Interview Questions for Project Server

Project Server’s architecture is a sophisticated multi-tiered system designed for robust project management. At its core, it’s built on a Microsoft SharePoint foundation, leveraging its strengths in collaboration and document management. The architecture can be broken down into several key components:

• Front-End (Client): This is where users interact with Project Server, primarily through Microsoft Project Professional or Project Web App (PWA). This layer handles user requests and sends them to the server.
• Application Server: This layer is the heart of Project Server, processing user requests, managing project data, and interacting with the database. It houses the core Project Server services.
• Database Server: This stores all the project data, including tasks, resources, schedules, and documents. It typically uses SQL Server.
• SharePoint Infrastructure: Project Server is deeply integrated with SharePoint, utilizing its features for document management, workflow automation, and user authentication. This provides a collaborative platform for project teams.

Think of it like a well-organized office. The client is your computer, the application server is your team leader organizing tasks, the database is your filing cabinet holding all crucial information, and SharePoint is the shared workspace where everyone collaborates.

Project Server supports a variety of project management methodologies, offering flexibility for different project needs. The most common are:

• Waterfall: A traditional, sequential approach where project phases are completed one after another. Project Server’s task management and reporting features are well-suited for tracking progress in a Waterfall project.
• Agile: An iterative approach focused on flexibility and adapting to change. While not directly built-in as a specific methodology, Project Server can be effectively used to manage Agile projects by utilizing its features for sprint tracking, task management, and burn-down charts (often created through custom reporting).
• Hybrid: Many projects employ a hybrid approach, combining elements of Waterfall and Agile depending on project needs. Project Server’s flexibility makes it adaptable to these hybrid approaches.

For example, you might use the Waterfall approach for a large construction project with well-defined phases, while an Agile methodology might be better suited for software development, adapting to evolving requirements. Project Server provides tools to support either approach, tailoring to your chosen methodology.

Effective resource management in Project Server is crucial for successful project delivery. It involves several key steps:

• Resource Pool Creation: Define a central repository of all available resources (people, equipment, etc.) with their skills, availability, and cost rates.
• Resource Assignment: Assign resources to tasks within projects, considering their skills and availability. Project Server’s resource assignment features allow for efficient allocation, preventing over-allocation.
• Resource Leveling: Project Server can automatically adjust schedules to balance resource workload, minimizing conflicts and delays. This involves pushing tasks out in time to alleviate over-allocation.
• Resource Reporting: Regularly monitor resource utilization and identify potential conflicts or over-allocations using built-in reports or custom reports. This allows for proactive management of resources.

Imagine building a house. You need to manage your carpenters, electricians, and plumbers effectively to ensure timely completion. Project Server acts as your project foreman, ensuring the right people are assigned to the right tasks at the right time, avoiding bottlenecks.

Project Server’s reporting capabilities provide valuable insights into project performance and resource utilization. Key features include:

• Standard Reports: Pre-built reports on project status, resource allocation, and cost tracking. These provide quick overviews.
• Customizable Reports: The ability to create tailored reports using tools like Excel Services or SharePoint’s reporting features. This allows for detailed analysis based on specific project needs.
• Data Export: Exporting data to external applications such as Excel for further analysis. This allows for deeper dives into data using other tools.
• Real-time Dashboards: The ability to create dashboards showcasing key performance indicators (KPIs) for projects and resources, providing at-a-glance project health.

These reports can help project managers identify potential risks, track progress against the baseline plan, and make informed decisions to keep projects on track. For instance, a custom report might highlight tasks that are consistently behind schedule, allowing for proactive intervention.

Project Server offers a range of views to manage projects and resources from various perspectives. These views cater to different user roles and needs:

• Gantt Chart: A visual representation of the project schedule showing tasks, dependencies, and durations. This is the most common view for project planning and tracking.
• Task Sheet: A tabular view of tasks, allowing for detailed task management and data entry.
• Resource Calendar: Shows resource availability and assignments over time, highlighting potential conflicts or over-allocations.
• Team Member View: A personalized view for team members to see their assigned tasks and deadlines.
• Project Summary: A high-level view of the project status, including key metrics like progress, budget, and risks.

