When: Monday, December 5, 2011 at 9:00 AM – Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 6:00 PM (GMT) Where: Central London Hosted By: Technology Associates Technology Associates International Limited is one of the leading global project management consultancies specialising in Microsoft Office Project and Enterprise Project Management Solutions. Since 1990, Technology Associates have provided deployment, consultancy, development and training services to more than 500 organisations including some of the world’s leading companies, and we have an international presence throughout the world.   Technology Associates is proud to partner with RMC Project Management Inc . Technology Associates brings the highly acclaimed courses developed by Rita Mulcahy and her organisation to the UK. Courses are run using the same structure and RMC materials as used on the RMC courses in the USA and utilise experienced RMC PMP Exam Prep instructors so that delegates get the full benefit of these courses without having to travel to the USA! Register for this event now at: https://pmpexamprep4day051211-rss.eventbrite.com Event Details: Accelerated PMP® Exam Prep Course (4 days) This intensive four day course is designed to completely prepare you for the PMP ® exam in a fun and effective manner. We offer unique activities and exercises designed specifically to increase learning and knowledge retention, everything you need to pass the exam in only four days—without rote memorization. Widely recognised as the best courses in the world for PMP ® Exam Prep, you can now take advantage of these courses in the UK. The course materials include Rita Mulcahy’s entire PMP ® Exam Prep System (retail value $399). Please contact us if you would like information on in-company courses. Course Learning Objectives: At the end of this course you will be able to: Pass the PMP ® Exam offered by the Project Management Institute, with full confidence Identify gaps in your knowledge that may hurt you on the exam Be more comfortable with the types of questions you will see on the exam Use tips to pass the exam that have been used successfully by thousands of people Design your personalized test taking strategy Why Take This Course? There is no study required after this class. Students are ready to sit for the exam on the very next day. Whereas others spend days walking you through the inputs and outputs of the PMBOK ® Guide, we will show you how to understand them in only minutes. You will take computerized exam simulations in class, SO YOU WILL KNOW you are ready to sit the exam—and you will have evidence to prove it. You will utilize the best-selling materials available to pass the PMP ® exam—including Rita’s book, PMP ® Exam Prep . You will also gain access to study materials not otherwise available to the general public. You will understand how to analyze and answer the most difficult questions on the exam, and quickly tackle situational questions that seemingly have more than one correct answer. On completion, you will be awarded 35 contact hours (35 PDU’s). Course Outline Overview of the exam: How to study and create a study plan Tricks for memorizing formulas Tricks to help you understand how the PMP ® questions are written Tricks for shortening your study time Tricks for taking the exam Tricks for finding holes in your project management knowledge Reasons people fail the exam and how to make sure you do not do the same Exercises to help you understand, memorize and conceptualize the information you need to know Understanding PMI ® -isms Detailed coverage of: The process of project management The framework of project management Integration management Scope management Time management Cost management Quality management Human resources management Communications management Risk management Procurement management Professional responsibilities PMP ® Exam Simulations Identify gaps in your knowledge and develop a personalised Study Plan Work with our PMP ® exam simulation software, PM FASTrack ® Course Materials You will receive the following exceptional training products which were developed by Rita Mulcahy, p ublished by RMC Publications, Inc: ·          JumpStart ~ E-learning course (pre-course work up to four hours) ·          PMP ® Exam Prep Book ·          Hot Topics PMP® Exam Flashcards ·          PM FASTrack® PMP® Exam Simulation Software   Created with the assistance of a psychometrician (just like the actual exam) PM FASTrack ® is designed to simulate the actual exam in every detail. The program’s database of 1,500+ questions allows you to take exams by knowledge area, process group or keyword/concept.

