08 July, 2013

Cannot connect to PerformancePoint Services in SharePoint 2010




Today I am going share some troubleshooting that we have performed with respect to Performance Point Service. In this article, I will try to explain on
-Performance point Service (PPS) service application (SA)
-their associations, proxy SA
-services required
-dependent services

What is Performance point Service (PPS)?
Dashboards are a fundamental component of any performance management solution, and SharePoint 2010 Performance Point Services provides a rich set of tools and services for building highly interactive dashboard experiences that can help organizations of all sizes monitor and analyze their performance.

Problem Description:
After dashboard designer is opened, I try to define a new data source by right clicking on data connections. After I chose excel services, the error message is displayed.

Error Message:
Cannot connect to PerformancePoint Services. Contact the administrator for more details.

Recommended:
I am definitely going to share my troubleshooting steps, but what i can suggest is- if you face the same error message then please check the SharePoint ULS logs for better clarity.

Troubleshooting steps:
-use firebug to analyse the traffic
-check sharepoint logs to target the exact root cause
-check the service applications and their associations i.e. proxy Sa
-make sure that the PerformancePoint Service is turned on
-make sure that the secure store service is turned on
-make sure that secure store service has been properly configured in your farm.

Resolution steps:
1-When I checked the secure store service in my farm then i came to know that it was not 100% configured. Next question definitely comes into picture as what is meant by not configured.

Please follow these steps and make sure it is properly configured:
-Central Administration
-Application management
-service applications
-secure store service
-manage
-generate a new key
-enter the passphrase
-make sure the secure store service is turned on
-unattended service account is an optional step, if you wanna configure it then you can proceed ahead.

2-make sure the performance service is turned on.
Note: make sure that performance service application is already created and in started mode.
Please follow these steps:
-Central Administration
-Application management
-manage services on server
-performance point service
-status should be in STARTED mode.

Reference:  if you want to configure performance point service application in your farm then please refer the following link for detail description:

3-make sure that performance point service application is properly associated with the web application.

Please follow these steps if it’s not there:
Go to Central Admin > Application Management > Configure service application associations > click default.

You should see that PerformancePoint Services will be unchecked. Check that box and you should be good to go.

You can cross check whether the PerformancePoint service application is properly configured by accessing PPS sites, Dashboard designer and other PPS first class objects in Business Intelligence Center Site. Before that, ensure to activate the PPS feature in Site Settings > Site collection features.


If you have any queries/questions with respect to the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues. Thank you. 

04 July, 2013

SharePoint master page css styles not showing for users other than site administrator- SharePoint 2010

Today I face one tricky problem in SharePoint 2010.
When I login through site administrator then CSS which I apply on master page work fine,
But when I login through other users CSS effects are not visible on master page.


Error Message:

SharePoint master page css styles not showing for users other than site administrator.


Problem Description:

        This usually happens when the CSS file or master page is not published or approved yet or it may be Check-In.

  •  After system administrator login, Menu Bar from Master page look like this.





  •  After normal user login, Menu Bar from Master page look like this.
  •  Here CSS is not apply.



Resolution:

To Approve Master page Follow below steps:

1.             Open the SharePoint Designer using System Administrator Account.



2.             From Site Object select Master Page

3.             Select your default Master page. (E.g. V4.master)



4.             On “Site Page Gallery”, see “View” section and that click on “Approve/reject. Items” view.



5.             You will see the view is “Group By” by “Approval Status. (E.g. Draft, Approved) 
        Basically Approval Status is divided into 4 different status like Draft, Pending, Approved,Reject


6.             Then Search your default Master page in Draft section select it and send for Approval.




7.             Refresh your page, your default Master page will shown in Pending status section, Select and Approve it.




8.             Finally default master page get approved by System Administrator,
          means it get publish for all user on site.




Product Applies To:         SharePoint Server 2010
Feel free to revert in-case of any query... 

02 July, 2013

Awarded Microsoft MVP for the 4th year in a row!

For the past three years, July 1st has a special meaning to me, and it’s always a day that starts full of expectations and anxiety, which lasts until the moment of receiving the so expected e-mail from Microsoft.

Fortunately, today I was once again awarded by Microsoft with the “Most Valuable Professional” award, now for the fourth time in a row in the SHAREPOINT SERVER category.

