After planning your Project Server implementation you realize you have many resources or users you need to add. This can be a tedious nightmare if you need to do it one by one in Server Settings. Fortunately there is an easier less painful way to get that list of resources in to the Project environment. If you have a list of resources in a spreadsheet for instance, you can easily import them all at once. This method does have a few manual steps but will save you some time. You can also add Active Directory users using this method which I will show you as well. You must have the Microsoft Project Client installed to perform these steps.

1. First, login to PWA as a user with Administrator permissions.
2. On the Quick Launch Bar, click on the Resource Center link.
3. Click the Open button in the ribbon. This will open the Resource Center table in Microsoft Project Client.

   

4. A project window opens with a series of columns. You can hide and add columns to match the spreadsheet with your resource list. The screen shot below shows the default view that opens in the Project client.

   

5. If the resources you are adding are not users that will login to the system, you can simply paste the list of names from your spread sheet under the Resource Name column in Project. In my example I have a few Resources that will also login to the system. Screen shot A below shows my spreadsheet and column B shows the Project after I hid all the columns I did not need and added the ones I did. Make sure the order of the columns in the spreadsheet and Project match.

    

   A

   

   B

   

   To hide a column in Excel, click on the column header, right click and choose Hide Column. To add a column, click on the Add New Column column and choose the field you want to add.
   

6. Now copy the fields from your spreadsheet (omitting the column headers) and paste in to your Project view. The screenshot below shows my project after pasting.

   

7. Now Save your project and check in.
8. Open PWA and go to the Resource Center. You will now see your new Resources added. The users who have logins will show up in the Manage Users section in Server Settings as well.

   

9. To define a Timesheet Manager, Assignment Owner, RBS etc.. you will need to use the Bulk Edit tool. Select your new users, click the Bulk Edit button in the ribbon to open the Bulk Edit tool.

   

10. Add values to the available fields to update your selected users then click the Save button to complete.

    

11. Lastly, your users with logons will need to have their security set. The easiest way is to add them to security groups but you can also set their security individually. To add your users to groups click on Server Settings in the Quick Launch Bar, then click on the Manage Groups link under the Security section. Select a group you want to add your users to.
12. On the Add or Edit Group page under the Users section, add your new users to the group. Under the Categories sections set the categories for the group if needed. Also set any Security settings if needed. Click the Save button to complete.

    

13. You just saved yourself a week of manual work! Enjoy

Connect your Connections account to the Outlook Social Connector and stay up to the minute with the people in your network by accessing everything from e-mail threads to status updates in one single, centralized view.

For Office 2003 or 2007 Download and install OSC: Office 2003/2007 OSC 1.1
For Office 2010 download and install the OSC update at: Office 2010 x86 OSC 1.1 or Office 2010 x64 OSC 1.1

Download and install the Lotus Connections OSC plugin at: Lotus Connections OSC Plugin

Office 2010

Once you have installed OSC and the Lotus Connections OSC plugin, close all MS Office applications, and re-open your outlook. When you re-open your outlook, click on the Connections Tab > Preferences

User name: Enter your Lotus Connections username
Password: Enter your Lotus Connections password

You will only need to enter your URL once. https://YOURDOMAIN.com/activities, The rest of the URL’s will fill in automatically when you click “Test Connection”

Then click on View > People Pane > Account Settings

To complete the configuration of the OSC, we need to connect Outlook to Connections

Then select IBM Connections and click Connect and then click Finish

To open your People Pane, click on View > People Pane > Normal

Congratulations! Now you will see your Connections contacts in you people pane! (located at the bottom of your preview pane)

Office 2007

Once you have installed OSC and the Lotus Connections OSC plugin, close all MS Office applications, and re-open your outlook. When you re-open your outlook, you will receive a prompt to enter your user and server information:

User name: Enter your Lotus Connections username
Password: Enter your Lotus Connections password

You will only need to enter your URL once. https://YOURDOMAIN.com/activities, The rest of the URL’s will fill in automatically when you click “Test Connection”

To complete the configuration of the OSC, we need to connect Outlook to Connections

Then select IBM Connections and click Connect and then click Finish

Congratulations! Now you will see your Connections contacts in you people pane! (located at the bottom of your preview pane)

In the rare chance that you have accidently deleted or lost your Central Administration database in MOSS or Windows SharePoint Services environment. Do not sweat too much. You are in luck. Just follow the below steps and you will be good as new.

Solution

Central Administration database is actually really easy to recover. The trick is, if you have another Central Administration database that exists in the same domain, you need only to backup the database from one farm and restore it to the other. If you do not have a database you can copy from. You may need to make a new test farm on a new server and so you can copy from there.

