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When: Monday 21 May 2012 at 09:00 – Friday 25 May 2012 at 17:00 (GMT) Where: Technology House 1 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://taiprince2fp210512-rss.eventbrite.ie Event Details: The course provides a balance between a learning experince about structured project management and PRINCE2®, and maximising the delegate’s chances of passing the Practitioner examination. On passing the examination, the delegate becomes a Registered PRINCE2® Practitioner. 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 if at all possible. The first three days in the classroom follow 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 this time is spent on practical work and discussion using a “continuous” case study as a basis for exercises that help to reinforce delegate learning.    The Foundation examination takes place on day 3.  The following two days are dedicated to reinforcing what has been learnt and to preparing for the Practitioner examination that takes place on the last afternoon.   Full explanation is provided of the types of question used in the examination, together with guidance on how to answer them to best effect. Evening work is provided (approximately one-hour) to enable revision and practice of what has been learned each day. Terms & Conditions of Booking: 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 Cabinet Office.

When: Monday 21 May 2012 at 09:00 – Wednesday 23 May 2012 at 17:00 (GMT) Where: Technology House 1 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://taiprince2f210512-rss.eventbrite.ie Event Details: 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: 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 Cabinet Office.

The fix for this frequently hit bug was released KB 2598251, and now the KB article at https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598251 has been updated to include the SQL scripts that will clean up the duplicate values that lead to the error.  These scripts will correct the data, and the fix will stop the condition returning.  The fix itself has a version number of 14.0.6117.5002 – and if you load the February CU rollup package with this same version number then you will also get the fix.  The single Project Server package has been updated to point to the 2598251 patch – as this includes the fix, but also includes the February cumulative update. So to summarize: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598251 is the specific fix – and it includes the February CU for Project Server. https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2597152 is the February CU rollup package – and includes the fix as well as the full February CU for Project Server and SharePoint Server 2010 https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2597138 was the February CU for Project Server 2010, but has been withdrawn and instead redirects to the 2598251 patch. And finally – to help the search engines find this posting, the ULS logs will indicate an exception error similar to the following: Exception occurred in method Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.Project.ProjectGetProjectCenterProjectsForGridJson Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.DataAccessLayer.FilterDal+FilterException: Error during filter query execution. Query: declare @ResUid UniqueIdentifier; set @ResUid = ff02387a-234e-4323-9e33-dbbf6f11880e; declare @PermUid UniqueIdentifier; set @PermUid = a120a079-75bc-4f0f-b376-3fb0ae9ac940; declare @ViewUid UniqueIdentifier; set @ViewUid = 63d3499e-df27-401c-af58-ebb9607beae8; declare @P0 UniqueIdentifier; set @P0 = 2d9ba6f2-d3d4-47f1-8661-5af3d695f8ed; declare @P1 UniqueIdentifier; set @P1 = 0ad53bb6-15ee-476a-ab05-7bb434b50466; SET NOCOUNT ON SELECT T.PROJ_UID INTO #T0 FROM dbo.MSP_PROJECTS AS P INNER JOIN dbo.MSP_TASKS AS T ON T.PROJ_UID = P.PROJ_UID INNER JOIN dbo.MSP_RESOURCES AS R ON R.RES_UID = P.WRES_UID LEFT JOIN dbo.MSP_WORKFLOW_STATUS AS WFSTS ON WFSTS.PROJ_UID = P.PROJ_UID INNER JOIN dbo.MSP_WEB_FN_SEC_GetAllProjectsResCanViewByViewID(@ResUid, @PermUid, @ViewUid, 3) AS perm ON perm.PROJ_UID = T.PROJ_UID LEFT JOIN dbo.ProjectSummaryCustomFields AS TABLEALIAS_0 ON TABLEALIAS_0.PROJ_UID = P.PROJ_UID AND