EPM Team

The Catapult EPM team is responsible for delivering Microsoft project and portfolio management solutions. Their blog reflects team insights and real-world experiences developing world-class EPM solutions.
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Oct14

ProjectPro: Setting Buffers (Part 2: Cost Buffers)

Following up on a previous post on setting schedule buffers, I figured it was about time to revisit the topic of buffers, this time with cost.  This post will discuss best practices in setting cost buffers using the budget resource feature in Microsoft Project 2007. First off, why should we set buffers on a project?  Simply put, buffers make projects more predictable and allow better planning ...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Wednesday, 14 Oct 2009 11:23.
0 Comments | Categories: Best Practices, Project Professional 2007, Project Management

 
Oct10

Become a Project Server 2007 Admin in 1 eMon

I developed this for a client a while back, and have had to refresh it and resend it multiple times.  Updated for 2009, here’s my latest version.  Note to the naysayers that this is not the end all be all of becoming a Project Server admin, but if you are on the business side, and have been appointed the owner of your Project Server instance, then this post is for you. Required Reading List: ...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Saturday, 10 Oct 2009 04:43.
0 Comments | Categories: Best Practices, Deployment

 
Oct9

Configuring IE to Search the Project Newsgroups

Figured that I would end the week by providing a useful tip for all of the Project Server administrators out there.  Here’s a neat trick to searching the Project newsgroups directly from your IE search window by using the Search Providers feature. 1) Add the Search Provider to your current list…to do this, click on the drop down arrow on the Search Bar, and choose the “Find More Providers” opt...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Friday, 9 Oct 2009 02:52.
0 Comments | Categories: Best Practices, Deployment

 
Oct7

Project Server Blogroll

Updating my blog list after the EPM Conference a couple of weeks ago.  Figured I'd share with the crowd.  Note that this is not scientific, and some of these may be dead links.  Some of these blogs haven't been updated in a while, but still have good information posted.  Some of these blogs aren't really Project or Project Server focused, but still mention it from time to time. RSS feeds ...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Wednesday, 7 Oct 2009 11:28.
0 Comments | Categories: Project Professional 2007, Project Server 2010, Deployment, Best Practices, Project Management

 
Oct5

A Cyclical View of Organizations

Autumn is when I first landed in Beijing back in 1995, and for some reason, the September/October time frame always brings back memories of chipped teeth on candied hawthorn, blustery Siberian windstorms - and two week holidays three times a year.  In the spirit of the season, I proffer up this story. A couple of years ago, I was delivering Microsoft Project desktop training for a private clie...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Monday, 5 Oct 2009 02:02.
0 Comments | Categories: Deployment, Organizational Change

 
Oct1

Shmula: Why Transformation Efforts Fail

Pete Abilla has a good series going on his blog with a look at barriers to organizational transformation.  Part 1 didn’t do much for me, but Part 2 definitely started to pique my interest. Part 1: http://www.shmula.com/1466/turnaround-and-change-management-do-not-waste-a-good-crisis Part 2: http://www.shmula.com/1510/why-transformation-efforts-fail...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Thursday, 1 Oct 2009 06:49.
0 Comments | Categories: Organizational Change