EPM, Microsoft Project and You

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?!?!

BY:  Collin Quiring

There are many new features, modifications and changes to Microsoft Project in the 2010 version.  This entry is about only one of those modifications – Portfolio Server.

 

With Project Server 2007, there is a separate tool to purchase called Portfolio Server 2007.  The Portfolio Server is designed to allow an organization to identify, select, manage and deliver portfolios that align with strategic priorities.  PMP Specialists has done installations of both Project and Portfolio Server and customers have received value from Portfolio Server.  However, there is some installation and configuration that must be done to tie Portfolio and Project together in a useable fashion. 

 

Well, in 2010 there is no more Portfolio Server.  That is because it is now part of Project Server 2010!  This is a great combination!  From the technology standpoint, this makes the installation just that much better – and, of course, makes the integration seamless (since, it isn’t really something else to integrate but is just part of the tool).  By combining the two tools into one there will no longer be the issues related to having to pull the data together between the two programs.  From a reporting standpoint this makes life just that much easier and it means that information flows more easily from the “top” (selection) to “bottom” (Resource hours or task information or other specific details).

 

From the “business perspective” I really like that Portfolio Server is combined with Project Server.  This means that an Executive will be able to “one stop shop” for information (yes, they could do that before, but the setup was critical for it to flow, and, there were potentially two or more security locations).  They can drill down easily and, they won’t have to know when they are looking at “Portfolio Server” or when they are looking at information from “Project Server” as they do today.  The information will be in one place!  This should also make it easier for the stakeholders to understand the goals of the Executives as the information will be more readily available for them as well.

 

The term “Portfolio Server” will no doubt fade away and a term like “Portfolio Management” will become more common when talking about this aspect of Project Server.

 

I have given my opinions above but here are some of the official Microsoft bullet points:

·         Project and Portfolio Management capabilities in a single server

o   This provides a consistent user experience

·         Common data store

·         Centralized administration

·         Portfolio Prioritization and Selection Analytics

·         Project Capture and Initiation

·         Resource Capacity Planning

·         Enhanced Reporting and Business Intelligence

 

 

Sources:  http://www.microsoft.com/project/en/us/project-portfolio-server.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/project/2010/en/us/default.aspx

 

By: Collin Quiring

 

This is about these Project Server 2007 cube errors:

ProjectServerViewOlapDataRole

Error ID: 17004

Error ID: 26000

 

In my ongoing Project Server 2007 analysis of the cube function, I have run across a few areas where I have had to research and determine what is actually happening.  In this case, I didn’t find much information that pertained directly to my issue.  I provide this information in the hopes that it helps you with similar issues you are encountering, or at least points you in the right direction.

 

On our server, we successfully ran cubes for some time.  Then, I went into the Cube – Configuration screen and I added every “Available Field” that I found in all of the cubes (Project, Resource, Task and Assignment).  That is when the errors started.

 

The cubes stopped building with the following error message in the Cube – Build Status screen:

===== Initiating cube build process =====

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] Cube build request message has been added to the Project Server queue

===== Verifying and running pre-build server event handler =====

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] Verifying and running pre-build server event handler

===== Determining database and cube structure =====

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] Cube build initialization started

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] OLAP database and cube structure was determined successfully

===== Building database and cubes =====

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] Cube build session started

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] Analysis Services session started

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] 10 of the NT accounts that correspond to users that have ‘View Olap Data’ permission could not be added to the Project Server default OLAP role ‘ProjectServerViewOlapDataRole’

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] Analysis Services session completed successfully

===== Verifying and running post-build server event handler =====

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] Verifying and running post-build server event handler

===== Processing OLAP database =====

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] Process OLAP database session started

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] Analysis Services session started

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] Analysis Services session failed with the following error: Failed to process the Analysis Services database Project2007PWA on the ProjectDB2007 server. Error:

===== Process Completed =====

[8/18/2009 1:24 PM] Failed to build the OLAP cubes. Error: Analysis Services session failed with the following error: Failed to process the Analysis Services database ProjectServerCube on the ProjectServer2007 server. Error:

 

Yes, it ended with “Error:” and nothing else.