TABLEALIAS_0.MD_PROP_UID = @P0 WHERE T.TASK_OPTINDX = 1.0 AND (ISNULL(WFSTS.STAGE_STATUS,-1) IN (-1, 1,2,3,5,6)) AND ((TABLEALIAS_0.CODE_VALUE @P1) OR (TABLEALIAS_0.CODE_VALUE IS NULL)) CREATE CLUSTERED INDEX PK_#T0 ON #T0 (PROJ_UID) SET NOCOUNT OFF SELECT T.PROJ_UID , P.PROJ_NAME , T.TASK_START_DATE , T.TASK_FINISH_DATE , T.TASK_PCT_COMP , T.TASK_WORK , T.TASK_DUR , R.RES_NAME , P.WPROJ_LAST_PUB , P.PROJ_OPT_MINUTES_PER_DAY , P.PROJ_OPT_MINUTES_PER_WEEK , P.PROJ_OPT_DAYS_PER_MONTH , T.TASK_SUMMARY_PROGRESS_DATE , T.TASK_IS_MILESTONE , dbo.MSP_FN_HYPERLINK_HREF(T.TASK_HYPERLINK_ADDRESS, T.TASK_HYPERLINK_SUB_ADDRESS) AS TASK_HYPERLINK_HREF , T.TASK_OUTLINE_LEVEL , P.PROJ_TYPE , T.TASK_DUR_FMT , P.WSTS_SERVER_UID , P.PROJ_OPT_CURRENCY_CODE , P.PROJ_ACTIVE_RISK_COUNT , P.PROJ_ACTIVE_ISSUE_COUNT , P.PROJ_TOTAL_DOC_COUNT , WOB.WOBJ_ISSUE_REF_CNT , WOB.WOBJ_RISK_REF_CNT , WOB.WOBJ_DOC_REF_CNT , PJSYNC.SYNC_WSS_LIST_UID , T.TASK_COMPLETE_THROUGH , (CASE WHEN T.TASK_UID=T.TASK_PARENT_UID THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) AS TASK_IS_PROJECT_SUMMARY FROM dbo.MSP_PROJECTS AS P INNER JOIN dbo.MSP_TASKS AS T ON T.PROJ_UID = P.PROJ_UID INNER JOIN dbo.MSP_RESOURCES AS R ON R.RES_UID = P.WRES_UID LEFT JOIN dbo.MSP_WORKFLOW_STATUS AS WFSTS ON WFSTS.PROJ_UID = P.PROJ_UID INNER JOIN #T0 AS keys ON keys.PROJ_UID = P.PROJ_UID LEFT JOIN (SELECT WOBJ_PROJ_UID as PROJ_UID,[4] as WOBJ_ISSUE_REF_CNT, [5] as WOBJ_RISK_REF_CNT, [3] as WOBJ_DOC_REF_CNT FROM ( SELECT WOBJ_TYPE, WOBJ_PROJ_UID FROM MSP_WEB_OBJECTS WHERE WOBJ_TASK_UID=’00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000′) pwob PIVOT (COUNT(WOBJ_TYPE) FOR WOBJ_TYPE in([3] ,[4],[5])) AS pvt) AS WOB ON WOB.PROJ_UID = P.PROJ_UID LEFT JOIN dbo.MSP_SYNC_PROJECT_SETTINGS AS PJSYNC ON PJSYNC.PROJ_UID = P.PROJ_UID WHERE T.TASK_OPTINDX = 1.0 AND (ISNULL(WFSTS.STAGE_STATUS,-1) IN (-1, 1,2,3,5,6)) DROP TABLE #T0; —> System.Data.ConstraintException: Failed to enable constraints. One or more rows contain values violating non-null, unique, or foreign-key constraints. at System.Data.DataSet.EnableConstraints() at System.Data.DataSet.set_EnforceConstraints(Boolean value) at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.DataAccessLayer.DAL.SubDal.FillTypedDataSet(Boolean allowCache, DataSet typedDataSet, String[] tables, SqlCommand sqlCommand, Boolean enforceConstraints) at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.DataAccessLayer.DAL.SubDal.FillTypedDataSet(DataSet typedDataSet, String[] tables, SqlCommand sqlCommand, Boolean enforceConstraints) at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.DataAccessLayer.FilterDal.FillDataSet(QueryState queryState) — End of inner exception stack trace — at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.DataAccessLayer.FilterDal.FillDataSet(QueryState queryState) at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.Utility.FilterDalQueryInfo.Query() at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.Project.ProjectQueryInfo.Query() at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.Project.ProjectCenterQueryInfo.Query() at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.Utility.JsGridPopulationManager.InitializeSerializer(TableQueryInfo tableInfo, OrderInfo orderInfo, SliceInfo sliceInfo, Guid groupSchemeUid, Nullable`1 ganttSchemeUid, Boolean serializeStyles, Func`1 getChanges, Boolean serializeUnfilteredHierarchy, Boolean serializeLookupTableInfo, Boolean showTimeWithDates, String rowFilter) at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.Utility.JsGridPopulationManager.InitializeSerializer(TableQueryInfo tableInfo, ViewPropertyGroup properties, JsGridSerializerArguments gridSerializerArgs, Func`1 getChanges) at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.BusinessLayer.Project.GetProjectCenterProjectsForGridJson(JsGridSerializerArguments gridSerializerArgs, Guid viewUid, Int32 store, Boolean showInsertedProjects, Boolean clearPersistedProperties) at Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.Wcf.Implementation.PWAImpl.ProjectGetProjectCenterProjectsForGridJson(JsGridSerializerArguments gridSerializerArgs, Guid viewUid, Int32 store, Boolean showInsertedProjects, Boolean clearPersistedProperties)

