Tag Archives: Microsoft Project

timecontrol

TimeControl and Microsoft Project Futures

Microsoft Project, Project and TimeControl, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisWe are getting an unusual number of requests regarding our support of the link between TimeControl and Microsoft Project.  This isn’t a huge surprise as Microsoft has made a number of announcements regarding the future of Microsoft Project in the coming months and years.

Project started as a single license per computer product over 30 years ago.  By the time TimeControl 1.0 was released in 1994, Project was already up to version 4.  We became a part of the Microsoft Partner Network in 1995 and when we released TimeControl 2.0 in early 1995, it included support for Microsoft Project 4.11 and Project ’95.  The Microsoft Project line has expanded since then but in each iteration, TimeControl has evolved to support the new versions of Microsoft Project.  I’ll go through all the current Microsoft Project versions and iterations below, but let’s take a look at the news out of Microsoft first.

Microsoft Project Server 2019 is the on-premise version of Project Server and it came to its official End of Mainstream Support on January 9, 2024.  That means that no new fixes or enhancements will come to this version.  There will continue to be security fixes only for this product until July 14, 2026.  (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/project-server-2019).  Clients who are still using Project Server on premise have been advised on numerous occasions by Microsoft personnel to shift to Microsoft Project Online.

Microsoft has made that migration decision a little more challenging by saying, “Going forward, all innovation will occur in Project for the Web…  there is no date to limit the functionality of Project Online at this time, but we encourage customers to plan their transition as soon as possible.”
(https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/project-for-the-web-and-project-online-6569170c-5c8e-474e-a7f0-642872f62f8a) That doesn’t mean that this is an end-of-life announcement for Project Online, in fact, there have been several communications from Microsoft to say that clients can expect continued support for Project Online for the foreseeable future and that no official end-of-life announcement has been made for that product.  But, if you’re a client facing the decision of where to migrate your project environment, it may feel like you are confronting conflicting messages.

So, all of that being said by Microsoft, where does HMS Software stand with the link between TimeControl and Microsoft Project?  We are committed to continue to support the TimeControl/Project integration as long as the iteration of Project functions and is still in use by our clients.

Here are all the Microsoft Project products to which TimeControl has and continues to support a link:

Microsoft Project Standard

This is the individual computer license to which TimeControl can link directly.

Microsoft Project Professional

This is an individual computer license but also has the ability to communicate with Microsoft Project Server or Microsoft Project Online (3 or 5).

Microsoft Project Server

Even though mainstream support for this product has ended, our link continues to function with Project Server.

Microsoft Project Online

Project Online is sold in three separate subscription plans:

Microsoft Project Plan 1

This is the license given to people who are updating Project Online and includes a subset of functionality allowing users to update their project progress, collaborate and participate in the project but not do the planning.  TimeControl links with Microsoft Project Online but since this Plan is only functionality if you have Plan 3 or Plan 5, there’s no TimeControl link that only supports Plan 1.

Microsoft Project Plan 3

This subscription is akin to Project Server but online. It has all the Project Server functionality plus new enhancements made only to Project Online that were not ported to Project Server 2019 on premise.  It does not include Portfolio Analysis.  TimeControl integrates directly to this product.

Microsoft Project Plan 5

This is Project Online but also includes portfolio analysis.  TimeControl integrates directly to this product.

Microsoft Project for the Web

This is the most recent addition to the Project family.  The integration functionality provided with Project for the Web allows TimeControl to pull data from it but not to push data back to assignments in the same way Project Online does.  With improvements coming to Project for the Web all the time, we’re looking forward to being able to link back to it in the same way we do with other Project products.

We’re not Microsoft, of course, so we encourage you to get the most up to date details about their products and their intentions from them (https://project.microsoft.com).   From the perspective of TimeControl, we continue to be committed to support the integration of TimeControl with all versions of Microsoft Project that are made available just as we do with all the other project management tools to which we have integrations.

Let us know if you have questions about the integration of TimeControl and Microsoft Project and how we can help with your own project environment plans.  You can reach us at (https://www.timecontrol.com/contact).

TimeControl PM Links

What is the TimeControl Client-Side Transfer?

Mostly when we talk about linking with TimeControl, we talk about it happening in the background.  Often Project Management systems are centrally managed and the link happens between the TimeControl or TimeControl Online server and the server-based Project Management system.

There is, however, a link option between TimeControl and TimeControl Online and your own desktop application such as Microsoft Project Standard / Professional or Primavera Pro P6.

These links are made possible by a part of TimeControl called the “Client-Side Transfer” App.  This app will automatically try to activate if you have created a TimeControl Interface definition between a TimeControl Project and a Desktop-based project application.

The Client-Side Transfer App allows TimeControl to reach your desktop application through the browser.  This is typically not permitted by a web browser which we why the Client-Side Transfer App must be installed on your desktop within the Microsoft Edge Browser.  Edge (and it’s older cousin Internet Explorer) allow such apps to be installed and activated specifically for this type of requirement.