Think of these views as different lenses through which you can examine your project. The Gantt chart provides a bird’s-eye view, while the task sheet offers a detailed view of individual tasks. The choice of view depends on what you need to see and understand at any given moment.

Handling project conflicts and resource contention in Project Server requires proactive monitoring and strategic decision-making. Several approaches are effective:

• Proactive Resource Planning: Careful resource allocation during project planning, taking into account resource availability and skills, minimizes potential conflicts from the outset.
• Resource Leveling: Utilize Project Server’s built-in resource leveling feature to automatically adjust schedules and balance resource workloads. This minimizes over-allocation.
• Conflict Resolution: Address conflicts when they arise through communication, negotiation, and potentially adjusting schedules or resource assignments. This may involve prioritizing tasks or shifting deadlines.
• Resource Over-allocation Reports: Utilize reports to identify potential over-allocations before they become critical issues. Early identification enables proactive problem-solving.

For instance, if two projects require the same expert at the same time, you might need to negotiate priorities, reschedule tasks, or find alternative resources. Project Server helps you visualize these conflicts through its reporting and scheduling tools.

Project Server’s security features are critical for protecting sensitive project data and ensuring only authorized individuals have access. Security is managed through several mechanisms:

• SharePoint Permissions: Leverages SharePoint’s robust permission system to control access to projects, documents, and other data. This allows for granular control over who can view, edit, or delete information.
• Project Server Security Groups: Specific security groups can be created to manage access to different project-related data. This simplifies permissions management for large projects and teams.
• Custom Permissions: Further customization of permissions is possible through SharePoint’s advanced security features, enabling fine-grained control over access rights.
• Auditing: Project Server enables auditing of user actions, providing a record of who accessed what data and when. This helps maintain accountability and track unauthorized access attempts.

A common scenario is restricting access to project budgets to only project managers or finance personnel. Project Server’s security features allow you to enforce this restriction effectively, protecting sensitive financial data.

Customizing Project Server workflows involves modifying the pre-built workflows or creating entirely new ones to match your organization’s specific project management processes. This is typically done using SharePoint Designer, although more complex customizations might require Visual Studio and potentially custom code.

For example, you might need to modify the ‘Request for Project’ workflow to include an additional approval step from a specific department. This could involve adding a new stage to the workflow, defining the necessary approvals, and configuring the transitions between stages. The process often involves understanding the workflow definition (using SharePoint Designer’s workflow editor), adding new steps, specifying the conditions for those steps (e.g., approval required), and testing thoroughly to ensure proper functionality.

Another common customization is altering the default task assignment workflow to automatically send notifications to team members or to integrate with external systems. It’s crucial to understand the implications of changes; poorly designed customizations can negatively impact the system’s stability and performance. Thorough testing and version control are essential.

Project Server’s strength lies in its seamless integration with other Microsoft products, significantly enhancing project management capabilities. My experience spans several key integrations:

• SharePoint: Project Server is built on SharePoint, inheriting its collaboration features. Projects are stored as SharePoint sites, enabling easy document sharing, communication, and team collaboration. I’ve leveraged this integration to create custom project portals, centralizing project documentation and communication. For instance, I’ve developed SharePoint pages for project dashboards utilizing custom web parts and list views to track project progress, risks, and issues, directly linked to the Project Server data.
• Power BI: Integrating Project Server data with Power BI enables creation of powerful interactive dashboards and reports for real-time project monitoring and analysis. I’ve used the Project Server OData feed to connect Power BI and build reports visualizing key metrics like burn-down charts, resource utilization, and project costs. This provides stakeholders with valuable insights into project performance, helping to identify potential bottlenecks and risks early on. This is particularly useful for senior management reporting.
• Other Microsoft Products: I’ve also worked with Project Server’s integration with Outlook, allowing for task delegation and updates directly within Outlook. This significantly improves team communication and ensures consistent task updates.

