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

Revision Control and Microsoft Project

History and Practices

Mark ReadPresident, Sequence Advisors

President, MPUG-SFBAC

Disclaimer

This is not a hands on, not a tutorialThis 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 HistoryArchitecture OrientationThe ChallengeTool ConsiderationsSnapshots and other viewsSupporting ProcessesWhat 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 Project debuts on DOS1985 Microsoft buys Project1990 Version 1 for Windows1999 Project Central, v1 of collaboration platform2001 Microsoft buys E-Labor, rebrands Project

Server2003 Project Server 2002/2003 based in SharePoint2005 Microsoft buys UMT Portfolio Server product2007 Project Server 2007 introduces queue/cache2010 Introduces ribbon, integration of Portfolio

Server?

Computing Context

Transition from DOS to Windows640K memoryGraphical User InterfaceRelational DatabasesObject Oriented vs. Procedural ProgrammingXMLCollaboration64 bit – Multi-CoreOh 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

Everyone may be working off of the same sheet of music, but they all want to see it from their own perspective

Project Manager

Authors Plan

Resource Managers

Assign Resources

Team Members Update

Timesheets

Program Managers

Review Results

Executives Review Reports

Time

Data

Com

ple

xit

y

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 AlignmentBaseline Policies and Common definitions can

help to tie metrics togetherWhat 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?

Time

Resources and skills

Cost and budget

Tasks and phases

Projects and portfolios

Entities

Relationships and Definitions Really Matter

But preserving these through process and dataflow?

Time

Resources and roles

Cost and actuals

Tasks and milestones

Projects and scope

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

Success • End

Blocked • Processing • Cancelled

Failed and Not Blocking Correlation

• End

Failed and Blocking Correlation

• Cancelled • Processing

Skipped for Optimization

• Blocked (due to a failed job)

• Cancelled • Success• Failed and Not Blocking

Correlation• Failed and Blocking

Correlation• Processing

Cancelled • End

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

GuidelinesObject Number Notes

Resources per farm 40,000 This is the tested limit: NOT BIG ENOUGH FOR ALL MICROSOFT EMPLOYEES

Baselines per project 7 recommended11 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 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 PRODUCT FAMILIES

Tasks per project 5,000 This is the tested limit. NOT ENOUGH FOR EVERY MINUTE OF A WEEK

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.

This is the tested limit. 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

seconds to add an assignment to a task that already contained 16,000 assignments. CHARACTER AND DISPLAY LIMITS, NOT TO MENTION SCHEDULING ISSUES

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 ChallengeFocus on hard dollar

savingsOptimize schedule to save

timeOrganize managers to act

on task completion and gap reduction

Preempt hill and valley staffing

EPM

Supporting Processes

Ease of Use

Coordination

Driving Expectatio

nsExec

Resource Mgrs

Team Team

PMO

PM

Tool Considerations

Push or Pull?Rows and

Columns or Pivot on Dimensions?

Schedule ValidityProcess Validity

Data or Graphic?Color?

Resource ValidityCost Validity

More Tool Considerations

Project ProfessionalCubes on the client and Pivot diagramsGantt Charts

Project Web AccessRows and Columns, Pivot Tables

SharePoint WebPartsSQL Reporting ServicesPerformancePoint Server / Business Data

CatalogsOthers?

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 summarizationExecutives: 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 ProjectEnterpris

e

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 versionsMultiple scheduling methodologies

Critical ChainEvent Management

Easier cross entity joinsWorkflow integrationDeeper 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 Readmark@sequenceadvisors

.com510 540-7875 (o)510 406-4645 (c)