This week, Bamboo Solutions released SharePoint Project Management Central R3.0 and Workflow Conductor R2.1 for SharePoint 2010 with many new and improved features, along with a number of resolved bugs. Please see the release announcement blogs post the Product Managers of SharePoint Project Management Central and Workflow Conductor for more details. We also released patches for Column Level Security, List Integrity, Group Redirect Web Part, Cross-Site Display Web Part, Knowledge Base Solution Accelerator, and Site Creation Plus. Please see the list below for more information on the new features, bug fixes, known issues, and limitations.
SA12 SharePoint Project Managment Central for SharePoint 2010 Release 3.0
New Features: See HOWTO: Upgrade From PM Central R2.x to R3.0 for SharePoint 2010.
• Task and Schedule Management:
• Assign multiple predecessors to a successor task.
• Exclude weekends and holidays.
• Show Critical Path – Clearly identify tasks in a project that cannot be delayed without delaying the project so you can accurately assess the impact of schedule changes.
• Insert a task between tasks from within the task grid.
• Now supports the Microsoft Project Add-in for Microsoft Project Professional 2010:
• Connect and export mpp files from the Task list.
• Sync task updates from Microsoft Project to the PM Central Tasks list.
• Import tasks from Microsoft Projects into the Task list and validate to avoid duplication.
• Create new items (tasks, issues, risks) from the Central Actions menu of the project site.
• Allow multiple baselines for tasks, project and project cost for improved schedule management.
• Resource Management:
• Import resources from the User Profile database (SharePoint 2010 Server) or User Information List (SharePoint 2010 Foundation) to the Enterprise Resource Pool (ERP) portfolio or to the project site Contacts list.
• Integrates with the Time Tracking and Management (sold separately).
• Usability Improvements:
• Show Quick Launch to the lists and libraries in the new project site template. Note: For existing site, users need to use SP Designer to modify the custom master page.
• Charts display and resize on the portfolio site so users no longer have to scroll.
• Add shortcut links to My favorites.
• Customization:
• Localization – PM Central now supports translation via resource files for German, Spanish, and French.
• New skins for project sites and the portfolio site that can be changed quickly and easily via the Settings tab users with the appropriate permissions.
• New master pages and CSS files to support new skins.
• Process Management:
• Project managers can report the weekly status of projects and team members can update the status of their tasks quickly and easily.
• Project managers and team members can submit change requests in the project site, using Workflow Conductor for approval process.
• Reports:
• Performance improvement reports via timer jobs.
• Additional reports:
• Budget Cost vs. Project Cost vs. Project Actual Cost
• Budget Work vs. Project Work vs. Project Actual Work
• Summary of Resource Allocation Project Department
• Summary of Resource Allocation Manager
• Display Project Summary and Milestones in a convenient Timeline Gantt.
• Users are no longer required to install Visual Studio Tools for Office for Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in with Microsoft Project Professional 2010.
• Integrate new features for the following Web parts:
• HW27 Bamboo Chart Plus R3.0.43 (File Version 30.0.43)
• HW45 Bamboo Task Master R3.0.59 (File Version 30.0.59)
• Includes new versions of the following Web Parts:
• HW03 Tree View Web Part R1.7.58 (File Version 10.7.58)
• HW05 Alert Plus R3.2 (File Version 30.2.52)
• HW11A List Search Simple Web Part R2.1.71 (File Version 20.1.71)
• HW11B List Search Advanced Search R1.8.76 (10.8.76)
• HW14 Group Email Web Part R1.7.36 (File Version 10.7.36)
• HW20 Calendar Plus Web Part R4.1.71 (File Version 40.1.71)
• HW24 List Rollup Web Part R5.0.161 (File Version 50.0.161)
• HW28 Site Creation Plus Web PartR1.4.40 (File Version 10.4.45)
• Note: Please make sure you have the latest version of Site Creation Plus (10.4.45). This version update to Site Creation Plus fixes a bug within Project Management Central. Please see the Site Creation Plus Web Part Release Notes for a detailed explanation.
• HW37 Data-Viewer Web Part R3.3.63 (File Version 30.3.63)
• HW41D Bamboo Visual Indicator R1.3.44 (File Version 10.3.44)
• HW41J Bamboo KPI Column R1.3.51 (File Version 10.3.51)
• HW50 List Print R1.4.22 (File Version 10.4.22)
• HW55 SharePoint Navigators R1.3.30 (File Version 10.3.30)
• SA35 SharePoint Project Portfolio Dashboard R1.8.47 (File Version 10.8.47)
Resolved Customer-Reported Bugs and Known Issues/Limitations:
• Displays an error message after loading tasks from Microsoft Project Professional 2010 into Task Master if the predecessor task field contains special characters such as a hyphen.
