Orange = Business, Green = IT
This was the last part of our small Series about Agile Project Management
The whole Series contains 4 pieces:
Agile Project Management – Basics (Part1) Agile Project Management – What is SCRUM (Part2) Agile Project Management – Agile Project Management in real Life (Part3) Agile Project Management – Agile on the next Level – Program Management (Part4)
If you have any comments on our Articles, your Feedback is highly welcome.
Despite the difficulties especially at the beginning of the project, it is still very well in time. This is caused by the fact that the team always kept working and the project was never unable to go on. Due to the agile nature of the project in time communication and transparency were possible!
This was the third part of our small Series about Agile Project Management. Look out for the next part which we are going to publish soon called "Agile Project Management – Agile on the next Level - Program Management"
Today we start with our short series about agile Project Management with this first article.
Nowadays almost everyone (at least in IT environments) talks about agile project management methods. Some already checked them out, but often enough there are some counter positions to these methods which are related to some unclear things within the methodology.
This small series will try to describe in detail what agile project management is and what are the success factors. First of all: agile project management is a methodology and a mindset! It is NOT a strictly designed process, which will solve problems magically. Key points of "agile" are:
Agile Project management works iterative, the product AND the process will be reviewed and optimized after each iteration
The highly collaborative structure focuses on teamwork and end user transparency as in showing actual project progress or problems which slowed down the progress
At the end of each iteration there will be a product increment which can be used by the customer, this creates actual value and ROI even before the end of the project
Agile Project management can be used in nearly all custom development projects.
If your project has 100% fixed requirements, which will surely not change during the project (by the way...just because they are written down, it does not mean they are fixed!)…
If you roll out "commercial off-the-shelf" software, which is already packaged and automatically distributed (think about MS Office for example)... If your project deals with upgrading or patching a system… … then agile might not be the right approach. If you are thinking about doing your own agile project it is highly recommended to involve an already agile-experienced colleague as an "Agile-Coach". He can help you to set up the process and working mode and help to get a clear understanding what agile is about. Here are some doubts which are quite common regarding agile methods:
This was the first part of our small Series about Agile Project Management. Look out for the next part which we are going to publish soon called "Agile Project Management – What is SCRUM"
In the preparation of this article, we discussed several ideas, how to introduce Scrum to you. In search of inspirations we have found the introduction video from the Scrum alliance.
In the end, this is a pretty short 80-seconds introduction to Scrum, which we would like to show to you, instead of reinventing the wheel again.
In addition to the video we would like to share more information:
Scrum is very good when it comes to establishing agile methods into an organization. By providing a simple approach it can easily be picked up and enhanced. Also Scrum is very well known and there are lots of experienced Scrum Coaches in the outside world of Covestro.
Scrum is a framework which provides a basis of 3 roles, 4 activities and 3 artifacts, which will now be explained in detail.
Each Scrum implementation is different though. Depending on the project or the organization there will be additional roles or activities. Scrum focuses on communication and collaboration by discussing requirements and short feedback cycles, which is the most important thing to keep in mind.
In the following we want to explain the different roles, activities and artifacts. Furthermore we want to provide you a check list what you have to prepare for your first Scrum project.
User Stories
A simple method to describe requirements, by a user's perspective, with only one or a few sentences. Usually a user story consist of Who? What? And Why?
e.g.: "As a user I want to be able to back up my data in order to recover it in case of an error."
User stories are constantly refined and extended during the project. They are the basis for discussion about the features. This will help to get a clear understanding of the requirements.
Sprint
An iteration of Scrum which is usually between 1 and 4 weeks long. Or in other words: This is the timeframe, in which work is planned continuously. Once the duration is set it should not be changed during the project though.
Artifacts
Artifacts provide information about the product, the requirement and the progress. The scrum team permanently works with the artifacts. For instance, an artifact is the list of requirements which are known so far.
Activities
Activities are mostly meetings which are part of each sprint. (The sprint itself can be seen as an activity too) By discussing and/or working with the artifacts during the activities, the project progress and obstacles become transparent.
Definition of Done
A project specific agreement which defines when a user story is completed.