Here’s the workflow of the TimeControl Client Side Transfer App
(Click to expand)

When you initiate a Client Side Transfer, if you haven’t ever done so before or if the Client Side Transfer App has been updated, you’ll be asked to install it.  This Client Open to start the installation process.  The result will be an installed app within your Edge Browser.

You must be using the Microsoft Edge Browser (Or the older Internet Explorer if you still use that) which allows for such apps and add-ons to be added to the browser. You’ll see the app is signed by HMS Software. You may see our full legal name in English as Heuristic Management Systems Inc. or the french version as Systemes de Gestion Heuristic Inc.

The app then completes its installation.

Once installed, you won’t see the installation request again for future link requests, TimeControl will perform the link with the requested application on your desktop.
Once you’ve used the App a few times you may forget that it’s even there. The link between TimeControl and your desktop-installed project management tool will just keep updating on a regular basis.
Desktop links with TimeControl are almost never schedule-able because of the nature of the desktop project management system.

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HMS and Microsoft have extended our long standing alliance

TimeControl within Microsoft Teams
TimeControl within Microsoft Teams

We were delighted to announce this week that HMS has renewed its technical alliance with Microsoft. This will make 26 consecutive years we’ve had a formal partnership with Microsoft which, in itself is remarkable. Most software companies don’t last 26 years but this alliance has thrived over these many years.

The relationship formally started when we first released TimeControl version 2 in 1995. We had decided that we needed a link to Microsoft Project which was then at version 4.0 with version 4.1 named ‘Project 95’ about to be released. Once we’d found the right people to connect with at Microsoft, our ability to work together moved quickly.

Since then we have integrated TimeControl with every version of Microsoft Project right up to the most recent. That includes Project for the Desktop, Project Server, Project Online and Project for the Web. We invest in this integration every year. It’s a constant for the TimeControl development team. Numerous HMS team members have links to multiple Microsoft staff. It’s a broad team collaboration.

Over the years we’ve leveraged many aspects of Microsoft’s technology including SharePoint, Teams, Office 365, SQL Server and the Windows Server operating system.

That will continue.

To read our press release on the alliance’s renewal, see: TimeControl.com/resources/newsroom/press-releases/2021-06-09

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TimeControl integration with Project for the Web

TimeControl has included integration with every version of Microsoft Project since 1995 so perhaps it is no surprise that we recently announced integration capabilities with the new Microsoft Project for the Web.Links to MS Project

This latest edition to the Microsoft Project family was previously referred to as Project Service, the “New Microsoft Project” and in licensing terms, Project Plan 1.  It is built on the Microsoft Power Platform and is integrated with Microsoft Office 365.

HMS and Microsoft developers worked together on this integration to ensure that clients who are using this latest member of the Project family are able to integrate it into TimeControl.

Project for the Web currently has only exporting capabilities through a Web Service and in our talks with Microsoft it appears that there is work underway by Microsoft to have bi-directional integration possible.  At the moment, the capabilities we can take advantage of allow us to pull new projects and tasks from Project for the Web into the TimeControl Project Table and Charge Table so that these items can appear in a TimeControl User’s timesheet.

While integration to push actuals back to Project for the Web would be great, this level of integration is still tremendously useful as it allows all work being defined by project personnel to be accounted for in one place.  TimeControl can become your center for all actuals regardless of their source and reports from TimeControl can make their way back to Office 365 via the TimeControl API or other integration means.

Links to MS ProjectTimeControl’s tremendous flexibility in links with project management systems allows multiple systems and versions to be supported at the same time.  So, you can have some projects being managed in Project Professional, some in Project Online, some in Project Server and some in Project for the Web all at the same time.  TimeControl will dutifully keep track of all the different links, project-by-project and move data back and forth either on demand or on a schedule as needed.   The end-user doesn’t need to stress about which tool a project manager is using, all they need to do is look at their timesheet and add in the time on the tasks they worked on.  TimeControl takes care of  the rest in the background.

For more information on all the integration solutions possible with TimeControl, go to TimeControl.com/use-cases.

 

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Compatibility testing with MS Project Desktop 2019 is now complete!

We are delighted to announce that we have completed testing the integration of msprojpro_300x188TimeControl with Microsoft Project 2019 for the Desktop.  This continues an unbroken integration of TimeControl with every version of Microsoft Project since 1995.  Yep – 1995 when the Dow was at 5117 and you could get a new car for $15,000.  Ebay got started that year and a new revolution – the DVD was announced.  It’s not a trivial thing to say that the relationship between HMS and Microsoft is one of the oldest technical alliances in the software industry.

We believe that the integration between TimeControl and Microsoft Project is essential.  Many software companies focus solely on integrating with Microsoft’s Project Server.  We have that integration also but there are millions of licenses of Project Desktop in the market and delivering an integrated centralized timesheet that can link to them is how TimeControl is best known.

We’re proud that TimeControl has had the longest standing integration with Microsoft Project of any tool in any category in the industry.”