 

First, the NT account issue is where I thought the problem was – that the permission could not be added to the “ProjectServerViewOlapDataRole”.  The log file lists the account names so finding which accounts don’t have permission is relatively easy.  However, this does NOT cause the cube build to fail – but I didn’t realize that for a while. 

 

In the user permissions within Project Server is the “View Olap Data” permission.  This allows users to read OLAP cube output.  The permission is only checked when the cube is built – and that is part of why the message appears here during the cube build.  The cube adds the user to the ProjectServerViewOlapDataRole during the building of the cube.  The error message appears when a user has the permission but the user’s account is not found for some reason on the Project Server.  A couple of those reasons include Forms Authentication or an account that is active in Project Server, but not in the Active Directory.  In my case, the 10 users were forms authentication users.

 

So, that leaves us with the non-descriptive error message that indicates it failed.

 

Your CBSRequest job failed.  Its current state is FailedNotBlocking.  It was 0% complete.  It entered the queue at 08/18/2009 14:59:04.

 

To get more information about the job failure, please go to Project Web Access.  Select Personal Settings from the left menu.  Then select My Queued Jobs.

 

The errors returned from the queue are as follows:

 Error ID: 17004

 Error ID: 26000

 

Detailed error below – send it to the administrator for more detailed troubleshooting.

 

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-16″?>

<errinfo>

  <general>

    <class name=”CBS message processor failed”>

      <error id=”17004″ name=”CBSOlapProcessingFailure”

uid=”79567be2-7264-4e4e-8862-38233de84d6a” QueueMessageBody=”Setting

UID=00007829-4392-48b3-b533-5a5a4797e3c9 ASServerName= ProjectServer2007 ASDBName= ProjectServerCube

ASExtraNetAddress=ProjectServer2007 RangeChoice=0

PastNum=1 PastUnit=0 NextNum=1 NextUnit=0 FromDate=08/18/2009 14:55:49

ToDate=08/18/2009 14:55:49 HighPriority=True” Error=”Analysis Services session failed with the following error: Failed to process the Analysis Services database ProjectServerCube on the ProjectServer2007 server. Error: “

/>

    </class>

    <class name=”Queue”>

      <error id=”26000″ name=”GeneralQueueJobFailed”

uid=”42c3cbd6-d720-458e-8e7c-6c0348f1f2bf”

JobUID=”f1a6ac66-09a5-4f82-b83f-421c8d3afb35″ ComputerName=”PROJECTSERVER2007″

GroupType=”CBSRequest” MessageType=”CBSQueueMessage” MessageId=”2″

Stage=”" />

    </class>

  </general>

</errinfo>

 

According to Microsoft documentation the error messages mean this:

CBSOlapProcessingFailure = 17004      The OLAP cube processing failed.

GeneralQueueJobFailed = 26000     The queue job failed.

 

Again, not very descriptive. 

 

The simple solution was to undo my prior changes to the Cube-Configuration screen.  The cube then worked fine.  So, I went more slowly through the Configuration screen, adding back only a few fields at a time.  I did this until the cube broke again.  This time, I found a more descriptive error message:

A member with key ‘{52E394C4-169A-44B2-A4B4-85EABE07970C}’ was found in the fact table but was not found in the dimension ‘RBS_Resource’.

 

This led me to discover that I had a resource (long since deleted, but came in from conversion from Project Server 2003) the system couldn’t handle because it apparently existed in some places on Project Server but not in other places.  (The userid owned some SharePoint information, but nothing in PWA itself.)

 

The moral of the story is two-fold (neither of which are new thoughts):

1.        Check the logs and messages BEFORE you make a change.  If I had done that, I wouldn’t have wasted time trying to figure out the NT account issue since that was there when the cube build was working fine.

