pwmather

#SharePoint 2010 error setting PerformancePoint unattended account #SP2010 #PS2010 #HP

May 7, 2013 at 8:35 pm | Posted in Administration, Configuration, Functionality, Information, Installation, Workarounds | 1 Comment
Tags: Project Server 2010, PS2010, SharePoint 2010, SP2010

A short blog post to highlight a workaround to a recent issue we experienced on a Project Server 2010 deployment. When trying to set the PerformancePoint unattended account we received an error:

The account credentials for the Unattended Service Account are not valid. Verify the domain user name and password are correct and that the account is located in a Trusted Domain

We experienced the same error via the UI in Central Admin and via PowerShell. The fix / workaround was quite simple in the end. This particular client had the HP ProtectTools enabled, this blocks any passwords being sent as plain text. We added an <SE>\ tag as shown below in the password string:

Set-SPPerformancePointSecureDataValues -ServiceApplication "PerformancePoint Service Application" -DataSourceUnattendedServiceAccount (New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential "domain\user", (ConvertTo-SecureString "<SE>\password" -AsPlainText -Force))

With this tag in place the HP ProtectTools ignored that fact that the password was plain text and the unattended account was set successfully. This workaround only works when setting the unattended account using the example PowerShell script above. It doesn’t work in the UI.

#ProjectServer 2013 environment migration / rollover steps #PowerShell #PS2013 #MSProject #SP2013

May 2, 2013 at 11:21 am | Posted in Administration, Configuration, Functionality, Information, Installation, PowerShell | 3 Comments
Tags: Project 2013, Project Server 2013, PS2013, SharePoint 2013, SP2013

This blog post will detail the PowerShell commands required to carry out an environment rollover / migration using Windows PowerShell where possible. The steps below use the 2 database approach to rollover over the Production environment to the Test / Development environment.

As a prerequisite I would recommend taking full backups of the Test / Dev farm to enable the environment to be rolled back if required. Use your usual farm backup procedures.

Test / Dev environment Prep

Firstly connect to the Test / Dev Application server and launch the SharePoint 2013 Management shell.

Type the following:

Dismount-SPProjectWebInstance -SiteCollection <URL of Test / Dev PWA site that you want to refresh with the Production data and config>

Example:

Press Enter and then type Y and press Enter to remove the PWA instance

You can check in Central admin in the Project Server Service Application to check that the PWA site has been removed:

Using the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell remove the existing content database from the web application that hosted the PWA site collection that was removed in the previous step.

Type the following:

Dismount-SPContentDatabase “<Database name here>”

Example:

Press Enter and type Y to confirm then press Enter

Test / Dev environment SQL Prep

Take a backup of the 2 databases from the Production environment and copy these over to the Test / Dev SQL server and restore the databases. The databases required are:

Content database that contains the PWA site and Project Sites
Project Web App database

Make a note of the database names used when these databases are restored as they will be required later.

Test / Dev environment configuration

Using the SharePoint Management Shell, attach the restored content database to the web application that will host the PWA site collection.

Type the following:

Mount-SPContentDatabase “<content database name restored in previous step>” -DatabaseServer “<Test / DEV SQL Server>” –WebApplication <web application URL>

Example:

Press Enter:

Using the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell mount the restored Project Web App database to the web application.

Type the following command:

Mount-SPProjectDatabase -Name “Name of the restored Project Web App database to mount” –WebApplication “Web Application ULR that the Project Web App database will mount to” –DatabaseServer “Test / Dev SQL Server where the database was restored”

Example:

Press Enter:

Now using the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell provision the PWA site collection in the web application where the database was just attached to and using the Project Web App database that was restored previously. Please note, use the same PWA path name used in Production. For example if the instance is called /PWA in Production, use /PWA in the command below on the Test / Dev environment.

Type the following command:

Mount-SPProjectWebInstance –DatabaseName “Name of the restored Project Web App database to mount” –SiteCollection “web application URL + PWA path” –DatabaseServer “Test / Dev SQL Server where the database was restored”

Example:

Press Enter:

You can check the provisioning status of the PWA site using PowerShell or in Central admin in the Project Server Service Application to check that the PWA site has been created:

Type the following:

Get-SPProjectWebInstance –URL <PWA URL> | Select ProvisioningStatus

Example:

Or in Central Admin:

Post Provisioning

The Project Sites will need to be relinked using the “Bulk Update Connected SharePoint Sites” functionality in Central Admin on the newly provisioned Test / Dev PWA site.

The Project Server Cube settings will need to be updated – update the SQL AS server / cube name.

Any Excel services reports will need to be updated to use the ODC files from the Test / Dev environment as they will currently point to the Production ODC files. This is done by opening the Excel reports in Excel, changing the ODC file then saving the file back to the library.

