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SPC 2012: The Sharing the Point Roundtable Discussion, & Some Ruminations on This Year's Microsoft SharePoint Conference

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I've been thinking about how I could summarize my experience at this year's SPC, and I've come to realize given my Sharing the Point-related activities at this year's Conference, combined with my blogging of and tweeting from the event, along with meeting and speaking with Bamboo customers, partners, and friends both new and old that SharePoint community is the connective tissue that binds SPC together for me.

I've already written about the terrific Sharing the Point Africa Executive Luncheon that Colligo sponsored on Tuesday (and my colleague Julie Auletta has generously shared her own experience of the event), but there was also a another scheduled STP panel discussion that occurred the next day, on Wednesday.  The STP team's second STP session took place at the SharePoint TV booth in the Community Lounge (kudos to Microsoft for the community recognition that was represented by the prominent existence of the Lounge and its extensive slate of SharePoint TV programming), and though our band of brothers was sadly short by one at this second event (we were missing Paul Swider), we had a great discussion about the past, present, and future of STP.

STP SharePoint TV Session Panelists at SPC 2012 (R to L: Eric Harlan, Michael Noel, Mark Miller, Joel Oleson, & John Anderson)

During the 30-minute panel discussion, which was moderated by STP member Eric Harlan and also featured Joel Oleson, Mark Miller, Michael Noel, and me, we touched on a variety of topics.  The topics ranged from reminiscences of some of our most successful community-building events to date (with Nairobi and Manila both getting lots of love) to how the tours are set up (from funding to logistics), and from the nuts-and-bolts of starting a SharePoint user group to what each panel member's biggest takeaway has been from the STP tours. 

Complete video of this STP session will be coming from SharePoint TV (and I'll aim to update this post with the embedded video when it becomes available), but I'd like to offer an "extended cut" here to the off-the-cuff response I gave to the question regarding my own biggest takeaway from the three STP tours (Asia, South America, and Africa) we've been on so far.  In the moment, I boiled it down to "the global SharePoint community rocks," but I'd like to augment that statement by adding "...and helping to 'give back' by growing and strengthening that worldwide community through the efforts of STP is not only incredibly fulfilling, it's also incredibly humbling."

The community was also fully present at SPC in the form of a steady stream of visitors to the Bamboo booth in the exhibit hall, and in the attendees of the Bamboo Way party which took place at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay.  That party was such a success that we decided midnight was just too early to call it a night, and ended up extending for an additional hour of festivities (at which point, on the eve of the Latin Grammys, those of us with the most stamina were escorted into the sold-out Enrique Iglesias show in the club's intimate performance space).  Thanks to everyone for stopping by the booth and/or the party, and thanks to the House of Blues for the unexpected live-music capper to what had already been a memorable night.  

And since giving thanks reminds me of tomorrow's Thanksgiving holiday here in America (and my mention of the Grammys reminds me of awards-show acceptance speeches), I'd like to close this post by mentioning a few more people and organizations to whom I'm thankful.  Thanks to: my brothers in globe-trotting SharePoint evangelism, aka the STP team members; all of the supporters and sponsors of STP (most especially to our global sponsors, Colligo, Fpweb.net, and AvePoint); to the Bamboo leadership team for recognizing the importance of the STP initiative from the start, and  for allowing me to disembark for extended leaves on the tours; to all of my colleagues (aka my Bamboo family) for being awesome; to Bamboo's customers and partners for your unwavering support; and, of course, to everyone at Microsoft who works on SharePoint for making all of the above possible. 

And with that, I'll just say to my Bamboo family, my STP brothers, and to everyone in my extended SharePoint community family, have a happy Thanksgiving, one and all.

Missed any of Bamboo Nation's SPC 2012 coverage?  Catch up here:


Want to Win a Commemorative SPC 2012 T-shirt?

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Did you get to spend a week attending Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2012 in fabulous Las Vegas earlier this month? Well, I didn't. It was a ghost town here at Bamboo Global Marketing Headquarters.

Being the newest member of Bamboo's marketing team, I got to "man the fort" while everyone else spent the week in Nevada. Have you ever been the only person in a fort? It's pretty boring. Now, I wasn't the only person in the building, but I was the only member of the marketing team, and the second-most senior employee in my section of the office (and I only started in July). It was a quiet week. In an effort to spread some fun to my fellow non-SPC attendees, I've decided to give away some of the extra t-shirts that we featured at the SPC booth. It's probably OK with my boss ... I mean, they're just sitting around the office, like I was Stick out tongue. Anyway they're available in stylish black, and feature this design on the back:

The front has a smaller "SPC 2012 Las Vegas" design similar to the back. If you didn't get to go to SPC and would like to enter to win one of these commemorative shirts, send the following information to sharepointdaily@gmail.com:

Name (first and last)
Email
Address
T-shirt Size

We have a few shirts available in small, medium, large, and extra large sizes, so there will be more than one winner. We'll contact you to let you know if you should be expecting a sweet new shirt once the entry period is over, which is ambiguous at the moment, so you might as well enter now!

Good luck!

-Ned

 

Now Available: Complete Videos of All SharePoint Leadership Forum 2012 Sessions

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Remember when we mentioned that all of the sessions at last month's inaugural SharePoint Leadership Forum (SPLF) had been professionally filmed, and would be made available online? SharePoint Leadership Forum 2012

Well, we've been remiss in spreading the good word, partially due to the fact that we've been fine-tuning the presentation of the videos on the SPLF site (and, frankly, we're still in the process of a little more fine-tuning), but we're ready for the grand unveiling all the same.  (And yes, we realize that some of you have already found the videos on your own, either on Bamboo's YouTube channel, on the SPLF site, or via SPLF presenter Sadie Van Buren's tweet yesterday - ya scooped me, Sadie!)

