With SharePoint 2010 coming up later year, let’s not forget its close relative, Project Server 2010. There’s been speculation about whether the two systems are cousins, or siblings, or married. Let’s just call them good friends, and leave it that. Project Server is a thorough overhaul of Project Server 2007. Here are some of the key investments that make the new version compelling:
Unified Project and Portfolio Management
On the 2007 platform, Microsoft offered separate products, Project Portfolio Server 2007 and Project Server 2007. Portfolio Server was based on a similar product from UMT, and offered project demand management, selection metrics, and portfolio reporting. However, these functions required a separate installation and a completely different configuration and data gateway model. The great news is that Project Server 2010 offers project demand and portfolio lifecycle management as native functions. SharePoint-based workflows and forms and be marshaled at the outset to govern project requests and approvals, with the entire lifecycle – idea through closure – managed on one platform.
Simplified User Experience
In 2007, core Office applications were usually integrated in write-once/read-many mode. This means that a user could update an Excel file and have multiple users view the data through Excel Web Services. Project Server 2007 users should also be completely familiar with the process of authoring a project plan in Project Professional 2007, publishing it to server, and having users read the data with the Project Web Access ActiveX Controls.
In 2010, all of the core Office applications now offer a browser version, so Word or PowerPoint documents can be edited directly from the browser – whether or not you have Office 2010 installed. Project is no different – one a Project is published on the server, users (with appropriate permissions) can directly edit the plan from the browser. (Project Server 2007 only offered a limited interface to let users update their own assignments.)
The Fluent “Ribbon” user interface is also extended throughout Project Server, providing an easier way to access functions and properties without having to drill into a different web page.
Integration
Project Server 2010 is tightly coupled with SharePoint tasks lists. In Project Server 2010, you have the options to create a fully managed portfolio project composed entirely from entries in a SharePoint task list. And if you start with a Project 2010 file you can generate ongoing two way sync between the project and a SharePoint task list.
In addition, since Project Server 2010 shares the SharePoint Server Enterprise code base, we get access to all those great enterprise features – such as InfoPath Forms Services and Performance Point dashboards. Project reports are now presented directly in Performance Point business intelligence Report Center. In addition, the database schema has been sustained, so all 2007 based database reports should still work with 2010.
Finally Project Server can be tightly coupled to Exchange 2010. Individual task lists can now be linked server to server, instead of server to Outlook. This way, task updates can flow seamlessly among Outlook, connected mobile devices, and Outlook Web Access.
In short, Project Server 2010 is a rich, fully realized system for supporting the entire project lifecycle from your web browser. We can’t wait for its release later in 2010! Stay tuned…
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