I was going to use the title asking ‘why are people still deleting the cache?’ until my colleague Corrie came up with this much better one!  Rather than asking why you are still doing it – I am telling you not to! I know there is a lot of history behind this one, and for those of you that used Project Server 2007 in its early days there were some challenges such as the ‘check-in pending’ saga that got people in to the habit of deleting the project cache.  We fixed the problem, then we fixed it again (and again) and you should not generally be seeing any issues with leaving your cache alone to do its job.  However, many customers I talk to are routinely deleting the project from the local cache before they open it and then again after they close it! Why!?!  Its job is an important one – it saves you having to pull that data from the server again – which will reduce network traffic, the hit on both the web services and the database, which means they can be getting on and doing useful stuff. I’ll also address a miss-conception here that I have heard from a number of customers – the choice of where to load the project from – cache or server?  You don’t have a choice – Project will load it from the cache if it is there, and then load any incremental pieces it needs from the server, to get you the current version of that plan.  In the screen shot below: the line actually reads ‘Retrieve the list of all projects from Project Server’.  It does not also read – ‘…and open any I might choose after clicking this link from the server and ignore the local cache’.  You don’t get the choice and you don’t need to choose. I’m sure many of you will not have read this far before clicking the comments option to tell me of all the problems you are having.(and I’m sure some of you are still having problems).  First check that you have the latest cumulative updates and service packs.  If you are still really having issues unless you delete the local cached copy then we certainly need to hear about it so we can fix the problem rather than have you waste your time and system resources doing things that you should not need to do. I will admit that there can be times when as support engineers we will ask you to remove your local cache to troubleshoot specific scenarios.  The cache itself also has intelligence that allows it to decide that it may have some bad stuff – and it will get a new clean copy of data from the server (symptom of this will be several files in the cache directory with 1,2,3 etc. at the end).  There have also been a few bugs we have worked on recently which ONLY surface when the user has cleared their cache! So please, if you have been deleting your cache as a matter of routine, then either stop – or speak to your PMO or IT people and ask why they have you do this – and if we need to fix something else then we can take a look.

Following this recent announcement last month from the System Center Service Manager team: New SCSM–Microsoft Project Connector Released , I finally got a chance to test out this very nice solution built by Expit’s . In their own word: Expit has developed a plugin/connector that enables the exchange of information between project planning software (Project server 2010) and System Center Service Manager. The connector allows project server users to convert project tasks into tickets in service manager directly from project server or project professional clients that are connected to project server. Additionally, the connector also updates project tasks to reflect ticket status in service manager and mark tasks as complete once tickets are closed. Expit has also recorded the following video to demo the product: Expit SCSM Project Connector ; and please find below screenshots from my own testing, again it’s a great validation of the Project 2010 momentum and its rich extensibility that helps you meet your project management needs in your favorite planning tool!

Following this post from my colleague Jan Kalis: Project 2010 at SharePoint Conference 2011 , I’m really looking forward to see you starting this Sunday in California. I visited recently Australia and Korea and it’s amazing to see the Project Server 2010 momentum and obviously the SharePoint 2010 rapid adoption by our customers and hence partners. When I look at the number of attendees we have for the pre-event this Sunday for instance, it’s again a solid case for the interest in this “strong-positive” release (see Gartner’s latest report on our stack: Microsoft is Rated in the Gartner Project and Portfolio Applications MarketScope ). I’ll be delivering the sessions below at SPC11 as well as one this Sunday on Project Server 2010 Architecture and Administration Overview . What I really love about great events like this beside talking about my favorite products, is to meet people, get feedback and learn how they are using our software; or another way to say it is I see this as a great networking opportunity so again I’m looking forward to see as many of you. Beside delivering sessions I’ll also be hanging in and out of the Project booth on the expo hall. I’ll arrive Saturday night and will return to sunny Seattle Wednesday night and staying at the Marriott so if you want to meet don’t be shy and would love to hear your Project 2010 story (email me via this blog)! PS: Talking about great event, and again for the same reason as above this is one event you do not want to miss: Microsoft Project Conference 2012 Registration Open! SPC273 – Monday at 2:00pm SharePoint Lifecycle Management Solution with Project Server Is SharePoint becoming an important part of your company’s overall IT offering? If so, it’s likely that you have a need to better manage SharePoint business requests. Join industry expert Scott Jamison as he discusses the importance of SharePoint Lifecycle Management from an IT governance perspective. In this session we’ll demonstrate how business users can make special project requests through a form in Project Web App, and how Project Managers can monitor and assign resources, evaluate priorities, and manage their overall project portfolio more efficiently. Christophe Fiessinger; Scott Jamison, SharePoint MVP SPC275 – Tuesday at 3:15pm Solving Agile and PMO Problems by Integrating Project Server 2010 with Team Foundation Server 2010 Do your Project Managers and Developers need to play nicer together? In this session, we’ll discuss how integrating Team Foundation Server 2010 and Project Server 2010 allows you to enable development and project management teams to collaborate and communicate more effectively by using tools that they are most familiar with. In addition, we will conduct demos and share real world stories and best practices from customers. SPC313 –Wednesday at 3:15pm Best Practices for Deploying Project Server 2010 on SharePoint Farm Are you interested in deploying Project Server 2010 but don’t know where to start? In this session we will provide you with an overview on how to deploy Microsoft Project Server 2010 in a SharePoint 2010 Farm. Specifically, we will discuss how to deploy Project Server in an existing or separate farm, asses the proper capacity planning, and how to tackle upgrading and migration.

