Bill Raymond

Great Photography Spots

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 05:47:44 GMT

Recently I was speaking with some fellow amateur photographers and we were talking about our favorite places to shoot photographs. Although there are many favorites, the most approachable and forgiving was Vancouver. Added to my photos library are a selection of Vancouver photos I took in 2006 that highlight this beautiful city.

Creating Programs in Microsoft Project Server

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:30:26 GMT

If you watched my recent video blog showing how to create KPI's with SharePoint, you will have noticed I had one SharePoint site with multiple projects related to it. You really did not have a nice way of handling this in SharePoint 2.0 (2003). With SharePoint 3.0 (2007), it is quite easy to set up and Project Server supports this.

First, you create a brand new Project Schedule in Microsoft Project Professional. Publish this project and specify a name for the SharePoint site.
For any new projects that should be part of the same SharePoint site, create those schedules in Project Professional and specify the same location as the first one.

Microsoft Project Professional and Project Server 2007 fully support master projects, so you might create the first schedule as an empty one, then after all the others are creating, insert the links into the master.

-Bill

(update) VIDEO: Governing Programs and Projects with SharePoint KPI's

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:44:20 GMT

UPDATE: I meant to select "Average" in the demonstration and chose "Sum". Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

Hello All,

It has been awhile since I posted a video and I hope you like this one. In looking at the new features of SharePoint Server 2007, I started looking into KPI's -- or Key Performance Indicators -- and how they can support programs and projects. This is a nice new feature and although maybe not as full-functioned as you might want it is still very powerful.

Please enjoy the video and let me know what you think. Since the video is hosted elsewhere, I am hoping you do not have problems. Please let me know if there are issues and I will address it right away.

Enjoy!

-Bill

Link me up, Scotty

Mon, 14 May 2007 05:20:38 GMT

Every now and again I stumble upon a restaurant that puts me into such a good mood I cannot wait to go back. Or worse, makes me want to order everything on the menu and damn the consequences.

Tonight I found such a place and it is so good I hesitate to recommend it (I like keeping the really good ones to myself). It is funny how I ended up at this restaurant. While dining at Kensington Grill (http://entertainment.signonsandiego.com/profiles/places/91313), a self-described “regular” sitting next to me stated with enthusiasm that I must try "this great little French restaurant on 30th". She could not remember the name but explained how to get there.

Turns out I met someone actually worse at directions than me. There was no French restaurant to be found. As I meandered down 30th quaint little restaurant named The Linkery beckoned. Now this is my kind of spot. Fresh ingredients from farms the owner and his staff personally visited. Inexpensive but phenomenal wines. Laid back music, dimly lit spots and a vaulted chalk board highlighting the evening's specials.

Once saddled up to the bar, Chelsea described in great detail how the menu worked and set me on my way to decide. This was not easy. The menu is made up of specials, perfectly prepared perpetuals (is that a Bush-ism?) and salads.

Did I mention anything can be served with their in-house sausages? That's right; you can order a nice light salad and have them top it off with homemade sausages and even their house-made slab bacon.

There is more than just pork, although I had a North Carolina pulled Pork and red onion sandwich with house-cured pickles, slaw and a side of spicy mustard. For those that know me, I am not a big beef fan. This might have ended tonight because someone ordered a burger that smelled so incredibly good I seriously thought of going back into the kitchen and greedily eating it right off the grill. This place truly makes your teeth tingle with anticipation.

It was interesting to learn about this very unique venture. There is no tipping. The owner -- a former programmer -- decided to offer his staff a salary and health benefits which is covered by a service charge automatically added to your bill. If you do tip, that money goes to charities the staff selects. The walls without chalk boards were covered in beautiful framed photographs taken by refugee children ages 11-16. The artwork is years ahead of most professional photographs I've seen so check out the website listed below.

The next time you are in San Diego, check out The Linkery and bring an empty stomach.

Website: www.thelinkery.com

Aja Refugee website: http://www.ajaproject.org/

-Bill

Carlsbad Street Fair Pictures

Mon, 07 May 2007 00:59:31 GMT

Today I went to the Carlsbad Street Fair. Touted as the largest street fair in California, it was quite large. Parking was expensive and I forgot to wear lotion so now look like a Maine Lobster fresh out the water pot. Given street fairs are pretty much all the same (biggest or not), I focused my lens on other things. There was a really nice looking fire truck the Carlsbad Fire Department has been working on as a pet project during off hours. They are very proud of it and I can see why as they are doing an amazing job. Rudolph was smiling and a fire hydrant proclaimed an end to violence. Enjoy! -Bill

Update on the Blog and Earth Day

Wed, 02 May 2007 21:41:56 GMT

Well, I have not posted much lately and am working on some interesting videos I hope to publish soon. Many of them are at your request. Please let me know if you find these to be helpful or there is anything I can do to improve them. I'm thinking about using MSN Soapbox to host new videos so let me know if you have any opinions.

