Windows Azure: Perfect for hosting a Project Server 2013 Demo/Dev environment

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Don't get me wrong. Project Online is great. It's easy to create an instance. It works (generally speaking) just like a Project Server 2013 environment and as a non-infrastructure type person, I don't have to worry about having a server machine sitting  under my desk making noise, chewing up my electric bill waiting to be hacked by some teenager (or govt agency) on the other side of the world. On the other hand, there are just some situations where having your own "on premise", honest to goodness instance of Project Server is needed. Doing OLAP reporting? Not possible with Project Online. Writing apps to consume Project data? Very hard to do (and currently in flux) with Project Online. But if you are Active Directory and Security challenged like I am, what are you to do? Mostly, I have been leaning on my friends who are gurus in that kind of stuff to help me out. But I have some credits on Windows Azure that I've been wanting to use and thought this would be a great opportunity. Depending on your MSDN subscription and other programs you might have access to the amount of credit you have to play with will vary between $50-150 per month. Also, if you don't have an MSDN subscription or Azure credit from another program (like the Microsoft Partner Program, BizSpark or something else), then you can actually purchase what you need.

AzureWindows Azure is a lot of things. It's a server farm. It's a data farm. It's a media hosting service. It's a web hosting service. It is a basically a dynamically expanding and contracting computing resource mega house with data centers around the world, all hosted in the dubious buzzword of "the cloud". If you don't have an Azure account, you'll need to sign up for one. Go to http://azure.microsoft.com to do so. Warning: Using this isn't free. That's the trade off. In exchange for money (or credits), someone else worries about patches and server maintenance and security. It probably is cheaper to get a server machine and stick it under my desk, a one time expense (not considering electricity and hardware upgrades), but then I'd have to worry about getting hacked and up time and maintenance and... BLECH!

Now I'm not a complete clueless newbie when it comes to installing operating systems, servers and such. There was a point in my career, long, long ago, when I did maintain desktops, servers and such for the company I worked for. I also used to be a field systems engineer for a software company I worked for and we went out to troubleshoot installation issues with customers. I discovered quite quickly though that I didn't want to do that. It wasn't my THANG. I wasn't passionate about it. So I went back to software dev and to implementing and teaching business solutions software. But the remnants of those days do still linger in the back recesses of my brain.

Luckily for me (and for you too) I don't have to rely on my sketchy knowledge of doing this. First off, the Azure team has created a gallery of already built machines with commonly used profile for you to choose from. Need a server running Windows Server 2012 R2? They have that. SQL Server 2012 SP1? Yep. Even want to test on just released (RTM) environments like SQL Server 2014 RTM? They have that too. There is even an already built server with SharePoint 2013 already installed! Additionally, there are a lot of great blogs about how to actually create whole server farms on the Azure platform. Specifically, I recommend using Keith Mayer's Step by Step instructions for creating a SharePoint 2013 farm. It is fantastic. Basically, you will be setting up three (3) servers; a Domain Controller, a SQL Server server, and a SharePoint/Project Server server/web front end.

This will only get you about 85% there on your Project Server farm. You'll need to install Project Server on the SharePoint server you create. If you've never done that, it is actually easier than it used to be given that Project Server is now an application service on SharePoint. There are some great MSDN articles and videos available. (Take a look here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee662109(v=office.15).aspx). You'll need to download the Project Server 2013 software bits first. Whether you do this from your MSDN account, use a trial version of it or use an existing licensed copy is up to you. Normally, you would download the iso or .exe to your own computer, then upload it to the server you are installing it on. DON'T. Download it directly to your SharePoint Server Virtual Machine on Azure. Why? Because the Azure platform as a wickedly fast connection to MSDN. It will take you only a fraction of the time to download it.

After all of that, you have a Project Server 2013 farm running. You can create projects on it, enter risks, issues, create enterprise custom fields, resources and everything you normally would on a true on premise server farm. Have caution though. You will be charged for every millisecond that these servers are running. So here's what I do: I turn them off when I'm not using them. Basically I start with the SharePoint/Project Server and turn that off. Then I turn off my SQL Server server and then lastly I turn off the Domain Controller. When I want to use them again, for a client or debugging an app I'm writing, I turn them all back on, in the reverse order that I turned them off (DC, SQL SERVER, SP/PS). Be sure to wait until one is done cycling up before turning the next on.

And that's it.