2.       Don’t make numerous changes all at once.  When I went through the changes the second time, I found the true issue with the cube build relatively easily.

 

 

Just some proof that the cube will finish successfully with the NT account error:

===== Initiating cube build process =====

[8/18/2009 3:01 PM] Cube build request message has been added to the Project Server queue

===== Verifying and running pre-build server event handler =====

[8/18/2009 3:01 PM] Verifying and running pre-build server event handler

===== Determining database and cube structure =====

[8/18/2009 3:01 PM] Cube build initialization started

[8/18/2009 3:01 PM] OLAP database and cube structure was determined successfully

===== Building database and cubes =====

[8/18/2009 3:01 PM] Cube build session started

[8/18/2009 3:01 PM] Analysis Services session started

[8/18/2009 3:02 PM] 10 of the NT accounts that correspond to users that have ‘View Olap Data’ permission could not be added to the Project Server default OLAP role ‘ProjectServerViewOlapDataRole’

[8/18/2009 3:02 PM] Analysis Services session completed successfully

===== Verifying and running post-build server event handler =====

[8/18/2009 3:02 PM] Verifying and running post-build server event handler

===== Processing OLAP database =====

[8/18/2009 3:02 PM] Process OLAP database session started

[8/18/2009 3:02 PM] Analysis Services session started

[8/18/2009 3:03 PM] Analysis Services session completed successfully

===== Verifying and running post-process server event handler =====

[8/18/2009 3:03 PM] Verifying and running post-process server event handler

===== Process Completed =====

[8/18/2009 3:03 PM] Cube build request completed successfully.

 

By: Tanya Foster

So… have you heard about the mega whoosh lately?  This video is causing quite a stir on the internet.  There is a lot of discussion around whether the video is real or fake.  Here’s the background: German engineer Bruno Kammerl created a type of material that he calls Softslide.  He describes it as “almost frictionless.”  His goal is to build the longest waterslide in the world.  So he creates a website, uses Microsoft Project to detail his schedule, conducts tests and uploads videos to YouTube to document his progress.  He had been searching for investors when along comes an investor who provides him with the means to test his water slide in the German Alps.  Check out the test video below!

Amazing right?  Well… maybe not.  According to one website I read, they have stated that they verified it “was a carefully crafted viral ad for Microsoft Project 2007”.  There is still a lot of speculation and only this one site has come out and stated that they had verified that it was fake.  Now I don’t know… the video looks pretty real to me, but I’m no expert on computer tricks and graphics.  If it is just a clever Marketing tactic, I have to say it’s a pretty good one!  This video has gone “viral” and continues to get thousands of hits every day.  It’s created lots of discussion and Microsoft is mentioned in most of the posts that I have read whether the post is positive or negative… they’re still getting the word out on Microsoft Project.  I did go to the actual site and Bruno does have some screenshots of his project plan on there and does a great plug for Microsoft Project.

 

 

So… tell us what you think and why.  Marketing tactic or real project?   (Either way… I still enjoy the video!)

 

By: Collin Quiring

I know that this says it is part two, but, this is even more basic than the part one information.  I should always “start at the beginning” (see my post about pre-project assumptions).  But, I received this question which I had made the assumption was a commonly known fact already.  The question was:  What is a cube?  So, here is that answer in relation to Project Server.

According to Microsoft, they are:

Portfolio Analyzer Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cubes are a powerful reporting and analysis feature in Microsoft Office Project Web Access that enables you to perform complex analysis of project data. OLAP cubes contain task, resource, project, assignment, issues, risks, and commitments information that team members can readily browse by using PivotTable data and PivotChart views within the Portfolio Analyzer page.

 

Or, put more simply – they are a great way to slice and dice data.  The system will process data on a schedule and put it together in such a way that we can have reporting information that would otherwise require large amounts of time for query building and processing time.  Cubes are a one stop shop for data and can be used in other reports or exported to Excel. 

