Connecting SAP and project management software from Microsoft is a major focus of the new Project 2003 SDK, released Oct. 2004. The SDK could prove useful to developers who want to extend and integrate Microsoft's Enterprise Project Management solution, which includes the Project Professional client application and Project Server. However, at present the components of the SDK are starting points and samples, not out-of-the-box solutions.

Much of the new SDK consists of "solution starters," code samples and documentation for systems integrators and solution providers who integrate Project with enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and other internal systems. Service partners like these are critical to the success of Project 2003, sales of which have ramped up more slowly than expected due to "the enterprise nature of the sale," according to Office Senior Vice President Steven Sinofsky.

SAP Human Resources, Financials Links

SAP ERP integration is the target of the most extensive solution starter in the kit. Specifically, the Project SAP Connector supports integration of SAP human resources (HR) and financials with Project as follows:

• Import of employee data from SAP HR into Project, including attributes such as employee name, e-mail address, and standard labor rate
• Creation of new projects from SAP HR data, including project-wide attributes (name, start date) and a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for tasks
• Export of actual time worked from Project timesheets into SAP financials.

The SDK delivers several other solution starters as well as additional code samples and documentation. Other solution starters include the following:

The Project Server to Siebel Solution Starter integrates Project Server with the Siebel CRM application, supporting, for example, creation of projects from Siebel sales opportunity and resource data.

The Enterprise Reporting Solution Starter explains how to implement enterprise-wide project reporting.

The BizTalk Server Workflow Solution Starter shows how to implement timesheet approval processes using BizTalk Server's Orchestration system.

The OLAP Extensions Solution Starter shows how to extend the on-line analytic processing (OLAP) database used by Project's Portfolio Analyzer feature with new fields (e.g., adding a Pay Period field).

Not Out-of-the-Box Solutions

Source code is provided for all solution starter components; the programming language varies, with some components written in .NET languages, such as C#, while others are in Visual Basic 6 or an application-specific language, such as SAP ABAP. Many use the Project Data Services (PDS) API, which enables applications to access and process data stored in Project Server, and these starters could be useful developer tutorials for that API.

However, the solution starters aren't meant to be used as-is. For example, exporting actual time worked from Project to SAP will require customization of the customer's chart of accounts, as well as substantial work to handle timesheet errors and other exceptions. Moreover, the solution starters are unsupported, as are most SDK code samples from Microsoft, and any solutions built with them should be carefully inspected and tested before deployment.

Future Directions and Resources

There is no roadmap for future Project releases at this point. The company has just released the first service pack for Project 2003, which mainly fixes bugs, including some that can cause data loss. A 2006 release in conjunction with Office 12 is likely, and such a release might provide supported solutions for the kinds of integration tasks sampled in the SDK. However, Microsoft has not announced such plans.

The Project 2003 SDK is at www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4d2abc8c-8bca-4db9-8753-178c0d3099c5.

Project 2003 Service Pack 1 is at support.microsoft.com/?kbid=837240.

For background on Project, see "Project Continues Migration from Desktop to Server" on page 14 of the Dec. 2003 Update and "Enterprise Features Enhance Project 2002" on page 19 of the June 2002 Update.

Microsoft's Project site is www.microsoft.com/project.