Microsoft Project Conference 2012 Registration is LIVE! Project Conference will be held in Phoenix, Arizona on March 19 – 22, 2012. Register now at www.msprojectconference.com . Microsoft Project Conference is the event for the global Microsoft Project Community. We’ll have attendees from all over the world, giving you an opportunity to connect with over a thousand passionate members of the Microsoft Project Community, from project professionals, business decision makers, certified partners and the Microsoft Project team. The conference will feature high-impact keynotes, rich breakout sessions, trainings and plenty of networking opportunities. Join us at Microsoft Project Conference and learn how you can transform and accelerate your success with Microsoft Project 2010! Follow us on Twitter @MSFTProject for the latest updates and tweet #PC12 to let us know you’re coming! Please note the call for content  has been extended to mid-October: Microsoft Project Conference 2012 Call for Content Now Open

It is our pleasure to host Catalin Olteanu , Chief Product and Technology Officer, UMT and former Principal Development Lead for Microsoft Project to talk about extending Microsoft Project 2010! Webcast Description: Now that Microsoft Project Server 2010 is built on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, developers can take advantage of a rich platform and familiar tools to effectively build integrated applications and provide customers with shrink-wrapped solutions to common problems. Join Catalin Olteanu to hear lessons learned from developing UMT Project Financial Server 2010 in parallel with the Project 2010 release cycle. Project Financial Server 2010 is a complex, three-tier application that seamlessly integrates with Project Server 2010 and extends many of the out-of-the box components including demand management, the ribbon, the queue service, permissions, web parts, and the reporting infrastructure. Date: Starts: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 8:00 AM Time zone: (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) Duration: 1 hour(s) Register for Event today!