But enough with the prelude, right?  Why not head on over to the SPLF 2012 Presentations page where you'll find  that, in addition to Bamboo Chairman of the Board Anders Johnsson's opening and closing remarks, complete videos of all of the following SPLF presentations are available in one convenient location:

  • Ed Hild Introduces The New Microsoft Office and SharePoint 2013
  • Dan Holme'sBringing Home the Gold: SharePoint in Action at the London Olympics
  • Sadie Van Buren'sSharePoint Maturity Model
  • Barry Jinks'The Implications of Integrating Mobile Devices
  • Tim Cermak'sMaximize Project 2010 with SharePoint 2010 for PM Success
  • Mark Miller'sSharePoint & Social
  • Rob Manfredi'sAccelerating Application Development on SharePoint

While you're on the site, don't forget to sign up to get on the notification list for next year's SPLF event.  Details are still under discussion, but part of the discussion involves the possibility of staging an SPLF outside the U.S. in 2013.  Stay tuned!

Use the Password Settings Object (PSO) in Bamboo Password Expiration 1.6

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Are you enforcing expiration of Active Directory Service account passwords and, as a result, are finding that your external users are having difficulty logging into SharePoint due to expired passwords? If so, you can dramatically cut down on the overhead costs of troubleshooting login issues with Bamboo's Password Expiration Web Part. Password Expiration Web Part provides an early warning system for SharePoint users when their password is about to expire.

With Active Directory (AD),we only had one password and account lockout policy for the entire domain; this is a limitation for AD. So, many companies had to use multiple domains to place different password policies on different users. Furthermore, they had to develop their own password filters or buy third-party solutions. With Windows Server 2008, we gained the option to specify different password policies for different users and groups out-of-the-box.

The Windows 2008 feature Password Settings Object (PSO) allows password settings to be applied to Users or Groups, as opposed to Organizational Units (OUs).

To configure a Password Settings Object (PSO), please refer to the Microsoft TechNet article, Create a PSO.

 

In the tool pane of Password Expiration Web Part, you must input an administrative AD domain account to configure a PSO.

 

 

We have three options to provide an early warning system for SharePoint users when their password is about to expire.

  • Automatically redirect users to URL:


  • Display days until expiration and URL in the Web Part:


  • Bamboo.Notification Add-On:

To configure Bamboo.Notification Add-On, refer to the Bamboo Team Blog post, How to Run Task Scheduler on Windows 2008 & Apply Password Expiration.

 

Ready to give Bamboo Password Expiration a try? Jump over to the Bamboo Password Expiration product page and select Add Trial to Cart to download a fully-functional 30-day trial. Already an owner of Bamboo Password Expiration? Review the upgrade instructions found in the Online Documentation.

 

Announcing Workflow Conductor 3.0 for SharePoint 2010

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Who says that "the twos" have to be so "terrible"? We can look back pretty fondly on Workflow Conductor's twos. We watched it grow up quite a bit over the last year, from version 2.0, to version 2.1, and finally version 2.5. Along the way, it picked some useful life skills, like sharing (of workflow templates), cleaning up after itself (with advanced error handling), and dealing with others (through user and group management features). Like any proud parent, we couldn't be happier with what our little overachiever could do at two. That said, we're even more excited to see what three brings, which is why we're happy to announce that Workflow Conductor has just turned 3.0! 

Here are just some of the new presents that Workflow Conductor has brought to its own party... 

  • Conditional Delays - Pause a workflow until one of any number of different custom, user-defined conditions has been met.
  • Email-based Approvals - Let workflow participants approve or reject items directly from email, without ever having to log into SharePoint. You decide who can do it, and where it works.
  • Custom User Tasks - Create custom user polls and store an overall outcome based on configurable business logic.    
  • Improved Lookups - Create multi-value lookups, easily add user and group lookups directly from the widget properties, and perform lookups on even more column types. We even added more Easy References.
  • Updated Widgets - Many of the existing widgets got some new/improved features, including...
    • Almost 20 new date/numerical/string functions for the Calculate widget
    • The ability to limit Repeat for Each Item activity loops to just the items in a specific list view
    • Optional and required fields on user task forms
    • The ability to add attachments to Approval/Feedback task notification emails
  • Performing workflow actions on SharePoint items across other sites and even site collections easily
  • Running each workflow step under specific credentials (the workflow initiator, the workflow designer, or an entirely different account)
  • Advanced error handling that allows workflows to be paused when they encounter an error, and resume from the same spot when the underlying issue has been fixed
  • Working seamlessly with Bamboo's large portfolio of products, such as PM Central or Alert Plus

All of these new features are just the latest additions to Workflow Conductor's overflowing bag of tricks, which already includes things like...

Workflow Conductor 3.0 is available now. Download your free 30-day trial, check it out in our online sandbox, or sign up for one of our regularly scheduled webinars. We're pretty proud of it, but we admit that we might be a little biased, so let us know what you think.

BTW - If your curious what's coming next for Workflow Conductor, we're already looking to the future, and we're planning to ring in the new year with some shiny new workflows in (SharePoint) 2013. Stay tuned to Bamboo Nation for more info! 

    Save $500 on Your SPTechCon Registration

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    SPTechCon San Francisco 2013

    Just one week remains to take advantage of the early-bird pricing for SPTechCon San Francisco.  By registering by December 7, you'll save a whopping $500 on the cost of registration for the three-day event, plus an additional full day of pre-conference workshops.