The integration between TimeControl and Microsoft Project has evolved over the 24 years it has existed.   The link currently supports Microsoft Project, Microsoft Project Online, Microsoft Project Server and many other Microsoft products like SharePoint and Excel.

Integrating TimeControl with Microsoft Project gives a single source of timesheet entry for multiple purposes.  TimeControl’s auditable, multi-purpose design means the timesheet can be used not only for updating Microsoft Project with hours, costs, material and equipment consumption and task progress but also for updating Payroll, HR, Billing, Job costing, R&D tax audit tracking, Defense Contract Audit Agency Compliance and much more.

The TimeControl website contains numerous resources to support organizations who wish to explore how the link between TimeControl and Microsoft Project can help make them more effective.

For more information on which Microsoft technologies can be advantageous when using TimeControl, visit the Microsoft TimeControl portal.  It includes numerous free resources including white papers, webcasts, PowerPoint presentations and more.  The Portal can be found at: Microsoft.TimeControl.com.

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Linking TimeControl with desktop project management software

 When we talk project management systems around HMS it’s most common to hear about Enterprise Project Management systems like Oracle-Primavera’s P6 or Microsoft’s Project Server or Project Server Online.  But we still have an enormous number of clients and prospective clients who are using desktop project systems like Primavera Pro, Microsoft Project Standard  or even Open Plan.  Perhaps it’s not avant garde to talk about stand-alone desktop systems but that should be more of a surprise.  These indivdual tools haven’t lost any of their value and TimeControl has had links to all these systems since it was first conceived.  We’ll be putting together a few posts on this subject in the coming weeks leading up to some collaterals that will appear on the TimeControl website in the coming months.

When clients call to talk about linking TimeControl to their project management system the first question we’re asked is if it even possible and immediately after that how does it work.  It’s not a complicated concept but it’s easiest to think about if you can rewind the clock 15 years and think about computing as you-centric.  Think about linking a corporate timesheet system to your personal on-your-desktop project management system and for a moment, don’t worry about anyone else.

Every version of TimeControl includes bi-directional linking to several desktop project management systems.  Let’s say you’re using the ubiquitous Microsoft Project and you are thinking how awesome it would be if you could just automatically upload all the tasks in your project along with the expected dates and individual assignments to your corporate timesheet system and then, thinking it’s probably too much to hope for, get back from the timesheet system not only the hours each of your team members worked but also the estimate to complete from each of them for the tasks they’re assigned to.

TimeControl does that.

While at your PC, you set up a link in TimeControl to the Microsoft Project file located on your hard drive on your desktop.  You transfer to TimeControl from Project and to Project from TimeControl at the moment of your choosing.  You can do the same thing every week whenever it is convenient for you.

But what if you’re out of town on the top of a mountain where there’s no internet most of the week?  That’s fine.  When you get back off the mountain, do your connection then.  TimeControl’s data will still be standing by for you.

Now, if that works just fine for you, could it work for other project managers in your organization doing the same thing?

Of course.

Now envision a number of project managers, each using the desktop project management tool and version of their choice, using the exact process we’ve described above.  You’d end up with a hub-and-spoke kind of diagram and that’s exactly how TimeControl works.

From the timesheet user perspective, they don’t even know and probably don’t care where the definitions of those tasks they work on came from.  An individual might actually have lines on their timesheet that began in 3, 4 or 5 different desktop project management systems.  Should they care what system the project manager is using when they’re doing their timesheet?  Why?  It’s enough that they enter the time that they worked on each tasks and the estimate to complete to finish that task.

Linking TimeControl with your desktop project management tool means you can be centralized for functionality that is important for you to manage and collect centrally and decentralized for functionality that would be better for you to allow to be managed by individuals.

You can find out more about the project systems that TimeControl already has links to at: www.timecontrol.com/use-cases/project-tracking.

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FAQ: Do we need to standardize on a single project management system before integrating TimeControl?

RubicStandardize_300x225No you do not and TimeControl is ideally suited for this type of challenge.  The pre-defined links to project management tools can link a TimeControl Project and associated charge codes to project information in Microsoft Project 1995 and up Microsoft Project Server 2002 and up, Oracle Primavera P3 through P6, Deltek’s Open Plan, InEight’s Hard Dollar HD and VersionOne.  And, it can link to all of those systems simultaneously.  TimeControl is designed to make as many project system connections as you wish and then each project can be linked through that connection to a project in that system.  This allows TimeControl to not only link some projects to Microsoft Project and some to Primavera P6 but TimeControl can link to multiple versions at the same time.  Imagine a situation where some projects are being managed in Microsoft Project Server 2010 and some are being managed in a separate instance of Microsoft Project Server 2013.  TimeControl could link to both systems at the same time and a TimeControl user wouldn’t have to worry about it.  They would just enter their complete timesheet in TimeControl and the data will go to the right project system and the right tasks in the background!

Find out more about TimeControl and Project Management tools on the Project Links page.