Troubleshooting Project Server issues often requires a systematic approach. My strategy involves these steps:

1. Identify the symptom: Precisely define the problem. Is it a performance issue, a data error, a user access problem, or a workflow failure?
2. Gather information: Collect relevant details such as error messages, user reports, logs, and timestamps. The Project Server event logs and the ULS logs (Unified Logging Service) are crucial sources of information.
3. Isolate the cause: Use the gathered information to narrow down potential causes. This might involve checking server health, database integrity, user permissions, or workflow configurations.
4. Implement a solution: Once the root cause is identified, apply the appropriate solution. This could involve restarting services, reconfiguring settings, running database maintenance tasks, fixing corrupted data, or deploying a software update.
5. Test and verify: After implementing the solution, thoroughly test to ensure the problem is resolved and that it doesn’t cause other issues. Document the resolution steps for future reference.

For example, slow performance might be due to database fragmentation, requiring database maintenance. User access problems might be due to incorrect permissions, requiring adjustments in Project Server’s security settings.

My experience with Project Server database administration includes tasks such as database maintenance, performance tuning, and troubleshooting database-related issues. I’m familiar with the underlying SQL Server databases that store Project Server data and understand the importance of regular maintenance to ensure optimal performance and data integrity. This includes:

• Performance monitoring: Regularly monitoring database performance metrics such as query execution times, I/O wait times, and CPU utilization using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).
• Index optimization: Ensuring appropriate indexes exist to speed up query performance.
• Database backups and restores: Performing regular backups and testing restores to ensure data recoverability.
• Space management: Monitoring database growth and implementing strategies for efficient storage utilization.
• Troubleshooting: Identifying and resolving database errors and inconsistencies.

I’ve used SSMS extensively to manage the Project Server databases, and I am experienced in writing and executing T-SQL queries to analyze and modify database data when needed.

Backing up and restoring Project Server data is critical for disaster recovery and data protection. The process generally involves backing up both the SQL Server databases and the SharePoint content databases. I typically use SQL Server’s native backup and restore functionality to back up the Project Server databases.

Backup Strategy: I usually employ a combination of full backups and differential or transactional log backups to minimize backup time and storage space. Regular, scheduled backups are essential, and the backup strategy should consider Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) requirements.

Restore Process: Restoring involves first restoring the SQL Server databases and then, using SharePoint Central Administration, restoring the SharePoint content databases. This needs careful sequencing to avoid data inconsistencies. Testing the restore process regularly is crucial to verify its effectiveness.

I always follow best practices, including storing backups in a secure and geographically separate location to mitigate risks from natural disasters or other catastrophic events.

Migrating projects from one Project Server instance to another requires a well-planned approach to ensure data integrity and minimal downtime. The method depends on the versions of Project Server involved and the scale of the migration.

Methods: Options include using Microsoft’s built-in migration tools, third-party migration tools, or a custom scripting approach. The best approach is often determined by factors like the size of the project data, the complexity of custom configurations, and the desired downtime. For smaller migrations, using Project Server’s export/import features might suffice. For larger, more complex migrations, third-party tools or custom scripts may be necessary for efficient and reliable data transfer.

Planning is key: Before the migration, a thorough assessment of the source and target environments is crucial, including user accounts, security permissions, custom fields, and workflows. A detailed migration plan, including timelines, testing procedures, and rollback strategies, is essential for success. A phased migration approach, starting with a pilot migration of a subset of projects, is recommended to identify and resolve potential issues before migrating the entire project portfolio.

Ensuring data integrity and accuracy in Project Server is crucial for reliable project management. My approach includes several key strategies:

• Regular backups: Frequent backups protect against data loss and allow for easy recovery from errors.
• Data validation: Implementing data validation rules within Project Server to prevent incorrect data entry. This can be done through custom validation rules or through the use of SharePoint lists.
• Workflow automation: Using workflows to automate tasks that require data updates, minimizing the risk of manual errors.
• Regular audits: Periodically reviewing project data for accuracy and inconsistencies. This might include comparing Project Server data with other data sources.
• User training: Providing users with sufficient training on how to accurately enter and manage project data within Project Server.
• Database maintenance: Regularly performing database maintenance tasks, such as index optimization and fragmentation cleanup, to improve data access performance and reliability.

