I am happy to announce the release of a white paper, diagram and videos produced by Advisicon, entitled Microsoft Project Server 2010: Get the Most for Your Organization, Now and for the Future . The white paper is targeted at decision makers and its purpose is to address some of the main factors for scalability, best practices, and opportunities for creating wins from the potential challenges often faced when implementing a solution such as Microsoft Project Server 2010 . The Visio diagram entitled Project 2010 Scalability Flowchart is designed to assist the different roles and perspectives in dealing with the challenges and the next steps to leveraging Project 2010 and Project Server 2010’s capabilities, depending on your entrance point for using the application.

Here’s the problem. You’ve created a project schedule, and now you want to send it to a team mate for review. Your team mate is having trouble opening and viewing the project because she has a version on Project earlier than yours. At this point, you have a few options, depending on who has which version of what: Which Project version are you using? Which file version are you trying to open? Things to keep in mind Project 2007 Project 2010 No converter is available. If you received a Project 2010 file that you want to open using Project 2007, ask the person who sent the file to first save it to the Project 2007 file format. Alternately, you can install the trial version of Project 2010 and then view the file, or save it to the Project 2007 file format. Project 2003 Project 2007 or Project 2010 There are two possibilities here. If you are using Project 2003 with SP3, project files from later versions of Project can be opened read-only. Download Microsoft Office Project 2003 Service Pack 3 . If you are using Project 2003 without SP3, there is no converter available. Upgrade to Project 2003 with SP3, or ask the person who sent the Project 2007 or later file to save the file first in the Project 2000-2003 file format. Project 2000 or Project 2002 Project 2007 or Project 2010 No converter is available. Ask the person who sent the Project 2007 or later file to save the file first in the Project 2000-2003 file format. Project 98 Project 2000 and later versions No converter is available. Consider upgrading to the latest version of Project, or install the trial version of Project 2010 to try out Project’s enhanced functionality. Alternately, ask the person who sent the Project 2000-2003 file to save the file first in the Project 98 file format. Note Project 2007 and later versions of Project do not have the ability to save to the Project 98 file format. That’s a nice table, but how do I tell which version of Project I have? For Project versions 98 through Project 2007, click the Help menu, and then click About Microsoft Office Project . For Project version 2010, click the File tab, then click Help . Will I lose my data? In nearly all cases, no. There can be a few exceptions, however. if you open a Project file created from a later version and save it the file to your current version, you can lose data or formatting in areas where the later versions contains enhanced functionality. For example, new fields and custom fields Information within new fields from later versions of Project, or any formulas relying on new fields, will be lost. New options that are set on custom fields created in the later version of Project will be lost. Another example. New calendar exceptions that were added to project and resource calendar functionality (such as monthly exceptions, yearly exceptions, and those with arbitrary dates) will be lost.

I am happy to announce that I will be speaking at SPTechCon in Boston June 1-3, 2011, delivering the following session: 310 Implementing Team Foundation Server 2010 & Project Server Integration to Solve the Agile/PMO Dilemma Team Foundation Server 2010 and Project Server Integration Feature Pack further strengthen Microsoft’s Application Lifecycle Management Solution by bridging the gap between Project Portfolio Management and Application Development. By bringing the best of both worlds, it creates a win-win situation that enables development and project management teams to collaborate and communicate a project’s timeline and progress using familiar tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio, Project Server, and SharePoint 2010. This session will provide a product overview and demonstrations, as well as discuss customer successes. Lots of great SharePoint content at that event as well as plenty of renowned SharePoint experts. Registrants who use my last name (FIESSINGER) as a code during check out they will receive a $200 discount, so don’t wait and register !

As announced today on the main Project blog, I’m very very happy to announced this great asset you have been waiting for: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 and Project Server 2010 Demo Virtual Machine . I have been using this VM for a while and it’s a great asset we have put together to help you understand the value, the scenarios and the functionality enabled by the Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 and Project Server Integration Feature Pack released last month. So don’t wait and start your downloads!

