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, v1 of collaboration platform
Microsoft buys E-Labor, rebrands Project Server
Project Server 2002/2003 based in SharePoint
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
640K 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?
Everyone may
be working off
of the same
sheet of music,
but they all
want to see it
from their own
perspective
Data Complexity
Process Alignment with Time and Data
Time
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
Baseline1
Cost
Baseline1
Duration
Baseline1
Work
Baseline1
Start
Baseline1
Finish
Timestamp
Task UID
Baseline2
Cost
Baseline2
Duration
Baseline2
Work
Baseline2
Start
Baseline2
Finish
Timestamp
Task UID
Baseline3
Cost
Baseline3
Duration
Baseline3
Work
Baseline3
Start
Baseline3
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
•
•
•
•
•
Blocked (due to a failed job)
Cancelled
Success
Failed and Not Blocking
Correlation
Failed and Blocking
Correlation
Processing
•
End
•
Success
Blocked
Failed and Not
Blocking
Correlation
Failed and Blocking
Correlation
Skipped for
Optimization
•
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
article.
NOT BIG ENOUGH FOR ALL MICROSOFT EMPLOYEES
NOT MONTHLY
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.
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 640K?
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
Resource
Mgrs
Team
Team
PMO
PM
Tool Considerations
Push or Pull?
Rows and Columns
or Pivot on
Dimensions?
Schedule Validity
Process Validity
Data or Graphic?
Color?
Resource Validity
Cost Validity
More Tool Considerations
Project Professional
Cubes on the client and Pivot diagrams
Gantt Charts
Project Web Access
Rows and Columns, Pivot Tables
SharePoint WebParts
SQL Reporting Services
PerformancePoint 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: 1st level summarization
Executives: 2nd 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 SharePoint
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
[email protected]
510 540-7875 (o)
510 406-4645 (c)