 

A picture is worth a thousand words so I will use them to demonstrate.  A simple cube organizes information in an easy to use way (like putting all the information about a specific Resource in one place):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 But, sometimes we want that information in a bit more complex view:

 

 

 

Other times, we want to combine information from all over Project Server:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, sometimes we just want a huge mish-mash of data in one place:

 

 

 

 

However we want to see the data, a cube is an efficient method to put it together.  And, once built, the cubes can be used by other reporting tools and views within Project Server.

 

Artwork for last image found at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/sun_light_art/864227409/

By: Tanya Foster

I have had several people ask me about Project Portfolio Server, so it seems that this may be a good time to start blogging about the subject.  Let’s start with Microsoft TechNet.  You can find documentation and How To info on just about anything you want (Microsoft related of course).  Here’s the link in case you want to visit the site http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/projportserver/default.aspx

One of the main things that I like about Portfolio Server is that it can be tightly integrated with Microsoft Project 2007.  Let’s start there and talk about how it all works together.  Portfolio Server has a Project Server Gateway.  This gateway provides a link to Project Server 2007 so that you can import, export, and synchronize information between the two environments.  Information such as schedule phases, milestones, resource requirement info, resource availability, and even enterprise fields.    It also meshes with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 for document storage.

Now that we have our information in Portfolio Server from Project Server, we can begin to look at our portfolio of projects and determine which ones are viable and which ones can be put on the back burner or canceled all together.  Now this blog entry is all about the high level stuff.  The next few blog entries will be diving a little deeper into the Portfolio Server subject…. So stay tuned!

By Collin Quiring

 

The following are brief answers to the questions that were asked during the webinar on Friday.  We did cover a few of these during the webinar but we wanted to send out the answers to all the questions that we received.  Some questions were similar so they were combined.

 

Q: We have multiple organizations with their own networks and firewalls.  Does Project Server 2007 make it easier to access PWA across domains?

A: Internal firewall and port settings have to allow this but Project Server routinely is accessed across domains.  We have customers on Software as a Service which allows for internet accessibility.  Internally, some customers have multiple domains and they allow for the server to be accessed across the domains.

 

Q: Is there a way to merge a timesheet database currently in excel or access into Timesheet in PWA?

A:  This is possible but the method that is used depends on what type (and version) of database the existing information is in and how much customization the PWA timesheet and the current timesheet have in them.  This isn’t something that comes standard with the tool but is something that can be developed.  Some off-the-shelf timesheet systems have built in merge capability with Project Server so this is on a case-by-case basis. 

 

Q: Is MS Proj Web Access licensed separately from MS Project Server 2007?

A:  They are licensed separately.  PWA is licensed by user CAL (Client Access License) and Project Server is licensed by server.  Project Professional contains a CAL when it is purchased.  Only the Project Managers and Resource Managers need Professional.  Everybody else needs a CAL.

 

Q: I have been tasked with installation as well as execution of Project server 2007 – my experience thus far is installation is a nightmare – do you have any guidance or websites that help navigate the installation?

A:  I have not had any significant problems with Project Server 2007 installations (which is NOT something I could have said for Project Server 2003).  The minor issues that I have encountered in 2007 are based on some of the pre-work not being completed (such as not having the appropriate domain-level userid).  Here is the technet site that has installation information in a guide:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc197611.aspx

 

Q: is Project Center part of PWA or Project Server?

A: Yes, to both.  Project Center is part of PWA (Project Web Access) and this is the visual interface for Project Server.  The users access PWA to view tasks and other information that is being maintained by the Project Server application.

By Collin Quiring

Enterprise Global Summary:

In Project Server 2007, the Enterprise Global file is the main file that provides the default settings, tables, required fields, custom fields and views that are used in Project Professional.  It exists so that all the Project Managers that connect to the server will use the same settings.

 

How does it work?

When the business decides that certain information, processes or settings are required for schedules placed in Project, the Global file is modified to match those needs.  Therefore, only the Administrator should be able to modify the Global file.  This ensures that required fields are filled out prior to the schedule being published on the server.