When: Wednesday 11 April 2012 at 09:00 – Thursday 12 April 2012 at 17:00 (GMT) Where: 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 twelve Microsoft Competencies under our belt, and three at Gold level including PPM, ISV and Application Integration, 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://taips2010admin110412-rss.eventbrite.ie 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: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM (GMT) Where: 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 twelve Microsoft Competencies under our belt, and three at Gold level including PPM, ISV and Application Integration, 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://tai2010pco180412-rss.eventbrite.com Event Details: Course Content: Understand Project Connect 2010 Administration Concepts & Setup   ·          Understand the different areas of the PWA Home page. ·          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 create, and delegate task assignments. ·          Understand how to create and link documents, issues, risks and documents to tasks. ·          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. ·          View and update task changes to a Microsoft Project plan. ·          View and update calendar changes. ·          Understand Check In/Check Out of Projects, resources and documents. ·          Understand Outlook integration. ·          Understand User Types and what permissions each has. ·          Understand how data is stored in Project Server Databases and in SharePoint. Project Connect 2010 Administration   ·          Understand the different Administration options. ·          Understand the communication and notifications process. ·          Understand the Task Views, Time Periods, Fiscal Periods and options. ·          Describe the provisioning process for creating worksites. ·          Understand how to view and upload documents for projects. ·          Demonstrate searching of documents in the document libraries. ·          Understand how to create and edit an issue or risk. ·          Understand the functionality of Microsoft Project Server (specifically within the Project Connect solution). Describe the differences between Project Connect and the full EPM solution. ·          Understand the responsibilities of an Administrator and adopt best practices. ·          Discuss the various views available, their purpose and how to customize them. ·          Understand the process for time tracking and progressing updates. ·          Demonstrate and understand the significance of Enterprise Custom Fields and Outline code fields at Project, Task and Resource level. ·          Understand the Messaging 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.

We’re happy to announce the publish of a new white paper by Chris Vanderluis of HMS Software for the “From the Trenches” column in the Project Server 2010 TechCenter and the Project Server 2007 TechCenter . This latest white paper – “Top-down or bottom-up” – discusses project management, portfolio management, and task management, and it compares the top-down and bottom-up management practices related to them. Here is some bio information about the author: Chris Vandersluis is the president and founder of Montreal, Canada–based HMS Software , a Microsoft Certified Partner. He has an economics degree from McGill University and over 24 years experience in the automation of project control systems. He is a long-standing member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and helped found the Montreal, Toronto, and Quebec chapters of the Microsoft Project Users Group (MPUG). Publications for which Chris has written include Fortune , Heavy Construction News , Computing Canada magazine, and PMI’s PMNetwork , and he is a regular columnist for Project Times . He teaches Advanced Project Management at McGill University and often speaks at project management association functions across North America and around the world. HMS Software is the publisher of the TimeControl project-oriented timekeeping system and has been a Microsoft Project Solution Partner since 1995. Chris Vandersluis can be contacted by e-mail at: chris.vandersluis@hms.ca . If you would like to read more Enterprise Project Management related articles by Chris Vandersluis, see his blog: EPM Guidance .

