#SharePoint 2010 error setting PerformancePoint unattended account #SP2010 #PS2010 #HP
May 7, 2013 at 8:35 pm | Posted in Installation, Administration, Functionality, Workarounds, Information, Configuration | 1 CommentTags: 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 CommentsTags: 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 CommentTags: 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 CommentTags: 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 
#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 CommentsTags: 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.
#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 CommentTags: 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 #SSRS Report with multivalued parameters #SQL #PS2010 #SP2010
March 17, 2013 at 6:03 pm | Posted in Configuration, Customisation, Functionality, Reporting, T-SQL | 1 CommentTags: 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 CommentTags: 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!
In Excel 2013, click Insert > Power View Reports:
You will now see a Power View report:
To create a map with the projects plotted in the correct location by cost, see the steps below.
On the design tab, click Map and you will see the following:
Now click the map and modify the Power View fields shown below:
For this example, add ProjectCost to the size property, add Project Locations to the Locations property and set the colour property to ProjectName:
Increase the size of the map and add a title:
You can hover over the data circles and a tooltip will appear with the project details:
The data can be refreshed and the map updates.
A quick and simple report to show projects by location.
Dynamic Timeline image on #ProjectServer Project Site #PS2010 #SP2010 #MSProject #VBA
February 4, 2013 at 4:06 pm | Posted in Administration, Functionality, Add-on, Customisation, Configuration, Reporting, VBA | 3 CommentsTags: Project Server 2010, PS2010, SharePoint 2010, SP2010, Project 2010, Office 2010
One question we have from many clients is, can we have the project timeline image on the project site. The answer is yes, but this will not update automatically in Project Server 2010. On a side note, it is possible to have the timeline view in Project Server 2013 PWA!
This blog post covers a workaround to this limitation in Project Server 2010 using VBA. At this point I will state that I am no VBA expert, my VBA knowledge is very limited to say the least. This is a simple macro but I’m sure it could be improved 
For this to work a custom DLL is required on the workstations as there is no option to save a clipboard image to a file in VBA (as far as I know!). The DLL can be downloaded here: http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?585616-clipboard-activex-for-vba-vbs-etc Use this at your own risk as I do not know the code behind this DLL!
For this example, I created a file share to store my images \\vm353\ProjectSiteTimeLineImages. All users will need read / write access to this share.
The VBA code can be seen below, add this to the Enterprise Global:
Private Sub App_ProjectBeforePublish(ByVal pj As Project, Cancel As Boolean)
Dim clip As Object
Dim proj As Project
Set proj = ActiveProject
Dim path As String
path = “\\vm353\ProjectSiteTimeLineImages\”
Dim file As String
file = “.bmp”
Dim fileName As String
fileName = path & proj & file
Application.ViewApply Name:=”Timeline”
Application.TimelineExport SelectionOnly:=0, ExportWidth:=1000
Application.ViewApply Name:=”Gantt Chart”
Set clip = CreateObject(“clipbrd.clipboard”)
SavePicture clip.GetData, fileName
Set clip = Nothing
End Sub
Before a project is published the timeline image will be saved as a file to the share. See the example / walkthrough below:
File share before publish:
Create a new project, save and publish:
File share after publish:
Image:
Now we have the timeline as an image, this needs to be added to the project site using an image viewer web part – I won’t go into the details as this is basic SharePoint end user config task. See the Project site below with the image:
Notice only 3 tasks are added to the timeline, lets add some additional tasks.
I have added task T5 and added this to the timeline:
After publishing this project, refresh the project site:
A nice simple solution to a dynamic timeline image on the Project Server 2010 Project Sites. After publishing more projects, more timeline images will appear in the shared folder:
As mentioned, the VBA could be improved with error handling etc. Use this and the custom DLL at your own risk and fully test on a test workstation and PWA instance first.
Preconfigured #ProjectServer solution – Project Server Plus from CPS #PS2010 #PS2013 #SP2013 #Office2013
January 2, 2013 at 1:07 pm | Posted in Administration, Configuration, Customisation, Functionality, Information | 1 CommentTags: Project 2010, Project 2013, Project Server 2010, Project Server 2013, PS2010, PS2013, SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013
Just a quick post to highlight a product from CPS, Project Server Plus. This is a quick start preconfigured Project Server solution includes best practice fields and lookup tables, Views, RAG calculations and indicators, many great dashboards / reports and an enhanced Project Site template – all out of the box.
For details see:
http://www.cps.co.uk/What-We-Do/Pages/Project-Server-Plus.aspx
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