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Logo: MPUG, Keeping Users of Microsoft Office Project Connected
March 4, 2009 Keeping Users of Microsoft® Office Project Connected.
Table of Contents

Note to Members!
These chapters are looking for volunteers who want to practice leadership skills: Columbus, Houston, Nashville, Southeast Michigan, and Washington, D.C. Chapter officers can also earn 10 PDU credits per year for volunteering. Please contact chapters@mpug.com with any questions or visit the MPUG Chapter Advocates page to learn more.


Book Winners
Thanks to all who entered our latest member book contest. Congratulations to Eric Meyers in Phoenix, AZ; Ian Sharpe in Sydney, Australia; Roy Greenia in Arlington, VA; Wade Metzler in Lafayette, CO; and Éamonn McGuinness in Aimsbury, MA. Your copies of the Visio 2007 Bible are on their way!


MPUG WebNLearns

Mar 5, 2009 NorthEast Connection WebNLearn: Project Workspaces
Mar 11, 2009 Portfolio Management and "Governance"
Mar 18, 2009 Microsoft Project for the Beginning User
Apr 15, 2009 Microsoft Project for the Intermediate User
Apr 24, 2009 "More Tips and Tricks"
May 20, 2009 Microsoft Project for the Advanced User


MPUG Chapter Meetings

Mar 5, 2009 Boston
Mar 10, 2009 São Paulo
Mar 11, 2009 St. Louis
Mar 12, 2009 Rio de Janeiro
Mar 12, 2009 Montreal
Mar 16, 2009 Atlanta
Mar 18, 2009 Toronto
Mar 19, 2009 New York City
Mar 20, 2009 Twin Cities
Mar 25, 2009 Connecticut
Apr 1, 2009 Southeast Michigan
Apr 8, 2009 St. Louis
Apr 10, 2009 Paris
May 5, 2009 Central Indiana
May 13, 2009 St. Louis


Sponsored Event

Apr 24, 2009 Central Indiana (fee)


For Officers Only

Claim Your PDUs for 2008! MPUG chapter advocates and volunteers earn up to 10 PMI professional development units for each 12-month period served. To get your 2008 credits, log into MPUG.com and access the Chapter Admin site. Look for the "Claim Officer PDUs" link in the left menu.

Want to Thank a Business for Its Support of Your Chapter? Invite contributing businesses to provide a 4-color logo and up to a 20-word directory listing for each issue of your chapter-specific print newsletter. Log in and visit the Chapter Admin site to read, "Sponsorship Info for Chapter Specific Newsletter".


Jobs
Deployment Project Manager, Cargill, Minnesota

Internet/Intranet Project Manager, Dallas County, Community College District, Mesquite, TX

IT Project Manager (contract), Peachstate Information Network, Smyrna, GA

Project Server Administrator, Global Payments, Atlanta, GA

Log in with your MPUG membership
to gain access to the Career Center.



MPUG Resources

MPUG Home
Join MPUG
Microsoft Office Project 2007 site


MPUG
1143 Northern Blvd., #315
Clarks Summit, PA 18411

Mihai MarinescuPutting Project Portfolio Management to Work in a Bad Economy
By Mihai Marinescu
In an economic downturn, the practice of project portfolio management can help organizations cut costs in an efficient manner. The goal is to make sure that resources are invested in initiatives that support the strategic objectives of the organization as they evolve. Companies that employ PPM as a practice stand out because they apply method to the sometimes-haphazard decision-making that goes on in determining what projects warrant investment. Here's how the magic works!...


   Sponsored by Pcubed
Pcubed - helping organizations manage projects


Track Project Progress with Physical % Complete
By Eoin Callan, PMP, MCTS, MCT
Far too often people arbitrarily track project performance through the "% Complete" method with subjective estimates for "how finished" the project is. Microsoft Project doesn’t work well with this since manually entering values into the % complete field logically cascades a cavalcade of calculations, which aren't necessarily intuitive. Let's consider an alternative...


   Sponsored by EPK Group
See how EPK-Suite and EPK-MPPlus can help improve project performance



Chapter Spotlight: 4 Questions with Twin Cities' Larry Christofaro

This MPUG leader from the Minneapolis and St. Paul chapter divulges his biggest project management -- and work -- challenges. Plus, he shares his biggest goals for the chapter in 2009...


Featured Event: Mar 18, 2009 Toronto: Giving Business What They Want -- Is Scheduling the Problem or the Solution?
Organizations invest time and money adopting “mature” scheduling disciplines but soon feel they are not getting the benefit they expected and feel overwhelmed by the administrative overhead. The key lever for driving programs successfully is accurate status and reliable estimation. There is a pragmatic flexible way to do this without having to adopt unwieldy project management processes that interfere with delivery. Presented by Adam Roberts, with Pcubed Canada.


Have a Corporate Membership? Join the MPUG Services & Solutions Directory to Get Referrals!
If you have a corporate membership and sell a product or service of use to the community -- such as consulting services, training, hosted services or software -- you may be eligible for inclusion in the MPUG Services & Solutions Directory. To get details, send your inquiry to info@mpug.com. Put "Corporate Member" in the subject line. Purchase your corporate membership by visiting http://www.mpug.com/Pages/
CorporateOwnerRegistration.aspx
($495 for a team of five).


News & New Downloads
Microsoft releases cumulative update packages for Office and server products, including Project, Project Server, and SharePoint

Microsoft Project Conference 2009 opens for registration; early bird discount rate of $699


Blogs
5 Antidotes to Gloom: As project managers we don’t always have the luxury of disengaging ourselves from what’s going on in the world around us. We are responsible for leading and inspiring our teams. How then do we stay involved, engaged and aware, while maintaining hope and realistic optimism?...

Project Decelerators --
what are they?:
...You have great ideas, a great team, and you are ready to go. “Oh,” says your manager, “before you get started you need to check with VP Jane Doe on her expectations.” No problem, you think...

Interested in blogging for MPUG? Contact editor@mpug.com to learn more.


Industry Events
Project Server Interface Programming Overview, webinar Mar 12, 2009

Microsoft Office Project Server 2007: Deployment into a SharePoint Server 2007 Intranet Farm, TechNet webinar, Mar 18, 2009

Connecting Project Portfolio Management & Application lifecycle Management, webinar, Mar 18, 2009

Review of the Project Server Interface Web Services, webinar, Mar 26, 2009

MSDN Webcast: Office Project Server Programmability (Part 4 of 4): Project Server 2007 Events and Workflow, webinar, Apr 2, 2009

Microsoft Office Project Server 2007: Disaster Recovery, TechNet webinar, Apr 8, 2009

MSDN Webcast: Office Project Client Programmability, webinar, Apr 23, 2009

Send your event details to editor@mpug.com.

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