Yes, I am really really really looking forward to see you all next week at SharePoint Conference 2012 in Las Vegas #SPC12! Why you may ask? Well it will be the first Microsoft public event where we will showcase the newly released ( The New Microsoft Project reaches RTM! ) version of Project Online, Project Server 2013, Project Professional 2013, SharePoint 2013, etc. With a new release there is a ton to learn and we have plenty of content for you; starting with a cannot miss pre-SPC free 1 day training on Sunday November 11th , announced by my colleague Jan Kalis on the partner blog: The Best of Project Ignite at SPC12 . Following this packed one day event we have 12 sessions to date on your favorite PPM products, delivered by product experts from Microsoft, MVPs and customers during SPC12: Microsoft Project Sessions at SharePoint Conference 2012 And yes we will have a Project booth staffed by product experts from Microsoft, MVPs and marketing (!) where you can ask all your questions and get some surprises… But wait there is more … SPC12 this year will also have ton of networking opportunities, community initiatives and last but not least, great activities at night to relax and have fun. I’m arriving in Las Vegas Saturday, November 10th and will return to sunny Seattle on Friday, November 16th and I look forward to meet all of you (please leverage MySPC Meetings feature to schedule one)! Trust me, you do not want to miss this historical event… REGISTER TODAY to The Best of the New Project Ignite and SharePoint Conference 2012!

Enjoy! https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/projectserver https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office

Following last week’s first wave release: Microsoft Project Professional 2013, and SharePoint 2013 are available for download on MSDN ,  Microsoft Project Server 2013 is now available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribes in your favorite language! Happy install… As a reminder there are plenty of Project 2013 resources available today: Product https://www.microsoft.com/project/en-us/preview/project-resources.aspx TechNet https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/projectserver/fp123546 MSDN https:// msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905469 Blog https://blogs.office.com/b/project/ Forums https:// social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/project

Microsoft Support has release KB 2773530. This article provides troubleshooting guidance for Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Office 365 Preview users who receive error messages when attempting to sign in to Lync Mobile on an Apple iOS-based device when connected to a corporate Wi-Fi network using Active Directory Federation Services. To read the complete article, visit: Users cannot sign-In to Lync Mobile on Apple iOS-based devices because of certificate errors . Applies to Microsoft Office 365 Enterprise preview Microsoft Office 365 Small Business Premium preview Microsoft Lync Online preview Microsoft Office 365 for enterprises Microsoft Office 365 for small businesses Microsoft Office 365 for education

Microsoft Support has released KB 3761977. This article provides troubleshooting guidance for Office 365 Preview when the Lync Online Preview client displays a blank screen, and no controls are available . Applies to Microsoft Office 365 Enterprise preview Microsoft Office 365 Small Business Premium preview Microsoft Lync Online preview

