Wiley Microsoft Office Project 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies
Contents
1. you re loading a lot of software to use Project Server But because Project Server 2007 depends on Windows SharePoint Services 3 0 you have some choices about how you configure the hardware on which you will load the software and your choices will affect the performance of Project Server You can use a single server or a server farm If you use a single server you load all the software that Project Server needs to run onto that one server But if you choose to use a server farm you can place various components and services on several networked computers to balance the load The server farm has a few advantages Using a server farm improves your ability to easily expand to meet growing needs while simultane ously limiting the impact created when a single component or service fails You can set up Project Server 2007 in a small farm a medium farm or a large farm There are many ways that you can set up each server farm size and Microsoft makes some recommendations about the various server farm con figurations In each of these configurations Microsoft classifies the servers Book X Chapter 1 13M 3 99lO1g fuipuejsiapupn 646 Planning the Implementation of Project Server in the farm as Web front end servers application servers and SQL servers and recommends placing different components of Project Server on the dif ferent classifications of servers Typically here s how things work You place Windows SharePoint Service2. 645 Microsoft recommends that you install Project Server on a computer with a minimum Pentium III processor that runs at 700 MHz and has 1GB of RAM a DVD ROM drive a Super VGA 800 x 600 or higher resolution monitor and a Microsoft Mouse compatible pointing device To install Project Server you need 200MB of available hard drive space To install WSS you need another 70MB of hard drive space and a minimum of 256MB of RAM but 512MB of RAM is recommended To install SQL Server 2000 you need 250MB of hard drive space and 128MB of RAM If you also intend to install SQL Analysis Services you need another 130MB of hard drive space and another 128MB of RAM You might want to plan to upgrade your network infrastructure The amount of traffic that you can expect on your network is directly related to the total number of users the number of concurrent users updating the Project Server databases and the number and size of projects that you store in the Project Server database Using older network architecture 10Base T ina heavily trafficked environment will undoubtedly result in complaints that the system is slow Considering software and hardware configurations The overall performance of Project Server is affected by the features of Project Server that you want to use the total number of users and concur rent users and the number of projects that you want to store in the Project Server databases As you read earlier in this chapter
3. Chapter 1 Understanding Project Server In This Chapter Discovering Project Server v Determining whether you need Project Server y Planning the implementation of Project Server B ecause you re reading this book we can safely assume that the prod ucts or services your organization provides are best accomplished in a project environment We can also safely assume that you have a limited staff available to complete all your projects In an organization where most of the work happens in a project environment using the same resources the organ ization needs to manage the management of projects to maximize productiv ity and profit Enter Project Server Project Server answers the needs of an enterprise to manage multiple projects that draw their resources from a common resource pool This chapter describes the basics of how Project Server functions and how to approach using Project Server What s Project Server Project Server provides your organization with one central database located on a Web server or in a server farm on your company s local area network LAN or intranet in which you store all projects and all resources for your organization Using Project Server you can 4 View a project s Gantt chart Enter and view timesheet information Update assignments with progress and completion information Send status reports to the project manager Receive notices about task status Receive refuse and de
4. ator in more detail Do Vou Need Project Server You might have been managing multiple projects for a long time now and you might have been managing them effectively too So the question might arise Do I really need Project Server To determine whether Project Server can help you ask yourself the follow ing questions Has your organization identified a need to track projects more accu rately or use resources more efficiently Does your organization manage many different projects using the same resources Has your organization determined that the time of project managers and resources would be used more efficiently if resources could record their time directly in the project schedule instead of providing it to the proj ect manager who then updates the schedule Do your users need access to project data anywhere in the world If you answered yes to any of these questions Project Server can help you The more yes answers you gave the more likely it us that your organiza tion can benefit from using Project Server Planning the Implementation of Project Server To successfully implement Project Server you need to plan for the needs of your organization You need to assess where your organization is today and where it plans to go You need to identify the players their needs and their roles in the process You need to figure out what needs to be done who has the skills and availability to do it when it