    SPTechCon will take place in San Francisco from March 3-6, with March 3 consisting of the pre-conference workshops, and March 4-6 being the conference proper.  Mark Miller will be delivering the opening keynote on March 4, and there will be more than 90 classes on offer, taught by Microsoft Certified Masters, MVPs, and other SharePoint luminaries such as: Marc D. Anderson, Christian Buckley, Andrew Connell, Ben Curry, Bill English, Richard Harbridge, Todd Klindt, Mark Rackley, Tom Resing, Dux Raymond Sy, Jeremy Thake, and Shane Young.  Mind you, those naems merely scratch the surface of the full speaker list

    Session tracks will include Developer Essentials, IT Pro Essentials, Information Worker Essentials, and Architecture Essentials.  If you're planning to attend SPTechCon and you haven't already registered, be sure to lock in your savings by doing so within the next week to maximize your savings.  Heck, why not just go ahead and register now?

    Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2013: To Be or Not to Be?

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    Like many of you I'm sure, I was surprised by the lack of announcement of a SPC 2013 at this year's SPC keynote.  Given the fact that the dates and location of this year's SPC in Las Vegas were announced at last year's SPC keynote in Anaheim, and especially given that the new release is called SharePoint 2013, the conspicuous absence of a SPC 2013 announcement was particularly surprising.

    I have to believe, however, (also like many of you, I'm sure) that there will be a SPC 2013.  I mean, sure, SharePoint 2013 saw its official RTM declaration (and the availability for download of the bits from TechNet and MSDN) in conjunction with SPC earlier this month but, per Microsoft, "General availability is planned for the first quarter of 2013."

    It's for those reasons, combined with the fact that there has now been a SPC for three straight years (with each one bigger than the last), I figure there's got to be a SPC 2013 in the works.  Presumably it will take place in October or November, as has become the custom, so now it's really just a question of when we'll get the confirmation and attendant details from Microsoft.

    Inquiring minds want to know.  I don't suppose anybody would care to share some inside scoop?

    Failing that, I guess we can at least start speculating about the location of SPC 2013.  A second autumn SPC in Anaheim?  A Vegas hat trick?  Somewhere else that's not too chilly in autumn?  New Orleans, Orlando, or Atlanta, all of which have been recent TechEd stops?  Somewhere else entirely?

    This Week in Bamboo (November 25th, 2012 - December 1st, 2012)

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    At Bamboo this week, a minor release of Password Expiration Web Part was released to the storefront with great new features along with the following patches: Tree View Web Part, List Print, Team Calendar, KPI Column and Project Portfolio Dashboard.  Please check out our storefront for the latest releases of this week and see below for more information on all the bug fixes, and great new features.

    HW23 Password Expiration Web Part for SharePoint 2010 (Release 1.6.41)

    New Features:

    • Added support for Password Settings Object (PSO). NOTE: For PSO support, a Domain Administrator account must be provided in the configuration of the Web Part.
    • SharePoint Administrator credentials are no longer required, removed this section from the Web Part tool pane.
    • Expanded the capabilities of the display message capabilities by replacing the original text boxes with a single rich text box, providing the capabilities of HTML support and optional variables, including logged in user account Full Name, days till password expires, and optionally redirect URL.
    • Miscellaneous text changes in the Web Part configuration.

    No bug fixes.

    No new Known Issues and Limitations.

    HW03 Tree View Web Part for SharePoint 2010 (Release 1.7.82)

    Bug Fixes:

    • If the view "Edit in Datasheet" has been disabled on the List or Library, users can still access the option from Tree View Web Part.
    • The folders displayed in the tree view in the left frame are not sorted in alphabetically.

    No new Known Issue and Limitations.

    HW50 List Print for SharePoint 2007 (Release 1.4.14) and Share Point 2010 (Release 1.4.26)

    Bug Fixes:

    • Columns of type Bamboo Lookup Selector display the parsing character semi-colon ";".

    No new Known Issues or Limitations

    HW34 Team Calendar for SharePoint 2010 (Release 1.7.18)

    Bug Fixes:

    • If the Regional Settings is set to German, Team Calendar Web Part displays an error message in the "Today" view and the border fails to display for the current date in all views.

    No new Known Issues and Limitations

    HW41J KPI Column for SharePoint 2010 (Release 1.3.62)

    Bug Fixes:
     
    • Receive an error in the SharePoint logs and in the resulting .STP file when saving a site as a template that contains a site column of type Bamboo KPI. NOTE: After upgrading Bamboo KPI Column, open the site column settings and save the settings before saving the site as a template.

    No new Known Issues and Limitations

    SA35 Project Portfolio Dashboard for SharePoint 2010 (Release 1.8.58)        

    Bug Fixes:

    • Internal bug fixes to support Bamboo Project Management Central Release 4.0.

    No new Known Issues and Limitations

     


    Office 365: How to Enable Anonymous Access with SharePoint Online

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    Working with SharePoint Online, you're required to create an account in order to share information with your colleagues and other users.

    In this article, I will show you how to create a site with anonymous rights.

    Step-by-step:

    1. Sign into the Admin site.

    Click on the Manage link (under the SharePoint heading) as pictured below:

     

    This will take you to the administration center.  Click on Manage site collections:

     

     

    2. Go to the Site Collections page, click on the New icon in the Ribbon, and select Public Website:

     

    To continue to create the site, there are some options you'll need to configure, so let's take a look at them (please refer to the picture below).

    Pay particular attention to two options:

    1. Storage quota: storage capacity on site.

    2. Resource usage quota: the number of access resources might need for this site.

    Please provide a storage quota and resource usage quota. Here, I just put in 2000 for Storage and 3000 for Resource:

     

    After creating the site, you will see the link appear under a Website heading, with full information (URL, Total Storage Quota, Total Resource usage quota):

     

    Click this link, and you will see that it actually creates a simple site with a Page Library.  It looks nothing like SharePoint either.