Update #SharePoint list item author and editor #SP2010 #PowerShell #PS2010 #SSRS

May 1, 2013 at 7:52 am | Posted in Administration, Configuration, Fixes, Functionality, Information, PowerShell, Workarounds | 1 Comment
Tags: Project Server 2010, SharePoint 2010, SP2010, SSRS

Recently while working on a client deployment we had an issue relinking the SSRS reports to the data sources within the same library – SSRS was in SharePoint integrated mode. We had developed the Project Server solution internally and migrated it to the clients environment at a later date. All worked as expected apart from trying to relink the SSRS Reports to the updated data sources. The SSRS data sources had been edited to use the correct databases / PSI web services but when we tried to link the reports to the databases from the Manage Data Sources menu, SharePoint threw an error when trying to browse to the data sources. The error from the ULS log can be seen below:

Microsoft.ReportingServices.Diagnostics.Utilities.SharePointException: , Microsoft.ReportingServices.Diagnostics.Utilities.SharePointException: Report Server has encountered a SharePoint error. —> System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at Microsoft.ReportingServices.SharePoint.Objects.RSSPImpUser.get_LoginName()
at Microsoft.ReportingServices.SharePoint.Utilities.CatalogItemUtilities.GetListItemUserLoginName(RSSPListItem item, String fieldName)

The cause of this error was that the user who created the SSRS objects had been removed from SharePoint when the system was cleaned up to take on to the clients environment.

There is a simple fix, that is to update the Author (Created By) and Editor (Modified By) fields with a user that exists on the SharePoint farm. The Author field can’t be updated via the UI but it can be update via the object model.

I created a simple PowerShell script that will update the author and editor for all SharePoint list items in the chosen list. To download the PowerShell script please see the link below:

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Update-SharePoint-list-4e6272ab

There are some variables / settings that need to be updated before running the script, these can be found below:

$newuser = "support\paulmather" This needs to be updated with the new author and editor’s user account.

$site = get-SPWeb http://vm353/pwa/ProjectBICenter This needs to be updated with the correct URL for the site that contains the list / library.

$list = $site.Lists["Test"] This needs to be updated with the name of the correct library / lists that contains the list items that need to be updated, in this example the SSRS items.

That is it, the script is then ready to run.

Please fully test on a replica test farm before running on Production.

Where is the Project Fields web part in #ProjectServer 2013? #PS2013 #SP2013

April 25, 2013 at 5:06 pm | Posted in Administration, Configuration, Functionality, Information | 1 Comment
Tags: Project 2013, Project Online, Project Server 2013, PS2013

A quick post to highlight a minor change to the PWA web parts in 2013. I was in the process of creating a new PDP on a 2013 environment and I wanted to add certain custom fields. In 2010 the web part that enabled you to do this was the Project Fields web part:

In 2013 this web part doesn’t exist, well it does but it is no longer called Project Fields, it is now called Basic Info:

It provides exactly the same functionality as the Project Fields web part in 2010.

Hopefully that will save you hunting around for this web part Smile

#ProjectServer 2013 linking list items to tasks and other list items #PS2013 #SP2013

April 24, 2013 at 4:34 pm | Posted in Administration, Functionality, Information | 2 Comments
Tags: Office365, Project 2013, Project Online, Project Server 2013, PS2013, SharePoint 2013, SP2013

The linking functionality has changed in Project Server 2013, in Project Server 2010 you used to create the links on the Custom Commands tab as shown below:

In 2013 this feature has been updated and no longer exists on the new or edit forms. This blog post covers how you can links items in 2013 using the web interface.

Firstly we will look at how you do this from one of the lists, in this example we will use the Issues list. As you can see in the image below, I have 2 issues:

To link Issue 1 to a task in the project, click Issue 1 and you will see the following page:

Click Add Related Item:

Double click Tasks:

Select the task required and click Insert:

Issue 1 will now show task T1 as the related item:

Clicking T1 will load the display form for T1 and show Issue 1 as the related item:

The project schedule in PWA will show the Issue icon that links to the Issue (same as 2010):

It is the same process described above to link Issues to Risks or Risks to Issues etc.

The second method to link tasks to issues is from the Tasks list on the project site:

Click one of the tasks:

Click Show More:

Click Add Related Item and follow the same steps above to select the related item.

The third method is from the schedule page in PWA. Select the task from the grid and click the Options tab:

Click the Related Items button on the ribbon and that task will open from the task list on the project site:

Notice this time the Related Items is displaying by default. This is due to &ShowRelatedItems=1 being appended to the URL. Now follow the same steps detailed above to select the related item.

Slightly more steps to link items but very simple.