I’ve been working on a recent case – and there have been some in the past that were very similar – where a customer had added users to a custom SharePoint group, then later found those same users were gone!  We had an idea what could trigger it but this time we managed to nail the root cause and will be requesting a fix from the product group.  But first a quick recap of how Project Server and SharePoint permissions play together – and it isn’t always nicely… Project Server will control the membership of its own SharePoint groups and also the individual permissions at project site level.  Project Server groups can be identified by the name – such as Project Managers Group (Microsoft Project Server).  Project uses these groups to give permission to the /PWA site – then for the individual project sites for each project the permissions are set for each user, and the permission level that user has is a Project Server one (such as Team Member (Microsoft Project Server).  Worth remembering that permission levels are not the same as groups.  Whenever Project needs to synchronize users, which could be after an Active Directory Sync, the editing of a category or group – or the editing of an individual user – then the process is that we remove everyone from the Project groups and directly on the sites then put back the people who should be there.  We don’t look to see who was there – we remove EVERYONE. So if you have added someone directly to a site, or added them to a Project managed SharePoint group, then unless they have a right to be there based on permissions and group/category membership they will be removed and not put back when a sync occurs.  It is nothing personal – we don’t even look to see who they are. The exception to this is the use of custom SharePoint groups – or basically a new SharePoint group that Project Server isn’t interested in.  If you add a new SharePoint group, and put users into it (regardless of whether they are in Project or not) then they will not be touched when a sync occurs.  Worth pointing out that this can give them access to sites – but unless they are in Project Server too they will not be able to get to /PWA. And now on to the bug… In some cases we were seeing that users would be removed from groups that we should not have been touching.  These were always Project Server users who had been added manually to another custom SharePoint group.  Closer examination of what was happening in the background showed that they were not just being removed from the group – but were actually being removed from the site – and so they would be taken out of all groups within that site too! Following an earlier hunch (Thanks ProjectHosts!)  that this was related to some specific Project Sites we were able to identify that the condition was triggered if a project site had been deleted but still existed in the list of sites on the PWA, Server Settings, Project Sites page.  Once we had an in-house repro it wasn’t difficult to trace the flow in debug and see what was going on.  The issue was that with the non-existent site our code was falling back to the top level – and because it was a top level it was then taking a path that removed the user from the site rather than just the web.  At the Project level this didn’t matter – as we would be putting them back again anyway – but we wouldn’t be putting them back in to any custom SharePoint groups, as we were not even aware that we had dropped them.  One slight variation that can trigger the same problem is for sites that do actually exist but the site starts with a space – so something like “https://server/PWA/ Site”.  Not sure how a site like this can actually get created – possibly it was migrated from 2007 – as the UI tend to stop you doing anything like this.  The workaround is pretty simple – use the Server Settings, Project Sites page, and the Delete Site option for any sites that really don’t exist – or if the leading space is the issue just correct the URL so the site and reference to the site don’t have this leading space.  As mentioned earlier we have a fix request in progress but unlikely to see this before the February 2013 Cumulative Update. If you have lots of sites then it might be tedious to click each one to see if it exists, so a couple of ways to detect the issue.  Firstly for the deleted sites a query against the published and content databases will help: Select PROJ_NAME from ProjectServer_Published.dbo.MSP_PROJECTS Where WPROJ_ISSUE_LIST_NAME NOT in (Select tp_ID from WSS_Content.dbo.AllLists where tp_DeleteTransactionId = (0x)) Or if like me you would prefer to stay away from the databases then the ULS logs give a clue if you know what to look for.  Turn Project Server, Administration to Verbose and you will see plenty of lines like the following as Project Server goes through the sites – filter for EventID of 8sv7 to get rid of noise: PWA:https://Server/PWA, ServiceApp:Project Server Service Application, User:i:0#.w|domainuser, PSI: UpdateSingleUserMembershipForWssSite: updating user i:0#.w|domainsyncuser. Project Uid – https://server/PWA/Sitename, workspace – a2496ce2-1d47-41d7-b4b5-39c4d7d0d970 However, one of these lines will not show the full URL to the project site but will stop at PWA, such as: PWA:https://Server/PWA, ServiceApp:Project Server Service Application, User:i:0#.w|domainuser, PSI: UpdateSingleUserMembershipForWssSite: updating user i:0#.w|domainsyncuser. Project Uid – https://Server/PWA, workspace – 0d8259d2-ed93-4508-b442-22f0ec3d3d7f You’ve probably noticed that we have the Projec Uid and workspace transposed, but the GUID after the word workspace will actually be the Project UID of the project causing the issue.  You can identify this by querying the database such as: Select ProjectName from MSP_EpmProject where ProjectUid = ‘0d8259d2-ed93-4508-b442-22f0ec3d3d7f’   Once you know the name then check out the site in Project Sites and either delete or correct the URL and all will be good.  A quick way to search the logs would be to use your PWA URL and search for “Project Uid – https://Server/PWA ,”.  For the adventurous amongst you who may have started troubleshooting and tried tracing the SQL I’ll mention a couple of the stored procedures you may have come across – just so the search engines might also find you the solution – we normally use proc_SecRemoveUserFromSiteGroupByLogin to remove the users from the Project groups, and proc_SecRemoveUserFromScopeByLogin to remove them from a web – but seeing proc_SecRemoveUserFromSite might be an indication that you are running in to this issue (although it would be normal, but not so usual, if the Project site also happened to be a top level site). This is probably also an issue with 2007 too, but happy to say that 2013 doesn’t appear to suffer from this same problem.  In 2013 we can also run purely with SharePoint permissions and without the project groups and categories – or you can use the familiar groups and categories.  Take a look at the permission articles under the Technical Reference at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc197638(v=office.15).aspx . One final point – another common request is that permissions should be given to Project sites based on a users RBS – in the same way that permissions to Projects themselves can be assigned.  Unfortunately this isn’t possible and isn’t something we will be changing with 2010. Thanks to Rob Cason for being my memory on a similar case from summer 2011, and thanks to my SharePoint colleague Daneil Aguiar for excellent troubleshooting that got us moving in the right direction.

The Office and SharePoint 2013 products are beginning to appear on the MSDN subscriber download pages – https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions , including Project 2013 and SharePoint Server 2013.  I guess Project Server 2013 will be following shortly.  If you have a subscription then no time like the present to start looking at the new products.  Remember, the MSDN Licensing is per-user and is to design, develop, test, or demonstrate – not to be used for production use.  To give you a head start the best single link I can give you is to Christophe’s blog https://blogs.msdn.com/b/chrisfie/archive/2012/09/18/recent-content-about-the-new-project-project-online-project-professional-project-server.aspx where you will find plenty of other links to more content than you can shake a stick at.