Once you have another Central Admin to copy from. Follow the below steps

1. Add a new content empty database to your existing central administration website.
   

(Note: Use the correct URL and port number that matches the CA you are trying to restore)

stsadm -o addcontentdb -url http://centraladmin:1234 -databasename SharePoint_Admin_Content

1. Get a copy of another central admin database by backing up the Central Administration Site from another Server with the command below.
   

stsadm -o backup -url http://farmtobackup:6789 -filename c:\centraladmin.bak

1. Restore the centraladmin.bak backup to the broken farm.
   

stsadm -o restore -url http://centraladmin:1234 -filename c:\centraladmin.bak

Enjoy your resurrected Central Administration site once again.

1. Open Project Client
2. Navigate to Tools > Enterprise Options > Microsoft Office Project Server Accounts

1. Click Add
2. Add the Site information exactly as you see below

1. Choose Manually control connection state and click OK

1. Close Project Client and reopen
2. Choose the site you want to connect to from the drop down list
3. Check Enter User Credentials and enter in your username and password.

You are now connected to Project Server 2010 in Backwards Compa

1. Go to your site in Internet Explorer (BCM is just an example site)
2. Selection from the top menu bar Tools > Internet Options

1. Select the Security Tab > Trusted sites(1) >Sites(2)

1. Click Add

1. Your site is now added

1. Click Close
2. Set the level to Medium-Low

Note: Only if you experience multiple login prompts click Custom Level > Scroll all the way to the bottom > Select. Otherwise the below step is unnecessary.

Finished

Creating Windows Services on Windows Server 2008 R2 for WAS

1. Open up the command prompt as administrator and start in your WAS App Server root (I.E. C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\bin>)

    

   

    

2. We are going to start with creating the service for the Node Agent (Be sure you modify the path information as necessary based on your install, and of course as any command line, it all needs to be on one line)

   wasservice -add NodeAgent -servername nodeagent -profilePath “C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01″ -wasHome “C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer” -logFile “C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01\logs\nodeagent\startNode.log” -logRoot “C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\AppSrv01\logs\nodeagent” -restart true -startType automatic
   

    

   

    

3. Now we are going to create the service that will start the application server (Be sure you modify the path information and serverName as necessary based on your install)

   wasservice -add AppServer -servername XXXXX_server1 -profilePath “C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01″ -wasHome “C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer” -logFile “C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01\logs\XXXXX_server1\startServer.log” -logRoot “C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\AppSrv01\logs\XXXXX_server1” -restart true -startType automatic
   

    

   

    

4. You should now see the new Services in windows

    

   

    

5. Now we will need to add Dependencies to the services, we don’t want the Application Server to run if the NodeAgent isn’t running, and we don’t want the NodeAgent to run if the Deployment Manager (CellManager) isn’t running. Open up Regedit and navigate to your NodeAgent service and create a new Multi-String Value:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\IBMWAS70Service – NodeAgent
   

    

   

    

6. The name of the new value should be: DependOnService > Then enter the name of the Service that starts your CellManager

    

   

    

7. Now repeat this process for the AppServer Service only this time setting the AppServer to be Dependent on the NodeAgent:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\IBMWAS70Service – AppServer
   

    

   

    

8. Once completed, you will need to restart the server for the new registry to be implemented and after you start your server, you should see the services started. And if you look in the CellManager service, you should see the dependencies

    

   

    

Phase 2 now offers the ability for clients to archive their hosted data off-site in secure underground facilities.  This is an additional service on top of regular hosting costs which can be configured to automatically update the archive monthly, daily, or hourly with retention policies ranging from one day to 9 years.  Clients can have direct access to the data 24×7.

The archiving service can be configured for any Phase 2 service; prices begin at $150.00/month.  Please contact sales@phase2.com if you are interested.

Below are Project Server 2010 permissions, explained. A users access is highly dependent on the correct permission granted and in some cases limit normal site functionality if set incorrectly.

Security Groups

Administrators: People who are responsible for managing the configuration and daily maintenance activities within the Project Server application. These folks typically have the ability to edit all projects and resources stored in the system, and use PWA and Project Pro on a regular basis to manage the system.

Executives: People who need high-level visibility into the status of work being performed in the organization. These folks typically have the ability to view all projects and resources stored in the system, and use PWA on a regular basis.

Portfolio Managers: People who are responsible for managing one or more work portfolios (collections of related projects, proposals, and activity plans) within the organization. These folks typically have the ability view all of the work within their portfolio using PWA, and sometimes they also have the ability to edit schedules using Project Pro.

Project Managers: These are users who are responsible for managing one or more projects within the organization. These folks typically have the ability to edit their own project schedules using Project Pro, and they sometimes have the ability to view other projects and resources using PWA.

Proposal Reviewers: People who are responsible for reviewing and approving project proposals within the organization. These folks typically have the ability to view some or all projects using PWA, and they will need the ability to update the ‘State’ field to indicate that a new project proposal has been approved or rejected.

Resource Managers: People who are responsible for managing a group of resources (typically people) within an organization. These folks typically use PWA to view and analyze the resources who report to them and their assigned work, as well as the projects in which they are participating. Occasionally Resource Managers will also manage departmental projects or support / maintenance / operations work schedules, in which case they will have permissions similar to those granted to Project Managers as well.