Below is an excerpt of the well known message I received a few hours ago, together with more details about the MVP award:

"Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2013 Microsoft MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in SharePoint Server technical communities during the past year"

I’m truly humbled by this award; grateful to Microsoft and to everyone that have been supporting me in my professional and personal growth. THANK YOU!

25 June, 2013

USB drive stopped working in Windows Server 2012

Issue: USB Drive suddenly stopped working in Windows Server 2012.

Error: There was no error as such, however, whenever we tried to attach any USB drive it was not detected.
Background: I recently installed Windows Server 2012 Enterprises Edition my machine. I kept it connected to internet with automatic download and install Windows update option. Next day when I wake-up and tried to connect my USB drive or the USB Mass storage Device. None of them was detected.

Troubleshooting:

Checked in the device manager all the drives for USB Controller Bus were in place.

Noticed that Mass storage controller device were missing.
 
 
 
Thinking this may be the problem, tried installing the Mass storage controller derives from Local O.S set-up.
Tried installing derives from internet also, however, no go.

Resolution:

Found a KB article from MS talking of the same issue and was published by MS on April 26, 2013.

Article goes by this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2821819.

To resolve this issue, install the Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 cumulative update 2822241.

For more information about how to obtain this cumulative update package, access the following article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 cumulative update: April 2013: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2822241.

Another workaround:

Go to Control Panel.

Click Windows Updated.

Click View update history.

Click on “To remove an update, see Installed Updates”.

It will take you to the next screen, “Uninstall an update”.

Choose to click each update recently installed on the machine and uninstall them.
Restart your server, your USB Device should be detected now.

Note: Always set you Windows update settings to “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them”. As shown in the fig. below.

 
Applies to:
•Windows 8
•Windows 8 Enterprise
•Windows 8 Pro
•Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
•Windows Server 2012 Essentials
•Windows Server 2012 Foundation
•Windows Server 2012 Standard

18 June, 2013

Phases of SharePoint Transition Plan: SharePoint 2010


Dear readers as stated in my last article, today I am going to discuss on components of transition plan. First we will discuss about the Transition plan.

What is a transition planning?

To make sure service transitions projects are planned in accordance with the organization's Project Management guidelines, and to coordinate activities and resources across projects. Executing these activities in an organized structured way is called Transition Plan.

This process is not responsible for detailed planning of project phases but triggers planning activities performed by other processes. 

There could be two kinds of Transition Plans: 

High level Plan: Consist of the overview layout of the transitions Plan with timelines of all the phases of the transition plan. 

Detailed level Plan: Consist of detailed information with each activity of each phase along with the time in days each activity will take.  

Let’s discuss Phases of Transition Plan in Details: 




Planning Phase: This phase involves the initial Planning of appropriate capacity and resources to package a release, build, release, test, deploy and establish the new or changed service into production. Provide support for the Service Transition teams and people. Plan the changes required in a manner that ensures the integrity of all identified customer assets, service assets and configurations can be maintained as they evolve through Service Transition, Ensure that Service Transition issues, risks and deviations are reported to the appropriate stakeholders and decision makers.

KAP Phase: Knowledge acquisition phase can make or break a project. Experts refer to that phase of project when they start it, and when knowledge is acquired from either client or vendor, as Knowledge acquisition phase. The success of knowledge acquisition lies in understanding and monitoring it quantitatively. Successful technology use (Web 2.0, video /audio etc.) is also an important element.

Secondary Support Phase: At this phase of transition, we basically observe what we acquire in the knowledge acquisition phase. We hold the responsibility to detect if there is any ambiguity in the knowledge acquired. This phase is also referred to as YOU DO WE OBSEVER.

Primary Support: In Primary support phase support team is partially take over functions of the Production support from the current teams or vendors. WE DO YOU OBSERVER approach is followed with this phase.

Production Support Go Live: After removing all ambiguities from the all the above phases at this phase Production Team will take over the complete support functions from the current teams or vendors. Here WE ARE RESPONSIBLE approach is followed.

Note: it is always important to have a checklist created at each phase of transition. These checklists could be Entry level check list and Exit Checklist. It is also important to get sign-off from the customer for audit evidences during the tractions phases.   

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know.

I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, thank you.

Applies To: SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013.