Visit EPM Live’s KnowledgeBase for more Blogs and Information regarding EPM Live

Visit EPM Live’s KnowledgeBase for the latest Blogs, Documents, Videos, and much more.

http://kb.epmlive.com

SharePoint Project Management

Combine the power of Microsoft Office Project Server with EPM Live

Combine the power of Microsoft Project Server with EPM Live to benefit from a comprehensive SharePoint Project and Workforce management solution.

EPM Live combines the strengths of Microsoft Project Server and SharePoint to provide a powerful solution for effectively managing project, operational, development and all other types of work in your organization.

Leverage Microsoft Project Server’s Database Back-End

By integrating EPM Live with Project Server, EPM Live has the capability to leverage Project Server’s robust database back-end that seamless supports task interdependencies between project schedules, skills based resource matching, dynamic OLAP Reporting and detail resource calendars.

Integrated Master Schedules

• Seamless apply task interdependencies between project schedules
• Create Master Schedules “on the fly” from Project Web Access

OLAP Reporting of Microsoft Project data

• Complete reporting data warehouse that is updated in real time with report-friendly schema.
•  Use a full set of OLAP cubes for what-if analytics and reports, including tasks, resources, projects, timesheets, issues, and risks.

Resource Calendars

• Perform detail resource planning with enterprise resource calendars

Resource Skill Matching

• Perform Skills based Matching when assigning resources to tasks
• Enterprise Microsoft Project Global Settings
• Enforce governance of Enterprise Global settings such as enterprise calendars, views, fields, etc.

Resource Plans

• Build resource plans at the Project level for visibility into overall capacity vs. demand

Publish Microsoft Project Server Data to SharePoint Content DB

EPM Live provides true Project Server and SharePoint integration by enabling Project Managers to publish Microsoft Project Server project and assignment date into SharePoint for complete work consolidation. This provides executive level visibility across multiple sites through enterprise level dashboards, extending the reach of Project Server to provide a complete solution for your entire organization.

Flexible Site Configuration: Project Managers can select different SharePoint Workspace templates before publishing

Leverage EPM Live’s Microsoft Project Server integration that allows Project Managers to apply varying project workspace templates based on the types and methodology of the particular project. Each project will apply different meta-data based on these project workspace templates.

Easily Manage All Work from Single Location

By integrating with EPM Live, Team Members can manage all their work (Project Tasks, Issues, Risks, Actions, Bugs, etc.) from one location within Project Server.

Perform “What-if” Analysis of Resource Workload Across All Work

Resource Managers can now not only view Resource Assignments workload and availability from Project Server, they can view in combination of all work (Project Tasks, Issues, Risks, Actions, Bugs, etc.). EPM Live also supports Resource Managers performing “What-if” scenarios on Project Server Resource Assignments, save them for review and make commitments for approval is allowed.

Pre-built SharePoint Project Workspace Templates with Best Practices

EPM Live provides prebuilt project workspace templates to help get project teams up and running quickly: PMI (PMBOK), Agile (SCRUM), MSF, IT Management, Professional Services, Product Development, Project Management Office, Facilities Management, Construction, and more.

• Pre-built Project Server templates / configuration
• Pre-built SQL Reporting Services Reports

Project Manager Today UK Magazine Article – by Sean King

Sean King is an EPM Live partner in the UK and has been helping UK companies successfully leverage the full capabilities of EPM Live. This was an article published recently in the Project Manager Today UK magazine. Excellent job Sean! Here’s to many more wins and successes!

Sean King, of eNable Consultancy Ltd., is a freelance consultant project manager/business analyst with clients in the UK spanning manufacturing, recruitment, business outsourcing, software development and IT services. Sean is often asked by clients to find and implement solutions to meet specific needs.

In the case of an EPM solution, his clients wanted a quick-to-deploy project management solution with enterprise capabilities to manage their high profile projects as well as the many projects that traversed the business which could easily be out of sight or operating in silos.

After carefully analysing many mainstream EPM solutions, EPM Live’s system seemed to be the only one that fitted the requirements of the selection process perfectly. The speed at which the solution could be deployed was a key aspect to its success with clients and it seemed to be one of the few that truly adhered to the ethos behind the SaaS Model.

Sean has successfully used EPM Live to improve the efficiencies and effectiveness of project teams that need to collaborate toward a common goal. EPM Live has allowed project managers to spend more of their time and effort using their skills and expertise rather than their leg work on the administration of a project, often the project’s biggest headache.