Are you talking to your computer screen right now, telling me that demo images of Project Server 2013 already exists and that I could use those? If you are, then you are correct. And I could load those up on the beefed up desktop or laptop computer if I wanted. Realistically though that would require me to carry or have a machine with 32 gigs of RAM and at least a 1-2 TB hard drive in it. That sounds suspiciously like specs for a server machine. Also, that is WAAAY more hardware than I personally want to lug through airport security or to a client site. Some do (including some of those friends I told you I was leaning on for help) and that is a personal choice. The Azure platform is just another option for you to consider. And hopefully this post will help you on your way.

Office 365 API Tools for Visual Studio Announced

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During the SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas last month, attendees were introduced to the new Office 365 APIs. Today, some of those API were released into preview for Visual Studio, as was announced on the Apps for Office and SharePoint Blog. Only some of the APIs were made available such as the mail, calendar and contact REST APIs and then only for C# and VB.net apps.

There are some good sessions on the APIs from the March 2nd - 6th SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas, NV. If you are thinking of trying out the new APIs then you should definitely go over to Channel 9 and check them out. Also below is the link for the preliminary/preview documentation for the APIs over on MSDN.

Link for the MSDN API info:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/dn605892(v=office.15).aspx

As a Windows 8 Store App developer who primarily writes those types of apps in HTML/JavaScript, the release of the APIs for VB, but not for JavaScript is a bit of a rub. Though most developers I know don't do both, I do write in C#, just not typically for Windows 8 Store Apps. But it's been this way with the SharePoint / Office team for awhile now. None of the SharePoint App or Office Task  Pane Visual Studio App templates use JavaScript, only C# even though there are new JSOM libraries that a developer can use. Sometimes I think the product team can only program in C#. But I guess there's always VB. I used to write in VB... in the 90s.

 

I will be speaking at the Project Conference 2014!

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ProjectConf_Logo YAY! I was just notified that my session on consuming Project Server data in mobile apps was accepted.

So mark Feb 2nd - 5th on your calendars now, if you haven't already, and book your travel for Anaheim, CA. For me Anaheim is an easy commute from San Diego, but I would have gone anyway. Hope to see you there!

http://www.msprojectconference.com

Flipboard is coming to Windows as a Modern app

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Back when I first looked at the Flipboard product in July of 2010, it was only available for iPad. Currently it's available for the iPad and Android operating systems. Today it was announced at //Build that a Windows 8 will be coming from the company. My initial reaction is "YAY! About bloody time", but with some caution. I've seen some app devs try to create Windows 8 apps just to have their app on the platform, but that have failed miserably (or ignored the design axioms completely) when translating the app. Most notably for me is the Pulse News app. Love, Love, Love it! on Android. Hate! Hate! Hate! it on Windows 8. Why? All they did was recreate their website, which breaks most if not all of the Windows 8 app design principals. Sure, it's great for a website. Not so much for an app. Even if they had taken their Android app (especially the tablet one) and ported it over, it still would have been better than the one they have now.  So what did I do with Pulse News. I eagerly installed it and then promptly uninstalled it. And use other news readers, like Bing and the NY times apps. I do use the Pulse News app for something else though. I use it in my Windows 8 Store App design classes as an example of what NOT to do with your app design. Back to Flipboard. While I'm excited about the prospect of having the rich content and functionality on my Windows 8 tablets, I am also slightly apprehensive about it given my previous experiences. So we'll see.

And I still want a version of it and APIs for it so I can use it to aggregate business analytics and information for corporate dashboards and apps.

Flipboard: Innovative but I want it for work

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I am not much of a social media user/consumer. I don't have a facebook page (never say never) and though I am an avid consumer and tweeter, I haven't been on Twitter all that long either. So an application that takes all of your social media feeds and consolidates them into one interface, using a pretty intuitive and well known metaphor would not be something that would typically grab my attention. But that's exactly what has happened. Not because of what it does today, but what I hope it will do in the future. The interweb is all a twitter (pun intended) with the new iPad application called Flipboard, . http://www.flipboard.com/, which was announced today. So I had to go look for myself to see what all the hubbub was about. I actually don't own an iPad (or any apple products) so I can only go off of the various demos that I've seen. I like this product. I think it is VERY innovative and has alot of potential, but not for the things that it does now. Let me explain.

If you own an iPad and use Facebook and Twitter and I'm assuming other social media feeds coming soon probably, then I think you would want to get this free application. It takes all of that content; the photos, the wall postings, links etc and presents them in a magazine UI metaphor, without you having to do any programming or layout work. Pretty cool. But if you are not a social media heavy user and/or don't own an iPad (aka me) then you won't be so excited about it or at least you would think. But here's the catch for me... I want a Flipboard for all of my work content. I want to aggregate my email, my sharepoint stuff, my docs, my excel spreadsheets, my project schedules, tasks and issues/risks -- all of it -- into Flipboard type content I can consume as I go about my day at work. Why limit your product to only the consumption of social media content?