This was the second part of our small Series about Agile Project Management. Look out for the next part which we are going to publish soon called "Agile Project Management – Agile Project Management in real Life"
While trying to synchronize a new device with an Exchange mailbox, you receive an error with your new mobile phone partnership.
The Exchange Server 2010 Default Throttling Policy is configured to accept 10 ActiveSync devices per mailbox only.
You can validate this setting by using EMS
Get-ThrottlingPolicy def* | Select Name,EASMaxDevices
Use a scheduled PowerShell script to delete old ActiveSync Device partnerships that have not been used for a defined period of time.
Find the most recent version on TechNet Gallery and Github, following the links provided in the Links section.
Modifiy the script path variables to fit your requirements. The variables are configured in the ### BEGIN Variables section.
Steps being executed:
<# .SYNOPSIS Remove Exchange Server 2010 ActiveSync Device Partnerships Sebastian Rubertus / Thomas Stensitzki THIS CODE IS MADE AVAILABLE AS IS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE ENTIRE RISK OF THE USE OR THE RESULTS FROM THE USE OF THIS CODE REMAINS WITH THE USER. Send comments and remars to: support@granikos.eu Version 1.0, 2015-04-09 .LINK More information can be found at http://www.rubertus.net/Blog/tabid/85/EntryId/41/Scripted-removing-of-ActiveSync-Device-Partnerships.aspx .DESCRIPTION THis script removes ActiveSync device association from user mailboxes that have been inactive for more than 150 days. .NOTES Requirements - Exchange Server 2010 - Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2 Revision History -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 Initial community release .EXAMPLE Remove-ActiveSyncDevicePartnership #> ### BEGIN SnapIns ------------------------------------------------------------- # Add Exchange SnapIn if not already loaded if ( (Get-PSSnapin -Name Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.E2010 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null ) { Add-PsSnapin Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.E2010 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue if ( (Get-PSSnapin -Name Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.E2010 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null ) { Write-Host "Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Admin could NOT be loaded!" -ForegroundColor Red Write-Host "Verify that the Exchange 2010 Management is installed on this computer!" -ForegroundColor Red } } ### END SnapIns --------------------------------------------------------------- ### BEGIN Variables | EDIT ACCORDING TO YOUR NEEDS ---------------------------- # ScriptPath $scriptPath = "C:\Scripts\Remove-ActiveSync-Devices\" # Logfile $logfile = "C:\Scripts\Remove-ActiveSync-Devices\Logs\$(get-date -format yyyy-MM-dd___HH-mm-ss)___Logname.log" ### END Variables ------------------------------------------------------------- ### BEGIN Functions ----------------------------------------------------------- Function Log { Param ([string]$logstring) Add-content $logfile -value "$(get-date -format yyyy-MM-dd___HH-mm-ss) $logstring " } ### END Functions ------------------------------------------------------------- ### BEGIN Main ---------------------------------------------------------------- # Create a new log file Write-Host Write-Host "Script started, creating Log File." Log "Script started." Write-Host # Query User Mailboxes and Device Statistics Write-Host "Querying User Mailboxes, please wait a few seconds..." -ForeGroundColor green Log "Querying User Mailboxes." Write-Host $Mailboxes = Get-Mailbox -RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox -ResultSize Unlimited -WarningAction SilentlyContinue $NumberOfMailboxes = $Mailboxes.count Write-Host "Number of Mailboxes: $NumberOfMailboxes " Log "Number of Mailboxes: $NumberOfMailboxes " Write-Host # Iterate each User Mailbox ForEach ($Mailbox in $Mailboxes) { $MailboxAlias = $Mailbox.Alias Write-Host Write-Host "=================================================================================" Write-Host Write-Host "Getting ActiveSync Devices from