5. e can t stress strongly enough how important training is Suffice it to say that without proper training for those who will use Project Server implemen tation will fail Developing an implementation strategy Because the scope of implementing enterprise project management affects your entire organization doing it all at once is very risky Using a phased approach reduces the risk considerably and increases your chances for success Start by creating a prototype of the system Identify a few projects and proj ect teams to participate in the prototype test making sure that you select users who represent all the various roles that the team identified so that you can fully test the system Also select projects that don t depend on other projects that won t be a part of the prototype Design and develop the proto type system and demonstrate it to the project teams that will use it Make modifications to the prototype design based on input from these project teams and demonstrate the prototype to senior management once again making changes as needed Then develop training materials and begin a pilot phase Reset the Project Server database and load the pilot projects that include users who represent all the various roles that the team identified During this pilot phase you should include at least one project that has external dependencies to another project to test that aspect of using Project Server and then you can make adjustm
6. ents as needed Train the pilot group and allow the group members to use Project Server for at least four reporting cycles Solicit feedback and address all the issues that arise Book X Chapter 1 13M 3 99lO1g fuipuejsiapupn 644 Planning the Implementation of Project Server When you re satisfied that you ve ironed out any kinks identified during the prototype and pilot phases expand the user base of the system again adding projects to the Project Server database and train the new group that is to begin using the system Allow each new group of users to work through at least three reporting cycles before you add more projects and users Reviewing software needs As you d expect Microsoft has established certain basic software and hard ware requirements needed to support Project Server On the software side you need to meet requirements for both client machines and server machines Client machines used by the project manager need Project Professional and Internet Explorer 6 0 or higher The client machines of other resources need only Internet Explorer 6 0 or higher And if you intend to exchange task information with Outlook client machines also need Outlook 2007 Servers that will host Project Server need at a minimum Windows Server 2003 Standard or Enterprise Edition 32 bit or 64 bit with Service Pack 1 or later You need to enable Microsoft Internet Information Server IIS 6 0 or above and for the Project Serv
7. er database engine you need SQL Server 2000 with Service Pack 3 or higher or SQL Server 2005 If you want to use the port folio modeling features that are available in Project Web Access you need SQL Server Analysis Services and SQL Server Reporting Services which are included with SQL Server but must be installed separately In addition Project Server depends on the Windows SharePoint Services 3 0 WSS plat form which comes on the Project Server 2007 CD and installs automatically when you install Project Server To use e mail notifications both the server and client machines need Internet SMTP POP3 IMAP4 or MAPI compliant messaging software Reviewing hardware needs Microsoft recommends that each client machine have at a minimum a 300 MHz processor have 192MB of RAM and use Windows XP Professional as the operating system The minimum processor on a client machine is a Pentium 133 MHz Each client machine should have a Super VGA 800 x 600 or higher resolution monitor with 256 colors and a Microsoft Mouse compatible pointing device Typically you install Project Server on your company s server or in a server farm If you re planning to use the bare minimum hardware you should load only Project Server on that computer Other components such as SQL Server should run on separate computers to help you balance the load You can read more about load balancing in the next section Planning the Implementation of Project Server
8. erequisite Executives People who view reports on projects and resources Portfolio managers People who are familiar with company standards and can manage the Enterprise global template Project managers People who prepare project plans and monitor proj ect progress Resource managers People who delegate work to team members and monitor project progress and resource utilization Team members People to whom work is assigned To effectively interview the team should create a questionnaire that focuses on obtaining information about how people work To gather information for your questionnaire evaluate the reports that your company currently uses to record project performance Analyze these reports to identify the resources and projects that are or should be included on the report Evaluate how tasks projects and resources are categorized on the reports and note who uses each report When you conduct interviews make sure that you include more than one person in each role because two people filling the same role do things differ ently and potentially have different needs Implementing Project Server will require software and role based training for resources and it might also require investments in hardware Because of the investment required to implement Project Server you should calculate your return on investment to assess the costs and benefits of implementing Project Server Designing the system Using the inf