• The KPI icons in the view form of the Project Health list links to the wrong URL.
• In the German version of SharePoint 2010, users with full access cannot use the Site Creation Plus Web Part to create sites.
• In the German version of SharePoint 2010, users get an error when opening the tool pane of the Baseline Web Part.
• In the German version of SharePoint 2010, users receive the error message: “String was not a valid Date Time” in the Scheduling View.
• When upgrading to the latest version of PM Central using the Upgrade/Repair option in the Setup program, the SharePoint 2010 Timer service must be restarted before and after installation is complete in order for the timer jobs to be updated properly.
• Users must select a resource from the Enterprise Resource Pool (ERP) typing a letter and selecting the resource without scrolling down the list.
• Import resources from the User Profile database (SharePoint 2010 Server) or User Information List (SharePoint 2010 Foundation) to the Enterprise Resource Pool (ERP) portfolio or to the project site Contacts list.
• After upgrading from R1.8 to R2.1, users may receive the following error in the Project Central Upgrade Monitoring Page in the Central Administration menu: “Upgrade failed: System.ArgumentException: Value does not fall within the expected range” at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFieldCollection.GetField(String strName, Boolean bThrowException)…” Restart the SharePoint 2010 Timer Service to resolve this issue.
• Upgrading from R1.8 to R2.1 fails. To resolve this issue, restart the SharePoint 2010 Timer service, then run the upgrade again.
• The SharePoint Project Portfolio Dashboard does not update the Portfolio Dashboard List when a project is deleted if that project name contains a space, such as “Alpha Project”.
• There is no option for inline editing at the project level, customers must use the Data-Viewer Web Part.
• The Tasks and Project Health lists are not upgraded using the “Repair Existing/Install New” option in the Setup program, even when the upgrade is successful. Users are required to restart the timer service on all Web Front-end servers, remove and reinstall SA12.ProjectCentral.wsp and restart the timer service on the Web Front-end again.
• The portfolio and project sites do not upgrade successfully using the “Repair Existing/Install New” option in the Setup program. Users are required to restart the timer service on all Web Front-end servers, remove and reinstall SA12.ProjectCentral.wsp and restart the timer service on the Web Front-end again.
• Items in the project site, such as the Project Info section, do not display the context menu in the grid view if the data source is a SharePoint list or a Bamboo List Rollup.
• Users with Design permissions can see the “Add New Project” option, but they cannot create a project. The “Add New Project” option is no longer shown if the user only has Design permissions.
• Anonymous users cannot see the Tasks or Issues lists in the project site.
• The Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in does not update the “% Complete” column when publishing the value from Microsoft Project.
• On the Reporting tab of the portfolio site, when users click the Last Page button, the page number changes to 0.
Known Issues:
• Users must restart the timer service before clicking on the Upgrade button.
• PM Central does not currently support import users from SQL and AD provider.
• At the portfolio site under the Schedule tab, when anonymous users perform inline edits to an item and click on update, a JavaScript error will pop up.
• With the Project Schedule Baseline and Schedule Tasks Baseline, the application cannot draw a baseline if the tasks and project have dates that spread out over three years.
• PM Central does not show the new “Quick Launch” feature in the default template when a site is created in R1.8. This issue is not present if the site is created in R2.0 or R2.1 or R2.2 or R3.0.
• For project sites with unique permissions where users do not have access to the portfolio site, users can still access the information from the Enterprise Resource Pool in the Contacts List.
• In the Gantt View of the Active Projects Widget on the portfolio site’s Schedules tab, users with special characters in their names will display extra characters. For example, the user L’Orial will be displayed as L’Orial.
• After upgrading to R2.1, the SharePoint Project Portfolio Dashboard does not display data on the portfolio site’s Schedules tab or in the Portfolio Dashboard List after clicking Refresh for the first time. To resolve this issue, restart the SharePoint 2010 Timer service. See KB.12641 for more information.
• When users add a new item to the Contacts List where the Enterprise Resource Pool is not used for the selection, users will receive a JavaScript error.
• Anonymous users must input a user name and password.
• The Site Path data is not exported when users click Master Grid Excel Export.
