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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Feb5

Goodbye KAPOW! Hello New World

I’ve seen this question show up a couple of times in the forums for Microsoft Project 2010….whatever happened to the Copy Picture to Office Wizard tool? – or as I like to call it, the CPOW (pronounced KAPOW). Here’s the tool in 2007.  If you squint your eyes, it looks kind of like a camera with a blue lens: …or it can be found in the Reports menu. And here’s what it looks like in 2010. ...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Friday, 5 Feb 2010 08:30.
0 Comments | Categories: Project Professional 2010

 
Feb3

Tips and Tricks: Saving an MPP File to Access

A lot of folks ask in the newsgroups how to save a Project file to Access.  This may be done for a number of reasons: Connecting to a reporting structure. (See an old article by Neville Turbit on project reporting in Access) Connecting to a SharePoint front end.  (Richard Fennell’s take on Access Services in SharePoint 2010, a video demo of Access Services 2010) Interacting with homegrow...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Wednesday, 3 Feb 2010 07:02.
0 Comments | Categories: Project Professional 2007, Project Professional 2010

 
Feb2

Houston SharePoint Event: Search TechDive on 2/10

Reposting teammate Rafael Perez’s invite to what is sure to be a scintillating (or at least mildly interesting if you’re into such things) evening talking about search capabilities in SharePoint 2007.  Come away with ideas of how to optimize your SharePoint based PM Information System. SharePoint TechDive: http://www.sptechdives.com/  The event is at the Catapult office at Richmond & the ...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Tuesday, 2 Feb 2010 08:24.
0 Comments | Categories: SharePoint

 
Feb2

Austin PMO LIG: PM & SharePoint (2/24)

I am not sure how the Austin PMO LIG stacks up, but the Central Ohio one I used to attend was a great forum for sharing ideas and mixing with local program/portfolio managers.  This event is at the Texas Association of School Boards.  From the invitation e-mail I received yesterday… ****** Have you wondered at all buzz regarding SharePoint and Project Management? Well, come join us for a de...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Tuesday, 2 Feb 2010 08:23.
0 Comments | Categories: Project Management, SharePoint

 
Jan29

Innovation, Project Portfolio Management, and Fractal Organizations (Part 3)

Well, I started this three part post back in September, then got caught up in other things, and never quite got around to finishing it.  I thought for a while of taking the Douglas Adams approach to trilogies: “Check out these two blog posts, giving a whole new meaning to the term ‘Three Part Series.’”  However, finding myself to be a posterchild for the Language Action Perspective, I felt that...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Friday, 29 Jan 2010 11:41.
0 Comments | Categories: Innovation, Best Practices

 
Jan27

What-If Analysis with Microsoft Project 2010

I’ve attended a couple Microsoft Project 2010 events as of late, but of yet, I haven’t seen this functionality getting much play.  On first glance, I think this could be one of the most compelling new features added to Project: the task level Active field. Usage Scenarios Scenario #1: The project manager has been requested to calculate the cost and schedule impact of a potential change order....
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Wednesday, 27 Jan 2010 07:58.
2 Comments | Categories: Project Professional 2010, Project Server 2010

 
Jan26

Upcoming 2/11 ITSMf Houston Event: Service Portfolios

The ITSMf Houston mailing list autospammed me the other day inviting me to an interesting upcoming event on Service Portfolios presented by Reginald Best, a Deloitte consultant - and if my memory doesn’t fail me from a brief conversation in Austin two years ago, a fellow Buckeye-in-exile. The event is on 2/11 and will be at the BMC offices in Westchase.  Free event, free food, good content.  I...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Tuesday, 26 Jan 2010 06:53.
0 Comments | Categories: Operations, Project Management

 
Jan25

Why You Should Care About ITIL…

I’ve had a couple of ITIL conversations as of late…mostly centering around the question of what exactly it is.  I’ve given the standard response as to British government best practices on IT operations supported by a vibrant collection of user groups around the world.  That never seemed to resonate. Then I was chatting with an ex-oilfield equipment sales representative, and I was trying to fin...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Monday, 25 Jan 2010 06:59.
0 Comments | Categories: Organizational Change, Operations

 
Jan21

Creating a Dynamic Project Timeline Using Visio Services

Continuing with the BI thread, I was demoing dynamic reporting using SharePoint 2010 Visio Services during a recent Project Server BI spiel in Houston.  What struck me with the crowd, which was primarily from the oil and gas industry, was the interest in the Visio timeline.  I must admit, having used Microsoft Project for so long, I kinda forgot how many folks still use the Visio timeline view ...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Thursday, 21 Jan 2010 01:12.
1 Comment | Categories: Business Intelligence, Project Server 2010

 
Jan19

Modifying the Default ODC Files to Filter on Specific Projects

This is another posting from our BI presentations last week in Houston and Dallas.  This is the first part of creating a dynamic Visio report, with the second part coming out later this week.  For that post, I plan to tackle the question of creating a dynamic Visio timeline linked to project data.  In the meantime, this is the prerequisite information on how to modify the Office Data Connector ...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Tuesday, 19 Jan 2010 06:45.
0 Comments | Categories: Project Server 2010, SharePoint