    But, when you click on Member login and sign in with the admin account. You can edit the pages:

     

    The problem at this point, however, is that you don't know how to share information with other users without having to create an account for them.

    The solution?  After yousign in with the admin account, go to View All site Content then Create New Site.  At this point, you simply copy the link and share it with everyone to whom you wish to grant access.

    A Preview of Group Redirect Web Part for SharePoint 2013

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    SharePoint 2013 is the new way to work together. A simplified user experience helps you organize, sync, and share all your content.  Users around the world are eager to use these new features, lists, sites, and user interface in SharePoint 2013, and Bamboo is pleased to introduce you to some new Web Parts for SharePoint 2013 which we'll be releasing in the near future.

    In this article, we will take a look at the Group RedirectWeb Part in SharePoint 2013.

    Group Redirect Web Part provides a simple and quick way to redirect users in selected cross-site SharePoint or Active Directory groups (or combinations of groups) away from the selected page. It enables the administrator to insert the Web Part on any page in the portal and redirect cross-site group users to a specified alternate page when they attempt to access the selected page. In addition, a unique redirect destination can be defined for each group or combination of groups.

    Supported on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Foundation 2013 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2013, here are just some of the things you'll be able to do with Group RedirectWeb Part for SharePoint 2013:

    • Restrict selected cross-site group members' access to a specific site
    • Identify users based on SharePoint or Active Directory group membership
    • Redirect cross-site group members to an alternate page
    • Redirect combinations of groups based on and/or logic
    • Redirect multiple cross-site groups

     

    Additional SharePoint 2013 Previews from Bamboo include:

    A Preview of Chart Plus Web Part for SharePoint 2013

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    SharePoint 2013 is the new way to work together. A simplified user experience helps you organize, sync, and share all your content. Users around the world are eager to use these new features, lists, sites, and user interface in SharePoint 2013, and Bamboo is pleased to introduce you to some new Web Parts for SharePoint 2013 which we'll be releasing in the near future.

    In this article, we will take a look at Chart Plus Web Part for SharePoint 2013.

    Distributing critical business data can be a difficult and expensive process. Available for SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010, and coming soon for SharePoint 2013, Bamboo's Chart Plus Web Part allows users to effectively communicate results to the entire enterprise without the need for costly reporting software. Using your existing SharePoint, SQL Server, external lists for SharePoint 2013, Excel Services for SharePoint 2013, Bamboo List Rollup, MashPoint, or Microsoft Business Data Catalog/Business Connectivity Services data, Bamboo Chart Plus creates visually dynamic, interactive charts that help you make better, more informed business decisions:

     

    Product Overview and Benefits

    • Multiple data source options, including SharePoint lists, SQL Server tables or views, external lists with External Content Type based on a SQL Server Table data for SharePoint 2013, Excel Workbook to generate charts using Excel Services for SharePoint 2013, MashPoint, or Microsoft Business Data Catalog/Business Connectivity Services applications, or views created by the Bamboo List Rollup Web Part.
    • Easy to set up and use
    • Control data access using SharePoint security trimming
    • Multiple chart types: Bar, Stacked Bar, Line, Area, Stacked Area, Pie, Bubble, and Gantt
    • Group related data using operations such as Summary, Count, Percentage, or Average
    • Display data series on different Y-axes, each configured with its own scale

    Here are just some of the things you'll be able to do with the Chart Plus Web Part for SharePoint 2013:

    • Read data from Excel Workbooks to generate charts using Excel Services (Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013 files are supported)
    • Display charts from an external list using External Content Type based on SQL Server Table data
    • Use a Secure Store Service account to connect with and display charts from a SQL Server table on an external SQL server
    • Dynamically filter charts using Runtime Filter View
    • Dynamically filter charts using Web Part Connection
    • Filter charts based on SQL table data using criteria options
    • Use Interactive reports to quickly and dynamically change a bar chart to a pie chart, or a bar chart to a line chart, and back again
    • Create interactive reports that let you quickly and dynamically change a line chart to a bar chart or a pie chart to a line chart (and back again)
    • Preview chart results as you modify chart settings
    • Allow end users to print or export a copy of the chart to Microsoft Excel
    • Use Intelligent Labels to reduce data-point clutter and make your chart more readable
    • Change chart orientation
    • Customize color-coding, chart skin, and text formats without CSS coding
    • Position your chart title at the top, bottom, left, or right
    • Let your chart size dynamically adjust to fit the space assigned to the Web Part
    • Specify legend location and arrange legend items horizontally or vertically
    • Customize the start and end values for the X- and Y-axis, resulting in improved chart readability and scale
    • Approximate and plot empty values as dotted lines, allowing realistic estimates for missing or future data points
    • Customize legend values from the default category and series names in the data source

    Additional SharePoint 2013 Previews from Bamboo include:

    A Preview of Site Creation Plus Web Part for SharePoint 2013

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    SharePoint 2013 is the new way to work together. A simplified user experience helps you organize, sync, and share all your content. Users around the world are eager to use these new features, lists, sites, and user interface in SharePoint 2013, and Bamboo is pleased to introduce you to some new Web Parts for SharePoint 2013 which we'll be releasing in the near future.

    In this article, we will take a look at Site Creation Plus Web Part for SharePoint 2013.

    Site Creation Plus Web Part provides benefits to both SharePoint users and administrators. It gives administrators the ability to better manage the creation of sites by standardizing URL and user group naming and restricting the site template that users can select. For users, it simplifies the site creation process by reducing the number of choices they must make, and by adding new sites to a Links list automatically. This ensures that they complete an important step in the site creation process that is often forgotten.