Known Issues Hot-Fixes for In-Place Upgrade:
• In-Place Upgrade from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010 in R3.0 is not currently supported. Users are required to perform an In-Place Upgrade from R2.1/2.2 from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010 first. Then, in SharePoint 2010 they can upgrade from R2.1/R2.2 to R3.0.
• (Upgrade from In-Place Upgrade site to 3.0) The Show “PMC List Actions” Ribbon in Project Home should only show the “PMC List Actions” in the Tasks list (“PMC List Actions” contains the option for users to export tasks to Microsoft Project).
• (Upgrade from In-Place Upgrade 2.1 to 3.0) In R3.0, the timer jobs are scheduled to run every 59 minutes. In this case, the schedules of timer jobs do not change to 59 minutes.
• After running the In-Place Upgrade option in R2.1, users will not see data in the “All My Projects” tab on the portfolio site’s Project Central tab. Users are required to edit the tool pane of the Data-Viewer Web Part to select the list again. This is not an issue for the In-Place Upgrade option in R2.2.
Limitations:
• The “Connect to Microsoft Project Professional 2010 and sync tasks” option is not available for Windows Vista.
• PM Central shows the incorrect sorting groups using the Data-Viewer Web Part. For example: partial items from group 1 will be shown on page 1, then items from group 2 and the rest of the items on group 1 are shown on the next page. Users need to click on “next page” to see the data for the rest of the group.
• In https mode, the Reporting Web Part does not export a copy of charts in the exported Excel file. Chart images are displayed as a red X.
• The “Discussion” tab does not pop up a form when selecting “Add new item”.
• When using the Microsoft Project “Connect and Synchronization Mode,” the “% Complete” column changes from 0% to 99% when creating a task with a blank due date in the Tasks list and exporting to Microsoft Project.
• While using the Microsoft Project “Connect and Synchronization Mode,” when a new task with a blank Start Date and Due date in Microsoft Project syncs back to the Tasks List, the wrong Start Date and Due date will be displayed.
• The Microsoft Project “Connect and Synchronization Mode” cannot sync back to the “Assigned To” field in the tasks list when users add resources from the Microsoft Project when the resources do not exist in the Active Directory.
• If a Calculated column type is displayed in SharePoint Task Master, the calculated value is not updated when the user clicks Recalculate. To view the updated values for Calculated columns, refresh the browser using Control + F5.
• Users cannot delete resources from the Enterprise Resource Pool in the department site if the department site is the site collection. Users must go to the portfolio site to delete resources if needed.
• Adding a new resource from a task item will wipe out any information that you enter in the fields, such as Title, Status, etc.
• The “Update Data” function does not load the “Load run time” value.
• When users create a new Web Part page in the portfolio site and try to make this page the default page updating the URL in /_Layouts/AreaWelcomePage.aspx, they will receive the following error: “The site is not valid. The ‘Pages’ document library is missing.” This is a SharePoint limitation.
• Users logged in to the portfolio site with a site collection administrator account will not see rolled-up data in the following tabs: My Summary, Resources, Schedules, Issues and Reporting. This is a SharePoint limitation. To change the limits, go to Central Administration > Manage Web Applications. Select the desired site collection, then select General Settings > Resource Throttling from the Ribbon to change the values.
• The Bamboo Microsoft Project Add-in cannot map and import resources mapping the Resource (custom field) to Microsoft Project ResourceNames.
• In the “Tasks” tab of the project site under Tracking View, the headers for “Cost”, “Actual Cost” and “% Complete” are not aligned to the left like in other fields.
SA08 Workflow Conductor for SharePoint 2010 Release 2.1
New Features:
• Custom database names – The Workflow Conductor database now supports custom naming, allowing multiple instances of the database to reside on a single SQL Server.
• Updated Studio Toolbar – Workflow Conductor Studio features an improved Ribbon-style menu for easy configuration and access to configured site navigation/breadcrumbs.
• Updated Studio Settings UI – The right-pane interface includes new features and now supports smaller resolutions.
• Improved lookups – “Site Collection” properties in widgets can now be defined using lookups to stored values. “Current List” has been added as an option to the dropdown menu for lookups.
• Configurable Per-Widget Task Emails – Various task emails for “Request Approval,” “Request Feedback,” and “Collect Data from User” can now be configured separately for each widget, including task-specific lookups (ex. “Task Description”). Default email content can be defined in Central Administration.