 

Whenever a user opens Project Professional with a connection to a server, the Enterprise Global file will be downloaded from the server to the user’s computer.  This happens automatically, in the background, and can’t be stopped by the user.  Every time Project Professional connects with the server, it checks to ensure that the most current Global file is being used.

 

What’s the catch?

There are two issues to the Global file that Project Manager’s need to be knowledgeable about.  They both are part of the program and the way that Microsoft built the tool.

 

1.        Since a user needs to have the ability to work without being attached to a server a cached version of the Global file is saved on the user’s computer.  This allows for faster processing while online and for the ability to work offline.  This is also why sometimes the Global file is referred to as the “Enterprise Global file” or “Local Global file” to designate between the two potential versions of the Global file.

a.       The catch here occurs if a person modifies their own Global file, has never connected to any Project Server or is connecting to multiple Project Server instances and then working offline between those connections.  While a rare occurrence it sometimes happens.  Doing any of these can cause the user’s version of the Global file and the server’s Global file to be incongruent.  When the user later connects to the server, the Enterprise Global file will download and if they have any customized views, fields or other modifications in the Local Global file those modifications won’t necessarily be saved to the server.

 

2.       For some reason, Microsoft decided that only about 95% of the Enterprise Global file would actually download to the user’s computer.  There are some settings (like the option for “Project Summary”) that do not download.  In those cases, the individual Local Global file is used with whatever most recent (or factory default) settings are in that Local Global file.

a.       The solution for this is relatively simple and leads us to the Standard Template.

 

Standard Template Summary:

While the Enterprise Global file controls views, custom fields, and most other settings the way to ensure that a Project Manager starts with the same settings for every new schedule is to create a Standard Template.  The Standard Template has everything set to the agreed upon settings and can therefore guarantee that everybody is starting out with the exact same starting point. 

One way to differentiate the Enterprise Global file and the Standard Template is to view it like this:  The Enterprise Global file creates the views and fields to use and the Standard Template opens with the view and fields to start an actual schedule.  The Standard Template may or may not have certain tasks in it as well. 

 

The standard methodology should be that whenever a Project Manager starts a new schedule, they connect to Project Server to get the Enterprise Global file and then they open the Standard Template and begin adding their specific schedule’s information.

By Collin Quiring

 

Yes, these are very complimentary products with an extremely high amount of integration.  So, why did I use the term “versus” in the title?  Well, this entry is about the differences between the two – and why you would go with one or the other or both.  Let me be clear – both of these products are valuable and can be beneficial in numerous ways to a division of a company or the entire organization.  However, I am often asked what the difference is and when to use each of them and that is what I am going to try to briefly answer.

 

Definitions (from Microsoft’s site)

Project Server:

“With Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 and its clients, your organization can more effectively manage and coordinate work ranging from one-time projects to complex programs across the entire project life cycle.”

 

Portfolio Server:

“Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 helps your organization realize its potential by identifying, selecting, managing, and delivering portfolios that align with your strategic priorities. Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 is a key component of the Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution and helps ensure that you gain visibility, insight, and control across your project, program, and application portfolios.

 

Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 integrates with Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 to provide organizations with an end-to-end project portfolio management solution. The bidirectional gateway enables administrators to link multiple Office Project Servers to Office Project Portfolio Server 2007, providing executives with a consolidated view of all projects within the organization.”

 

Ok, so, what is the main difference?  Level of management and decision making ability is the principal distinction.  Portfolio is to decide WHAT projects to do and Project Server is to do the project.  These two products help with oft-used saying, ‘Choosing the right projects (Portfolio) and doing projects right (Project Server).’

 

It isn’t uncommon for an organization to want to implement both products at the same time and then use them try to use them both to their maximum potential.  However, I generally recommend against that because the disciplines and the processes that make Portfolio Server valuable to Executive Management is based on the data and work being done in Project Server.  This isn’t a technical issue – installing this products is relatively easy and integrating them isn’t difficult either.  This is a business issue – do you want Executives making decisions based on resource allocation when you have no idea what projects those resources are working on?