#Project #MVP Award #ProjectServer #SharePoint #PS2013# SP2013

April 22, 2013 at 12:46 pm | Posted in Information, Personal | 9 Comments
Tags: MVP, Project Server 2010, Project Server 2013

I am very pleased to announce that I was awarded the MVP award for Project in April 2013. I am grateful for such recognition for doing something I really enjoy, helping out fellow Project Server community members. I have been holding off announcing the award as my surname is wrong on the award, it states Paul Mathers instead of Paul Mather. This is something that is being corrected but will take time.

I look forward to continuing helping out in the Project,Project Server and SharePoint communities. Smile

#ProjectServer 2013 ribbon in different browsers with different zoom levels #PS2013 #SP2013

April 18, 2013 at 3:44 pm | Posted in Administration, Functionality, Information, Workarounds | 1 Comment
Tags: Office365, Project 2013, Project Server 2013, PS2013, SharePoint 2013, SP2013

A quick post just to highlight how different browsers will render the ribbon differently based on the zoom level of the session. Some examples below to show the differences between IE 9 and Chrome version 26. At the default 100% all browsers render the ribbon identically. All pages / ribbons are affected.

IE 9 – Tasks Page – 125% zoom:

Chrome – Tasks Page – 125% zoom:

Notice the buttons are all grouped together.

What is interesting is if you increase the zoom to 150% in Chrome the buttons are no longer grouped:

Just something to be aware of if you have a user who raises this. Ask them to press Ctrl and 0 to set the zoom to the default 100% and the buttons should appear as normal on the ribbons.

#ProjectServer and #SharePoint 2010 / 2013 April 2013 Cumulative Update #PS2010 #SP2010 #PS2013 #SP2013 #MSProject

April 15, 2013 at 9:34 am | Posted in Administration, CU, Fixes | 1 Comment
Tags: Project 2010, Project 2013, Project Server 2010, Project Server 2013, PS2010, PS2013, SP2010, SP2013

The Office 2013 April 2013 Cumulative Updates are now available, please see the links below:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2832224

Project Server 2013 Server Roll up package April 2013 CU (Recommended):
(Delayed)
Project Server 2013 April 2013 CU (Included in the Server Roll up package):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2760261
Project 2013 April 2013 CU:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2768336

Also worth noting, install the March 2013 Public update: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2768001 if installing the April 2013 CU.

The Office 2010 April 2013 Cumulative Updates are now available, please see the links below:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2832226

Project Server 2010 Server Roll up package April 2013 CU (Recommended):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2775426
Project Server 2010 April 2013 CU (Included in the Server Roll up package):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2791064 & http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2760780
Project 2010 April 2013 CU:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2794664
Remember SP1 is a pre-requisite for the Office 2010 April 2013 CUs.
For more details please see:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/projectsupport/archive/2013/04/11/microsoft-project-server-2007-2010-and-2013-april-2013-cu-announcement.aspx
As always, test these updates on a replica test environment before deploying to production

#ProjectServer #SSRS Report with multivalued parameters #SQL #PS2010 #SP2010

March 17, 2013 at 6:03 pm | Posted in Configuration, Customisation, Functionality, Reporting, T-SQL | 1 Comment
Tags: Project 2010, Project Server 2010, PS2010, SQL, SSRS

A quick blog post to highlight the use of one of the Project Server Reporting database functions to resolve an issue when using an SSRS multi value parameter.

There are several methods to get multi value parameters working in SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) including dataset filters, joining parameters and custom SQL functions – other blogs / forum posts detail these. This post demonstrates using a function that is available in the Project Server Reporting database. The function is called MSP_FN_Utility_ConvertStringListToTable. An example SQL Stored Procedure that will allow multi values can be seen below:

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[SP_ProjectData] (
        @ProjUID NVARCHAR (max)
)AS
BEGIN
select            P.ProjectName
           ,    T.TaskName
from            MSP_EPMProject_UserView P
INNER JOIN        MSP_EPMTask_UserView T
ON                P.ProjectUID = T.ProjectUID
INNER JOIN        MSP_FN_Utility_ConvertStringListToTable (@ProjUID) AS PU
On              P.ProjectUID IS NULL or P.ProjectUID like PU.TokenVal
END

Create the SQL query as normal but instead of using a where clause to filter the Project UIDs join on to the function as shown above.

#ProjectServer #PowerView report in #Excel 2013 #PS2010 #PS2013 #Office2013

March 1, 2013 at 11:51 pm | Posted in Administration, Configuration, Functionality, Reporting, T-SQL | 1 Comment
Tags: EPM, Office 2013, Project 2010, Project 2013, Project Server 2010, Project Server 2013, PS2010, PS2013

This post will take a brief look at creating a map view of Project Server data – this does assume you tag your projects with a location!

For the purpose of this post I will use the example Excel file shown below – this pulls data from one of my test Project Server PWA instances, hence the project names!