• Increased Widget Scope – The following widgets now support lookups to other Site Collections/Sites/Lists:
• Set Field Value
• Add Column
• Repeat for Each Item
• Custom/Blank Site Creation – “Create Site” now supports Bamboo custom site templates and “blank” templates.
• Support for Bamboo Custom Columns – Workflow Conductor now supports the use of read/write activities for Bamboo’s Custom Columns.
• The “Save” and “Save As” functions have been combined to eliminate confusion and minimize lost changes.
• The Workflow Conductor Control Panel in Central Administration now features breadcrumb links for easier navigation.
• “User and Group Management” has been added to widget categories.
Known Issues
• Widgets can be dropped into invalid areas of “Request Approval” widget, causing workflows to display an error message.
• In some cases, Workflow Conductor Web Part features may need to be manually deactivated and re-activated when upgrading if Web Parts are already being used on a page(s).
• Workflows fail when attempting to use “Check In,” “Check Out,” or “Discard Check Out” on the workflow task list.
• Copy Item/Update Item/Set Field Value widgets will not work on a Bamboo Custom Identifier Column if the “Automatically Generate Unique ID” option is enabled.
• The Zoom In/Out viewing options may not work correctly on some larger imported templates.
• The “Repeat While” widget may fail if the “Loop Delay” property value is set using a lookup.
• Workflows that contain a Collect Data From User widget are canceled when run on a list in another site collection.
• If a Simple Publishing workflow uses a workflow initialization form field that contains a space in the form field name, any default value configured for the field will not be displayed in the workflow start page.
• If a workflow is in progress and a user clicks the “Workflow is committing…” message in the workflow status page, an error message is displayed.
• In the My Workflows and My Workflow Tasks Web Parts, version numbers will appear after the task name when a new version of a Simple Publishing workflow is published after the task is created.
• If a workflow that contains a lookup to a number or % column is deployed to a Document Library in a Meeting site, the workflow will be canceled if the column is empty.
• If a workflow initialization form Date and Time field is configured with a default value that includes a time, the time may not be displayed correctly in the workflow start page.
• If a Simple Publishing workflow with a Start Another Workflow widget is edited and published to a different scope, workflow initialization form values are not updated. For example, if the workflow was published to the list and then updated and published to the site, the Start Another Workflow widget retains its previous workflow initialization form values.
• After upgrading to Workflow Conductor 2.0, a workflow deployed in Workflow Conductor 1.5 that contains a Create AD Account widget configured with a lookup from an initialization form Choice drop-down field will add a “]” to the end of the lookup when the workflow runs.
• Workflow is canceled if a Remove AD Group widget attempts to remove a group in an OU level lower than the one specified in the LDAP path.
• In the Template Gallery, cannot filter for Created By when the filter contains special characters.
• If a Simple Publishing workflow is associated to a list with an association name different than the workflow name, the workflow start page will display the workflow name instead of the association name.
• Workflow is canceled if a Send Email widget attempts to send an attachment 8MB or larger.
• If you attempt to attach a Document Set in a Send Email widget, the workflow will be canceled.
• Some Widgets and task forms may not work correctly on German-language installations.
• The Repeat For Each Item widget “Start Item” condition does not work when using the “Is Null” operator with a Date/Time or Person/Group column.
• When upgrading Workflow Conductor, workflows that are “In Progress” and waiting for Delay For, Delay Until, Wait For Field Change, Request Approval, Or Request Feedback widgets do not complete after upgrading to Conductor 1.5 or higher.
• Saved property values are not displayed when you edit the Access SP via REST widget properties.
• If a Set Approval Status widget is configured to Run As “Initiator” or “Other”, the item shows as Modified By “System Account”.
• In some cases, the Approval Status of an item is not set properly for workflows deployed with the Start Option “Start this workflow to approve publishing a major version of an item.”
• In the View Workflow Status page, “Starts With,” “Ends With,” “Equal To,” and “Not Equal To” filters do not work on the Workflow Name and List columns.
• Set Field Value can incorrectly set a Person/Group (Person only) column to a SharePoint group name.
Limitations:
• Integrated task buttons in Microsoft Outlook are not available for SharePoint Foundation (Server only).
• A Bamboo KPI Custom Column field may show a blank value for a task list item if that item is updated using the Complete Task, Create Task, or Copy Item widgets.
• When editing a workflow template created in Workflow Conductor 1.6.1 after upgrading to 2.0, Create Item widget properties are not displayed correctly. Workaround: Re-enter the widget properties and save the template.