     

    Additional SharePoint 2013 Previews from Bamboo include:

    A Preview of Data-Viewer Web Part for SharePoint 2013

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    SharePoint 2013 is the new way to work together. A simplified user experience helps you organize, sync, and share all your content. Users around the world are eager to use these new features, lists, sites, and user interface in SharePoint 2013, and Bamboo is pleased to introduce you to some new Web Parts for SharePoint 2013 which we'll be releasing in the near future.

    In this article, we will take a look at Data-Viewer Web Part for SharePoint 2013.

    Bamboo's Data-Viewer Web Part for SharePoint 2013 displays the content from your SharePoint list/library, SQL table/view, Bamboo List Rollup, or Business Data Catalog data without the need to create a data view (which requires the use of SharePoint Designer). Like the data views you can create with SharePoint Designer, you can allow dynamic grouping, filtering and sorting, exporting of items to Microsoft Excel, and customization of the CSS or changing the Web Part skin. In addition, you can display nested child SharePoint list, SQL table/view, or List Rollup data. You can also perform inline editing of data, including SQL and List Rollup, apply conditional formatting and calculations to both the master data and the nested child data, and -- with proper permissions -- access Lists and List Rollup data-views from all across your SharePoint farm:

     

     

    Supported on SharePoint Foundation 2013 and SharePoint Server 2013, here are some of the things you'll be able to do with Data-Viewer Web Part for SharePoint 2013:

    • Display SharePoint List, SQL table or view, List Rollup data view/form data
    • Access data from across site collections
    • Show your external data via the Business Data Catalog in the Data-Viewer Web Part using MashPoint.
    • Show child list, SQL, or List Rollup data along with master data in a single view
    • Allow inline editing of SharePoint Lists, SQL, or Bamboo List Rollup data directly from the Web Part interface
    • Apply conditional formatting to master data and nested data separately
    • Perform a calculation (sum, average, count, min or max) on selected columns in the parent and child data sets
    • Set default grouping, sorting and filtering of the data, or allowing users to change these settings on the fly
    • Sort data in both the parent and child data sets separately
    • Users can drag and drop column headings on the grouping bar in the Web Part to dynamically group the data
    • Export data to Microsoft Excel
    • Exporting data to Microsoft Excel exports parent and child data into separate sheets
    • Allow users to perform inline, multi-level filtering of the data on the entire data set instead of just each page in the list
    • Limit the number of items displayed at a time as well as the total number of items
    • Customize the CSS or choose one of 12 different skins for the look and feel of the Web Part
    • Customize the translation of the Web Part tool pane text
    • Add new items directly from the Data Viewer Web Part when connected to a SharePoint List or Library.

    Additional SharePoint 2013 Previews from Bamboo include:

    Announcing the Release of Time Tracking & Management R1.6 for SharePoint 2010

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    Being able to accurately track how you and your team spend time is essential. Since the debut of Time Tracking & Management for SharePoint last year, we have received lots of feedback, including many useful suggestions, from users. Incorporating much of that customer feedback, I'm pleased to announce today the newest release of Time Tracking & Management. In this release, R1.6, the following features have been added:

    • Assign Multiple Resources to a Task, and allow resources to report time separately for it:

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    • Display an alias for column names in the timesheet entry view.

     Change from Title to Task Name:

  • Additional option for configuration and validation to ensure that users enter cost codes:
  • Additional reporting options such as hide or show charts, and filter data to show in the reports:
  • Early adopters, stay tuned: Time Tracking & Management will also be available for SharePoint 2013 early next year.

    As with all Bamboo products, we invite you to check out a 30-day free trial of Time Tracking & Management, or sign up for a free webinar. As always, our product enhancements are driven by listening to our loyal customers, and adding the critical enhancements that you require in order to further increase your project management efficiency.

    Your Past Purchases Are Money in the Bank at Bamboo

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    For the past few months, we have been rolling out our new corporate philosophy, the Bamboo Way. If you've been getting our email updates, or if you attended our first SharePoint Leadership Forum, you have no doubt seen or heard mention of the Bamboo Way by now.For those who are unfamiliar with the philosophy, the Bamboo Way represents a rededication to Bamboo's longstanding customer-driven focus, helping users get the most out of SharePoint while at the same time helping organizations maximize their investment in the platform.

    One of the newest ways that we're demonstrating our commitment to your success is by offering credit on past purchases toward the purchase of any of our Bamboo Suites or Toolkits. Our Suites and Toolkits are specially assembled groups of complementary products from our extensive portfolio, designed to offer complete solutions in specific business areas. This limited-time offer is only available through the end of the year though, so please call (1-877-226-2662 or 1-703-964-2002) or email at your earliest opportunity to speak with an Account Manager, and we'll help you find the Suite or Toolkit that will most effectively suit your needs.

     

    PS. If you don't get our email updates and would like to, send your first/last name and email address to marketing@bamboosolutions.com.


    A Preview of List Print for SharePoint 2013

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    SharePoint 2013 is the new way to work together. A simplified user experience helps you organize, sync, and share all your content. Users around the world are eager to use these new features, lists, sites, and user interface in SharePoint 2013, and Bamboo is pleased to introduce you to some new Web Parts for SharePoint 2013 which we'll be releasing in the near future.

    In this article, we will take a look at List Print for SharePoint 2013.

    List Print is a SharePoint feature that adds a "Print List" command to the Actions menu of every SharePoint List -- when activated, it opens a new window with the contents of the current list presented in one of several space-saving, easy to read templates. Instead of using the clumsy standard browser Print command (which includes the entire contents of the current window, but only the List items included on the current page), List Print provides you with a custom printout that displays your List, not your Web browser:

     

     

    From the List Print window, users can change the template and list view on the fly, and either print the results or export them to an Excel spreadsheet. List Print is fast, lightweight, and built into the Actions menu of every SharePoint List -- you won't remember how you lived without it.