Today I posted some pictures that I took at Earth Day in San Diego. I took so many pictures it was hard to decide what to post but these pretty much capture it, I think. It was a little strange having these earthy-crunchy people walking around in their hemp clothes and "Once you go Organic you will never go back" buttons and the only food served in this entire event was hot dogs and hamburgers. Very strange.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures!

-Bill

San Diego Pictures

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:43:08 GMT

Last year, I moved from Boston to San Diego. As an amateur photographer, San Diego has so much to offer. Here are some pictures I took over the last few months. I've been using these as wallpaper on my portable computer lately. -Bill

Video: Use Workflow to Convert a Risk to an Issue

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:00:50 GMT

Lately, I've been playing around with Windows Workflow in SharePoint and was taking a look at how the SharePoint Designer works as well. This quickie video shows how to create a custom workflow that looks to see if an risk has aged and should be converted to an issue.

The audio is pretty bad (time to get a better headset) but hopefully you will find this helpful.

-Bill

New Camera and Lens Phots

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 05:49:56 GMT

A long time ago, I liked to do photography. Once I got into consulting and started traveling, I stopped. Then, one day, I realized with my travels there were so many good photos to capture. So, I purchased a DSLR, then another and then lenses, and then, and then, and then...

Anyhow I went from enjoying photography to being outright addicted. Here are a few of my very first DSLR pictures from a year ago. Each one represents playing with a new lens (or a seond camera ). Enjoy these photos.

Travel Pet Peeves

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 04:17:01 GMT

Anyone that knows me is aware my travel schedule is about as hectic as an atom trying to keep stable in the ocean. Whatever that means.

A good friend of mine asked me to list a few travel pet peeves for her MBA program. I was happy to help out but my short little list of items turned into an all out rant on planes, trains, automobiles, hotels and everything it takes to get from point A to point B. My first cut was way too politically incorrect so I adjusted a bit and left out some obvious repeat offenders but I must say, if you are reading this and see your company mentioned, please let me and my friendly readers know of your intentions to get off the list.

Read this list and reply to add your own. I can't wait to hear some good ones! -Bill

TO THE AIRPORT:

Taxis making up excuses that their machines mysteriously stopped working, requiring you to pay cash.
Paying for the cab driver to wait curbside at a nearby ATM for you to get the cash to pay them (due to their non-working credit card machines).
Driving yourself to the airport to learn the central parking area is full and have to spend a half hour parking your car and taking a slow bus through all terminals until they get to yours.
$25/day parking space at the airport.

AT THE AIRPORT TO CATCH THE PLANE:

Cab drivers that made deals with the sleazy paid-by-cash-tip curbside bag check agents. They let your bags get taken before your right leg hits the pavement.
Smart people that can’t read a sign that clearly reads “Follow this arrow to the [insert airline here] ticket counter”. To further draw attention to their confusion, they come to a complete halt right in front of you with no care or attention paid to your stumbling over their bags and being forced to cut across the hall and drop-kick a small child.
TSA agents with nails longer than your ticket.
No Starbucks.
Calling the airline at the airport for a flight change with a voice recognition system that takes direction from Wolf Blitser on CNN instead of you trying to speak with an agent.

AT THE STATION TRYING TO CATCH THE TRAIN:

Urine smell.
Dunkin’ Donuts and no Starbucks. Sorry Dunkin', but you need to buy quality tea like you do coffee and offer honey just as you do sugar. Do this, and I promise you will no longer have two space on my Pet Peeve list.
Smoking allowed outside at the train tracks.
Ticket counter clerks with broken speakers and microphones trying to speak with you through an 8” thick plane of bullet proof plexiglass.
Urine smell.

