Collaborate on Projects with Office 365

Here is a great video by Dux Raymond Sy:

Or watch the video at Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL7AAFE142E600516F&feature=player_embedded&v=JjwGMyJ4UN8
Here are the highlights:

• Office 365 is a combination of SharePoint, Exchange for email and Lync for Instant Messaging
• With Office Webapps, you can open and edit documents right within the browser
• Instantly message your colleagues with Lync integrated with SharePoint
• Co-Authoring enables multiple people to work on the same document at the same time
• Connect and Synch your SharePoint (Project) Calendar with Outlook and vice-versa
• Respond to Discussions on SharePoint from within Outlook
• Create Expense Trackers on SharePoint
• Create Dashboards on SharePoint using Web Parts
• Connect and Synchronize Excel Spreadsheets with SharePoint. Great for entering expense or other line-items using Excel
• Create Change Requests and manage them using Workflows. The thing I like about workflows is that with Visio Services integrated with SharePoint, you can easily see who the change request is waiting on.
• Create forms with InfoPath and access the forms on SharePoint
• With Microsoft Project’s integration with SharePoint, you can update tasks right within SharePoint and easily keep the project file synch’ed with SharePoint. All Project/Program Managers (myself included) make a note of this point. For large or small projects, developers and leads always want to know the latest and greatest schedule. Sometimes the latest version of the Project Plan remains with the Project/Program manager. I really like this feature.
• Project Tasks (from the project file) can be imported into Outlook. Cool!
• If you use OneNote to manage your project Notes, SharePoint makes Integration with OneNote a breeze. If you wanted your project notes can be shared.
• SharePoint is integrated with Windows Phone. If you have a shared OneNote notebook, you can easily send updated from your Windows Phone to your notebook on SharePoint.

Installing SharePoint 2010 on Windows 7

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I hope this post is helpful to those who are trying to install SharePoint 2010 on Windows 7 PC. I think I must have run into every error possible out there, probably due to lack of reading documentation and the fact that this is a Windows 7 Installation. At the end of it, it worked, which for me made my day. But first be sure to check out the references especially the article on how to install SP2010 on Windows 7 here.

If you run SharePoint 2010 setup.exe right off the bat on Windows 7, you’re most likely to be greeted with the below message “Setup is unable to proceed due to the following errors: This product requires Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 or above. Correct the issues listed above and re-run setup.”

You must complete steps 1 & 2 before running setup.exe

Once you complete the steps 1 & 2, you will be able to continue with the install.

Ouchie!

Exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.IdentityModel, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
File name: 'Microsoft.IdentityModel, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=….

To resolve the above error, I create a bat file, placed the below command in it and ran it:

prereq.bat (this is not provided in the installation, you can create it yourself)

start /w pkgmgr /iu:IIS-WebServerRole;IIS-WebServer;IIS-CommonHttpFeatures;IIS-StaticContent;IIS-DefaultDocument;IIS-DirectoryBrowsing;IIS-HttpErrors;IIS-ApplicationDevelopment;IIS-ASPNET;IIS-NetFxExtensibility;IIS-ISAPIExtensions;IIS-ISAPIFilter;IIS-HealthAndDiagnostics;IIS-HttpLogging;IIS-LoggingLibraries;IIS-RequestMonitor;IIS-HttpTracing;IIS-CustomLogging;IIS-ManagementScriptingTools;IIS-Security;IIS-BasicAuthentication;IIS-WindowsAuthentication;IIS-DigestAuthentication;IIS-RequestFiltering;IIS-Performance;IIS-HttpCompressionStatic;IIS-HttpCompressionDynamic;IIS-WebServerManagementTools;IIS-ManagementConsole;IIS-IIS6ManagementCompatibility;IIS-Metabase;IIS-WMICompatibility;WAS-WindowsActivationService;WAS-ProcessModel;WAS-NetFxEnvironment;WAS-ConfigurationAPI;WCF-HTTP-Activation;WCF-NonHTTP-Activation

Check to see if there are any Windows Updates. If there are, go ahead and apply them.

Above Problem was solved, over to the next

Exception: Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeException: Failed to call GetTypes on assembly Microsoft.Office.Server.Search, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c. Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.DataVisualization, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=…' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Googled the issue and found a possible solution:

This assembly is part of the "Microsoft Chart Controls for the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5", one of the prerequisites to install SharePoint 2010. You can download the right version at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=122517

Also install Windows Identity Foundation from here

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=17331

The Windows Identity Foundation helps simplify user access for developers by externalizing user access from applications via claims and reducing development effort with pre-built security logic and integrated .NET tools.