    Supported on SharePoint Foundation 2013 and SharePoint Server 2013, here are just some of the things you'll be able to do with ListPrint for SharePoint 2013:

    • Instantly generate a streamlined, easy to read display of the current list -- ideal for printing
    • Export to Microsoft Excel with the click of a button
    • Allow users to quickly switch views
    • Choose from four included display templates with which lists can be organized

     

    Additional SharePoint 2013 Previews from Bamboo include:

    Training is On The House at Bamboo

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    For the past few months, we have been rolling out our new corporate philosophy, the Bamboo Way. If you've been getting our email updates, or if you attended our first SharePoint Leadership Forum, you have no doubt seen or heard mention of the Bamboo Way by now.  For those who are unfamiliar with the philosophy, the Bamboo Way represents a rededication to Bamboo's longstanding customer-driven focus, helping users get the most out of SharePoint while at the same time helping organizations maximize their investment in the platform.

    By way of an example, I blogged yesterday that, for a limited time, you can apply past purchases toward the purchase of a Bamboo Suite or Toolkit.  Today I'd like to share another example, by offering free Web-based training on Bamboo products with qualified purchases from now until the end of the year (training can take place throughout 2013). If you're looking to purchase Project Management Central, Workflow Conductor, or Bamboo Select (to name a few possibilities), then now is a great time. Not only are we offering free training but we are also running the suites upgrade offer I mentioned above to further demonstrate our commitment to your getting the most out of your SharePoint environment. If you'd like more details about either this offer or the suites upgrade, please call (1-877-226-2662 or 1-703-964-2002) or email at your earliest opportunity to speak with an Account Manager. Remember, this offer only stands until Dec. 31, 2012, so act fast!

    P.S. If you don't get our email updates and would like to, send your first/last name and email address to marketing@bamboosolutions.com.

    Bamboo Applications & Accelerators' 2012 Year in Review with 'Bamboo PM Girl'

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    Editor's note: As has become our annual tradition, before we bid adieu to 2012, we'd like to take a few moments to reflect on some significant events from the past "Year in Bamboo" ... and to offer a glimpse into what the future may hold for our customers.  We get the series underway with the perspectives our three product managers, with each of them offering considered thoughts on the products they oversee, and we'll wrap up with the view from Bamboo's Solutions Center.

    Most of the products that you oversee saw new releases in 2012.  Which new features or enhancements were received most enthusiastically by users?

    The integration between PM Central and Time Tracking and Management has been best received since now Project Managers and their teams can measure the completion  and budget of their projects based on the time submitted against the tasks and projects, instead of just based on the percent that's been completed.

    The ability to exclude holidays and weekends from the project schedule with Task Master was a must, and the introduction of that feature earned high marks from our customers.

    The newly introduced capabilities in Chart Plus this year --such as preview, dynamic charting, and dynamic filtering-- have make it an even more powerful tool.

    Finally, everyone --including me-- loves the sticky thread option in Discussion Board Plus. When you have a great many threads, it's critical to be able to raise the important topics to the top and keep them there.

    PM Central is your signature application, and we're on the verge of the landmark 4.0 release for SharePoint 2010.  What can you tell us about the upcoming new major version?

    As PM Central has matured, its component parts have become more integrated. Therefore, it takes us at least six months to incorporate the enhancements that our customers need to have as well as the new features which I think would make PM Central even more useful and flexible. We were hoping to release version 4.0 in December, but are anticipating release early next year.  Some highlights of the upcoming release include the ability to:

    • Assign multiple resources to the same task. I think this feature will please everyone since customers ask us for this all the time.
    • Select "lite" templates for the portfolio and project site instead of the standard "full" templates. This feature is useful if an organization is loosely structured or that otherwise doesn't have the need to track or manage some areas that other PM specialists need to manage, such as resource management, time management, and budget and cost management.
    • Exclude lunch hours.
    • Map resources from Microsoft Project to either the Assigned To field or the Resource field.
    • Find available resources based on name, department, or role (The role could be an architect, project manager, etc.).
    • Display columns in the grid view using another alias. For example, Finish instead of Due Date, or in another language such as Project List - Neuer Inhalt instead of Project List - New Item.
    • Show or hide columns from the tasks list and project health list in forms (new, edit, view) and List Settings.
    • Display an aggregated tasks lists from List Rollup in one view of Task Master.
    • Leverage additional reports such as Assignments by Department and Resource Allocation by Department.
    • Bulk copy the resources from the Enterprise Resource Pool to the Resource Pool at the project site.

    PM Central 4.0 will also offer additional features to help administrators govern and control the PM Central sites in their environment, such as only make the portfolio templates and custom columns available in the specific site collections, and much more.

    Attendees of SPC 2012 in Las Vegas last month were given a sneak peek at PM Central running on SharePoint 2013 at the Bamboo booth.  What was the response from attendees who requested a demo?

    Roughlyhalf of the visitors to our booth at SPC won't be ready to move to SharePoint 2013 in the next year. Those who are ready for the move were glad to see that PM Central for SharePoint 2013 will be available soon. They think that the resource management and task dependencies which PM Central offers are still important and relevant, even with SharePoint 2013 coming out with its own tasking features. Some booth visitors asked when PM Central will be available in the cloud as part of SharePoint Online. And in terms of enterprise social networking, we heard clearly that customers would like to see activity streams for their teams, such as John Smith created a new task and closed out a risk.

    When is PM Central for SharePoint 2013 expected to be made available for purchase?

    We are aiming for release late in Q1 or early in Q2.

    A survey on mobile usage was recently sent to Bamboo's PM Central customers.  Have the early survey responses affected your plans to offer mobile support for PM Central?  Any surprising results in the survey responses so far?