Following the RTM announcement: The New Microsoft Project reaches RTM! the on-premise products are becoming available in different distribution channels starting with MSDN and TechNet subscribes as show below (and yes Project Server 2013 will also be available very soon…). Please check the Office RTM post for overall timeline for other channels: Office Reaches RTM! As a reminder there are plenty of Project 2013 resources available today: Product https://www.microsoft.com/project/en-us/preview/project-resources.aspx TechNet https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/projectserver/fp123546 MSDN https:// msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905469 Blog https://blogs.office.com/b/project/ Forums https:// social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/project

Following Xbox’s announcement today: Introducing the New Entertainment Experience from Xbox and the fact that Internet Explorer is now an app on my favorite gaming console, and while waiting for Microsoft Surface to be ready , I went ahead and looked at a few sites but quickly decided to test my favorite site these days: Microsoft Project Online on Xbox… After entering my Office 365 Preview credentials I was able to navigate PWA and access the usual: Project Center, Portfolio Analysis, BI Center and Excel Services Center, Newsfeed & my tasks etc. as shown below (yes it’s hard to take high quality pics of my TV!). Almost 2 years ago I when Kinect came out I wrote this: Microsoft Project 2010 Kinect Edition: You Are the Controller! and guess what, it’s getting closer to reality thanks to Project Online… You are the controller! Don’t wait any longer and try Project Online on your favorite device!!!

One of the great things about a service is that when a feature is ready, we can ship it. So today Office 365 customers will start to see the latest Office Web Apps features. For those of you on the Office 365 Preview, you’ve already had a sneak peek at what’s new. For the rest of you, a refresher on what Office Web Apps are, and highlights of new capabilities beginning to roll out in this Office 365 service update, visible when working with your attachments and documents within Exchange Online and SharePoint Online. What are Office Web Apps? Using browser-based Office Web Apps you can view, collaborate on and share documents, presentations, spreadsheets and notes from anywhere, whether Office on the desktop is available or not. What’s New? For this latest round of updates, we’ve focused on adding editing and formatting controls, consistent co-authoring/collaboration support across the web apps and expanded device support, including touch-enabled editing from tablets . Across the apps, there’s also a clean new look and feel, informed by the updated design language you’re seeing from across Microsoft. In Word Web App , get new support for viewing and adding comments . You’ll also see graphics, images, and layout with excellent fidelity. Format and design documents right from a browser with commonly used features from Word on the desktop, including new page layout tools, picture tools and word count. In addition to comment support, new co-authoring in Word Web App makes it easier to work together on the web. With Excel Web App you get essential spreadsheet features, such as merge cells, context menus, auto-fit columns, formula assistance, fill handle and AutoSum. Manipulate and visualize data for deeper insights with support for high fidelity charts including 3D, improved Query Table and Data Validation support, Slicer functionality and Pivot Chart interactivity. When using PowerPoint Web App presentations look like they do on the desktop, with high-resolution slides, full transitions, and viewable comments. Audio and video playback is now supported, even from a tablet or phone. Drag and drop support makes for easier layouts. While the ability to insert images, apply transitions and animations, or add a pre-designed theme make polished presentations from a browser possible. And new co-authoring and comment support in PowerPoint Web App improves collaboration in the cloud. OneNote Web App updates . Users can find what they need more easily with the ability to search on a page or within a section. And new support for ink viewing makes more information accessible from the web. Just click to type anywhere on the page to add a note, picture or a tag. Notes can now be shared as a URL, viewable on a phone, PC or tablet through a browser. Not only are we delivering new features, but we’ve done some work on the backend to make it easier to update and deploy new Office Web Apps features and services. We’ve decoupled Office Web Apps from SharePoint Online. The two services will continue work well together. However, by deploying Office Web Apps as a standalone service, we can ship improvements when they’re ready, independent of the SharePoint Online ship cycle (and vice versa). Additionally, by serving all of our hosts out of one service center, customers will see more consistency between the Office Web Apps available as part of Office 365 and our consumer service, SkyDrive. In fact, over the weekend the Office Web Apps on SkyDrive hit general availability , bringing the latest updates to consumers within days of our rollout on Office 365. Browser Support Changes As we shared with you this spring, we’re no longer supporting IE7 across Office 365 services . If you are using IE7 with the updated Office Web Apps, they won’t render properly. Update to IE 8 or higher to take advantage of the new Office Web Apps features. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Want to learn more about new Office Web App functionality? Take a look at  Office Web App Group Program Manager, Mike Morton’s, blog post for a deep dive into the latest features from in Office Web Apps. What? When? Customers may start to see these changes today. As we continue to roll out the service update worldwide, all Office 365 customers will experience all the new Office Web App goodness by the early part of next year.