Microsoft Project 2013 – what’s new on Reporting

With the launch of Project 2013 coming closer and closer (no I don’t know when), I thought it may be of interest on what new features are coming in 2013. There are certainly quite a new set of features that you will find most beneficial. On top of the list is reporting for me  

Lets have a look when you open MS Project you will most likely get a bit of a shock   because we are used to Gantt Charts and other views. Check out what you get in 2013:

 

I know it looks soooooo different  

However you can quickly go back to your beloved Gantt Chart by changing the view  

OK so what does this new reporting look and feel mean? It means that you have more cumulative data sets for burn down charts for example:

Who says you cant manage an agile project in MS Project now?  

Also, the user interface to create your new reports are much closer aligned to MS Excel, especially in the 2013 release.

A new Reporting Ribbon is provided for the user to make report generation much more intuitive

By Selecting a new Chart for example will enable you to choose the Graph just like in Excel

Once Selected you will see a “Field List” on the right hand side which allows you to select fields you wish to include:

The ultimate Structure of the data still remains the same with the difference that cumulative values are now provided in the schedule ( Cumulative Baseline work, work, Actual Work, Cost, % complete, regular work etc).

The big change is in the user interface that is for sure. In the past we still had this old fashion way of generating reports without any graphs unless you utilised the Visual Reports, which are still part of this version.

You can of course also print your report, making reporting and communication much easier.

I hope you will enjoy the new reporting feature as much as I do.

The next big thing - Client, Server and Cloud

Most of you have already found out that the next release of  Project and Project Server is around the corner. That also means I can start my blog activities again :) So Welcome.....back :)

So why is the next release the next big thing? There are lots of posts out there already that start to go into detail of the new release. However I would like to give you an overview of what options you have utilising Project in the future.

Client Software:
Firstly there is of course your well known client software of MS Project. That will allow you manage a schedule on your Laptop of PC as a stand alone version.

Server Software:
Most of you that work in an Enterprise Project Management environment know Microsoft Project Server ( the next release will most likely be called Project Server 2013). It allows your organisation to manage projects in a centralised manner with the Server in your office.

Project Online:
Now that is a new one :) Project Online allows you to manage an Enterprise Wide project management capability without having the software or hardware within your office ( yes....the cloud). this is a really cool and stable way maintaining project information without having to worry about the hardware. If you are interested have a look at Alex Burtons great blog introducing how you can sign up with Project Online.
project online hidden gem click to run

By the way currently is the customer preview ( or Beta ). You can check it out at
http://www.microsoft.com/project/en-us/preview/default.aspx

Nintex Workflow for Project Server

 

What are the options of developing a project server 2010 workflow? For all of you that are in the process of doing that, please refer to Alex Burtons great post on the Nintex Workflow for Project Server which was released yesterday.

http://epmsource.com/2010/12/02/first-look-at-nintex-workflow-for-project-server-2010/

As Alex mentioned, he is actually an employee of a company that is part of Nintex, but I must agree with Alex, this tool rocks big time.

I have installed and configured workflows in Nintex now and here are my experiences. It is a great solution for organisations that would like to drive their governance using automation and workflows.

We have been developing workflows now in Visual Studio quite extensively and we also used the SDK solution starter. Both options are ok for the right workflow, but both have either limitations or are very time consuming.

With Nintex, organisations have the ability to give the business user the power of developing their workflow, either across different enterprise project types or even for individual projects.

What Alex did not mention so far ( I know Alex its only your first post ) is that Nintex does much more than Project Server workflows, it allows customers to seamlessly integrate SharePoint content with Project Server content and that really rocks !!!

Imagine you can make the status of a document dependent on moving a project into the next stage of a project life cycle. Yeap, that is all possible ( and much more) without a lengthy effort of custom developing workflows in Visual Studio.

Also with Nintex you don't just interrogate SharePoint data, but any Line of Business data can also be integrated into the workflow, making possibilities endless.