9. lable in your entire organization it s aptly named the Global Resource Pool in Project Server You then publish that s upload in Project Server lingo the resource pool and all the organization s projects to the Project Server database To work with the information in the Project Server database you can use Project Professional or Project Web Access an Internet Explorer browser based client side interface that installs when you install Project Server Figure 1 1 shows you a typical home page in Project Web Access The way in which you use the Project Server database depends on your role in your organization because different people have different needs for proj ect information For example project team members can use Project Web Access to see the assignments that they ve received enter time spent on various project tasks update work assignments send status reports to the project manager and even set up to do lists Chapter 4 of this minibook describes how a team member might use the Project Server database Project Server can exchange information with Outlook Resources can import tasks from Project Server and export work information from Outlook to Project Server Figure 1 1 Atypical Project Web Access home page What Is Project Server 639 Home Project Web Access Microsoft Internet Explorer File Edit View Favorites Tools Help F Search Favertes te L ra s2007 cemaS 1O PWADEMD defaut
10. legate work assignments 638 What Is Project Server P Manage resource allocation across your organization Carry out basic issue and risk management Attach supporting documentation such as budget estimates or feasibil ity studies to a task or project Although Project Server works in conjunction with Project Professional only project managers need to install Project Professional the project manager uses Project Professional to create projects using the techniques we ve described throughout this book In the Project Server environment your organization can create projects that use identical custom settings to help you manage projects in a consistent manner because Project Server uses the Enterprise Global template the same way that Project uses the Global mpt template file The Enterprise Global template contains all the fields maps views tables reports filters forms groups and calendars that are stored in the Global mpt template file that s included in Project Professional along with additional enterprise only fields You can define whether fields are required and you can create look up tables and value lists for fields In addition to setting up the Enterprise Global template use Project Professional to create a resource pool that contains all the resources avail able in your entire organization using the same techniques described in Book III Chapter 4 Because the resource pool contains all the resources avai
11. managers avoid overallocating resources and also contains a matching feature you can use to match the skills you need for a task to a person in the resource pool with those skills Chapter 3 of this minibook describes how a project man ager might use the Project Server database Clearly security becomes a serious issue when you decide to place all the information about your organization s work into a central repository Not only do you need to secure the LAN or intranet from the outside world but you also need to secure the various projects within the Project Server data base because everybody doesn t need to see everything In fact two team members working on the same project might need access to different infor mation Along with other jobs the Project Server administrator sets up the Project Server database security The Project Server administrator doesn t typically decide that John gets to see financial data and Mary doesn t instead the Project Server administrator works with others within the organization to develop security profiles that describe the varying levels of security needed in your organization And the Project Server administrator Book X Chapter 1 J8M9S 99lO1g fuipuejsiapupn 640 Do Vou Need Project Server sets up new users in the Project Server database with the privileges that organization management deems appropriate The next chapter of this mini book describes the role of the Project Server administr
12. mate Project Server functions you should include a technical person with skills in developing object models for Project Everyone on the team should be familiar with your company s standards The team needs to set milestone dates and task durations for each of the fol lowing activities Identify the people who will approve the Project Server design Identify staff members to interview Create a requirements definition questionnaire Conduct interviews Calculate return on investment As with any project it s important to identify the decision makers as soon as you start If possible include one or more of them on the team so that they are a part of the process and they feel ownership for the system that you ultimately design For interviews identify staff members who fill the following roles Administrators People who manage changes and access to the Project Server database The people who start the administrator job might ulti mately phase out of the job because the job functions change over time Initially the administrator installs and sets up Project Professional Project Server and SQL Server and may use both Project Server and SQL Book X Chapter 1 J8N9S 901g fuipuejsiapup 642 Planning the Implementation of Project Server Server tools to meet the needs of users Eventually the administrator role migrates to a maintenance function where knowledge of Project Server administrative functions is the only pr
