Project Server technical bits

Have I been waiting on this patch :) Project Server August Cumulative Update 2014 looks like a biggy guys.  If you use Timesheets, or Task Status Updates, or even just Baseline, this patch is the place to be.  Looks like the Scheduling/Project Calculation Service has had a rework.... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2883083 Project Pro 2013 August Cumulative Update 2014 also looks significant for anyone saving projects OUT of Project Server or working with Protected Actuals http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2883080

** Update ** Having looked at the data, the general rules are now  Dont use TAP flag unless it is explicitly for the Team Assignments functionality (which no-one uses anyway) And if you want to use Generic Resources on Resource Plans using FTE planning, make sure (for now) that they have some capacity, and design this out of your capacity planning reports. Generic Resource Capacity in times gone by I have picked up the habit of using the "Team Assignment Pool" flag on Generic Resources to avoid setting the Max Units to 0% and still have zero capacity for the resources in the RDB.  This was a throwback to the heady days of PS2007 and its complete lack of stability (0% resources used to cause havoc when using the Assign Resources dialogue in MS Project). It looks as if this is a habit I am going to have to break. Today I have found a new issue in Resource Plans on PS2013 where setting the Team Assignment Pool OR setting Max Units to 0% on a resource has a negati...

Quick publish on this one. When creating a project from a template (with templated tasks) in PWA, if you assign resources to those tasks via PWA, the assignments appear in the Reporting Database as Unassigned Resource workaround 1 assign resources via MSP workaround 2 (varying mileage) assign resources Publish remove resources publish reassign resources tested on SP1, April14CU

** UPDATE ** includes notes relating to secondary bug where Timesheet is created without Administrative tasks. Does this ring any bells? This has been bugging me for months, but finally I have a repro for this: Issue Summary:  When a task is deleted from a plan that is approved into a previous or current timesheet - even when there are no actuals on the task - you can no longer view the timesheet The following repro has been proven: - Setup system with Single Entry Mode, with enforced Status Approval before Timesheet Approval - Create resource as own timesheet manager - Create new project - Create two tasks in the same week, starting monday with 5 days duration:  1) Task to assign actuals, 2) Task to delete post submission - Assign Resource to tasks - publish project - as Timesheet User, go to the appropriate timesheet period for the tasks created - Assign actual work to one task (task 1), leaving task 2 with no actual work - Submit timesheet - as Project ...

Interesting - Setting Baseline0  adds values to ALL baselines.  Then editing Baseline0 costs changes all baseline costs Repro: Create task of 1d Add a cost resource Set Task Usage at bottom window Add Baseline 0 Cost, Baseline 10 cost, baseline 4 cost (or some others too) Add some Timephased costs into Cost timephased field Set baseline All baselines are set with a value Edit Baseline0 Cost TImephased entry All Baseline Values change Scream and bang head on table ** UPDATE ** Having looked further into this it appears that this only impacts baseline cost timephased values.  However this is a MASSIVE impact as it could increase file sizes fairly significantly as the Baseline Cost Timephased Values for Baselines >=1 are no longer independent values.  Put simply, BAseline 1-10 Cost Timephased will equal Baseline0Cost, and cannot be set independently. Here is an updated repro Prep: - Firstly create split view with task usage on the botto...

well this is new! When creating a project site, we are intermittently seeing the following: NOTE:  This is Project Server 2013 (not an upgrade)   more to follow (I hope).....

Reporting Publish ** updated with links to other related discussions, and a VBA macro ** the following issue has been noted on publish since June 13 CU was applied: ReportingProjectChangeMessageFailed (24006) - Object reference not set to an instance of an object.. Details: id='24006' name='ReportingProjectChangeMessageFailed' uid='4d869e56-f625-e311-bb41-005056b90052' QueueMessageBody='Project UID='e3f49977-b2bc-e211-8559-005056b90052'. PublishType='ProjectPublish'' Error='Object reference not set to an instance of an object.'. I have seen this noted previously on a similar issue: http://nearbaseline.com/blog/2013/06/ms-reporting-project-publish-jobs-failed-after-aprilcu/comment-page-1/#comment-14741 This is  caused by Baselined Milestones having NULL Baseline Cost values Original bug note with potential workaround is here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brismith/archive/2012/05/23/project-server-2007-reporting-project-pu...

New project created PWA Schedule timeline  Phases shown in timeline    Project Published SPSite Timeline seen to be a match for PWA schedule Timeline Task #3 – Managing and controlling is deleted (with all its subtasks) Initial view of PWA Schedule timeline is incorrect (I will forgive this one) Publish plan and switch between PDPs and eventually the timeline displays correctly Note the three remaining PHASE tasks Now switch to the SPSite Timeline…. Notice the new task on the timeline now (making 4) I have also seen other events where tasks are deleted from the plan, but yet remain in the Project Site Task List (and timeline) so are therefore orphaned, although I haven’t yet managed to repro this particular event

Timesheet periods cannot be closed "bug"(?): ** UPDATE:  THIS IS NOW FIXED WITH THE JUNE 2013 CUMULATIVE UPDATE FOR PROJECT SERVER 2013 ** http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2817341 The following has been repro'd on  - an Project Server 2013 (RTM) - next step is June CU - project online Repro: - Create a number of resources/users - Set up timesheet periods - Test 1: TS periods can be closed - Create a timesheet (one user) - Save timesheet - Test 2: Close timehseet period (same period as timesheet created in) = Result - TS period cannot be closed  Note:  you can also note a javascript error in IE at line 1409.  When you look at the source code, this appears to point to a page with the URL /pwa/_Layouts/15/pwa/admin/PeriodCloseConfirmation.aspx Now I don't know if this is a legacy page or not, but if you navigate to this page you see this (which is exactly what I want to see when closing a period) So what this means if this means is:- if you a...

#projectserver2013 Issues part 2 Following on from my previous post, here's some other tidbits of anomalies on PS2013 Close Timesheet Periods There's an issue with page rendering and IE versions here.  When attempting to close periods, the changes cannot be saved symptoms: Javascript error on page (syntax error at line 1408) Occurs on IE8 IE9 The problem appears to be a page call to /pwa/_Layouts/15/pwa/admin/PeriodCloseConfirmation.aspx I expect (unconfirmed) that the issue is because of Timesheets that have not been submitted for a period I wish to close.  However some resources do NOT complete timesheets in our configuration so this is ok. When I looked at the code I found a call to this PeriodCloseConfirmation page which I assume is supposed to load when this event occurs, but it does not. This looks a fairly substantial issue right now.  I'd be interested to know if anyone else sees the same thing.

Project Server 2013 Issues Summary Over the last few weeks I've been implementing a number of Project Server 2013 systems, and have found a couple of application issues that are worthy of note: Views Issue #1 -  Project Center / Resource Center - "The View Failed to Load" This error, followed by "You do not have permissions to view" message appear to relate to a failure of the webpart to select a view from the list available to me. One example of how this can happen is that if I selected View A the last time I accessed Project Centre, but since then View A has been removed/taken away, then this error will occur. Another example MAY (awaiting repro) be if you delete/rename/remove the default Project Centre view. The fix is three clicks of a mouse but is really not good. - Open the ribbon - Select a new view from the available list - F5 Refresh This should be a simple code fix to ensure that if the cached last view is no longer ...

Just a small note to say that as of last week we have completed our first SharePoint and Project Server 2013 Implementation in the UK. Over the course of the next few weeks I will be documenting my findings, pitfalls and fun that entails... as soon as I get a minute to spare. Here comes the new world