user $MailboxAlias..." Log "Getting ActiveSync Devices from user $MailboxAlias. " $AllDevicesFromSpecificUser = Get-ActiveSyncDevice -Mailbox $MailboxAlias -Result Unlimited -WarningAction SilentlyContinue | Get-ActiveSyncDeviceStatistics -WarningAction SilentlyContinue $AllDevicesFromSpecificUserNotSynchronizedSince150Days = Get-ActiveSyncDevice -Mailbox $MailboxAlias -Result Unlimited -WarningAction SilentlyContinue | Get-ActiveSyncDeviceStatistics -WarningAction SilentlyContinue | Where {$_.LastSuccessSync -le (Get-Date).AddDays("-150")} Write-Host $CountAllDevicesFromSpecificUser = $AllDevicesFromSpecificUser.Count $CountAllDevicesFromSpecificUserNotSynchronizedSince150Days = $AllDevicesFromSpecificUserNotSynchronizedSince150Days.Count If ($CountAllDevicesFromSpecificUser -lt 5) { Write-Host "User $MailboxAlias has only $CountAllDevicesFromSpecificUser ActiveSync Devices. Nothing to delete!" -ForegroundColor Green Log "User $MailboxAlias has only $CountAllDevicesFromSpecificUser ActiveSync Devices. Nothing to delete!" } If (($CountAllDevicesFromSpecificUser -gt 4) -and ($CountAllDevicesFromSpecificUserNotSynchronizedSince150Days -gt 1)) { Write-Host "User $MailboxAlias has $CountAllDevicesFromSpecificUser devices. $CountAllDevicesFromSpecificUserNotSynchronizedSince150Days have not synced for more than 150 days." -ForegroundColor Red Log "User $MailboxAlias has $CountAllDevicesFromSpecificUser devices. $CountAllDevicesFromSpecificUserNotSynchronizedSince150Days have not synced for more than 150 days." ForEach ($Device in $AllDevicesFromSpecificUserNotSynchronizedSince150Days) { $DeviceType = $Device.DeviceType $DeviceFriendly = $Device.FriendlyName $DeviceID = $Device.DeviceID $DeviceFirstSyncTime = $Device.FirstSyncTime $DeviceLastSuccessSync = $Device.LastSuccessSync Write-Host Write-Host "ActiveSync Device 2 delete Properties: " Write-Host "-------------------------------------- " Write-Host "Type : $DeviceType " Write-Host "Friendly Name: $DeviceFriendly " Write-Host "ID : $DeviceID " Write-Host "Last Sync : $DeviceLastSuccessSync " -ForegroundColor Red Log "Removing Device $DeviceType with ID $DeviceID ..." Write-Host Write-Host "Removing Device $DeviceID ..." -ForegroundColor Red $Device | Remove-ActiveSyncDevice -WarningAction SilentlyContinue } } } # Script finished Write-Host Write-Host "Script finished!" Write-Host Log "Script finished!" ### END Main ------------------------------------------------------------------
You need assistance with your Exchange Server setup? You have questions about your Exchange Server infrastructure and going hybrid with Office 365? Contact us at office365@granikos.eu or visit our website http://www.granikos.eu.
ENow has released version 7.0 of the ENow Management System (EMS).
Besides a major facelift of the OneView Dashboard new functionality has been added to the successful monitoring and reporting solution:
Request your free 21-day trail today: http://www.granikos.eu/en/mailscape
When it comes to monitoring applications, administrators often disagree with system administrators on what to monitor and which thresholds to configure. By nature system administrators focus on system-related counters and objects to observe. They do not care about application-related monitoring as those information's are out of the scope of their daily work. Vice versa, the same is true for application administrators.
Therefore there is not and will never be a single monitoring solution to combine different interests in the information. On the other hand, the business is highly interested in implementing an individual monitoring solution to reduce the overall licensing cost (priority 1), reduce the number of servers required to host monitoring solutions (priority 2) and to eliminate the need for technical training (priority 3).
System monitoring and application monitoring systems sometimes share an intersecting set of “things” they can monitor. The fact is that both monitoring approaches have different procedures on how to control.
The following diagram illustrates the system monitoring approach, where a probe connects to a target and queries data using a dedicated protocol supported by the target (e.g., SNMP, WMI, SSH, etc.).