The beauty of EPM Live over and above the benefits of MS Project and the SharePoint application separately, says Sean, is that it’s enhanced the functionality to further improve both products capabilities.

Some clients have kept the out-of-the-box solution with few modifications to the core functionality, templates and Web Parts. Others have exploited the additional customised Web Parts, templates and functionality that EPM Live has provided and have even taken them several steps further. These include resource capacity planning templates aligned to the Agile methodology as well as custom lists for slicing and dicing data from within the project schedule by resource, due date and project.

Other examples of where has leveraged and enhanced functionality includes the daily notifications that are pushed out to the project team members’ email address, making them aware of any tasks, issues, risks or status reports that they’re assigned too. Team members, from within their own email client, can clearly see what overdue tasks, actions, issues and risks they have and click on any of them to be taken straight into the item within the Project Workspace in order to update its status. In addition, the daily notifications can be customized to include any other data that the Project Manager wants to add and distribute to the Project Team.

EPM Live’s Executive Dashboards have also been particularly useful as they allow project managers, executives and stakeholders to quickly see the status of a range of projects within a programme as well as providing intuitive ‘slice and dice’ data manipulation.

As far as limitations or suggestions for enhancement are concerned, Sean thinks that the limitations are not so much with the EPM Live solution as such but with the need to use MS Office 2007 in order to take advantage of the extended capabilities that one gets when using in conjunction with Excel, Visio or Word. However, EPM Live overcomes many of these limitations with functionality contained within the solution, mitigating any immediate need for using Office 2007 by the average user.

Sean’s advice to any organisation considering an EPM solution is to focus firstly on their internal processes. Often the solution gets blamed for failure when in fact the company’s processes failed the solution. Eighty percent of a successful EPM adoption, he says, is in examining, refining and re-engineering the working practices and processes of the people involved in project teams, then the EPM solution adds the icing to the cake.

Overall, he has and does recommend EPM Live’s solution which to date has been adopted with great success as well as surprise at how easy it is to deploy and use within a short time frame.

Source: Project Manager Today UK magazine – Sean King

Release Notes

The following are the release notes for Project Publisher Build: 2.0.3209.26378 that was released on 10/14/08 at approximately 6:00pm PST.

– Bug Fix

Release Notes

The following are the release notes for Project Publisher Build: 1.0.3019.29370 that was released on 4/28/08 at approximately 2:30pm PST.

– Project Publisher bug fixed where, when using Vista, Microsoft Project 2007 crashes when Microsoft Project 2007 is closed.  This bug only affects Vista users.  This bug does not affect the use of the product and only throws an error when the program closed.

Modifying the Quick Launch Menu in your Workspace

With EPM Live you have the ability to modify the headings and links in your quick launch menu.  The quick launch menu is located on the left hand side of your site.  To modify the quick launch follow these instructions.

1.  Click “Site Actions” and then choose the “Site Settings” option.

2.  Click the “Quick Launch” link in the “Look and Feel” section.

3.  On this page you have the ability to add, edit, and delete links and headers as well as change the order of the links and headers.

Note:  Headers are the bolded titles and links are the indented titles underneath the headers.  To delete a link or header click the icon of the one you want to delete then click “Delete” on the page that follows.  You also have the ability to edit headers and links from this page.

Customize your Workspaces by Adding Web Parts to your Pages

1.  From the page that you want to add new web parts to click “Site Actions” button and then the “Edit Page” option.

2.  Click “Add a Web Part” in the section that you want to add your web part to. (For this example we are using the homepage)

3.  Check the boxes next to the web parts that you want to add to your site and click the “Add” button.

4.  Click the “Exit Edit Mode” link in the top right corner of the page.

5.  You should now see your new web part(s) that have been added to the page.

Note:  You also have the ability to move web parts in the edit mode from within zones and across zones by dragging the web part to the desired position in the list on the page.

Creating New Fields in Project Center and other List

With EPM Live you have the ability to modify and customize your SharePoint lists.  You can add custom columns that allow you to have custom data for grouping and KPI (Key Performance Indicator) information. 

1.  Navigate to the list you want to add a custom column in  (For Example: Project Center list). 

2.  Click the “Settings” button and choose the “List Settings” option. 

3.  In the Columns section, click “Create Column”.  Select the column type and In the “Additional Column Settings” section you can choose to make this column have required information, max characters allowed, add a calculated value, and choose whether or not you want the column added to the default view or not.