Think of it like maintaining a well-organized filing system. Regular clean-up, clear labels (validation), and automated processes prevent chaos and ensure you can find what you need quickly and confidently.

Project Server performance tuning is crucial for ensuring smooth operation and responsiveness. It involves optimizing database performance, server resources, and the overall application configuration. My approach starts with a thorough assessment, analyzing server logs, database activity, and user interaction patterns to pinpoint bottlenecks.

For instance, I’ve tackled slow report generation by optimizing database queries, creating indexes, and implementing caching strategies. In another scenario, I addressed high CPU usage by upgrading server hardware and fine-tuning the application’s resource allocation. Specific techniques include utilizing SQL Server Profiler to identify slow-running queries, optimizing SharePoint configuration settings, and deploying performance monitoring tools to track key metrics. Addressing issues proactively involves regularly reviewing server health, applying necessary updates, and creating robust maintenance plans to prevent performance degradation.

Think of it like tuning a car engine: regular maintenance and adjustments ensure optimal performance. Neglecting this can lead to sluggishness, inefficiency, and potentially, failure.

Project Server offers several key advantages over other project management tools, particularly for larger organizations. Its centralized repository provides a single source of truth for project information, improving collaboration and visibility across teams. The robust features, like resource management, timesheet tracking, and integrated reporting, provide a comprehensive project lifecycle management solution.

• Centralized Data: All project information resides in one place, eliminating data silos and promoting consistency.
• Resource Management: Efficiently assigns resources across projects, optimizing utilization and avoiding over-allocation.
• Reporting and Analytics: Provides powerful reporting capabilities to track progress, analyze performance, and identify potential risks.
• Workflow Automation: Streamlines common project tasks through customizable workflows, reducing manual effort and improving efficiency.
• Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft products like SharePoint, Excel, and Active Directory.

For example, in a previous role, migrating from a disparate collection of spreadsheets and emails to Project Server dramatically improved project visibility, reduced resource conflicts, and ultimately saved the company significant time and money.

Effective user training and support are paramount for successful Project Server adoption. My approach is multi-faceted, combining different learning modalities to cater to varied learning styles. This includes:

• Structured Training Sessions: I conduct workshops covering essential features, best practices, and common use cases. These sessions are tailored to specific roles and user skill levels.
• Online Resources: I develop or curate online tutorials, documentation, and FAQs to provide readily accessible support.
• One-on-One Support: I provide personalized assistance to users who require more individualized guidance.
• Knowledge Base: I build and maintain a comprehensive knowledge base addressing frequently asked questions and providing troubleshooting tips.
• Mentorship Program: For advanced users, I establish a mentorship program to foster knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer support.

For example, in a previous project, I developed a series of short, engaging video tutorials that dramatically increased user proficiency and reduced the need for individual support calls.

Project Server’s integration with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is crucial for holistic project management. This integration facilitates the seamless flow of data between Project Server and the ERP system, providing a unified view of project costs, resources, and financials. This is typically achieved through custom integrations, utilizing APIs or middleware solutions. Data synchronization is critical ensuring consistency between the systems.

For example, we might integrate Project Server with SAP to automatically update the ERP system with project costs and resource allocation data. This eliminates manual data entry, reduces errors, and ensures that financial data is always accurate and up-to-date. Such integrations can be complex, requiring a deep understanding of both Project Server and the target ERP system’s architecture and data structures.

Creating and managing custom fields in Project Server allows you to tailor the system to your organization’s specific needs. This can be done through the Project Server interface or using PowerShell. The process generally involves defining the field’s properties, such as data type (text, number, date, etc.), and its visibility settings.