I installed the highlighted one

Another issue: Exception: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: User cannot be found.

If you are installing as an administrator but your account is part of a domain, you will need to make sure you have online access to the domain controller. Otherwise configuration will fail on Step 2 with “Exception: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: User cannot be found.” This was resolved after I logged into my domain using VPN.

and another issue: By now, I am ready to pull my hair out.

Solution here helped: http://blogs.technet.com/b/wbaer/archive/2009/12/11/common-microsoft-sharepoint-server-2010-installation-issues-and-resolutions.aspx

and finally: Aaahhhhh relief. Its 9 AM and I’m ready for a beer.

Resources:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee554869(office.14).aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/wbaer/archive/2009/12/11/common-microsoft-sharepoint-server-2010-installation-issues-and-resolutions.aspx

 

Microsoft BI: Developing KPIs and Scorecards with Microsoft SharePoint 2010 PerformancePoint Services

PerformancePoint Services 2010 is the next generation performance management application from Microsoft. Delivered as a Microsoft SharePoint 2010 shared application, it provides rich Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and scorecard definitions.

Let’s create a PerformancePoint data source that will connect to Adventure Works DW 2008R2 Analysis Services Cube.

Go to PerformancePoint Content:

Go to Items>

Dashboard library is designed to store dashboards.

Data Connections stores various connection files: PerformancePoint Data Sources, Office Data Connection files and Universal Data Connection files.

Under Data Connections, Go to PerformancePoint Data Source

If Dashboard Designer is not already installed, then you’ll be prompted to run the install:

Dashboard Designer should launch:

Choose Analysis Services Data Source:

Specify your analysis services connection:

The Unattended Service Account means that the credentials configured for the PerformancePoint Services application will be used.

Go to Properties Time and choose:

In the time member association set the time aggregation as shown:

When you save, the connection is saved and visible in the Data Connections library:

Save the workspace by clicking the save as button:

The workspace is an XML document that defines the PerformancePoint item definitions for a particular project.

Now lets create a Sales Performance KPI

Right click on PerformancePoint Content and add a new KPI:

Go to Properties and enter the Name: Sales Performance, Display Folder: KPIs

Change the default Actual and Target to: Sales and Sales Target

Configure the Sales metric data column:

Assign “Reseller Amount” to Sales and “Sales Amount Quota” to Sales Target.

Adjust Threshold 1 to 85%

Now lets add Profit% and Profit% Target by clicking the buttons “New Actual” and “New Target” respectively. In PerformancePoint Services 2010, metrics can be based on existing data sources, existing metrics for the current KPI, or calculations. Calculations allow multiple values to be sourced and combined into a single formula. The Calculated Metric tab lists samples and common formulas.

In the Select a Data Source window, click the Calculated Metric tab and select Gross Profit Margin.

Map GrossProfit to AdventureWorks>Reseller Gross Profit and NetSales to Reseller Sales Amount

To adjust the formula, in the Formula box, remove the * 100, and then click OK

Configure Profit% Target to 0.03

In the Format Number window, select Percentage in the Format list and apply Percentage format (2 decimals) to Profit% and Profit% Target.

Click Set Scoring Pattern and Indicator in the Thresholds section/

In the Edit Banding Setting window, review the default scoring pattern and method, and then click Next.

Choose Stoplight A – Small and click Next.

Observe default worst value and click finish.

Save the workspace.

Now lets create a Sales Performance Scorecard.

Choose a Blank Scorecard:

Change the Scorecard name to “Sales Performance Scorecard”.

From the Details pane on the right, drag and drop the KPI we created into the Scorecard.

From the Dimensions, drag and drop Sales Territory>Sales Territory into the Scorecard:

Right-Click Select all descendants.

To view the data, go to Edit>View>Update

To remove the Profit% metric, right-click the Profit% cell, and then click Delete. To modify the Profit% Target metric, right-click the Profit% Target cell, and then click Metric Settings. Change as shown below:

Change the font color of Territory Dimension Members to blue and Save the Score Card in the Workspace.

Here is the final Scorecard:

Summary:

We learned how PerformancePoint items are catalogued and managed in SharePoint Server 2010. We created and configured data sources. We created and configured Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and we created and configured a scorecard.