4.  Click the “OK” button when finished.  You should now see your custom column in your list.

Effective Project Management Requires Teamwork and Collaboration

Projects are happening at every level and in every department of the modern organization.  Companies invest heavily in the successful completion of these projects, yet even with the support they need, many of these projects are unsuccessful in fulfilling their defined goals. A study done by The Standish Group reports that 51% of all projects come in over budget or run past the original deadlines.

 

Strategic planners and project managers develop plans that have a strong likelihood of success, gather the right people to implement that plan, and then guide that work toward project completion.  But as every project manager knows, having the best plan and the highest performers onboard isn’t nearly enough. Ineffective communication and lack of team collaboration will cause even the best plan to fail. Emails and Spreadsheets are important, but insufficient tools to ensure project success across the organization.  Project managers need tools that parallel a more effective Enterprise Project Management (EPM) methodology and enable them to manage their projects within a the dynamic cycle of planning, communicating, tracking, and analyzing projects toward a defined goal.

 

EPM Live Workgroup solutions respond to this need for collaboration and communication tools by offering a lightweight version of Enterprise Project Management functionality to the workgroup level of the company.  The EPM Live Workgroup solutions are a lightweight version of project planning and collaborative tools that have been tried and tested in enterprise level workplaces. This brings high level coordination technology options down into the day-to-day work level of the office workspace.  These tools transform the world’s leading project planning software, Microsoft® Office Project 2007, into a living, working, and interactive landscape.

 

The EPM Live Workgroup solution works in a three step dynamic methodology:

 

1. Planning. Develop successful project plans with Microsoft® Office Project 2007. This industry preferred tool brings the right blend of usability, power, and flexibility to create a roadmap to success. Create schedules, tasks, project timelines, and milestones that help teams work together toward important goals. Use industry specific project templates that help jumpstart the project management process.

 

1. Communication. Collaborate with new or existing plans using the Project Publisher add-on for Microsoft® Office Project 2007 and any Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site or users who don’t own SharePoint can select an online hosted version.  Share responsibilities using the flexible Task or Assignment based publishing. Individual contributors can update and share key information in a collaborative work environment.

 

1. Tracking and Analyzing. Project managers use reporting tools to guide the project toward a successful outcome from the centralized Workgroup dashboard. Track project-specific information with reports that allow quick access to needed information. Identify risks and issues, formulate course corrections, and instantly communicate project adjustments to the entire team.

 

This cycle repeats until the project is successful!

 

EPM Live Workgroup completes this winning cycle linking proven desktop technology to online collaboration functionality.  This “EPM Workgroup” solution empowers individual contributors to take greater responsibility for their roles in the project and enables the project manager and planner to guide the entire team in more collaborative ways than have been possible before. The tools allow the project manager to loop in valuable but hesitant performers, better leverage the strengths of top performers, and improve the workflow of all involved.  By standardizing project information flows, everyone on the team can update the status of their individual contributions, understand key issues and risks, and maintain up to date ownership of their responsibilities so that the project stays on course. 

 

Leveraging the EPM Live Workgroup solution will help Project Managers plan effectively, communicate the plan with the team, and track and analyze success.  Using this iterative process and the collaborative tools that go with it allows the plan to be adjusted to keep the projects on track to completion.

 

The EPM Live Workgroup solution is available with two affordable deployment options:

 

• EPM Live Workgroup SaaS or Software + Service. Organizations looking to combine the power of online services with the richness of their everyday Microsoft® Office Project 2007 application can leverage the EPM Live Workgroup service.  Visit www.epmlive.com for more information and a 30 day free trial

 

• EPM Live Workgroup On-premise. Organizations already using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft® Office Project 2007 can leverage the power of collaboration with the Project Publisher add-on. A quick and easy installation adds a publishing menu to Microsoft Office Project’s menu bar creating a simple one-click step to synchronize .mpp files with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 sites.

 

Visit http://www.epmlive.com for more information and a 30 day free trial

 

 

 

How to Create a Site Template

With EPM Live you have the ability to create your own site templates.  This allows you to use the templates you created as templates for future sites.  You must be a site Administrator in order to complete the following steps.

1.  Create and edit the site that you want to become your new template.

2.  Click the “Site Actions” button and chose the “Site Settings” option. 

3.  Click “Save site as template” in the “Look and Feel” section.

4.  Enter in the file name (Calendar View for demo purposes) and template name.  The template description is optional.  Check the “Include Content” box if you wish to include any content that you have added to the site.  Click “OK” 

Note:  Templates are saved into the top level site template gallery.  Once a site is saved as a template it will show up in the list of templates to choose from the next time you create a site.  See the “Create a Project Workspace” in the Site Collection Administrator section of the help for information on how to create a site.