• After upgrading to Workflow Conductor 2.0, workflow solutions that were scheduled for deployment in the previous version but had not yet been deployed are not deployed at the scheduled time after the upgrade. This is because the workflow deployment method is changed to Simple Publishing in Conductor 2.0. The workflow can be manually deployed in the Workflow Solution Management page in the Workflow Conductor Control Panel.
• If a workflow with a Set Field Value widget is created on a Document Library and later associated to another list type, values set using the {Current Item:Name} lookup may not work correctly if the “Name” column in the new list was created manually and is not the default SharePoint “Name” column.
• An error page is displayed if a workflow is associated with a Bamboo workflow task content type.
• Some SharePoint site themes do not work well with Conductor Studio.
• The full account name must be used to lookup an FBA user in the Conductor Studio User Lookup form.
• Cannot assign a Request Approval or Request Feedback task to a user in another site collection who is not also in the current site collection.
• Create Item cannot create an item in a list name that includes an apostrophe (‘).
• Send Email does not work if the recipient property is a lookup to a SharePoint group or a Person/Group column allowing multiple selections that contain a group in another site collection.
• You must disable UAC Admin Approval Mode or turn off UAC to run Conductor on Windows Server 2008.
HW41G Column Level Security for SharePoint 2010 (1.3.26)
New Features:
• Bamboo Column Level Security now uses Web License Manager Version 2.0.10.0.
Resolved Customer-Reported Bugs and Known Issues/Limitations:
• Added support for SA08 Workflow Conductor.
HW01 List Integrity for SharePoint 2007 (2.4.23)
New Features:
• List Integrity Web Part now uses Web License Manager Version 2.0.10.0.
Resolved Customer-Reported Bugs and Known Issues/Limitations:
• When adding a new item from the dropdown list of a parent list in a custom page, the following error is displayed: “Bamboo Error: Unable to cast object of type ‘System.Web.UI.LiteralControl’ to type ‘Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.TemplateContainer'”.
• When creating Bamboo Link Column for a German or Lithuanian locale, the following error is displayed: “invalid field name [Title] for list [LinkedListConfiguration] “.
No New Known Issues or Limitations
HW12 Group Redirect Web Part for SharePoint 2007 (2.3.21) and SharePoint 2010 (2.3.27)
New:
• Group Redirect Web Part now uses Web License Manager version 2.0.10.0
No New Known Issue or Limitation
HW63 Cross-Site Display Web Part for SharePoint 2007 (1.1.22)
New Features:
• Cross-Site Display Web Part now uses Web License Manager Version 2.0.10.0.
Resolved Customer-Reported Bugs and Known Issues/Limitations:
• The Web Part does not display scroll bars if the content of the Web Part exceeds the fixed height and width set in the Edit Web Part > Appearance settings menu.
• When used on a Publishing site, the Cross-Site Display Web Part Settings window is blank.
SA05 Knowledge Base Solution Accelerator for SharePoint 2010 (2.1.45)
New Features:
• SharePoint Knowledge Base Solution Accelerator now uses Web License Manager Version 2.0.10.0.
Resolved Customer-Reported Bugs and Known Issues/Limitations:
• Reporting Article counts Article type does not include items that exist in folders of the KB Article list.
• When the “Tag Term” column in the Bamboo KB Article list is deleted, KBEventReceiver displays the following error in in the error log: “2011-09-16 19:07:03,094 [15] [(null)] ERROR Bamboo.KBEventReceiver.OnItemArticleEventReceiver -Bamboo.Logging.BambooException: ItemUpdatedReceiver —> System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at Bamboo.KBEventReceiver.OnItemArticleEventReceiver.ItemUpdatedReceiver(SPItemEventProperties properties) — End of inner exception stack trace —“.
• The Tag Cloud Web Part shows the error message “KBTagCloud::OnPreRender: Invalid URI: The Authority/Host could not be parsed” when it is configured using a relative path (../) as the URL.
• Categories in the tree view of KB Admin begin to disappear as subcategories are added.
No new Known Issues or Limitations
HW28 Site Creation Plus for SharePoint 2010 (1.4.45)
Resolved Customer-Reported Bugs and Known Issues/Limitations:
• Project Health does not display any fields in the settings page when the Web Part runs on SA12 PM Central R2.x.
• Internal bug fixes.
No new Known Issues or Limitations
