Working with Outlook and Project Server

If you didn't know, you can sync your task in Project Server to your Outlook. The Project Server 2007 Outlook Sync works with Outlook 2003/2007.

So what is new in the Outlook Sync in Project Server 2007.

Outlook Sync for Project Server 2003:



Outlook Sync for Project Server 2007:


So now you can have your tasks sit the the Outlook Tasks instead of cluttering up your calendar! The rest of the options are the same. You can create a task from Outlook and have that created in Project Server, it's still a one way creation of task and you can sync updates and progress of the task back.

Project 2007 Certifications

Recently I attended a Live Meeting on the latest Project Certification offerings from Microsoft based on the new EPM 2007 solution stack.

There's a total of 3 exams to take in becoming a MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional. In short you need to do an exam on Project Professional 2007 and a Project Server 2007 one before doing the final one which is a combination of both on an enterprise level. Below are the links to the recorded webcast and datasheet on the certifications.

• Recorded Webcast (about 45minutes)
• Microsoft Office Project 2007 Certification Datasheet

Project Professional 2007: Saving to Project Server, "save job 0% complete"

If you're using Project Server 2007 and when you try to save a project and you get, "save job 0% complete". You can do 2 things:

1. Check your Queue under "Personal Settings > My Queued Jobs" and see what the issue is. If there isn't any error. You can then ask the administrator to check in the Global Queue, which is "Server Setttings > Manage Queue" to try to retry the jobs.
2. If all else fails, try restarting the Queue Service. It's called Microsoft Project Server Queue Service. Restart that and you should be on your way!

Project Server 2007 Overview Presentation

Thank you for those who came to MOSSIG and stayed on for my session, I know we were running out of time and your presence was very much appreciated by myself and the MOSSIG board.

You can retrieve my presentation slide deck at the MOSSIG Site or you can click here to get to the slide straight away.

There were a few interesting questions that were raised during the session. One of them was since Project Server 2007 is built on SharePoint, how does search work. From a logical perspective and mind you I've not tested this yet; I think:

1. All Project Workspace information (Risk, Issues, Deliverables) will be searchable if it has been included in the search settings.
2. I'm quite sure project plans and tasks may not be searchable as they sit in seperate databases unless the Business Data Catalog was configured to go get the information from the Project Server database, but why would you do that? Wouldn't it be better to built reports around this information? Resources can search for their task within their own "My Tasks".
3. Although Project Server is built on top of SharePoint it does not store the data of Project Server in it's Content DB's, perhaps the configuration of project server on sharepoint but not the actual project information (i.e. project plan, tasks, assignments, actuals, updates, resource information).

I'll probably do a role based presentation (business focused) the next time at MOSSIG on how the different roles (Executives, PM, Resources) would interact with each other on the an EPM solution! I just need a faster machine!

MOSSIG: Project Server 2007 Overview

Finally decided that I will do a brief overview of Project Server 2007. So in this overview session I hope to talk about the new features and capabilities of Microsoft Office Project 2007, including the new system architecture, new server side API, improved timesheet capabilities, new project and program management functionality, and sophisticated reporting capabilities that will enable your organization to capture and understand work more effectively.

Depending on the response from the audience, I'll arrange and see if we can get other prominant people out there to come and share their experiences and gotchas when dealing with this technology.

Will all you Project Server Gurus please stand up?!

Want to know about Microsoft's Internal Intranet Implementation?

Jonathan Lewis is the IT Manager for Microsoft Australia. This month Jonathan will be taking some time from his very busy schedule to come down to Melbourne and tell us all about Microsoft's internal Intranet implementation which used SharePoint.

When: 22nd August 2007
Where: Microsoft Innovation Centre, Level 5, 4 Freshwater Place, Southbank

For more information please go to this link: http://www.mossig.net/default.aspx

I'm also scheduled to present on Project Server 2007, so if you want to hear more on the latest offering in Project Server 2007, do come!

I'll provide more information on the topic when closer to time.