    It's still too early to gauge the results definitively, but what surprised me is that people are using PM Central most frequently to update and view tasks. And yet for mobile, they want PM Central to offer the mobile app for activity streams and change management/workflow processes more. The activity streams and enterprise social aspect seem to coincide with what some of the visitors were asking for at SPC 2012 in Las Vegas. Most of the survey respondents so far are hesitant to go mobile due to security concerns. Therefore, the mobile apps we build will need to meet the security requirements for most companies and need to have a way for the administrators to govern as far as access and distribution.

    Another of the applications you own is Community Central.  What's going on with that community management application?

    Discussion Board Plus is the key component in our Community Central offering. With SharePoint 2013 coming out, and providing a lot of new features for the out-of-the-box discussion board, there are admittedly some overlaps with our own offering. We're investing time in understanding what the Enterprise Business Social Networking needs are, and focusing on which of those needs are being underserved by SharePoint 2013. I can't give out the secret of what those are though!

    Has there been any single breakout product from your stable this year that's really struck a chord with customers?

    PM Central is always well received by its users since project management is core for most organizations. Discussion Board Plus has become a top performer. We use it for our internal PM Central sites. In our project for the PM Central product we have so many threads that it's helpful for us to keep the important topics sticky at the top, as well as seeing the number of views and mark a particular thread as the answer.  The ability to include and play videos in topics and posts via the Insert Video option in the menu is another cool feature.

    What can users look forward to in terms of new releases of your products in the year ahead? 

    For the coming year, we're focusing on improving the existing products and integrating the enterprise features that are available in SharePoint into our products, as well as integrating our own Bamboo components and applicatons more.

    Bamboo Tools & Technologies' 2012 Year in Review with Jeff Tubb

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    Editor's note: As has become our annual tradition, before we bid adieu to 2012, we'd like to take a few moments to reflect on some significant events from the past "Year in Bamboo" ... and to offer a glimpse into what the future may hold for our customers. We get the series underway with the perspectives our three product managers, with each of them offering considered thoughts on the products they oversee, and we'll wrap up with the view from Bamboo's Solutions Center.

    Workflow Conductor is your signature product, and this year saw several key releases, which included (among a wealth of new features) increased integration with complementary products in the Bamboo portfolio.  Tell us more about the nature of the integration points.

    One of the primary reasons we built Workflow Conductor in the first place was to be able to add business logic and process automation to our existing portfolio of products. In turn, we also integrate with other Bamboo products to extend what can be done with workflows. For example, we've built custom workflow templates that extend the functionality of some of our larger applications like PM Central and our Knowledge Base applications. We have also made sure Bamboo products like our Bamboo Custom Columns are compatible with Workflow Conductor, and can be read from and written to just like a SharePoint column can be. We've also extended the features of some Bamboo products to make workflows more powerful. One of my favorite enhancements was to our Alert Plus product, which allows users to easily define complex criteria for alerting, such as "When field x changes from value a to value b." In addition to sending alerts, that same business logic can now be used to start a workflow. Instead of a limited number of workflow triggers, the possibilities are now endless.

    Is the integration of process automation via Workflow Conductor with other Bamboo properties something we can expect to see more of in the year ahead?

    Absolutely. We are always looking for smart opportunities to integrate in ways that will help customers do more with our products. We have some interesting things already planned in the way of integration, but we're always happy to hear from our customers directly as well. If anyone has a particular workflow integration wish list item, please let us know!

    Workflow Conductor reached a new milestone just last month with the 3.0 release for SharePoint 2010.  What's the early reception from users been like?  Which new features have been the most buzzed about to date?

    We're really proud of what we have built so far, and our users seem really pleased with all of the new features. With the release of Workflow Conductor 3.0, they can do more with SharePoint and workflows than ever before. We've added so many features in the last year, it's getting hard to keep track of all the new things users can do, but if I limit the feedback to 3.0, I would say conditional delays seem to be pretty popular. It has always been easy to pause a workflow for a set amount of time, or until a certain date, but now it is just as easy to pause a workflow until some custom condition has been met, without the need for confusing looping or reversing the logic of the condition ((e.g., "repeat (nothing) while condition is not met."))

    When can we expect to see Workflow Conductor for SharePoint 2013 arriving in the Bamboo store?

    We're almost done with development now and are already putting it through the paces in testing. It should be out early next year.

    There have been some Workflow Conductor-like enhancements to the process automation features available out-of-the-box in SharePoint Designer 2013.  What effect will these changes to the platform have on future releases of Workflow Conductor?

    Microsoft has definitely made strides with the workflows in SharePoint Designer for 2013, but there are still a lot of shortcomings in the interface and capabilities. While there are certainly a few new functions we will need to add to Workflow Conductor for 2013, there are still plenty of advantages to using Workflow Conductor, including a completely browser-based application with no need for client applications, a built-in drag-and-drop workflow creation interface, extensive workflow reusability, centralized workflow management, and a lot of additional activities, to name just a few.

    You were a member of the Bamboo team that attended SPC this year, representing Workflow Conductor in person.  What questions or comments did you field most regularly from visitors to the Bamboo booth?

    First, I'd just like to say how great it was to meet so many people at that show. As a product manager, I can't tell you how valuable (and fun) it is to have that much one-on-one time with customers. It's a pretty unique setting, and I walked away with a lot of new ideas and some good confirmation on existing plans. A lot of questions were related to specific features and what we had in the works. I would say the most frequent question was around Office 2013 and whether we would support it (We will!), and when (Very soon!).

