EPM, Microsoft Project and You

BY: Collin Quiring

This is part three on Microsoft Certifications.  Part one and two dealt with the question of “Is it worth it” from the perspective of an employer and an individual.  In writing those, I became interested in the process of how a test comes into existence.   That is what this article is about.

As Microsoft technology is replaced by newer versions, so are the tests.  If I were to tell you that I am certified in Microsoft Project, you might be impressed; until I told you that it was Microsoft Project 1994.  Hopefully, you will be more impressed that I am certified in Microsoft Project 2007 and Microsoft Project Server 2007.  Keeping current on the tests is important.  But, how do the new tests get created?

According to Microsoft, tests now normally go through this development process:

To ensure the validity, reliability, and relevance of Microsoft Certification exams, developers create exams in eight phases:

1.       Job analysis: Exam developers break down the tasks performed within a specific job function, and identify the relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities needed when using a specific technology.

2.       Objective domain definition: Tasks are translated into a comprehensive set of more specific and measurable skills and abilities. The resulting list of objectives, or the objective domain, forms the basis for the development of certification.

3.       Blueprint survey: The objective domain is transformed into a blueprint survey, in which technical and job function experts rate the importance of each objective. This helps to determine the appropriate number and types of items to include on the exam. Contributors may be Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) or MCP candidates recruited from within Microsoft or through online forums. Based on contributor input, exam developers prioritize and weigh the objectives.

4.       Item development: Exam developers write the exam items according to the prioritized objectives. Developers review and revise items to ensure that they are:

Technically accurate

Clear, unambiguous, and relevant

Not biased toward any population, subgroup, or culture

Not misleading or tricky

Testing for useful knowledge rather than obscure or trivial facts

Items that meet these criteria are included in the alpha item pool.

5.       Alpha review and item revision: A panel of experts reviews each item for technical accuracy. After the items are approved, they undergo a legal review.

6.       Beta exam: The reviewed items are beta-tested. During the beta exam, candidates comment on items. The beta exam allows Microsoft to evaluate the quality of the item in an actual exam situation, and helps ensure that only the best content is included in the live exam.

7.       Item selection and cut-score setting: The results of the beta exam are analyzed to determine which items should be included in the live exam. This analysis focuses on many factors, including item difficulty and reliability. Microsoft works with a panel of experts to review the technical accuracy of questions and to determine the final item pool for the live exam. The panel determines the cut score (minimum passing score) for the exam. This score differs from exam to exam, because it is based on the difficulty of the item pool and the expected performance of the minimally qualified candidate.

8.       Live exam: Prometric, an independent testing company, administers the final certification exam. The exam is available at testing centers worldwide.

I used to wonder why it took so long for the tests to come out in some areas after the software was released.  But, if you realize that the software sometimes isn’t finalized until just before it is being released, that means that test questions can’t even be created yet!

Read Parts One and Two here.

BY:  Collin Quiring

This is the second part of three articles on Microsoft Project Certifications.  In the interest of trying not to repeat myself and not requiring you to read Parts one or three, let me just say that this article is trying to answer the question: Is certification worth it for the individual?

From the perspective of the individual and according to Microsoft, certifications are “available for most Microsoft technologies and skill levels from business workers to IT professionals, developers, technology trainers, and system architects. Achieving a Microsoft Certification helps provide you with up-to-date, relevant skills that can help lead to a more fulfilling career, while giving you access to valuable Microsoft Certification program benefits.”

If you have the experience in a tool, I think that certification is what gets you “in the door” if you are looking for new work.  It is also beneficial if you are trying to move up the corporate ladder within your own organization.  And, in this economy, sometimes it is the deciding factor to just keep the job you have now. 

One of the obvious benefits to a certification is that it shows to others that you have the skills, knowledge and ability that you are claiming you have.  If you talk to somebody that doesn’t know your work – inside or outside your company – sometimes the certification is the only way that person will believe that you actually know the subject matter.  I am not claiming that having a certification will get you a job, but I do believe that it will get you the interview.  How many times have you seen a job listing where the hiring entity wants persons with a list of skill sets and you have some of those?  Any time that more than one person applies (or, in times like now, when 100’s or 1000’s apply) how is that hiring manager going to differentiate people?  If you can apply for that job showing that you have the experience AND you have the certification to back that up, you have a better chance of at least making it past the first culling.

There are some people that have told me that certifications are a waste of time, that nobody cares and that since they have years of experience and can show any hiring manager (internal or external, whether for full time or contract position) that they have the skills and then they don’t need any certification.  I am not so sure, particularly in times like this.  When lots of individuals are competing for work, unless this person can somehow get past the first cut, they never get the chance to show their abilities (even if they are superior).

