Project & SharePoint Server 2013 Preview – How does this affect you?

This week has been quite exciting with the preview release of Project Server and SharePoint 2013!!

A few key things to bear in mind for existing users of Microsoft Project Server & SharePoint 2007 and 2010. What should you be aware of and plan for?

Project Server & SharePoint 2007

The mainstream support of Project Server & SharePoint 2007 will end Oct 2012. see fig below. You should consider moving on to 2010 version.

Project Server & SharePoint 2010

When considering hardware refresh of your platform, consider upgrading to a platform that meets the minimum pre-requisites for Project Server & SharePoint 2013. See below. This will future-proof your environment when you are ready to move to 2013 version. 

Database Servers

• 64-bit edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
• 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Standard, Enterprise, Data Centre, or Web Server

Web & Application Servers

• 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Standard, Enterprise, Data Centre, or Web Server

EPM/SP2010 Content Roll-up – Where is Content Query Webpart?

I had an enquiry from a user about rolling up content. The user could not locate the content Query webpart.

Resolution: In-order to access this webpart, you first need to enable the SharePoint Publishing Infrastructure feature at site collection level. See figures below.

Hope this helps.

User productivity: Achievable goal, or mission impossible?

Some interesting survey results;

EPM2010 – Creating Cross-Project Links without saving Master Project

I had a user request about the process for creating links across projects without saving master project. Here are the steps;

• Firstly, create your projects as normal. In my example figure below, I have two projects ‘001_P1’ and ‘001_P2’.
• Select the projects in PWA > Project Centre and choose to edit in Project Pro. Alternatively, you can open a blank project and insert the projects.
• This will open the selected projects in a new blank container project (i.e. master project). Follow best practices e.g. ensuring that the selected projects are in checked-in state prior to opening them in the blank container project.

.

• Create cross-project dependencies as you normally would in a standard project. Follow best practice for linking tasks and milestones.

• Once, this is done, close the project and select the ‘Discard Changes’ option. This is so that the blank container (master project) is not saved back to the server. See figure below.

• Next, you will be prompted to save changes to the other embedded/inserted projects. Choose Yes for individual project or Yes to All for multiple projects.

• To check/confirm the changes on individual projects, open the project in Project Pro. Notice the ghost task links (external project task links) in example figure below.

Now that the cross-project dependencies have been created, you may wish to publish the individual projects.

Hope this helps.

EPM/SP2010 – Adding PDF iFilter

Here the steps from Microsoft KB for adding iFilter for SP2010, summarised for clarity.

1. Install PDF iFilter 9.0 (64 bit) from http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4025 (http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4025)

2. Download PDF icon picture from Adobe web site http://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html (http://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html) and copied at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\IMAGES\

3. Add the following entry in docIcon.xml file, which can be found at: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\XML
<Mapping Key="pdf" Value="pdf16.gif" />

4. Add pdf file type on the File Type page under Search Service Application

5. Open regedit

6. Navigate to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\14.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension

7. Right-click > Click New > Key to create a new key for .pdf

8. Add the following GUID in the default value
{E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}

• Restart the SharePoint Server Search 14
• Reboot the SharePoint servers in Farm
• Create a Test site (with any out-of-box site template) and create a document library upload any sample PDF document(s).
• Perform FULL Crawl to get search result.

“Want to get the best out of your existing EPM & SharePoint investments?”

Automate some of the Microsoft EPM and SharePoint business processes to get the most out of your existing investments. Enhance system performance and improve end-user adoption by extending out-of-box capability with our fully packaged Add-on solutions. View packaged add-on solution gallery by system category.

Need a bespoke solution for EPM or SharePoint? Want to share your custom development cost with other users who may want similar solutions? It will be cost effective and makes business sense all around!! The more requesting similar solutions, the lesser the cost for those participating! Sort of GroupON approach. The added benefit is that the solution will be supported and maintained!

Post/Share your high level requirements in the group link below!!

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Microsoft-EPM-App-Store-4207121?gid=4207121&trk=hb_side_g

EPM2010 SP1 - How does it impact you? And, the Mystery behind Patching Process.

If you missed my last webinar, here is the link to download the PPT copy. Hope this helps.

Topics covered;

• The key fixes and enhancements include in SP1.
• Practical things you should consider and have in place before taking the leap towards patching.
• Approach and best practices for patching your EPM/SharePoint environment.
• FAQs