So without wanting to sound bias ( which I am not) have a look at this and decide for yourself  

http://www.nintex.com/

Happy “worklfowing”

Did you know? Task custom field calculations in PS 2010

I just stumbled across a 2010 limitation that I have not seen before. When creating task custom field formulas, PS will give you a nice red warning to have less than 5 task formulas due to potential performance issues. I believe that this is only a very general guideline, but certainly enough to have Microsoft warn you.

I will struggle at times to obey to this rule since I often use calculations within task custom fields, so EPM’es be aware and let me know if you have come across performance issues when using more than 5 task custom field formulas.

Project Server 2010 Web Casts

Since Project Server 2010 is just around the corner, I am doing some webcasts regarding the Business Intelligence solution of Project Server 2010. I am sure you will find it most interesting, especially because of the new features of Project Server and in particular SharePoint Server 2010. If you are interested please select the link below for registration :) By the way all web casts are also recorded, so if you are from Australia you don't need to be up in the early hours :)

Project 2010 Business Intelligence

Title	Abstract	link
MSDN Webcast: Project 2010 BI & Portfolio Reporting (Part 1 of 2): Advanced Techniques	Web Cast 1 users will have the ability to understand how to utilize Excel Services, Reporting Services and Dashboard Designer to create organizational specific Dashboards	https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032449565&Culture=en-US
MSDN Webcast: Project 2010 BI & Portfolio Reporting (Part 2 of 2): Advanced Techniques	Within Web Cast 2 users receive a deep dive experience on how to generate reports utilizing Project Servers data sources. This web cast will also allow users to generate a Visio Services Report and Power Pivot analytics by utilizing the Project Server 2010 Data Sources	https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032449567&Culture=en-US

Looking forward seeing you online.

How to import a mpp file into Project Server 2010 or how to manipulate your Ribbon

 

I came across a little issue. I was not able to find the import project into enterprise function.

Apparently the Beta and RC MS Project Professional Version have different ways to control the import wizard.

So irrespectively of what version you are running, you may want to include this command into your ribbon. So how do you do that?

Below is a little instruction on how you can control the ribbon and manipulate it with new commands.

This example is based on using the import wizard, which is required if you want to import an existing project to Project Server,  but you can essentially do this for all command.

1. Open Project Professional 2010

2. Navigate to the open button which will lead you to the backstage page

3. Select Options and then select “Customise Ribbon”

4. On the right hand side select the project group and then select the “New Group” at the bottom of the dialog window. This will add a custom group

5. On the left hand column under “choose commands from” select All commands and find “import project to enterprise”

6. Select the Add button. That will add the command to the newly created group

7. Select OK and navigate to the Project Tab

8. On the very right you will now see the import project to enterprise icon.

You can do this with all ribbon tabs :) Enjoy playing.

Project Server 2010 Demand Management

I am just at the project server 2010 ignite session in Sydney and it was most interesting. One thing becomes apparent, project server 2010 really rocks. Microsoft has done a great job, especially when it comes to project lifecycle management. A big part of this is Demand Management.

Over the last couple of month I have started working with the Demand Management component of Project Server 2010 and I promise to post some more about this shortly but lets see what Demand Management actually means:

What is demand management for Microsoft

Here are the main Challenges for Organisations organisations face:

• Organisational ideas compete for attention and resources in project and product portfolios.
• Organisations need to find the most beneficial suite of projects for benefit optimisation.
• No realistic implication for Pet projects implementation.
• No idea of what resource implication project proposals may have.

The solution that Microsoft came up with is referred to as Demand Management:

• Collaborative platform featuring workflow management, business case, schedule tools, and a portfolio analysis engine that organizations need to comprehensively manage the demands of their organisation.
  
• Portfolio What If scenario planning giving ability to objective decision making in regards to projects and resources.
  
• Track progress against strategic goals to act early in case of non success

Are you excited? How this all works will follow shortly. :)