The Project Group partner training

Hello readers,tpg-logo

I just got back from Germany and wanted to share a little bit of what I learned on a 3 day training with good friends and JSR partner TPG The Project Group.


Update: 23-10-2016. Although I no longer work at JSR, this is a nice reference case for the work I’ve done at the company. Please find more information about my new engagement here.


JSR-Logo-2015In Juli 2015 JSR finished a big project, the first big implementation of a PPM 2013 and SAP integrated solution. It’s not only a big client for JSR, but also the first ever big implementation of the PPM solution combined with sync to SAP in the Netherlands. We have made a case study and I have added it to the Project Corner OneDrive.

I visited Germany (Munich) together with my colleague Hester Blok, who you might know from her own blog. And the rest of the group consisted of TPG employees from South Africa, Switzerland and another French partner.

The training was built upon two themes: a sales focused part followed by an in-depth PSLink training.

Day one at The Project Group partner training: Sales

After arriving around 23.00 in the night before, we started the training course late in the morning. Which was a good thing considering the heat and the late arrival.

The trainer for today is Johann Strasser (Global CTO and Board Member). I met with Johann before and he is a great source on Project Server, working with the tool from day 1. On the sales day, wonderfully enough I didn’t see any prices, sales records or other generally boring numbers. The focus was more on the tools TPG provides. And let me tell you, they are impressive! And as Johann states it during the training: “The tools need to take away the annoying things to do”. Most of them even work with Project Online!

During the first day we got a good feeling for:

  • TPG PSLink and ResourceLink (TPG’s flagship products and integration middle ware to synchronize systems, such as Project information from Project Server with financial data from SAP).

PSLink_Synchronization

  • TPG ProjectLink (multi project management without the trouble you get with usual MS Project Master and Sub project functionality).

ProjectLink_Program

  • TPG TeamLink and TeamManager (an awesome set of tools enabling team capacity management, better than the out of the box team member functionality in Project Server).

web-TeamManager_App_E

TPG TeamManager process chart

I had experience with the TPG PSLink and ResourceLink toolset, but wasn’t aware of the other tools. And they opened up interesting new use cases for clients I’m currently working for. I believe it will be an interesting year for our partnership.

Day 2 and 3 at The Project Group partner training Technical training on TPG PSLink

EkaThe in-depth trainer is Ekaterina Savelieva (Eka for short) a talented young consultant. And also a good teacher :).

She introduced us to a new product, the new PSLink Web-Studio, the successor of the former (XML based) PSLink studio. It was still in beta testing, but a great help to Hester and me, because we both lack experience with XML or any other scripting language.

The new interface looks very professional, helps any partner of TPG start developing solutions and provide a basic installation of PSLink before the TPG experts finish the job.

I created my first “Hello World” project, created a job that provided SAP with the WBS elements I got from a test project in Project Server 2013 and even got half way in a solution where CATS actuals got written back into Project Server. We learned about Master and Sub jobs, BAPI and PSI message boxes and showing logs.

All things considered I got a clear view about the work Eka does and the overall complexity of working with multiple environments and learning all their scritping languages.

Final notes

I had a great time during the Project Group partner training, it was inspirational to see the inner workings of a worldwide operating Project Server / Project Online consulting firm. I believe the tools are a great addition to an already awesome environment.

For more information on TPG you can visit their website: http://www.theprojectgroup.com

For more information about the big client JSR and TPG did together have a look at the case study that you can find in the Project Corner OneDrive.

And to grab a hold of me, just write a comment below, find me on LinkedIn or @Erikvanhurck on Twitter.

As always: thank you for reading, and keep an eye out for more content to come.

4 thoughts on “The Project Group partner training”

  1. What’s up, I desire to subscribe for this web site to get most up-to-date updates, so where can i do it please assist.

    1. Hi Minna,
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