    You've made two trips to Vietnam, and to Bamboo's Research & Development Center in Ho Chi Minh City, this year.  What effect does working (and socializing) face to face with the Vietnam-based Workflow Conductor team have on the product development process, as opposed to your more standard online and on-the-phone collaboration?

    I've been extremely fortunate to have been able to meet face-to-face several times over the last few years with our Vietnam team, both here in the U.S. and over in Vietnam. In fact, I just returned from visiting with them in Vietnam again for first two weeks of December. I wish I had been able to spend even more time with all of them, but the meetings I was able to take have helped immensely. While we talk regularly through discussion boards, email, and on the phone, nothing is quite as good as being in the same place at the same time. Ideas can be exchanged so much faster in person. I can accomplish things in a 2-3 hour meeting face-to-face that might take weeks online. In addition to the work, it's also great to spend time bonding together as a team. They're a great group of people, and I'm very fortunate to get to work with them.

    Other than the SharePoint 2013 release, what's in store for Workflow Conductor in the coming year?

    While SharePoint 2013 is first on the to-do list, we've still got some great features in store for 2010 as well. I'm still firming up the exact feature sets right now for the various releases for next year, but I'm really excited about some of the new features we're already planning to add. If we can fit in all (or even half) of the things we're hoping to, it will be another very good year for Workflow Conductor. Speaking of which, I should probably get back to work on the plan. Thanks!

    Bamboo Web Parts & Components' 2012 Year in Review with Jeff Kozloff

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    Editor's note: As has become our annual tradition, before we bid adieu to 2012, we'd like to take a few moments to reflect on some significant events from the past "Year in Bamboo" ... and to offer a glimpse into what the future may hold for our customers. We get the series underway with the perspectives our three product managers, with each of them offering considered thoughts on the products they oversee, and we'll wrap up with the view from Bamboo's Solutions Center.

    You're the Product Manager for the lion's share of Bamboo's component products, and you've now moved to Vietnam, spending most of the year working with our colleagues at our Research & Development Center in Ho Chi Minh City.  How has being able to physically interact on a daily basis with the teams working on your products affected the product lifecycle?

    My experience in Vietnam has been incredible. The goat brain and blood is amazi... oh sorry, you were talking about work, not food. Big Smile  The ability to work with our teams directly has provided amazing opportunities for our products to grow and mature faster. A prime example is the imminent release of the latest iteration of Data-Viewer Web Part - given the wealth of new features it provides, it has become an essential tool for any SharePoint deployment.  The new capabilities of Data-Viewer Web Part are particularly important for the upcoming 4.0 release of Bamboo Project Management CentralTM, due out in January.

    Most of your products have seen new releases this year.  Which new features or enhancements have won the most acclaim from users? 

    It always amazes me how much Bamboo can do in a year's time! This year our primary focus has been on making our existing product line better, faster, stronger (sounds like a commercial featuring the Energizer bunny). Some of the notable releases (besides the already mentioned Data-Viewer Web Part) include:

    Has there been any particular product (or products) from your stable that's really broken away from the pack to capture the attention of users this year? 

    File Share Library and Video Library really are the diamonds in the rough.  These two products are secretly stealing the spotlight as customers continue to move more multimedia to their portal deployments.

    Several of your products saw release (or initial release) to Bamboo Labs this year.  How were each of those free beta releases received by the SharePoint community?

    Bamboo Labs is truly a funny area of Bamboo Nation. We see incredible download rates, indicating strong interest, but we practically never get any feedback. I would say the one that stands out the most is our SharePoint Analyzer.  We decided to take a completely different approach from R1.0 (which is like any other analyzer out there, extremely bulky and slow because it does everything) to focusing instead on a specific mission.  For the 2.0 release, we "threw out" the old code, and instead focused just on where Web Parts reside.  This tool has the ability to be scoped at the Site, Site Collection, or even Web Application level, then you enter the dll associated with the Web Part and it provides you a CSV file of every page the Web Part is deployed to.  We plan to next add the ability to locate custom application pages and, finally, particular lists and libraries.  This will be especially useful for the SharePoint Community as they begin to move to SharePoint 2013.

    World Clock and Weather (WC&W) was Bamboo's first free Web Part released to the SharePoint community way back in the days of SharePoint v2.  This year marked its debut as Bamboo's first free release to Microsoft's SharePoint App Store, and was even used by Microsoft's Chris Bortlik as an example of the usefulness and ease-of-use of SharePoint Apps at this year's SharePoint Conference.  What can you tell us about WC&W's path to the App Store and its reception so far?

    Reception has been incredible, with over 1,000 downloads since its September release (though the download number is unfortunately no longer visible to the public on the App Store site). We're still deciding on the future of this app in terms of which new features to add, but I can promise that we will never charge for this app, so happy vacation planning. Smile

    What's your personal favorite new feature in SharePoint 2013?  The introduction of the App Store?  Something else?

    This is a tough one. SharePoint 2013 offers so much re-architecture (on the backend) that I'm still seeking to understand everything. Smile  I think from an end user perspective, the biggest feature for me is that it no longer requires Excel to be installed on the local client machine to get into "Datasheet" (now called Quick Edit) mode.  I don't know about you, but it drove me nuts when you got that error in SharePoint 2007 and 2010 when you tried to access Datasheet mode and you got an error because you have 64-bit office installed on your machine. It's the little things that make me happy.  From the backend perspective, I would have to say the integration with cloud services will open a huge opportunity for vendors and customers alike.

    What can Bamboo users look forward to in terms of new releases of your products in the year ahead?

    Bamboo's number one focus for the next six months is SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2013. Expect to see the entire Bamboo product portfolio to be migrated to SharePoint 2013. As a customer, know that as long as you have a valid premium support contract, you will receive the SharePoint 2013 build of the products you've purchased for free ... so check the status of your support contracts today!

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