ON THE PLANE:

Middle seats.
Window seats.
Sitting in the middle seat with people on both sides deciding you do not deserve use of the arm rest.
Sitting at the window and needing to use the bathroom more than once.
Fat sales guys who feel they are so important it is okay to shout vulgar epithets in front of woman and children when the flight is delayed.
Using the bathroom, soaping up your hands and finding the airline forgot to fill up with water.
Flying cross-continent next to a woman that loves her hair so much it must be flipped every minute or two in such a way stray follicles find their way directly into your mouth, eyes or neck.
Feeling said stray hair on your neck and not being able to find it.
Flying first class and dealing with the cattle in the ‘standard cabin’ coming down and using your bathroom.
Getting an accusatory glance from the same person that ‘dealt it’ next to you and feeling like you must state it was the person that ‘smelled it’ who did the deed.

ON THE TRAIN:

Fat sales guys that find it critical to speak extremely loud about their very important lives on the cell phone for all to hear.
Trying to pretend the couple who are just cuddling are really just cuddling without taking pictures or making a special request.
Doughy pretzels offered as a lunch item in the dining car.
The scenic sunrise views along the way. Sunset. Sunrise. Architectural wonders. Drying underpants behind the brick building where children play stick ball.

LANDING:

The attendant telling you it is okay to use your cell phone and then going on for 15 minutes about everything else you cannot do.
Long jetways and slow-moving walkers on the jetway that stand right in the middle to be sure you cannot pass them.
Wearing light clothes from your point of origin just for it to be negative 12 at your destination.
Same as above, but vice-versa.
Waiting at the baggage claim for ½ hour just to find out the claim was moved with no notice.

LEAVING THE TRAIN:

Smog and gas smells when getting off the train.
Getting off at the wrong stop because they are named the same. Did you know the same trains will stop at Penn Station in New Jersey and Penn Station in New York without making a specific city announcement?
Urine smells in the station.

AUTOMOBILES:

Getting to the car rental area just as your – and only you – rental shuttle leaves with no notice of your flailing arms and tired legs.
Having preferred status at the car rental facility and they forgot to list you.
Rental cars with unique scents.
Getting in your car and realizing the cost for your few days of parking cost you a few nights of nice nights on the town.
Losing your car ticket for the parking garage and paying full price for more days than you parked.
Parking your car for a long period of time just to find some hipster wrote “clean me” on the rear window of your car. How cool is he? I just feel like such a square for not thinking up such a laughable form of vandalism. “Clean Me”? That is soooo funny. I mean no one EVER thought of that before.

HOTELS:

Big, expensive properties with more restaurants you can imagine but their hours are “Open to Five Minutes Before You Arrived”.
Getting your room changed from a suite to a crappy single-bed situation.
European hotels. I need not say more.
Lousy airport hotels where the only view is a parking lot with a strange guy who does not blink sitting in a truck looking directly into your window.
No mini bar.
Waiting for a wakeup call that never happens.
Going to your favorite hotel where you are well known as a VIP just to have your colleague who just started traveling get a better room than you.
Getting out of the shower, pulling out a towel, rinsing your face to open your eyes and realizing the towel had encountered things that even you, with your sick, twisted mind, could imagine.
Big, thick curtains that won’t let a lick of light in, but never close together enough to prevent a concentrated stream of sunlight into the room that targets your face and burns spots into your retina for the remainder of the day.
Ironing your clothes naked in the hallway -- because the only available power socket is hidden in the closet – just to have the maid knock once, open the door without a wait and act surprised to see what they hoped for to begin with.
Seeing said maid when you are fully clothed and wanting to explain you have a spare tire now, but are planning heavy gym time to get back in shape.
Being happy with yourself to check in at the hotel before a favorite show is on television just to learn the only channel not working is the one with your favorite show.
Having no metrics whatsoever on what to leave for a tip at various classes of hotels.
Getting up on time and being fully prepared to face the world. Only one last thing remains to feel clean and ready to face the world.
Forgetting your toothbrush.
Getting a hotel toothbrush that for some reason has the same number of bristles but was designed for long-nosed alligators rather than human beings.
Cutting yourself with a hotel toothbrush.

(UPDATED LINK) VIDEO: Resource Utilization in Project Server 2007

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 00:39:38 GMT

In the last two weeks, I've had a number of discussions around how resource utilization is displayed in the Project Server 2007 environment. Basically, there are a number of ways in which you can set up resources and track their availability.

First, you typically start with a resource stored in the Enterprise Resource Pool (which is stored in a SQL Server database). Once you assign a calendar to the resource, Project Server will understand what your typically week's capacity looks like. With this knowledge, Project Managers can assign a resource to tasks in their project plans. Once published, the Project Server website (Project Web Access) will display views show how much a resource is utilized, when they are available and what the future outlook of that resource's availbaility might look like.