When: Thursday, April 12, 2012 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (GMT) Where: 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 twelve Microsoft Competencies under our belt, and three at Gold level including PPM, ISV and Application Integration, 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://taisomedia120412-rss.eventbrite.com Event Details: Course Objectives: At the completion of the course, delegates will have an understanding of: ·          The uses of social media marketing ·          How social media marketing fits into the web marketing landscape ·          Where social marketing takes place ·          The “rules” of social media ·          How to build customer engagement ·          Handling customer criticism ·          How to blog effectively ·          How to use Facebook for business ·          Using Twitter ·      Evaluating the ROI of social media   Who Should Attend:   This course is aimed at business owners or managers who want to make effective use of social media/inbound marketing to create and maintain customer relationships but would also be useful for experienced marketers who would like an overview of the use of online social media.   The course commences with an overview of social media, discusses the “rules” of social media in relation to blogging, and then goes on to show how to further expand your marketing using Facebook and Twitter. The course discusses other social sites like YouTube and LinkedIn and their effectiveness as additional locations for social reach. The course demonstrates how social media marketing fits in with your other on-line and offline marketing activities and shows how it can also be used to improve your search engine performance.   Pre-requisites: No prior knowledge of social media marketing is required but experience of using the web and awareness of social sites like Facebook is expected .   This course makes no assumptions about the computer or operating system used in your training environment as most of the functionality comes from your web browser.   Delegates are asked to being their own laptops/iPads to the course.  

Written by Divya Gunasekaran, Microsoft Online Services PM The latest release of the Microsoft Online Services Migration Tools includes two new cmdlets and an update to Get-MSOnlineUser . The new Get-MSOnlineDistributionGroup cmdlet allows admins to retrieve properties of distribution groups through PowerShell, and a user’s UPN, primary SMTP address, and SIP address can now be managed using the Update-MSOnlineUserAddresses cmdlet. 1.  Get-MSOnlineUser : This cmdlet retrieves the properties of a specified user in Microsoft Online Services.  The following property has been added to the output of this cmdlet: RulesQuota : Returns the limit in KB for the size of rules for the user’s mailbox. This property will return 0 for users that do not have mailboxes. 2. Get-MSOnlineDistributionGroup : This cmdlet retrieves the properties of a specified distribution group.  The following properties are output: Identity : Primary SMTP address of the group. DisplayName : The display name of the group. Type: The group type. AcceptMessagesOnlyFrom: Returns a string array containing the users and contacts allowed to send email to the retrieved distribution group.  An empty array indicates the distribution group accepts messages from all senders. Members : Returns a string array containing the members of the distribution group. 3.  Update-MSOnlineUserAddresses : This cmdlet can be used to update a user’s primary SMTP address and SIP address to match their existing UPN or a new UPN.  For mailbox users, if an existing SMTP address matches the UPN, Update-MSOnlineUserAddresses will set it as the primary SMTP. Otherwise, the cmdlet will add a new SMTP address as the primary email address. Note that this cmdlet does not remove or replace a user’s existing SMTP addresses. For users with an existing SIP address, Update-MSOnlineUserAddresses will update the SIP address to match the UPN. Let’s run through a few scenarios to get started. I want to ensure my users’ UPN, primary SMTP address, and SIP address are aligned.  After running the Get-MSOnlineUser cmdlet, I notice that the addresses for karthik@fineartschool.net are not the same as his UPN. C:PS> Get-MSOnlineUser -Identity karthik@fineartschool.net – Credential $companyAdminCred                                                                                                                                                                     Identity                : karthik@fineartschool.net                                                                                                                                                   ProxyAddresses     : {SMTP:k@fineartschool.net,                         smtp:karthik@fineartschool.net, sip:ka@fineartschool.net}      To update the primary SMTP address and SIP address to equal my user’s current UPN, karthik@fineartschool.net, I run the following command: C:PS> Update-MSOnlineUserAddresses -Identity                      karthik@fineartschool.net -Credential $companyAdminCred  When I check the user’s address list again, I see that the SIP address was updated and the SMTP address that matched the UPN is now set as the primary SMTP address. No SMTP addresses were removed or replaced. Identity                : karthik@fineartschool.net                               ProxyAddresses     : {smtp:k@fineartschool.net,                      SMTP:karthik@fineartschool.net, sip:karthik@fineartschool.net} My user has recently undergone a name change from Chris to Christine. Her UPN, SMTP address, and SIP address are Chris@fineartschool.net, and I need to update them accordingly. Identity                : Chris@fineartschool.net                                                                          ProxyAddresses     : {SMTP:Chris@fineartschool.net, sip:Chris@fineartschool.net} I can do this from the command line, but I can also import information from a csv file since the Update-MSOnlineUserAddresses cmdlet accepts some input from the pipeline by property name.  