 

I recommend that an organization first becomes proficient at using Project Server – enabling the features that they will use such as Resource Allocation, Calendars, Data Analysis, Templates, Task Definitions, Required Fields or any of the myriad other items that a company might want to use.  Then, when they have that working to a satisfactory level they implement Portfolio Server.  Note that I did NOT say that when they have Project Server working perfectly that they start using Portfolio Server. 

 

Portfolio Server requires a lot of pre-thought in relation to the data that Executives want to track, understand or require prior to selecting a project.  Some data items will be required from all projects and then there are the unique projects that are exceptions – and that has to be accounted for as well.  Numerous questions must be answered from the business perspective before Portfolio Server is a valuable tool.  For example, what are the criteria that you use to determine if a project will be done or not?  Is it purely profit?  Is it time to market?  Is it resource availability?  What about governmentally mandated projects?  What about pet projects?  These and numerous other questions need to be answered before diving into Portfolio Server if you want it to be an effective tool. 

 

Since the level of information that each product requires and provides is the main difference, I think it worthwhile making a list of the key distinctions.  While this is not necessarily a complete list, here are the main pieces of information that each product provides. 

 

Project Server Information

·         Tasks	·         Projects	·         Timesheet
·         Issues	·         Risks	·         Documents
·         Activity Lists	·         Proposals	·         Status Reports
·         Resource Center (Detailed resource information such as working calendar, rates, etc.)	·         Cube Data (Customized reports combining various data elements)	·         Project Center (Detailed project information such as dates, costs, etc)
·         Project Workspaces (A SharePoint site that can contain added web parts or default items like team discussions or documents)	·         Global Information (A centralized location for Resource Names, Schedule Templates, Customized Fields, etc)	·         User Security Settings (Determine who has access to what – can be done very granularly if so desired )
·         Reporting Services	·         Schedule dashboards	·         Multiple Views (reports)

 

These all combine to allow the user, Resource Manager, Project Manager and Executive access information from a single task or single user for one schedule or all the scheduled projects on the server.  Schedules can be viewed as a standard list or in a unique view in the Project Center (and drill down on any specific schedule) or all the data available in one or more of the cubes.  The information contained in Project Server is based on what is happening with specific schedules and can be rolled up into summary reports of all the schedules on the server.  This allows for decision making on both the micro and macro level as it pertains to proposed and existing schedules and how those will affect resources, other schedules and any other (including customized) information that is tracked. 

 

Portfolio Server Information

·         Workflows	·         Meta-Data	·         Business Cases
·         Scorecards	·         Business Alignment	·         Documents
·         Issues	·         Risks	·         Pre-Work Estimates
·         Budgets	·         Project Server Information	·         Reporting

 

These all combine to allow for decisions to be made about what projects should be worked on.  Based on the criteria and the information input into the system, Portfolio Server can help recommend which projects fall within your decision matrix of which projects to work on, continue, discontinue or re-prioritize.  It allows for Executives to quickly see the entire portfolio of projects against multiple criteria.

 

With the combination of the two products, information flows back and forth and can provide very valuable data to make much better decisions.  However, the amount of work before using Portfolio Server must be taken into account.  And, the methodology with which you work with Project Server must be in progress before consistency can be achieved and the current status reports are of any value.

 

Combined, these tools make for a highly collaborative, standardized and very informative data center that Executives, Project Managers and other key personnel can use to better an organization’s portfolio and project management.

By: Collin Quiring

Why go with Software as a Service (SaaS) for Project Server?  There are numerous reasons but here is a partial list of some of the items to think about, concentrating on the fact that SaaS for Microsoft Project Server is cost effective and allows for faster Return on Investment (ROI). 

