Microsoft has released a new cumluative update for Project 2007 and Project Server 2007. dated August 25, 2009. Information on the key elements is linked below. See Microsoft’s guidance on deploying cumulative updates for more information on how to deploy these updates if they’re applicable to you. The links below include both descriptions and download links so you can see if fixes you require are included in this cumulative update.

• Office 2007 Cumulative Update for August 2009
• Description of the Project 2007 hotfix package (Project.msp): August 25, 2009
• Download of the Project 2007 hotfix package (Project.msp): August 25, 2009
• Description of the Project Server 2007 hotfix package (Pjsrvapp.msp, Pjsrvwfe.msp): August 25, 2009
• Download of the Project Server 2007 hotfix package (Pjsrvapp.msp, Pjsrvwfe.msp): August 25, 2009
• Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Cumulative Update Server Hotfix Package (Sts.msp): August 25, 2009
• Download of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Cumulative Update Server Hotfix Package (Sts.msp): August 25, 2009
• Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 Cumulative Update Server Hotfix Package (Coreserver.msp): August 25, 2009
• Download of the SharePoint Server 2007 Cumulative Update Server Hotfix Package (Coreserver.msp): August 25, 2009

For more information on all updates for Project and Project Server 2007, visit our Project Server updates page.

We get requests on a regular basis from clients looking for advice on upgrading from Project Server 2003 to Project Server 2007.  There are reasons for and against and the decision isn’t obvious.

That in itself should be surprising.  After all, Microsoft ended official support for Microsoft Office Project 2003 and Project Server 2003 a couple of months ago.  The product is now 6 years old, they argued and, people should be upgrading.  Well, with no technical support from Microsoft, you’d think people would instantly drop Project Server 2003 and get going on Project Server 2007!

Here are a couple of the decision points to make though that has some clients take pause:

1. The architecture of Project Server 2007 is completely rewritten.  That may mean that links you’ve made to databases, or other aspects of the system have to be rewritten too.
2. If you wrote links or applications that touch Project Server through the old PDS API then you’ll need to rewrite them to the new PSI API.  If those acronyms don’t mean anything to you then you probably don’t have this concern.
3. Project Server 2007 works with SharePoint 2007 so that needs to be migrated too.  If you are doing other things with SharePoint 2003 (using an older version of Microsoft CRM or InfoPath for example) then those things might also need to be upgraded.  If you’ve done customizations in SharePoint 2003 then those also must be redone or migrated to the new SharePoint.
4. Were you using the Project Server 2003 timesheet?  The timesheet in Project Server 2007 is very different.  There is a two timesheet design in Project Server 2007 that you might or might not like.  If you like the 2003 model, then you might have custom programming to do or end up using open-source coding to change some of the timesheet look and feel or end up using a 3rd party timesheet interface like TimeControl.
5. Did you do custom reporting or dashboarding with Project Server 2003?  That’ll have to be reviewed and almost certainly changed for the new version.
6. Like that’s not all daunting enough, we all know that the next version of Microsoft Project Server is around the corner.  We should see Project Server 2010 in the first half of next year according to Microsoft. 

So, some clients want to wait even without support to see what Project Server 2010 will bring.

Some clients are concerned about waiting longer and say they won’t upgrade to Project Server 2010 until there’s a Service Pack 1.

Some clients want to do the migration to Project Server 2007 as soon as possible to resolve technical challenges and to get access to technical support

And some clients just can’t wait and will go to Project Server 2007 now and Project Server 2010 when it’s available.

If you’re interested in how to do the Project Server Migration, you’ll want to look at Microsoft’s Guide to Migrating to Project Server 2010.  It’s available at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc303388.aspx.

The Microsof Office Project Support blog is reporting an issue that has appeared for users of Project Server 2007, Service Pack 2 and its connectivity to Project Professional when trying to update the Enterprise Global settings. 