I save the below csv file as “NameChange.csv” and run the following command:      Identity NewUpn Chris@fineartschool.net Christine@fineartschool.net C:PS> Import-Csv –path C:NameChange.csv | Update-         MSOnlineUserAddresses -Credential $companyAdminCred  My user’s UPN, primary SMTP address, and SIP address are now updated to Christine@fineartschool.net. The old SMTP address Chris@fineartschool.net is still an alternate email address because the Update-MSOnlineUserAddresses cmdlet does not remove or replace SMTP addresses.  That means Christine will still receive mail sent to Chris@fineartschool.net, which is useful because her contacts might not know she has a new primary email address. Identity                : Christine@fineartschool.net                                   ProxyAddresses     : {SMTP:Christine@fineartschool.net,               smtp:Chris@fineartschool.net, sip:Christine@fineartschool.net  To use the updated cmdlets, admins must download the latest 32-bit or 64-bit version of the Microsoft Online Services Migration Tools.

The initial installation, setup and activation of Microsoft Project can raise issues and we see quite a few calls on this topic, so wanted to put together some links that might help – and save you having to call Microsoft.  Often the issue relates to a clash of versions or sku’s, and sometimes it may be due to a version of Office that came pre-loaded – the Office 2010 Starter.  Hopefully these links will help – along with links to resolve common issues such as a message about invalid product keys, or if you have lost or damaged your Office 2010 product key. First some wizards to help with product key problems: Are you receiving an invalid product key error in Microsoft Office 2010? – https://support.microsoft.com/kb/836178 How to replace a lost or damaged Microsoft Office product key – https://support.microsoft.com/kb/823570 If you are using Volume Licensing and MAK key then this is a good blog posting to read – https://blogs.technet.com/b/odsupport/archive/2011/04/15/getting-invalid-product-key-error-when-trying-to-input-mak-key-for-volume-license-version-of-office-2010.aspx . Another common question is around side-by-side installation – either where Project is being installed with another version of Office (such as upgrading to Project 2010 but still using Office 2007) – or even having multiple versions of Project on the same system.  The best guidance here is firstly only do this if you really, really need to, and to install in a separate directory, and the first thing to try if any errors are seen is to repair the original installation.  For example if you load Project 2010 and then see any issues with Office 2007 – run a repair on Office 2007.  With multiple versions of Project there is another potential issue – and that is which version should start when you click on an mpp – and the rule of thumb here is that the last one installed will win.  So either install to ensure the one you wish to be the one to load mpps is the last one – or run a repair on the one you want to be considered the ‘current’ version for opening mpps.  You can also set the default version via Control Panel, Programs, Default Programs, Set Associations – select mpp then Change program and browse for the specific winproj.exe in whichever directory you loaded the version you wish to open mpps.  Another consideration if working with side-by-side is that there have been some behavior changes in the various releases – so it is best avoided to keep moving plans back and forth between versions.

Just back in the office after a great conference.  It was a pleasure to meet up with so many people who read the blog – some I have known many years and others I have only known through e-mail or the forums – and yet others I was meeting for the first time.  Thanks also to Christophe and his team for putting together what one of our partners described to me on the plane home as “the best Project Conference ever!”  It was wonderful to see such an active partner expo area with some cool add-ons, solutions and services available to help our customers get the best out of the product.  In speaking to many attendees I know that the sessions from our customers were much appreciated – thanks to all who took the time to prepare and present these topics.  I enjoyed doing a couple of sessions with Adrian Jenkins where we walked though a few different scenarios and showed the tools we use to troubleshoot problems – and a fun part of the conference was a webcast with Dux Raymond Sy, Jennifer Mason, Christophe and David Milner.  This is out on YouTube on the Microsoft Project channel , along with plenty of other videos that you might find useful.  Lunchtime webcast from the Microsoft Project Conference 2012