordArt

 

 

 

Highlights of Project Server 2010:

·         The name – it is no longer “Office” Project Server

·         Web based Project editing

o   Ability to do a lot of work on the server that used to be client only

·         Portfolio Server is now part of Project Server

o   No longer a separate product makes integration and use easier

·         Requires SharePoint Server to work

o   Project Server now is “SharePoint centric”

·         NO ACTIVE X CONTROLS

o   Grids are now Ajax or JavaScript

·         No Office Web Components (OWC)

·         Resource Updating

o   Multiple places for resources to update their tasks now

·         SharePoint synchronization

·         Exchange Server integration

o   No Outlook add-in

o   Easily update tasks from Outlook

o   Allows for mobile updates

·         Custom Fields enhancements

o   Can create fields by “Department”

·         Have I already mentioned NO ACTIVE X CONTROLS!?!?

·         Excel Services

o   Reporting engine allows for more functionality

·         Multiple level Undo

·         Delegation

o   Allows resources to “request” delegation

o   Lessens load on the Admins

·          The PSI (Project Server Interface) is enhanced

o   It doesn’t replace the old version, so custom PSI should still work

·         Improved Programmability

·         Timesheet Enhancements

·         Workflow Capabilities

o   Enterprise Project Types (EPT) that help define types of workflow

·         Improved Reporting

·         Increased collaboration

·         Did I mention NO ACTIVE X controls?!?!