When: Monday, December 12, 2011 at 9:30 AM – Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 5:00 PM (GMT) Where: Technology House Shottery Brook Office Park Timothy’s Bridge Road CV37 9NR Stratford Upon Avon United Kingdom Hosted By: Technology Associates International Limited Technology Associates International Limited is one of the leading global project management consultancies specialising in Microsoft Office Project and Enterprise Project Management Solutions. Since 1990, Technology Associates have provided deployment, consultancy, development and training services to more than 500 organisations including some of the world’s leading companies, and we have an international presence throughout the world.     Technology Associates have deployed hundreds of EPM solutions and deployed more than 2,000 Microsoft Project solutions. With ten Microsoft Competencies under our belt, including ISV status, we have built a solid reputation for delivering high quality services and solutions, and providing exceptional value for money. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, with Offices in New York, San Francisco, India and Barcelona, and a strategic partner network covering AsiaPac, Middle East and ROW, we work internationally in delivering EPM and SharePoint solutions to our customer base in over 39 countries. Register for this event now at: https://taips2010admin121211-rss.eventbrite.com Event Details: Course Description: This course is designed to cover all the features and aspects of Project Server 2010 Administration. Attendance on the Introductory Project Professional 2010 course is an essential pre-requisite. Attendance on an advanced course with at least two to six weeks as a consolidation period is highly desirable . A ttendees ideally will have some experi ence of SQL Server, IIS, and SharePoint Server . Knowledge of network permissions, active directory and security models would be an advantage. Who Should Attend: Users who have a good knowledge of Microsoft Project 2010 and will be responsible for managing, maintaining and updating the Project 2010 Server database and user information. Course Content: Upon completion of the course, delegates will be able to: Understand EPM 2010 Administration Concepts & Setup ·          Understand the different areas of the PWA Home page and links from it. ·          Understand authentication – types and logins. ·          Understand how to set up e-mail notifications for users and their teams. ·          Demonstrate how to save Microsoft Project information offline. ·          Demonstrate how to view, edit, and update projects & tasks ·          Understand how to reject, create, and delegate task assignments. ·          Understand how to link documents , issues, risks and documents to tasks. ·          Describe the Outlook integration. ·          Show how to view projects in the Project Center & how to create and maintain the views. ·          Show how to view resources in the Resource Center & how to create the views. ·          Demonstrate how to view resource and assignment data related to one or more projects. ·          Understand how to edit enterprise resource information. ·          Describe how to revi ew an archive of object data. ·          View and update task changes to a Microsoft Project plan. ·          View and update calend ar changes. ·          Set up rules to automatically update projects. ·          View a historical archive of task updates. ·          Understand Check In/Check Out of Projects and resources. ·          Understand Outlook integration. ·          Understand Categories/Groups/Permissions & Security Templates and how to use these to configure the system. Essential for analyzing the business and how EPM can be adopted. ·          Understand how d ata is stored in Project Server Databases and in SharePoint. Project 2010 Server Administration ·          Understand the different Administration options. ·          Understand the communication and messaging process. ·          Understand the Task Views, Time Periods, Fiscal Periods and options. ·          Describe the provisioning process for creating workspaces. ·          Understand how to view and upload documents for projects and public documents. ·          Demonstrate searching of documents in the document libraries. ·          Understand how to create and edit an issue or risk. ·          Understand how to customize Issue and risk fields and views. ·          Describe what Microsoft Project Server is and what it is used for. ·          Demonstrate connecting Microsoft Project to Microsoft Project Server. ·          Understand the functionality of Microsoft Project Server. ·          Understand the different user types and the how they interact with Microsoft Project Server and the functionality of each, as well as how to modify permissions. ·          Understand the responsibilities of a Microsoft Project Server Administrator and adopt best practices. ·          Discuss the various views available, their purpose and how to customize them. ·          Understand the integration of SharePoint fr om the Microsoft administration perspective. ·          Understand the Databases in Project Server and how they interact. ·          Understand Reporting and Business Intelligence capabilities in EPM 2010. ·          Understand the Dashboard capability. ·          Understand customization of the Microsoft Project Web Access Client. ·          Describe license manag ement within Project Server 2010 ·          Discuss maintenance of clean data in the Microsoft Project Server database. ·          Understand how security works within Microsoft Project Server. ·          Demonstrate the process for setting permissions. ·          Under stand the process for time track ing and progressing updates. ·          Understand and edit the Resource Breakdown Structure. ·          Understand the Administration options in Project Server and how to use them. ·          Demonstrate and understand the significance of Outline code fields at Project, Task and Resource level. ·          Understand and apply the Portfolio capabilities and administer the settings in Project Server. ·          Understand ULS, Messaging logs, and the Queue services in Project Server. ·          Describe, understand and be able to apply Multi-value fields. ·          Recognise what the Active Cache is and how it works . ·          Understand the concept of web parts and SharePoint as a platform for Project Server.