For example, you might create a custom field to track ‘Risk Level’ or ‘Client Approval Status’. PowerShell scripting allows for automated creation of multiple custom fields at once, particularly useful during large-scale deployments or customization projects. Proper planning and management of custom fields is crucial to avoid clutter and maintain data integrity. Careful consideration of data types and their impact on reporting capabilities is essential.

Project Server’s timesheet functionality is a core component for accurate tracking of project effort and resource allocation. Users can submit their time against specific tasks and projects, which allows managers to monitor progress, manage budgets, and assess resource utilization. Project Server provides various options for timesheet submission, approval workflows, and reporting.

My experience includes configuring and customizing timesheet approval workflows to align with organizational processes. I’ve also worked on integrating timesheet data with other systems, such as payroll, to automate the processing of employee time entries. Troubleshooting issues with timesheet submissions and ensuring data accuracy are also key aspects of my expertise. Effective management of timesheets contributes to better budget control, resource optimization, and accurate project reporting.

Managing and tracking project budgets within Project Server involves integrating budget information with project plans. This can be achieved by associating budget amounts with tasks or resources. Project Server then tracks actual costs against these budgeted amounts, providing insights into project performance and potential overruns.

Features like earned value management (EVM) can be leveraged to analyze project cost performance and identify areas needing attention. Regular reporting and monitoring of budget variances are crucial. I’ve used Project Server’s reporting capabilities to create custom reports that highlight budget deviations, allowing for timely intervention and proactive risk management. Effective budget management within Project Server contributes to better cost control, improved financial forecasting, and ultimately, project success.

Project Server offers a robust suite of reporting tools to monitor project health. I leverage these features extensively to track progress and performance, primarily focusing on visualizing key metrics against the project baseline.

For example, I regularly use the Project Summary Report to quickly assess project status, identifying tasks that are behind schedule or over budget. This report provides a high-level overview of key performance indicators (KPIs) like schedule variance, cost variance, and the critical path. I also utilize custom reports extensively, tailored to specific needs. For instance, if we need to track resource utilization across multiple projects, I’ll create a report showing resource allocation, workload, and potential conflicts. This helps prevent over-allocation and potential delays.

Furthermore, Project Server’s integration with SharePoint enables me to share these reports effectively with stakeholders. I can publish reports directly to SharePoint sites, ensuring that everyone has access to the latest project data. This transparent approach fosters better communication and collaboration across teams.

Beyond standard reports, I also frequently use the Project Center to obtain a quick overview of multiple projects, using filtering and sorting capabilities to focus on projects with specific needs or characteristics.

My experience with Project Server’s Enterprise Project Management (EPM) capabilities is extensive. I’ve used it to manage everything from small, departmental projects to large, complex enterprise initiatives involving multiple teams and stakeholders across different geographical locations. I’ve implemented and managed the entire EPM lifecycle, starting with project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and control, all the way to project closure.

One notable example was a large-scale software implementation project. We used Project Server to centrally manage all aspects of the project, including task assignments, resource allocation, risk management, and issue tracking. The centralized repository provided a single source of truth, improving visibility and facilitating communication. By leveraging Project Server’s workflow capabilities, we automated several processes such as approval routing for project change requests, reducing manual intervention and ensuring timely decisions.

Project Server’s EPM capabilities enabled us to effectively track project progress against the defined baseline, identify potential risks early on, and make data-driven decisions to mitigate those risks. The ability to generate custom reports provided valuable insights for senior management to monitor overall portfolio health and make strategic resource allocation decisions.

While both Project Server and Project Online are Microsoft project management solutions, they differ significantly in their deployment and features. Project Server is an on-premises solution, meaning it’s installed and managed within your organization’s own infrastructure. This provides greater control over security and customization but necessitates significant IT infrastructure and expertise to manage and maintain.

Project Online, on the other hand, is a cloud-based service hosted by Microsoft. This eliminates the need for on-premises infrastructure, reducing the burden on IT and simplifying administration. Project Online offers automatic updates, scalability, and enhanced collaboration features. It’s a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering, so updates and maintenance are handled by Microsoft.