There is a fix in the pipeline which should see the light of day in August which we will report to you here. 

There is both a description of the problem and Microsoft’s suggested workaround.

Description:
The problem and fix is for Project Professional 2007, but only in an Enterprise environment with connectivity to Project Server 2007.  the views that are referenced here are the views within the client application. 

When you open the Enterprise Global from Tools, Enterprise Options, Open Enterprise Global and then go to edit a view (View, More Views) you will find that the view it brings up for editing is not the one you thought you should see, but a random view from the list.

Suggested Workaround:
The suggested workaround is that those few administrative users who need the ability to open the enterprise global should hold off installing SP2, but instead install SP2 with the August Cumulative Update when it becomes available. 

If you have already upgraded to SP2 then just for those few admins who need to open the EGT you could return to pre-SP2.  First make sure that for the user who needs to be “downgraded” that their projects are checked in, then uninstall Project Professional, then remove your cache files from <drive>:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Microsoft\MS Project\Cache (or for Vista and Windows 7 users <drive>:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\MS Project\Cache)  and then re-install to the level you were at prior to SP2.

The reason for checking in your projects first is that deleting from the Cache will lose any local changes that have not been saved. 

If you prefer not to go dabbling and deleting in the OS then another option would be to create a new connection account that would then give you a brand new cache.  This refers to the account you set up in Office Project Professional 2007 on the Microsoft Office Project Server Accounts page. You can access this page by clicking the Tools menu and then clicking Enterprise Options.

For more information on the local cache can be found at Understanding the Local Project Cache feature.

Microsoft has released an update to Project and Project Server 2007.  The “April 2009 Cumulative Update (CU).  Includes a number of changes that didn’t make it into Service Pack 2 which we’ve mentioned here previously.  The links on our Project and Project Server Updates page include descriptions of what has been fixed in this update, instructions on how to apply the fixes and some best practices on how to deal with updates when they’re released.  You can also find on this page the links to the Project and Project Server Service Pack 2 which is an important update for all users of Microsoft Project 2007 regardless of which version you’re using.
Read more…

Microsoft has released Service Pack 2 for Microsoft Project and Project Server.  There are a number of components of the upgrade and we’ve put all the links on our Microsoft Project System Updates page.  There are a wide range of improvements from Service Pack 1.  If you’ve been updating each month with the monthly updates we post here, you’ll have a lot of them already but some of the improvements include:

Project Standard and Project Professional

• The scheduling engine, Active Cache, and Gantt charts all have improvements.
• There is additional reliability with earlier versions of the .mpp format.

Project Server

• Better memory management in the queue service.
• Performance to certain database table indexes is improved.
• Resource plans, build team, cost resources, and the server scheduling engine have improved.

 Read more…

Microsoft has packaged a number of hot-fixes and other cumulative updates for Project Server 2007.  I’ve listed the updates on the Project Server Update page along with some other key information.  Since you have to consider not just the Project Server bits but also all the supporting technology, you’ll find also some updates for other elements of hte technology stack including the following:

Guidance on loading Project Server 2007 Cumulative Hotfixes
Description of March 2009 Project Server Hotfixes
Download March 2009 Project Server Hotfixes
Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 cumulative update package: February 24, 2009
Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 cumulative update package: February 24, 2009
Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 cumulative update package (MOSS server-package): February 24, 2009
Download of the SharePoint Server 2007 cumulative update package (MOSS server-package): February 24, 2009

For those of you trying to keep up with the changes in Project Server, hopefully this is of use.  At the same time, you may nave noticed that we’ve updated the EPMGuidance home page with a running feed from Microsoft of blog entries on tips and tricks of how to be effective with Project Server.

Systems: Microsoft Project Server 2007 updates
Microsoft Project Server 2007 has had a range of updates, service packs and patches.  There’s not a simple list of these updates on the Microsoft web site so we’ve made a cheat sheet list for you to get to them quickly.  Read more…