When: Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 9:30 AM – Friday, October 21, 2011 at 5:00 PM (GMT) Where: Technology House Shottery Brook Office Park Timothy’s Bridge Road CV37 9NR Stratford Upon Avon United Kingdom Hosted By: Technology Associates International Limited Technology Associates International Limited is one of the leading global project management consultancies specialising in Microsoft Office Project and Enterprise Project Management Solutions. Since 1990, Technology Associates have provided deployment, consultancy, development and training services to more than 500 organisations including some of the world’s leading companies, and we have an international presence throughout the world.     Technology Associates have deployed hundreds of EPM solutions and deployed more than 2,000 Microsoft Project solutions. With ten Microsoft Competencies under our belt, including ISV status, we have built a solid reputation for delivering high quality services and solutions, and providing exceptional value for money. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, with Offices in New York, San Francisco, India and Barcelona, and a strategic partner network covering AsiaPac, Middle East and ROW, we work internationally in delivering EPM and SharePoint solutions to our customer base in over 39 countries. Register for this event now at: https://taips2010admin201011-rss.eventbrite.com Event Details: Course Description: This course is designed to cover all the features and aspects of Project Server 2010 Administration. Attendance on the Introductory Project Professional 2010 course is an essential pre-requisite. Attendance on an advanced course with at least two to six weeks as a consolidation period is highly desirable . A ttendees ideally will have some experi ence of SQL Server, IIS, and SharePoint Server . Knowledge of network permissions, active directory and security models would be an advantage. Who Should Attend: Users who have a good knowledge of Microsoft Project 2010 and will be responsible for managing, maintaining and updating the Project 2010 Server database and user information. Course Content: Upon completion of the course, delegates will be able to: Understand EPM 2010 Administration Concepts & Setup ·          Understand the different areas of the PWA Home page and links from it. ·          Understand authentication – types and logins. ·          Understand how to set up e-mail notifications for users and their teams. ·          Demonstrate how to save Microsoft Project information offline. ·          Demonstrate how to view, edit, and update projects & tasks ·          Understand how to reject, create, and delegate task assignments. ·          Understand how to link documents , issues, risks and documents to tasks. ·          Describe the Outlook integration. ·          Show how to view projects in the Project Center & how to create and maintain the views. ·          Show how to view resources in the Resource Center & how to create the views. ·          Demonstrate how to view resource and assignment data related to one or more projects. ·          Understand how to edit enterprise resource information. ·          Describe how to revi ew an archive of object data. ·          View and update task changes to a Microsoft Project plan. ·          View and update calend ar changes. ·          Set up rules to automatically update projects. ·          View a historical archive of task updates. ·          Understand Check In/Check Out of Projects and resources. ·          Understand Outlook integration. ·          Understand Categories/Groups/Permissions & Security Templates and how to use these to configure the system. Essential for analyzing the business and how EPM can be adopted. ·          Understand how d ata is stored in Project Server Databases and in SharePoint. Project 2010 Server Administration ·          Understand the different Administration options. ·          Understand the communication and messaging process. ·          Understand the Task Views, Time Periods, Fiscal Periods and options. ·          Describe the provisioning process for creating workspaces. ·          Understand how to view and upload documents for projects and public documents. ·          Demonstrate searching of documents in the document libraries. ·          Understand how to create and edit an issue or risk. ·          Understand how to customize Issue and risk fields and views. ·          Describe what Microsoft Project Server is and what it is used for. ·          Demonstrate connecting Microsoft Project to Microsoft Project Server. ·          Understand the functionality of Microsoft Project Server. ·          Understand the different user types and the how they interact with Microsoft Project Server and the functionality of each, as well as how to modify permissions. ·          Understand the responsibilities of a Microsoft Project Server Administrator and adopt best practices. ·          Discuss the various views available, their purpose and how to customize them. ·          Understand the integration of SharePoint fr om the Microsoft administration perspective. ·          Understand the Databases in Project Server and how they interact. ·          Understand Reporting and Business Intelligence capabilities in EPM 2010. ·          Understand the Dashboard capability. ·          Understand customization of the Microsoft Project Web Access Client. ·          Describe license manag ement within Project Server 2010 ·          Discuss maintenance of clean data in the Microsoft Project Server database. ·          Understand how security works within Microsoft Project Server. ·          Demonstrate the process for setting permissions. ·          Under stand the process for time track ing and progressing updates. ·          Understand and edit the Resource Breakdown Structure. ·          Understand the Administration options in Project Server and how to use them. ·          Demonstrate and understand the significance of Outline code fields at Project, Task and Resource level. ·          Understand and apply the Portfolio capabilities and administer the settings in Project Server. ·          Understand ULS, Messaging logs, and the Queue services in Project Server. ·          Describe, understand and be able to apply Multi-value fields. ·          Recognise what the Active Cache is and how it works . ·          Understand the concept of web parts and SharePoint as a platform for Project Server.

I love the creativity from France (yes I’m objective) with this new contest targeted a students. You basically have 17 billion to build your own island with its hotels etc.… the goal is to have the best return on investment (ROI) all using Project & Project Server 2010, and you get to speak French. Winning team will get a trip to an exotic destination! Student life is good, isn’t it?

What a week so far! Yes in case you have missed it, major announcements were made at the developer-focused BUILD conference this week in California, beside watching the keynote here: https://www.buildwindows.com/ it’s exciting to see preliminary releases ( Developer Preview ) of Windows 8 & Visual Studio 11 & Team Foundation Server 11. Happy download and install! More info here: Microsoft Reimagines Windows, Presents Windows 8 Developer Preview Building Windows 8 : https://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/ Announcing Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview