Webcast for proMX RM recorded

Our resource management tool proMX RM is getting more attention. Today we recorded a short webcast together with Joris Kalz from Microsoft to show the abilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM as Business Application Platform and our product as resource and time management tool.

I think the webcast will be available this week. It will be published on the German Microsoft Partner Blog and on the proMX website.

proMX RM is now installed at four customers and we will release a new version this week. Our new windows client is getting very good feedback from our customers and is a great addition to our outlook like web client.

New version 2.0 of Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step

A new Version of Sure Step (Sure Step Methodology) is available. The new version is 2.0.29.0. Here are some major changes to the previous version 1.1.

Client

User Interface

The new client is based on WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation). It comes with a really nice look & feel and seems to be optimized for usability.

Realy nice are the lists of templates per phase. You can browse into a specific phase and see a list where every entry contains the owner of the deliverable. In the context menu of an entry you can switch directly to the corresponding activity in the methodology.

Project Management

The project management features are enhanced in comparison to the old version. You can now create projects in the client. All templates you can find in the “Microsoft Sure Step Methodology” tab are read-only. You have to create a new project to get a set of templates that you can edit.

Under the tab Projects you can create these projects. While creating the project you can define the product and the project type. Based on this information the client creates an repository where all needed templates are stored. Then you can navigate to the documents of this project and open the templates for editing.

A funny feature is the possibility to place a logo automatically in all templates of a project. It works great, but you are not able to set project infos like project or customer name. That’s a pity.

Unfortunatly is the new client insufficient for real project work. The templates of a project are stored plain in a directory or network drive. There is no real repository where you can store your completed deliverables per phase or activity.

To achieve a good and useful working repository you have to use another approach. One possible solution is pmPoint from Brightwork (http://www.brightwork.com/surestep). It’s a SharePoint based project management AddOn that supports the new version of Sure Step. See this video for further information http://www.digitalforumtv.com/?videoId=195. At the moment we are evaluating a future use of the tool. We will hold you up to date about our experiences.

Methodolgy

The navigation in the methodology is a little restuctured. In Sure Step 1.1 you found all phases under “Phases”. In 2.0 you can find the “Diagnostic Phase” in the root and all other phases in “Implementation Project Types – Phases and Activities / Overview Diagram for Standard and Enterprise Project Types”. The old structure was more clear and easier to navigate.

Tools & Templates

The templates that are available in Sure Step 2.0 are reviewed and updated. All templates now contains a new Sure Step header graphic and the replaceable logo graphic.

Some templates are available as a demo document where you can review the possible contents needed for this deliverable.

Accidentially some of the templates exist twice in different document versions. You can see this by the filename. This could be a little confusing.

Download

You can download the new version of Sure Step at https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/newsevents/news/Sure_Step_Annc_Jul08.htm. You need a partner source account with sufficient rights to download Sure Step.