#ProjectServer 2013 upcoming #Exams #Certifications #MCP

This is to share with you all, specially those who are looking forward to Project 2013 and Project Server 2013 certifications, that expected availability of new Project and Project Server exams are  April 2013. 

Expected date, and details of the areas to be measured through the exams, were shared by Microsoft's Jan Kalis here.

Following will be the exams:

• 74-343 Managing Projects with Microsoft Project 2013
• 74-344 Managing Programs and Projects with Project Server 2013

The high level details of the skills going to be measured for each of the above exams are as follows:.

74-343 Managing Projects with Microsoft Project 2013

• Initialize a Project
1. Create a new project.
2. Create and maintain calendars.
3. Create custom fields.
4. Customize option settings.

• Create a Task-Based Schedule
1. Set up project information.
2. Create and modify a project task structure.
3. Build a logical schedule model .
4. Create a user-controlled schedule.
5. Manage multiple projects.

• Manage Resources and Assignments
1. Enter and edit resource information.
2. Create and edit resource assignments.
3. Manage resource allocation.
4. Manage resource allocations by using Team Planner.
5. Model project costs

• Track and Analyze a Project
1. Set and maintain baselines.
2. Update actual progress.
3. Compare progress against a baseline.
4. Resolve potential schedule problems.
5. Display Critical Path information

• Communicate Project Information
1. Apply and customize views.
2. Share data with other applications.
3. Configure and display reports and dashboards.
4. Connect and share data with SharePoint.
5. Extend Project 2013.

74-344 Managing Programs and Projects with Project Server 2013

• Create Enterprise Projects and Portfolios
1. Define strategic alignment.
2. Optimize portfolios.
3. Create a new enterprise project.
4. Create a program with master projects and sub-projects

• Plan Enterprise Projects and Resources
1. Manage resources and teams.
2. Build a resource plan.
3. Build a project team.
4. Resolve resource over allocations across projects.
5. Baseline enterprise projects

• Track and Collaborate on an Enterprise Project
1. Select a tracking method.
2. Manage task assignments.
3. Update tasks and time-sheets.
4. Approve tasks and time-sheets.
5. Update a project schedule.

• Manage Configurable Enterprise Objects
1. Customize Project Web App views and reports.
2. Manage and extend Project Online and Project Server.
3. Manage risks, issues, and deliverable.
4. Customize a project site

The expected date, and the objective domain of the exams, were shared by Jan Kalis in his blog. To find more details of domains mentioned above, download the details from this blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jkalis/archive/2013/03/02/the-upcoming-project-2013-exams-objective-domains-available.aspx

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#ProjectServer 2013 Feb #CU released with March Public Update

The February Cumulative Update of Project Server 2013 was delayed, and now released along with March update.

Please see the links below for more details:

Update 13th April: There was an issue with the Project Server part of the patch which would lead to an error when running the SharePoint Configuration Wizard. The fix for this issue is in the April Cumulative Update for Project Server 2013. Find the details of the issue here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/projectsupport/archive/2013/04/11/project-server-2013-march-public-update-problems-running-the-sharepoint-configuration-wizard.aspx

Project Server 2013 March Update (includes Feb CU as well):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2768001

Project Professional 2013 or Project Standard 2013 Feb Update:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2738031

Also see the Brian Smith's post for details: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brismith/archive/2013/03/18/project-server-2013-february-2013-cumulative-update-delivered-with-march-2013-public-update.aspx

Also note that any future Project Server 2013 CU or update requires this March update as prerequisite.
The deployment of the server update is the same as previous Project Server updates. Find the link below to know more about SharePoint server 2013 update process: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff806331.aspx

Happy Patching :)

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#SharePoint2010: Error 7043 Load control template file /_controltemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx failed

While monitoring Event log of my SharePoint 2010 server, i have found this error in logs:

Load control template file /_controltemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx failed: Could not load type 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.TaxonomyPicker' from assembly 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c'.

Although i cannot find any particular reason for this error, neither it will affect any of your services, but it would be better if you can find a solution and resolve it, so that it wont bother you while looking to your event log :)

Eventually i have found cause to this error from Microsoft support site as:

"The source of the problem looks like a stale control template in the control templates folder while the control itself has been removed from the code base."

To get rid of this error, follow the simple steps:

1. Navigate to /14/TEMPLATE/ControlTemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx user control
2. Open the user control in a text editor and locate the first line
3. Find the character string , and replace with a comma ‘,’ (without quotes).
4. Save the user control.

Hope this helps.

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#Project and ##ProjectServer Oct CU available

Oct 2012 CU for Project and Project server is now available for download. Note that SP1 is pre requiste for this update to be installed on your environment.