When: Monday, June 13, 2011 at 9:00 AM – Wednesday, June 15, 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 Ltd Technology Associates International ( www.techassoc.com ) is an Approved Training Organisation (ATO), accredited by the APM Group – the leading accreditation, certification and examination body – to deliver PRINCE2® courses.    As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we have over 18 years experience of delivering training solutions.   Our PRINCE2® trainers are skilled experts who take pride in guiding delegates through the PRINCE2® methodology and help them understand how the material applies to their specific personal and organisational circumstances. Register for this event now at: https://taiprince2f130611-rss.com:443 Event Details:       Payment is due on booking.   Cancellations and Transfers More than 20 working days notice before course commences – £50 cancellation fee is payable From 0 to 20 working days inclusive before course commences – 100 % of the course fee is payable   VERY IMPORTANT: If you are unable to complete a course due to illness or any other reason, you will have to pay the full course fee to attend a future course. No refund will be offered for failing to attend any part of the whole course.   A full copy of our terms and conditions of sale is available on request.                 PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries. The course provides a balance between a learning experience about structured project management and PRINCE2®, and maximising the delegate’s chances of passing the Foundation exam. This exam is the first of two required to achieve Registered PRINCE2® Practitioner status. The course starts with a period of directed self-study commencing approximately 2 weeks before the classroom event. This brings everyone up to a common standard of basic familiarity with the language and underlying principles of PRINCE2®, and ensures that the course gets off to a smooth start. Delegates should plan their time for this self-study to ensure that they gain maximum benefit from this essential element of the course. A minimum of 10 hours should be scheduled. The course covers the full PRINCE2® Foundation syllabus, following the lifecycle of a project, explaining the use and benefits of the PRINCE2® processes, themes and techniques, and how these can be adapted to suit a variety of project types and scenarios. Approximately 30% of the course is spent on practical work and discussion using a “continuous” case study as a basis for exercises that help to reinforce delegate learning. Evening work is provided (approximately one-hour) to enable revision and practice of what has been learnt each day. Terms & Conditions of Booking:

Reading Christophe’s post https://blogs.msdn.com/b/chrisfie/archive/2011/04/14/who-is-not-going-to-tech-ed-2011-in-atlanta-next-month-msteched.aspx has reminded me that I have not yet told you all that I too will be at TechEd 11, in Atlanta May 16th to 19th – so I am telling you now.

The Project team will! It be be an awesome event with awesome content and plenty of cool Microsoft Project Server 2010 goodies as shown below, so register come to Atlanta for Tech.Ed North America 2011: Registration . For more information about content check out this post: Microsoft Project/Project Server Presence at Tech·Ed 2011 16GB Team Foundation Server 2010 and Project Server 2010 USB Key with key ALM links What’s New Study Guide Microsoft Project 2010 Implementing and Administering Microsoft Project Server 2010 PS: I will not be shipping the items above so don’t miss this event!

To help Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Project 2010 developers conveniently find all relevant resources for Project 2010 development we have created unified information center “Project Developer Curriculum” that references all key resources – from blogs, SDK chapters, SDK code samples, Solution Starters to extensive list of on demand webcasts. This addition to strong Project Developer Center also talks specifically to SharePoint developers offering development approach comparison . We are preparing a separate webcast dedicated to this topic MSDN Webcast: Project Server Development for SharePoint Developers (Level 300) – Thursday, May 5, 2011 at 8:00 A.M.–9:30 A.M. Pacific Time (subject to change). Make sure you register now to get the reminder before the webcast! Q&A Q: What are the key resources for Project 2010 Developers A: Project Developer Curriculum is an awesome unified resource –in addition – Project Developer Center and SDK https://msdn.microsoft.com/project/ and Project Programmability blog https://blogs.msdn.com/project_programmability/

Good pre-release white paper that might be of interest if you have or are planning to deploy Project Server 2010 and Dynamics AX: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 White Paper: Microsoft Project Server 2010 Integration . This document explains the integration architecture for Microsoft Dynamics ® AX 2012 and Microsoft ® Project Server 2010 and provides instructions for setting up integration between the two programs. By setting up integration between the two products, project managers can create projects in either of the products and synchronize project data between them. This solution enables you to draw on both the core project management capabilities in Project Server 2010 and the financial management capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics AX. For information on AX 2012 release please check out today’s press release: https://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2011/apr11/04-11Con11PR.mspx