 

Numerous factors affect the overall calculations for ROI and for the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of Microsoft Project Server; including, but not limited to:

 

·         Hardware cost

·         Software cost

·         Licensing fees

·         Installation administration

·         Procurement administration

·         Software upgrade cycles

·         Hardware upgrade cycles

·         Software administration

·         Hardware administration

·         Maintenance training of employees

·         Employee continuance issues

·         Management to coordinate and track support

·         Help Desk or other support functions

·         Data storage cost

·         Dedicated or consumed employee salaries

·         Multiple location coordination (systems and personnel)

·         Administration learning curves

·         IT accounting issues – depreciation, budget allocation

·         Flexibility to easily and quickly expand footprint

 

In a recent study by InformationWeek titled “Software as a Service Study” when asked what the biggest challenges with on-premise business applications were – 57% responded that the cost of IT staff resources required to support/manage were the largest issue.  Following that were the cost of upgrades and the maintenance costs.

 

For a tool like Microsoft Project Server, it doesn’t make sense to add headcount to maintain the server.  However, it also can’t be ignored.  This means that the training for and maintenance of the Project Server and its unique challenges are often put on a full-time employee who is most likely already at full capacity.  This tends to result in the “new” work of maintaining the Project Server becoming a secondary and lower priority task and often results in a less than optimized technical environment.  That is another great reason to go with SaaS – the dedication of the people maintaining the technical environment.

 

Other factors to consider are the size and procedures of the organization.  There are studies that try to predict the best company size where SaaS fits best.  However, I think that while SaaS works very well for smaller companies due to the inability to have internal resources do all the required work I think that the organization’s setup and methods affect the need for SaaS even more.  For an organization looking to maximize ROI and minimize internal ongoing costs, the SaaS model allows for a fast ROI and the ability to concentrate internal resources on existing technologies or other new projects.

 

While exact dollar figures are always specific to an organization’s environment such as user cost rates, licensing agreements, hardware and software purchasing agreements and numerous other variables, here are some generic ROI numbers based on retail market pricing.  This is an attempt to compare the ROI of SaaS and internal implementation of Project Server.

 

·         These estimates based on 100 users, 10 Project Managers, ·         They are based on new purchases of hardware and software
·         Licensing can be purchased by a company or leased from the SaaS provider, this assumes leasing (the more expensive option)
·         Estimates are also based on dedicated Project and SQL servers (which is the more expensive  method of using SaaS) ·         The more expensive SaaS options have been used to demonstrate that the ROI on SaaS is greater even in a non-optimal situation ·         The ROI would be even greater in an environment that already had software licensing agreements in place and would be greater for using non-dedicated SaaS servers ·         All estimates are Present Value
	One Time Fees
Item	SaaS	Internal
Hardware Purchase	0	28,000
Software cost	0	12,500
Setup Fees	4,500	3,500
Licensing fees	0	11,000
Installation administration	0	6,500
Procurement administration	0	1,500
Maintenance training of employees	0	2,400
Help Desk or other support functions	0	3,200
Multiple location coordination (systems and personnel)	0	1,800
TOTAL	4,500	70,400
	Ongoing (Monthly) Fees
Item	SaaS	Internal
Software upgrade cycles	0	330
Hardware upgrade cycles	0	850
Software administration	0	110
Hardware administration	0	80
Employee continuance issues	0	650
Dedicated or consumed employee salaries	0	2,850
Administration learning curves	0	225
Data storage cost	0	110
Maintenance training of employees	0	650
Management to coordinate and track support	0	325
Backup Administration	0	70
Monthly Fees (including all above items)	9,000	0
TOTAL	9,000	6,250

 

 

By these figures, it takes two full years before the ROI of doing an internal implementation matches the ROI from using SaaS.  (Based on the implementation cost difference and then the monthly difference.)  And, as is commonplace with technology, the servers will most likely have to be updated or upgraded or replaced in the meantime, numerous patches will occur and other variables that come with the passage of time will increase the costs of the internal method.  Patches and server updates are costs that are borne by the SaaS provider during the contracted time period.