In Project Server 2003, it was pretty straightforward to determine a resource's availability. For the most part, you created a project plan and published it. Once published, any resources in a project plan would be updated and anyone going to the Project Web Access (PWA) site could see the updates.

With Project Server 2007, you can create two new types of project plans. These are web-based 'lightweight' projects called "Proposals" and "Activities". Both of these have two types of plans within them. One is a "Project Plan", where you can assign a resource to a task and another is a "Resource Plan", where you can just specificy resources.

But wait, there's more! You can also assign Teams to tasks now. A team member can 'assign' themselves to such tasks and that will affect their availability.

"More?" you say, well there is much more but one other common scenario is a resource updating their calendar like, say, their vacation schedule. That also affects a user's availability.

The video I created is about 45 minutes long and steps through all the scenarios you see above and shows when and how availability is updated in the Project Server 2007 suite.

Aside from just learning more than you probably want to know about resource availability, you will probably find this video very useful to learn more about lightweight projects and some of the new resource capabilities in Project Server.

EDITORS NOTE: Throughout this video, I refer to using Project Professional to publish a project plan. You do not have to use Project Pro. It can be done via the web, which was a heavily requested feature for 2007. If you want to publish via the web, you select a project in Project Center, Edit the project and click the "Save and Publish" button.

Link to the Video:

http://www.screencast.com/users/BillRaymond/collections/Default/media/effef605-814f-4ed0-80b4-ca93d7f8365b

Enjoy!

-Bill

Virtual PC 2007 Beta 1 Problem

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:41:36 GMT

I tend to keep a number of virtual machines on an 'options' drive, which is a high-speed secondary drive on my portable computer. Since I am using Windows Vista, the only Microsoft virtual machine solution is Virtual PC 2007 Beta 1 (I found a copy at http://connect.microsoft.com/).

Recently, I had removed the drive and shared it with a colleague who needed a copy of a VM for an upcoming LiveMeeting. Once I put the drive back in my computer, I tested all the VM's to make sure they worked. One of them did not. I received an error message telling me it was not a virtual machine or it was corrupted.

This was pretty upsetting to say the least and I went about deleting the VM from the VPC control panel and re-adding it. That did not work either. Knowing all the drives worked and my colleague never touched that VM, I was suspicious (note: I did make sure I used the 'safely remove hardware' feature before ejecting the disk).

Before re-building the entire VM again, I renamed the files and just put a '2' suffix on each filename, like this: MyVPC2.VMC, MyVHD2.VHD, etc.

Using the Virtual PC control panel, I re-added the same VMC/VHD files with the '2' suffix and it worked like a charm. I'm not sure what caused this problem but since it is beta, I'm guessing there was a corrupt entry in the software for the VM and just adding what it thinks is a new set of files did the trick.

-Bill

Windows Vista & Office Launch Events

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:57:58 GMT

Tomorrow, Jan 29 '07, I will be at the Moscone Center in San Francisco for the Windows and Office Launch event. If you are considering attending, or wondering "why should I attend?", this is from the Microsoft website:

http://www.microsoft.com/business/launch2007/signup/default.mspx

---CLIP (see link above for all details)---

Why Attend?

Attending one of the live launch events enables you to experience the latest technologies and gives you first-hand access to the new Microsoft solutions.

Receive your FREE copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2007 and Microsoft Office Groove 2007* when you attend a Windows Vista, 2007 Microsoft Office system, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 launch event near you!
Attend exclusive sessions designed for IT professionals, developers, and technology decision makers presented by the experts. Some events also feature sessions for small business users and Microsoft partners.
Receive valuable resources that will help you take full advantage of the new software.
Engage in networking opportunities with peers, Microsoft employees, and local technology partners.

---CLIP---

VIDEO: What's New in the Microsoft Project 2007 UI

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:32:22 GMT

As you may already know, Microsoft recently released Windows Vista and a brand new Office 2007 suite of products. Included in these new products are a brand new versions of Microsoft Project, Microsoft Project Server and SharePoint. There is too much to cover in all these products, so I will talk about many of the new features over time.

Some of the key new features in the Project Professional client -- with or without Project Server -- are the new user interface (UI) enhancements. As you will see, they are designed to help anyone updating project schedules to better understand how their changes affect the overall schedule. These key new features include:

Multi-level Undo
Change Highlighting
Task Drivers
... And a Reporting Database with Visual Reporting(!)