13. needs to be done and what else depends on it getting done To summarize implementing Project Server is a project You should treat it as such identifying the tasks that you need to accomplish estimating the work needed to accomplish them identifying task dependencies and assign ing resources to the tasks Planning the Implementation of Project Server 64 1 To successfully implement Project Server you should treat the project the same way you would treat an information technology project You should assess requirements design the system and develop an implementation strategy Defining requirements When you assess requirements for an information technology project you focus on determining your organization s direction and needs the Project Server design ultimately depends on the information that you gather On the team you set up to implement the system you need people who are good at gathering information making design decisions and managing imple mentation You ll find it helpful to include people who are experienced in using enterprise project management systems You need a mix of business people and technical people to address the various facets of implementing Project Server The business people should include senior project managers and staff with experience using Project The technical people should include those who are experienced in your company s network architecture and hardware configuration To customize or auto
14. ormation that you gathered while defining requirements you should be able to identify the features in Project Server that you want to implement In addition the implementation team must also address issues that aren t directly related to the design of the Project Server database For example the team should Evaluate the technology environment Address special needs Establish and or enforce organizational standards Plan for training Planning the Implementation of Project Server 643 The team must evaluate the organization s technology environment because Project Server requires certain software and the hardware that you use affects the performance of Project Server The requirements definition might highlight some special needs For exam ple your organization might want to use Windows SharePoint Services which comes with Project Server to build and maintain document libraries for projects and deal with issues in a collaborative way The team should customize the Enterprise Global template to reflect the standards of your organization so that everyone uses the same terminology and applies the same processes and procedures to their projects In the Enterprise Global template you can create custom fields outline codes views and calendars The team can also set up the Enterprise Resource Pool so that your organization can share resources between projects and identify conflicts between assignments in different projects W
15. s and Project Web Access on Web front end servers You put applications such as the Project Server Interface Project Server business objects and Project Server reporting and queuing services on application servers You place Project Server SQL databases SQL Analysis Services and SQL Reporting Services on SQL servers In a small server farm you load everything on two servers You designate one computer as the SQL Server placing SQL 2000 or SQL 2005 and SQL Analysis Services and SQL Reporting Services on that computer Then use the other computer as both a Web front end server and an application server where you install Project Server and Windows SharePoint Services This configuration separates database processing from other processing and typically improves performance In a medium server farm you use three tiers of servers installing each Project Server component in a separate Web front end application and database server tier This approach works well when you need to accommo date more users because you can add more Web front end servers applica tion servers and if necessary database servers In the large server farm configuration you use three tiers and install each component in a separate tier like you do in the medium server farm In the large server farm configuration you might also be using other services available through SharePoint Server 2007 such as Search Index or Excel Calculation Services In this case
16. sapu z EJ Go Links p i Fack v Address E np PEs Onan Nelcoms SystemAcon gt A Da oa ite E O Office Project Web Access his Site E 2 tome ual Reminders My Tasks My Timesheets Tasks A You have no new tasks assigned to you Timesheets DB You are the tmesheet manager for resources wath I unsubmicted tmesheets in periods ending prior to 4 23 2007 You have 30 unsubmtbsd tines mets Approvals 2 You have no task updates from resouross pending your approval from resources pending your angen You have no timeshy 2 You have no admrstranve tme cff requests Fem resources pending your approval Reporting Status Reports Data Anebss You have no overdue status reports Approvals Issues and Risks w Task Updates GP You have no ective risks assigned to you Tinasheet FA You have no active issuss assigned to you Qdmiristrative Time Personal Settings Project Workspaces Server Settings GoTo 1 View Date Created Owner 200 sborn Stu Documents Actions T Shared Document 25 2005 Lie Ala stam Barkar Rob 37 Implementation J owa Todd Done al Trusted sites Project managers can receive updates to tasks and status reports from team members Project managers also can use the Global Resource Pool when assigning resources while setting up new projects or tasks within an existing project The Global Resource Pool helps project and resource
17. you set up each of these services on its own server
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