Here’s a table summarizing the key differences:

The choice between the two depends on your organization’s specific needs, IT capabilities, and budget.

Integrating Project Server with Active Directory is crucial for centralized user management and authentication. The process typically involves configuring Project Server to authenticate users against your existing Active Directory domain. This ensures that users can access Project Server using their existing corporate credentials, eliminating the need for separate logins and simplifying user management.

The implementation involves several steps:

• Configure the Project Server server to trust the Active Directory domain: This typically involves adding the domain controller to the trusted domains in Project Server.
• Create a Project Server service account with appropriate permissions in Active Directory: This account will be used by Project Server to authenticate users and access Active Directory resources.
• Configure user profiles in Active Directory to ensure proper synchronization with Project Server: Specific attributes might need to be populated in Active Directory to leverage certain Project Server features.
• Configure user security groups in Active Directory and map these groups to Project Server security groups: This allows for granular access control based on user roles and responsibilities.

Regular monitoring is critical to ensure that the synchronization between Active Directory and Project Server remains smooth. Any discrepancies need immediate attention to avoid access issues or data inconsistencies. I typically use the Project Server administration tools to monitor the user synchronization process and identify and resolve potential problems. Regular backups are also vital to ensure data recoverability.

Maintaining Project Server’s performance and stability requires a multi-faceted approach. It’s not just about technical configurations, but also good governance and user training.

My approach incorporates these key areas:

• Regular database maintenance: This includes database backups, index optimization, and cleanup of unnecessary data. I use SQL Server Management Studio for these tasks and schedule them regularly to minimize downtime.
• Regular server hardware maintenance: This includes monitoring server resources (CPU, memory, disk space), ensuring sufficient capacity, and proactively addressing any hardware issues.
• Application Server patches and updates: Keeping Project Server and its associated components up-to-date with the latest patches is crucial for security and performance. We apply updates during planned maintenance windows, testing them thoroughly in a non-production environment before deploying to production.
• User training and best practices: Educating users on efficient usage of the system and instilling best practices reduces issues associated with improper use of the system.
• Performance monitoring: Regular monitoring using built-in Project Server tools and performance counters to identify potential bottlenecks and proactively address performance issues.

By consistently addressing these areas, we ensure a high-performing and reliable Project Server environment, leading to better project outcomes.

Automating tasks and workflows within Project Server significantly enhances efficiency and reduces manual effort. I’ve used SharePoint Designer and Visual Studio extensively to create custom workflows and solutions. For example, I developed a workflow that automatically sends email notifications to project managers when a task is overdue, promoting timely intervention.

Another automation I implemented involved the automatic creation of project sites in SharePoint upon project creation in Project Server. This automatically provides a centralized location for project documentation and collaboration. I’ve also created custom web parts for Project Server to display key project metrics on SharePoint dashboards, providing real-time visibility into project progress. Automation of these tasks ensures consistency, reduces human error, and frees up valuable time for project managers to focus on strategic aspects of the project.

Using PowerShell, I’ve created scripts to automate administrative tasks such as user provisioning, report generation, and database maintenance. These scripts are scheduled to run regularly, ensuring that these tasks are performed efficiently and consistently.

Ensuring compliance and governance within Project Server is critical for data integrity, security, and adherence to organizational policies. My approach includes:

• Access control: Implementing granular access control using Active Directory groups and Project Server security groups. This restricts access to sensitive project information based on roles and responsibilities.
• Data backup and recovery: Establishing a robust backup and recovery plan, regularly testing backups to ensure data integrity and quick restoration.
• Auditing: Configuring audit logging to track user activity within Project Server. This provides a valuable audit trail for compliance and security investigations.
• Compliance with organizational policies: Ensuring that Project Server configuration and usage aligns with organization-wide policies related to data security, privacy, and retention.
• Regular security assessments: Conducting regular security assessments to identify potential vulnerabilities and implement security enhancements.

By establishing clear guidelines, enforcing access controls, and implementing a proactive security strategy, we maintain a compliant and governed Project Server environment, safeguarding data and meeting regulatory requirements.