Revision Control and Microsoft Project History and Practices

Revision Control and Microsoft Project History and Practices Mark Read President, Sequence Advisors President, MPUG-SFBAC

Disclaimer This is not a hands on, not a tutorial This does not have material non-public information, simply observations over a few decades Many thanks to Technet and all our clients who teach us every day Other titles considered: A random walk down Project Server street, and Zen and the Art of Project Server Architecture

Agenda What do Project 14 and Project 4 have in common? Some Version History Architecture Orientation The Challenge Tool Considerations Snapshots and other views Supporting Processes What Project 15 could help with

What do Project 14 and Project 4 have in common? (Project 14 is now Microsoft Office Project 2010) …Neither contain revision control as is commonly thought of in the document or code control worlds

Some Version History 1984 1985 1990 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2010 Project debuts on DOS Microsoft buys Project Version 1 for Windows Project Central, v 1 of collaboration platform Microsoft buys E-Labor, rebrands Project Server 2002/2003 based in Share. Point Microsoft buys UMT Portfolio Server product Project Server 2007 introduces queue/cache Introduces ribbon, integration of Portfolio Server?

Computing Context Transition from DOS to Windows 640 K memory Graphical User Interface Relational Databases Object Oriented vs. Procedural Programming XML Collaboration 64 bit – Multi-Core Oh yeah… and the Internet

Hmmmm…. In testing of recursive insertion, virtually all significant parameters scaled linearly. The limiting factor on depth is memory usage — for example, at 16 levels, the large project, which contained approximately 10, 000 tasks, approached 32 -bit virtual memory limits. Even in this example, however, save operations executed very quickly. Other operations, such as closing and then reopening the master project, inserting new layers, and forcing recalculation, were significantly more time-consuming. A 64 -bit server platform would significantly increase the number of projects that you could insert, but projects that would require such depth are not common. Project Server 2010 will be 64 -bit ONLY and Windows Server 2008 ONLY

Word Expectations

Some Common Definitions Version Control (SHAREPOINT): Whole file Check In Check Out, Timestamps, Last Modified By Track Changes (WORD): Calling out changes within a document Archives (PROJECT SERVER): Whole file, time stamps, individual restore Baselines (PROJECT): Snapshot of 5 fields: Cost, Duration, Work, Start and Finish

What are your thoughts on the matter? Do your clients understand the gaps between system approaches? Are you happy with your ability to control the past? What is the accuracy of your forecasts? Is there a connection between last quarter and this one? Why do you care about project performance? Can you demonstrate where you’ve succeeded?

Process Alignment with Time and Data Project Manager Authors Plan Data Complexity Everyone may be working off of the same sheet of music, but they all want to see it from their own perspective Executives Review Reports Program Managers Review Results Time Resource Managers Assign Resources Team Members Update Timesheets

Priorities, Focus and Value • • • Baselines are useful because they are focused on data, and that data are your project values Revision control would be nice, but its not here yet Paying attention to features without value is futile

Phase Gate and Baseline Alignment Baseline Policies and Common definitions can help to tie metrics together What triggers your baseline? Absolute Date? (Quarters? ) Phase Gate? You can compare apples to oranges, you just need a broader vocabulary.

Baselines Comparisons Task UID Cost Duration Work Start Finish Timestamp Task UID Baseline Cost Baseline Duration Baseline Work Baseline Start Baseline Finish Timestamp Task UID Baseline 1 Cost Baseline 1 Duration Baseline 1 Work Baseline 1 Start Baseline 1 Finish Timestamp Task UID Baseline 2 Cost Baseline 2 Duration Baseline 2 Work Baseline 2 Start Baseline 2 Finish Timestamp Task UID Baseline 3 Cost Baseline 3 Duration Baseline 3 Work Baseline 3 Start Baseline 3 Finish Timestamp Have you ever played Concentration?

Entities Relationships and Definitions Resources Really Matter and skills But preserving these through process and dataflow? Cost and budget Time Projects and portfolios Tasks and phases Resources and roles Cost and actuals Time Projects and scope Tasks and milestones

Key Architecture Context

Data Flow I got an error message, what does it mean? Do I have to redo my work? What does the queue say? What is the number supposed to be?