The solution illustrated uses PRTG, which is a network monitoring solution that supports all standard protocols for monitoring. You can enhance the monitoring capabilities with individual scripts, programs, and libraries. You can find a link to PRTG at the end of this post.
In comparison to system monitoring the application monitoring approach looks very different, as the following figure shows:
Application monitoring relies on the existence of agents installed locally on the servers hosting the applications. This approach provides the ability to monitor from an application perspective. The agent itself performs checks depended on the application running on the same server. For example, the agent checks that DNS name resolution works using the configured DNS servers on the server. If DNS resolution does not work, the agent responds with an error to central management even when the DNS server itself is reachable by the system monitoring probe.
In the current IT landscape where messaging and collaboration solutions provide business functionality at a large scale and are set up in high-availability configurations, the monitoring of such implementations from an application perspective is crucial. In a world where “always-on” is the business goal for a mobile workforce, downtime of messaging and collaboration systems is an issue.
The ENow Management Suite supports your monitoring efforts for:
Mailscape is the part of the ENow Management Suite which helps you to monitor the messaging infrastructure components like Exchange Server, Blackberry Enterprise Server, and SMTP relay servers.
Mailscape 365 is part of the ENow Management Suite which monitors your Exchange Online and Hybrid Exchange deployment inclusive of required hybrid components like AD FS and DirSync.
Compass is the part of the ENow Management Suite which monitors domain controllers and Active Directory specific topics.
ForeSite is the part of the ENow Management Suite which monitors your SharePoint farms and the related SQL database servers.
Besides monitoring the vitals of the application components and the infrastructure requirements (network, AD, etc.), the solution provides an extensive reporting functionality. The default set of reports fits most reporting needs, but you can set up individual reports as well. A significant feature is the ability to provide reports to different groups of stakeholders.
Monitoring servers should not be a time-consuming task for an application administrator. Therefore the interface of the ENow Management Suite is quite handsome, as it displays all statuses in a dashboard. As long as all conditions are green, the application administrator can focus on other work. When using all parts of the ENow Management Suite, you act within one single dashboard, but each part utilizes it’s own security groups to access the dashboard.
How does a SharePoint administrator work with ForeSite?
The following screenshot shows the ForeSite dashboard:
If the dashboard uses a traffic light approach to signal good, warning, and error states for each component monitored. This makes it easy to focus on the section of the application infrastructure, where an element is not in a healthy state. It cannot be any more intuitive.
By just clicking on the signaling rectangle, you dig deeper to the next level of information:
It seems as if there is something wrong with a SharePoint timer job. But what is going on?
Ok, it is not the SharePoint timer service itself. It is just one of the timer jobs itself.
The Application Addressed Refresh Job is offline for 3.4 days. That is valuable information, and the SharePoint administrator knows where to start to solve this issue.
This is a basic example of how an application monitoring solution can help to identify the error.
The reporting functionality of ForeSite helps to gather a lot of different data from a SharePoint farm. Those reports can be executed manually or be sent automatically by email repeatedly. The report's overview displays a list of different reports which are available by default:
With the proactive monitoring of critical SharePoint services, like Site Availability, Timer Jobs, Search, and Index, and content databases, ForeSite helps the application administrator to focus on daily work. The alerting functionality helps to reduce the response time in the case of an error and therefore helps to reduce the overall business impact to a minimum.
The classic system monitoring solution is the interface of the administrative personnel responsible for the IT infrastructure itself. The application monitoring solution is the primary interface for application administrators and runs on top of the IT infrastructure. Even when some components (disk, memory, CPU, …) are measured by both solutions.
Besides monitoring of different vital aspects of the application, an application monitoring solution provides the ability for application-specific reports. Those reports and even the dashboard itself can be made available to different groups of stakeholders in the company using Windows credentials.
An application monitoring and reporting solution is a valuable addition to classic system monitoring.
What are your thoughts on system and application monitoring? Leave a comment.
Get your free 21-day trial of the ENow Management Suite today: http://www.granikos.eu/en/Products/ENowManagementSuite
Need more professional consulting on Exchange Server, Office 365, or Exchange configurations? Do not hesitate to contact us by email: info@granikos.eu