I will give a simple example from my life.  I can’t do any major car repairs and I move quite a bit.  Therefore, I don’t have the personal knowledge to judge a mechanic’s ability.  Also, I don’t have any life-long mechanic friend in my city because I always seem to be relatively new to town.  Therefore, I have no choice but to look for a mechanic that can somehow prove to me that they have the skills to work on my car.  I look for those certifications (like ASE) on websites and phone books before I call.  When I call, I ask questions about their experience in the type of repair I need.  There may be a mechanic that is absolutely excellent that lives in my town but because of a lack of a certification I don’t go to them. 

That leads me to a quick sub-point.  Not all certifications are created equal.  Some carry more weight than others do with employers and experts in the field.  Therefore, it is important to get the certification that best fits what you are doing and best represents your skill sets. 

A certification shows an employer that you cared enough about your profession to obtain a level of endorsement that not everybody else has or gets.  However, the benefit to you can be significant as well – and not just for work reasons.  I won’t get into all of the psychological reasons why a certification might be of value to you but there are non-monetary benefits.

The last thought I will mention about this is that a certification can demonstrate that you are current and a series of them can show that you know your technology.  With Windows 7, Office 2010 and new server versions coming out, a current certification shows that you know the tool.  For example, depending on where and how you work, it is entirely possible that you work with, or recently worked with, SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008 (and 2008 R2).  Obtaining the latest certification on the newest software shows that you are keeping up with the changes in technology.  Having your older certifications along with the newer ones shows that you have experience in a wide breadth of the technology.

To me, the certification is worth it because presenting a certification is a quick way to gain credibility and be recognized as knowledgeable in your field.  That is the way that you stand out from the crowd.

Read Parts One and Three here.

BY:  Collin Quiring

I noticed that Microsoft is retiring a couple Project certifications in October of this year:

Exam 74-131: Designing a Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution

Exam 70-281: Planning, Deploying, and Managing an Enterprise Project Management Solutions

It is common for Microsoft to discontinue tests over time as the software or original purpose of the test becomes out of date.  Unless the technology has been discontinued or the original purpose no longer exists, there is usually a replacement exam that is created.  With Project 2010 coming out, it makes sense for the older tests to be phased out and new ones to be created.

I have one of those certifications and fully expect to have to take the “new” version – I have been fortunate to help with the beta testing in the past and hope to do so again (see Part Three for the test creation process).  That said, I started thinking about a few questions and ended up with three separate articles.  First, “Is certification worth anything for the Employer?”  The second one is “Is it worth it for the Individual?”  And, part three is about the normal process that Microsoft goes through to produce a test.

According to Microsoft, one of the benefits to the employer is that “when you hire a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), your company benefits from a technically proficient professional who has hands-on experience and in-depth knowledge.”  Microsoft has a 10 page paper based on an IDC survey that explains more benefits of hiring a certified individual.  Go to http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-benefits-emp.aspx  and find the link titled “Read the “Value of Certification,” IDC white paper”.

I have two main points of view for the Employer.  The first one is about hiring somebody that already has a certification and the second is in paying for certifications for current employees.  In the case of hiring an individual that already has the certification the employer can be confident that they are getting somebody that can begin contributing immediately and the learning curve for a new hire will be more about the organization’s culture and “how we do it here” rather than learning the technology.

(I know that the risk to an employer is that a person goes to a boot camp or is just inherently good at passing a test and that some “certified” individuals aren’t worth the paper their certification is written on.  But, I do think that this is getting to be a smaller set of individuals over time as the tests become harder and more specific.  And, the person’s ability is easily tested during the interview process with a simple practical application assessment.)

My second point of view is when an employer provides the opportunity to become certified (or maintain) to an existing employee.  Not everybody cares about or desires certification but for those that do, having a certificate is more than just a pride item – it can be an intrinsic benefit that demonstrates their hard work in learning the latest technology and that their employer recognizes this as well.  Depending on the certification, it is possible that no extra training expense be incurred as the individual just has to make sure they understand what the test is covering and brush up on their skills in their weak areas.  In other cases, some training expense may be incurred.  I understand how companies cut training expenses in lean times – but this is still less expensive than trying to replace an employee.  The benefits to an organization aren’t easily quantified on a spreadsheet when they invest in their employees in this manner.

Be sure to read Part Two and Part Three.

BY: Collin Quiring

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 very important that the Server and Client versions of the software stay matched with updates as problems can occur if they are not equal.

To determine the version of Project that you have, open Project, 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:

Project 2010 and Project Server 2010 haven’t been officially released as of the writing of this article so I won’t try to put in values for those here at this time.

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.