Book StructurePart I: Consider This Before You Commit to Project Server 2007
In this section, we lay the groundwork for the deployment of Project Server 2007. First we address the things that you should consider before embarking on the journey of implementing Project Server 2007 and its associated tools. This chapter helps to set the expectation that implementing Project Server will not deliver instant results, but rather will take some time to plan and test through an iterative methodology. This section also covers the new architecture of Project Server 2007, as well as its new features.
Part II: Plan for Your Project Server 2007 Implementation
In this section, we will discuss the implementation approaches you may take and the foundations that must be in place for your implementation to have the greatest chance for success. We include some examples of specific processes that may be useful for organizations that do not already have their own methods for performing similar activities (such as requirements gathering and prioritization).
Part III: Details on the Installation and Configuration of Project Server 2007
This section covers the installation of Project Server in various environments, the configuration of your newly installed system, and some of the administrative functions, including desktop deployment. This is the largest part of the book and includes fairly deep information about critical areas such as the security of Project Server in addition to data structure and flow.
Part IV: Project Server 2007 Maintenance
In this section, we discuss migration approaches that you may encounter as well as the fine-tuning of your EPM environment, and we briefly discuss options available for integrating Project Server 2007 with other systems related to your line of business.
Part V: Project Server in Action
This section consists of numerous chapters for reference on how to complete specific tasks in the EPM system based on your role in the system. Because we cover the way that each Project Server role interacts, we had no choice but to make assumptions on the way that the system’s options were configured. We based our assumptions on what we have seen in the field with Project Server 2007, as well as what we had learned from implementations of previous versions. There is also an overview chapter on resource management in Project Server.
As a bonus, an extensive chapter describes how to extend your Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) environment, which may have implications that reach beyond EPM and into the team and departmental workspaces of your organization. The section that follows our discussion of roles focuses on how to extend the collaborative area using WSS 2007 technologies. This chapter also has a section that discusses how to leverage the advanced features that are available in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007. In our opinion, SharePoint collaborative features are too often underused in the Microsoft EPM toolset, so this chapter is pretty deep.
Part VI: Program and Portfolio Management
In this section, we discuss the different techniques used at the managerial level (and up) to understand how your organization is performing at the program level (a group of related projects). It also includes a look at using Project Server in an environment where Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is important.
Because we designed this book as described above, there will be overlap in some of the content. For example, it would be impossible to discuss the role of the resource manager without having overlap with the chapter on resource management. Likewise, Data Analysis views (reports), for example, have to come up in the chapters describing how to configure online analytical processing (OLAP) cube configuration (which data will be gathered for analysis), and when discussing the display side of that data (Manage views). The context of each chapter was used as the basis for determining how to approach this overlap, so here and there you will read very similar information. Remember that we want to support the “reference” concept––that is, to make it easy for you to go back to find information after the initial implementation.
One certainty is that every reader will have a unique experience deploying Project Server 2007, just as each one of our clients chose different paths. You must keep in mind that the success of any Project Server implementation will probably require a marriage of improvements from people, process, and technology perspectives. Organizations need to understand that a full-scale EPM implementation can touch every corner of their business. The benefits of such integration can be enormous, but the cultural change required to facilitate this integration is equally as great.
Gone are the days when your users could “prairie dog” over their cube wall to ask a coworker to complete a task. That task assignment and the communication surrounding it must now be facilitated through the EPM tools. Users must participate in the EPM system with consistency and in a standardized manner. An organizational entity should in most cases exist to create, evangelize, and enforce these organizational project management methodologies and standards. This entity is called many names––program management office, project management office, or Center of Excellence.
Typically, the success of an EPM initiative is judged by the quality of the organizational insight delivered by the reports in the EPM toolset. What is often forgotten is that the granularity and accuracy of the reports that EPM delivers is built by the granularity and accuracy of data that are fed into the EPM system. If your Project Center views (where each project is displayed at a summary level) are based on project manager estimations, you will have many fewer touch points into the EPM system, reducing culture change and overall complexity, but providing much less clarity and accuracy into your organization’s portfolio. If, on the other hand, your Project Center views are based on direct participation by the resources doing the work, required training increases, the number of touch points into EPM increases greatly, and the culture change is significantly greater. The payoff is invaluable, providing accurate and detailed insight into your organization’s capacity, load, cost, and overall health is invaluable.
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