For download link and more details, please follow:http://blogs.technet.com/b/projectadministration/archive/2012/11/05/microsoft-project-server-and-sharepoint-server-2007-and-2010-october-2012-cu-announcement.aspx

Happy updating.. 

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Project Server 2013 RTM Available NOW !

Following first wave release of : 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.



For more details: Microsoft Project Server 2013 RTM available for download on MSDN.

Happy exploring ..

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Demand Management using SharePoint Designer 2013

One of the amazing capabilities of Project Server 2010 was introduction of Demand Management concept, which let us automate complete project/proposal life cycle to provide more control to the project flow and data.

Development of Project workflows, at high level, can be seen comprises of following major steps process:

1. Configuration within project server, such EPTs, PDPs, custom fields etc. etc.
2. Develop workflow using .Net or Use of any 3rd part tool such Nintex workflows for Project Server 2010

The above can best illustrated by following diagram, where the complete process was categorized in three major phases:

Sometime back i have blogged in detail about the development options to build Project Server 2010 workflows here.

Now in Project Server 2013 (#projectserver2013), Microsoft has taken major steps to improve this experience and simplifies the process of implementation of Project workflows. Project Server workflows can now be implemented using SharePoint designer in addition to Visual Studio.

Yes you are reading it absolutely rite, its now possible to create workflows by using SharePoint designer 2013. which means that with very limited coding knowledge, see the emphasis :), you can create complex Project workflows to manage the life-cycle of a wide range of project and proposals.

I am excited about this improvement, and believe that it can attract more users now to utilize the advantage of workflows. Let me dig more into detail of and share with you soon in future.

Until then you might be interested to follow the official blog of SharePoint Designer 2013 to stay up to date with the new features and offerings.

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Project Server 2013 - My First PWA

In continuation to my work related to evaluation of Project Server 2013, i have finally reached to the final milestone of provisioning my first PWA 2013 site .. wohooo... :)

My very brief and spontoneour reaction was, man its awesome :) .

The interface and arrangment of options are quite different than its predecessors, where Project Server 2010 was following almost the same interface and same placement of navigation links to different options as it was in Project Server 2007.

However PWA 2013 in first glance looks quite different, first the links in navigation pannel are all filtered out and only major ones are there now such as Projects, Approval, Resources, Tasks and Reports. Which is good as i always use to think that this whole lot of options on home page can be be quite puzzling for naive end users. But ofcourse this doesnt mean that options are missing, its just that they are hidden by default.

The home page also got metro interface, where i can see few quick link to options such as more settings and etc., and i have yet to explore all this in detail.

Prior to reaching to this stage, i have created OOB web application and its also nice to see all new SharePoint site.

The option to change the site look and feel and logo etc. let me quickly change the layout of my site. It comes with few built-in themes, with flexibility to change the color theme and font style etc.

 

 

 

Keep coming back for more interesting stuff related to Project Server 2013 here.

 

Cheers.

 

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SharePoint 2013 becomes more customer's oriented :)

Now this might not be a big deal for many of you, but i am quite excited to have my first SharePoint 2013 server farm configured and Central Admin up and running :)

Also the first thing which strikes to me, and encouraged me to be more optimistic towards the promisisng offerings by this new version, is when i was configuring farm services through wizard and been put on hold with this nice polite message while server doing its best to run all the services.

Isn't it reminds you of nice polite sound been heard from customer services desk, or by support engineer sitting over to the next side of your phone when you connects with customer support :) Seems like SharePoint decided to be more customer centric this time, and will treat its customers (including consultants, developers and end users) with more love and affection then it ever had :)

Kool stuff....

Look forward to more blogs coming up your way as soon as i move forward with my evaluation of 2013 product...

Cheers.

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I am Alive..

Hello all,

Its been a while since i am not writing, and that due to multiple reasons. First and foremost is due to my over occupied work load, and other reasons are several :) so lets ignore all the other excuses.

But the good thing is that i am back to business, and more focused towards what i love to do the most.

There is a lot happening in Microsoft world, new versions of almost all the client and server products are on their way - which is great and exciting.Same is for the SharePoint family products, and the one i (and all of EPM lovers :) ) was quite anxiously looking forward to was Project Server 2013.

Currently i am in phase of setting up my VM with PS 2013, and will get back with more information through blogs in future. You can get your hands on to lot of information related to PS 2013, available on Tech Net in very structured way, here.

Cheers.

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Project Server 2010 supports SQL Server 2012

With the recent release of SQL Server 2012, Project Server 2010 Hardware/Software support TechNet documentation is also updated.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee683978.aspx

The SharePoint Server 2010 Service Pack 1 and Project Server 2010 Service Pack 1 updates must be installed to your Project Server 2010 installations in your farm in order to use SQL Server 2012 to host your farm databases.

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