Team Leads: People who participate in projects and act as leaders of one or more teams of resources. These folks typically have the same permissions as Team Members, with a few elevated permissions, perhaps allowing them to view all of their team’s work or to delegate tasks to individuals on their teams.

Team Members: People who participate in projects and perform the ‘real work’ on those projects. These folks typically can use PWA to view the status of their own projects and to submit updates for their task assignments on those projects.

Custom Security Groups: Security groups with the permissions you define can be created as you need them. By listing the permissions you would like for the new group from the list below, you will be able to create a new security group.

All Permissions that can be granted or denied

This is a list of all permissions that can be granted or denied in project server. The security groups are usually adequate in assigning permissions, but in the case where a security group may not match, you can specify any permission you wish below.

Admin

One of the common questions we get from perspective customers of our hosted TFS 2010 concerns automated builds. All Phase 2 customers get automated build support by default when they subscribe. The new build features in TFS 2010 are worth taking a look at, as MSFT has made major upgrades to the product.

Here’s a good high level overview on TFS 2010 buids from MSFT’s Martin Woodward

The section below is via Jason Zander’s MSDN post from last year.

The first step is to navigate to the Team Explorer, right click on Build Definitions, and select New Build Definition:

This will give us a set of definitions to fill out, just like a code project property page:

The Trigger page allows us to decide when builds are kicked off.  You have many options to pick from:

• -By default this is manual which is the option we will use.  We will have to kick of our own builds with this option.
• -Continuous Integration is very helpful when you want to have a new build after every check-in.  This allows you to validate new changes right away rather than waiting later when many check-ins get mixed together.
• -Rolling builds give you a way to batch changes together which is very handy when builds are starting to take a while and you can’t afford to do every one.
• -Gated Check-ins allow you to ensure all check-ins build before they are committed to TFS.  This makes sure you never expose a build break to other members of your team.

To access the Phase 2 Spam Filter please visit: http://mailscanner.phase2.com/bmxplus/index.php?auth_domain=XYZ.com
(Replace the XXXX with your mail domain, in this example we used phase2.com)

Login Screen

Your username and password will look up your username and password from your mail server, no registration is required.

For your username, you only need your email name and the password you use to login to your email.
(For this example the user is support@phase2.com so the username is “support”)

Home Page

From the home you will see some general statistics about your email, and any emails that the spam filter may have quarantined:

From the home page, you can search for specific email address, or you can view email that has been quarantined in the last 30 days:

Once you have found the email you are looking for, you have four options:

1. This is NOT SPAM – This will not mark the sender as a safe sender, but it will release the message to you (This option is to release an email of an “un-trusted” sender)
2. Whitelist this sender – This will release the message to your email and also mark the sender as a safe sender and will no longer quarantine anything they send you. (Only use this option if you know you can trust the sender)
3. This is SPAM – This option will move the email into the Training Queue as “Confirmed Spam”
4. Blacklist this sender – This will prevent any future emails from that sender to from being sent to you (We recommend that you only blacklist a sender if you have received multiple messages from the same sender as most e-mail addresses that are used in spam are forged and not from who they appear to be.)

Viewing the content of an email

If you are unsure of the content in the email, you can view the email safely by clicking on the link in the subject column of the table, and from there you can view the contents of the email, and then select if you would like to take any action from the four actions mentioned above:

Lists

In the lists pages, you can manually configure your personal white and blacklists.

Whitelist
You can use this list to manually add email addresses of people that you trust that you want to make sure don’t get caught by the mailscanner. Try not to whitelist entire domains, especially, gmail, hotmail, yahoo, or ymail
(most spam comes from these domains)

Blacklist
You can use this list to manually add email addresses that you don’t want to be able to send to you. Try not to blacklist entire domains, especially, gmail, hotmail, yahoo, or ymail
(then you won’t receive any email from those domains)

Preferences

Username: This will by default be your email address
Password: If you are logging in with your email address, it is better to leave this default, that way it will always match your email account
Full Name: You can enter your full name here
E-Mail Address: Your primary email address
Spam Checks: If you uncheck this box, all email will bypass the scanner, only uncheck this box if you want to receive all spam
Spam Scores: This should be left at default, you can call your administrator if you have any questions about this
Quarantine Report: This is an excellent feature, if you check this box, you will receive periodic updates of all emails that have been quarantined. (see sample Quarantine Report below)

Alias: If you use multiple email addresses in the same domain, you can add them to this account so that they are the same policy. IE support@phase.com also has the alias helpdesk@phase2.com, that way, you only need to manage one account but the rules will apply for both accounts. NOTE: When you add an alias to your account, it will send a confirmation email to that account requesting the alias be linked to your account.

Sample Quarantine Report:

Phase 2 Support

If you have any questions, please contact Phase 2 Support and we will be more than happy to assist you further:

Email: support@phase2.com

Phone: 800-254-9715 X2