Rather than write an article on all these topics, I thought it might be a better idea to step you through the features in a video. It was designed in Flash and depending on your connection it might take up to a minute or so to begin showing the video. This is my first video and the audio and video could be better so any thoughts you have on improvements for future videos is greatly appreciated. For that matter, let me know if there is anything you think would make for a good 15-20 minute video.

To view the video, clink on this link:

(http://www.screencast.com/users/BillRaymond/media/346369c8-1119-4126-b40f-461163b14dfa)

Welcome to my new Blog site!

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:02:42 GMT

It has been a long time, but for many followers of my previous Blog site have pointed out, there were spam problems. After much investigation and stressing over making a final home for my blog, this is where I landed. It is a natural choice to use the Windows Live site since much of what I discuss is related to Microsoft technologies, such as Project Server, SharePoint and PerformancePoint.

One cool new thing I will be doing is posting videos, pictures and share some of my photography. If you are interested in a particular subject, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to respond and I will check occassionally.

This is my new blog space. Please bookmark it now or feel free to subscribe with RSS:
http://projectnation.spaces.live.com
I work for Pcubed (or Program Planning Professionals). Here is their website:
http://www.pcubed.com
I am really proud to be a member of the Microsoft MVP community. I didn't take the picture, so no comments please :-)
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile=F1E3809A-EBFB-4A98-A5B3-FE86C4E1842B

I will no longer post to the old Blog but the good folks at MPA have offered to keep my old Blog up for awhile. No guarantees as to when it will go down, but here is the link: http://blogs.lv0.net/mpatest/

Photo Album: New Camera and Lens Photos

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:28:19 GMT

New Camera and Lens Photos

Garlic

Budha

Busy Street

Entrance

Near Bloom

Squirel

Statue Face

Yellow Flower

Photo Album: Vancouver Photos

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 16:37:43 GMT

Vancouver Photos

Statue

Totem Pole

Garden

Budding Trees

Vancouver City Buildings

Vancouver City

Vancouver Buildings

Vancouver Mountains

Vancouver Shipping Area

This Peacock followed me around for an entire day!

More Photos...

Photo Album: Ocean Beach

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:38:10 GMT

Ocean Beach

Walk Down the Pier

Ocean Beach Pier Gate

Waiting for Sunset

Over the Top Light Post

Bike Reflection

Photo Album: Carlsbad Street Fair May 2007

Mon, 07 May 2007 00:54:11 GMT

Carlsbad Street Fair May 2007

Renovated Fire Truck

Siren

Knob and Fire House

Something having to do with Fire Houses

Peaceful Fire Hydrant

Rudolph Sighting

Photo Album: Earth Day 2007

Wed, 02 May 2007 21:37:29 GMT

Earth Day 2007

Painted Feet

The best kept children

Earth Day People

Big Dog

Happy Cab

Museum and Clouds

Orange Flower

Soothing Japanese Item

Bonsai Tree

Museum and Trees

More Photos...

Photo Album: San Diego Pictures, Posted March 30

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 23:59:52 GMT

San Diego Pictures, Posted March 30

Flower

Dark House and Light Clouds

Beach 1

Beach 2

Beach 3

Museum and Moon

Light House Stairs

Boats

Photo Album: Logos

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 04:03:34 GMT

Logos

MVPLogo.gif

MPA_logo4c.jpg

nikon_logo.jpg

icalogo.gif

Pcubed_logo_color.gif

ms_masthead_ltr.gif

Blog list: My Blog Lists

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 03:38:01 GMT

My Blog Lists

Amazon
Amazon.com
Pcubed
This is where I work.
MPA
Formerly MPUG (MS Project User Group), the MPA is an excellent source for Microsoft Project users to learn, interact with friends and attend local events.
Microsoft
Microsoft's website. Need I say more?
Nikon
As an amateur photogrpher, I have searched for just the right camera. I am a big fan of Nikon D-SLR cameras and Nikkor Lenses.
Jack Dahlgren
Jack is another Microsoft Project MVP.
Jerry's Blog
A great source of information on SharePoint and Project Server.
Scott Wagner
Scott has a Blog that tends to focus on the technical and development aspects of Project Server.
Brian Smith's Blog
Brian posts support information relating to Microsoft Project.
MS Project Experts
IIL - International Institute for Learning