Check out MPUG

I remembered that I have not said anything about my very favorite users group yet to all of you.


A few years ago, I learned of the Microsoft Project Users Group or MPUG.  I attended a meeting and found myself in group of like minded individuals.  MPUG is independent of Microsoft, but is obviously (given the subject matter) closely related to Microsoft.  It is not large in terms of users groups, (nowhere near the size of the SharePoint Users Group for example) but it is focused on Microsoft Project.  From the beginning I learned a lot from the meetings and from networking with other users of Project that I met at the meetings. 


MPUG is a international organization and there are local chapters in many locations.  I am now on the board of the Boston chapter and I am still learning a lot.  The Boston chapter has 11 meetings a year, meeting every month except July.  Presentations vary from new things in the latest release of Project to "How Project Saved my life (or at least made my job easier)" and everything in between.  Membership in MPUG is $119/year and they do run specials that reduce the price to $99 or so once a year at least.  Membership gets you access to the site with all the content, including Webinars and notifications of local meetings.  There are also company memberships that reduce the price significantly.  So, if you work with several other Project Managers, use Project and have boss that is willing to invest in human resources, check it out.


The web site: www.mpug.com


I have given presentations at Boston MPUG meetings, in fact one of my earlier posts contains a presentation that I gave at a meeting.


Microsoft Project is a very complex tool and the learning curve is long.  Perhaps MPUG will assist you in shortening the learning curve as it has for me.

MS Project Filters - How does one filter for empty or null text columns

I have learned something about how MS Project and Project Server work.  Recently, I was developing a new Enterprise column and the associated filters and views.  The intent of the column is to capture textual information that related the requirements of the work to the related tasks in the schedule or project plan.  This textual information was to be keyed into the Enterprise column for the task or tasks that developed the work related to the project requirement.


So, I created the column as a test column and went on the developing the a view and table that displayed the column as needed.  Then I created the filters that displayed the tasks that had entries in the column.  One filter prompted the user for a text string and then displayed the tasks that had the text string in the column.  I used the "contains" operator and the text string provided by the user as the filter.  This filter worked well, just as I wanted it to.


I then developed a filter to display only the tasks that had something in the column, something other than spaces or null characters.  I tried using the "does not contain" operator and '""' which is sometimes used to indicate a Null field.  It did not work.  All the tasks in the schedule or project plan were displayed.  I tried using the "does not equal" operator and Null in the comparison field.  Project did not allow this stating that "does not equal" was not a valid comparison operator for a text column.  I then tried using the "contains" operator and a period in the comparison field.  In this instance the text string entered does include a period as a matter of course.  This did work, but I felt the need to try to improve the filter.  What if a user decided to use dashes instead of period in the text string?


At this point, I searched the web and could not find any reference to my situation.  I found references to such comparisons using other Microsoft tools, SQL Server, Excel, etc.  But none in Project.  This surprised me as usually, there is a lot of commonality among the Microsoft products when is comes to things like comparisons.  I finally settled on using the "greater than" operator and a 0.  It worked.  It seemed odd in that it was a text column after all.  I usually think of the greater than operator with numeric fields.  While this does work, I do not feel that it is bullet proof.


When I setup the same filters in Project Server, I was reminded that the prompt feature of a filter is not supported in Project Server.  It is not possible for PWA to ask for input and then use it in a comparison.  The filter that displays all tasks with an entry in the column did work and it was implemented. 




In summary, I will use what works and continue to look for a better solution.
  

A couple of "ease of use" things for MS Project

I want to pass on to you a couple of things that help me in my work.  These are also the way I like things to be.  These may not be your personal preferences and that is okay, to each his own.


MS Project has changed over the years and sometimes Microsoft changes things for the worse not the better.  Sometimes, finding something that you used in the past involves searching for it in a later versions. 


In earlier versions of MS Project, the "Entry Box" was shown by default, but not in the 2010 version.  By Entry Box, I mean the space on the project window that allows the user to type an entry into the task name column cell or any other cell. There are times when this is very handy as the cursor can be positioned in the Entry Box and the text edited. 

As you can see, as the name is typed it is displayed in the Entry Box.  To turn this feature on, go to the File: Options: tab and select the Display tab.

Then check the Entry Box checkbox and it will be displayed in Project until you turn it off.

Microsoft allows the user to customize the interface of all the Office products.  One customization that I like is the mini toolbar.  This allows the user to have access to lots of functionality on main page without having to go to the ribbon and look for what is needed.  Here is an image of my mini toolbar:

You can see that I have the Save, Publish (Project Server only), Undo, Redo, Open, Print Preview, Print, Project Info, New project and the Gantt Wizard on my mini toolbar.  The default for Project is only the Save and Open icons.  To add or subtract these icons, either click on the semicolon to the right of the mini toolbar and select More Options or go to the File: Options: Quick Access Toolbar item.

You can add or remove icons from the list of the right by using the Add and Remove buttons in the middle.  My advice is to experiment and see what works for you.  Remember that these icons are contextual, some are at the task level and some at the project file level.  "Save" will save the file, "Information" is the task information for the selected task.  If more than one task is selected, a blank information window will be displayed, which basically shows all of the tasks' information for the selected tasks. 

You can customize all the Office products in the same way.  In my opinion it makes sense to look at these options and find out what works for you.