For example, I'm a realtor. I need to look at emails coming in, setup appointments with potential buyers (and sellers), file escrow paperwork, check the status of a loan from the bank for a client, check new listings on the MLS... why couldn't I put all of that into a Flipboard type magazine for me to consume? For other realitors at my company to consume?

Or I could be an executive at an organizaion, let's say that makes widgets. I need to (again) check emails coming in, look at my calendar for meetings, etc., I need to check the quarterly departmental budgets an expenses, review a press release, look at a balanced scorecard dashboard of other metrics for my department or organization, check stock on inventory, approve some purchase orders, meet with the board of directors taking notes the whole way.... it could go on and on. Wouldn't it be cool that instead of having to open up all of these applications to do the tasks that I'm describing that instead I had a Flipboard for my company that contained all of the information "feeds" that I would use based on my position and what I've "subscribed" to from my IT department?

The Flipboard company bills itself as a social magazine, but I hope it won't stop there. I hope that it will open up its interface so that the types of content that I've just describe... work stuff... can be added, that company-centric Flipboards can be created for the information feeds that we deal with at work.

Tying Your Project Metrics to your Strategic Business Drivers

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Strategy and Execution. Pick up any business magazine or book and that's about all you'll be reading about it seems. Company XYZ is a top performer because they not only come up with great ideas (innovation / strategy), but then they can make it happen (execution). I recently read two books about Strategy and Execution, "Clever" by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones and "Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles between Vision and Reality" by Scott Belsky. Even the cover story of my July-August 2010 Havard Business Review is about Strategy and Execution, "The Effective Organization: Turn Great Strategy into Great Results". Project Managers are all about execution, but how do our projects align with our company or organization's business strategy? Do we even know? Or care? We should. Sure, we spend time planning, defining scope and requirements, then putting together a team, but the majority of our time we spend actual doing things, aka executing. Plan the work. Work the plan. Do the projects that we spend time executing align with our core business strategies? If not, we shouldn't be doing them.

And not only should the projects that we are managing be aligned with our organization's strategic objectives, but so should the measurements that we track and use to manage them. I'm often asked by PM's or during the course of implementing an EPM (Enterprise Project Management) system what metrics should they be using. Most talk about Earned Value, Burn rate, Budget vs Actual and the like. And while these are all good and provide valuable information about how a project is peforming, I typically ask a question instead of giving a specific answer, at least right away.

What are your organization's core strategic drivers or objectives?

This is usually met with silence. Let's take Earned Value. Earned Value is a set of measurements that combine scope, schedule and cost into a set of integrated and hopefully objective metrics. Originated during the 1960s by the United States DOD to manage and provide insight into government projects, it has gained in popularity in the commercial space in recent years. I like it because of its high accuracy in predicting how a project is going to run (for cost and schedule) within the first 20% of work on the project. But it is a reactive, corrective action metric and it only covers part of what you should be managing as a project manager.

Take the following list of Project Management Knowledge areas as outlined in PMI's PMBOK (Project Management Book of Knowledge):

  • Project Management Integration
  • Project Scope Management
  • Project Time Management
  • Project Cost Management
  • Project Quality Management
  • Project HR Management
  • Project Communication Management
  • Project Risk Management
  • Project Procurement Management

Only the three areas that are highlighted in bold are covered by Earned Value. What about the rest of the areas? Couldn't quality of the deliverables of your project effect its completion or the stakeholders satisfaction? Having to go back and rework parts that were delivered certainly could effect your project's timeline in a negative way. What about not having enough or the right team members to do the work on your project? Do they have the tools or training they need to do tasks they've been assigned? Or not getting timely delivery of materials to create those parts, could that negatively impact your project? What values in Earned Value do you use to measure these areas? The short answer is there aren't any.

Tracking costs and delivering on schedule might be part of your organization's strategic objectives, typically under Customer Satisfaction or decreasing cost to market, but they are only part of the picture. And if they aren't part of your organizations core strategic objectives, why are you putting so much emphasis on them by tracking them? I know, I know. It's almost considered heresy to suggest not tracking costs and schedule for projects, especially in today's economic climate, but I'm a "why" kind of gal.

I like Earned Value. I really do. In fact, I use it for almost every project that I manage. In my next post, I'll be talking about what you should and could be measuring in addition with Earned Value to get a better picture of how your project is executing.

Hint: It involves a little thing called the Balanced Scorecard.