Overview Of MS Project 2007 Queue State Next Possible State Getting Queued • • Waiting to be Processed Cancelled Waiting to be Processed • • • Processing Cancelled Blocked Skipped for optimization Processing • Success Failed and Not Blocking Correlation Failed and Blocking Correlation Cancelled • End • • • Processing Cancelled End • • • Cancelled Processing • Success Blocked Failed and Not Blocking Correlation Failed and Blocking Correlation Skipped for Optimization • Blocked (due to a failed job) Cancelled Success Failed and Not Blocking Correlation Failed and Blocking Correlation Processing • End • Cancelled

Archive Database Five (or more) versions with individual items for restore Look at the order of the timestamps and dates:

Multiple points of entry to the system Timesheet Queue PSI Project Professional

Guidelines Object Number Notes Resources per farm 40, 000 This is the tested limit: Baselines per project 7 recommended 11 maximum* Testing indicated performance degradation for certain operations on large project files when more than seven baselines were generated. For more information, see "The effect of baselines on performance" earlier in this Depth of inserted projects (recursive) 16 Performance degradation at this level is significant. UNREADABLE IN A PIVOT TABLE Breadth of inserted projects (non-recursive) 20 Performance degradation at this level is significant. CONSOLIDATE PRODUCT LINES INTO Tasks per project 5, 000 This is the tested limit. Task length in months 300 The amount of time for a project to publish is dependent on task length when work contours are applied to tasks. This impact can be significant, especially if EPM Solution is used to create projects that span several years. article. NOT BIG ENOUGH FOR ALL MICROSOFT EMPLOYEES NOT MONTHLY PRODUCT FAMILIES This is the tested limit. NOT ENOUGH FOR EVERY MINUTE OF A WEEK NOTHING PAST 2035… BTW, DEC 31 2049 IS THE END OF TIME Assignments per task 16, 000 This is the tested limit. Although you can add more than 16, 000 assignments per task, it took over seven CHARACTER AND DISPLAY LIMITS, NOT TO MENTION SCHEDULING ISSUES seconds to add an assignment to a task that already contained 16, 000 assignments. Local custom formula fields 10 -30 The number of local custom formula fields allowed per task depends on the type of custom field. The following list shows the types of custom fields and their limits: REMEMBER 640 K? Enterprise custom formula fields per server 32, 000 This is a theoretical limit, and the limit applies to each entity type to which you can apply a field. However, performance testing has not been conducted with more than approximately 1, 000 enterprise custom fields. Team Builder resource limits 10, 000 resources The Team Builder dialog box takes less than five seconds to display even when 10, 000 resources are present on the server. Although 10, 000 resources is the tested limit, Team Builder can be used with more resources if the subsequent increase in time required for the dialog box to appear is acceptable.

The Project Management Challenge Focus on hard dollar savings Optimize schedule to save time Organize managers to act on task completion and gap reduction Preempt hill and valley staffing

Supporting Processes Driving Expectations Coordination Ease of Use Exec M P Resource Mgrs Team E Team PMO PM

Tool Considerations Push or Pull? Rows and Columns or Pivot on Dimensions? Schedule Validity Process Validity Data or Graphic? Resource Validity Cost Validity Color?

More Tool Considerations Project Professional Cubes on the client and Pivot diagrams Gantt Charts Project Web Access Rows and Columns, Pivot Tables Share. Point Web. Parts SQL Reporting Services Performance. Point Server / Business Data Catalogs Others?

Audiences PMs themselves: What do they need to see and correct issues with their plans? Resource Managers: How can they see overallocation and priorities? Program Managers: 1 st level summarization Executives: 2 nd level summarization and pictures “If it’s not in color I won’t read it, and if its not a picture, I won’t understand it”

Milestones Codes, with links,

Milestones Comparison

Mind the Gaps

Work by Work Type

Snapshots

Can subscriptions drive behavior?

Audience Fit EPM Solution Project on Share. Point Stand Alone Project Enterprise Small Teams Single User

What could Project 15 help with? Tracking Changes within a Project file to help show structural changes over time Labeling of baselines and versions Multiple scheduling methodologies Critical Chain Event Management Easier cross entity joins Workflow integration Deeper search integration

Conclusion Large datasets with multiple transformation steps are fragile and require the precise control of the Microsoft EPM solution Large projects with multiple transformation needs are stubborn and require the leadership of management Engaging with experienced partners is a recommended best practice The value of competent execution is under appreciated!

Who are Sequence Advisors? MS Certified Professionals MCSEs • • Project Facilitation • • Over 50 MS EPM implementations Custom development Process Architecture • • • Methodology agnostic Flexible service model Hosting CONTACT: Mark Read mark@sequenceadvisors. com 510 540 -7875 (o) 510 406 -4645 (c)