This document discusses task aggregation in SharePoint 2013 using the Work Management Service Application. It provides an overview of how tasks from multiple systems like Exchange and Project Server can be aggregated and accessed from a single location in SharePoint 2013. The key points covered include the prerequisites for task aggregation, how the service application handles caching and refreshing of tasks, and the client and server-side object models for developing against the service. Demos are provided showing how to interact with tasks through the object models and tamper with the underlying task provider model.

1. Work Management Application
Task Aggregation use cases with SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint
Online
Adis Jugo
Head of Development

2. 22.09.201
4
2

3. Who the...
• Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 40 years
ago
• In SP world since 2002, doing nothing else since
2006
• Microsoft MVP for SharePoint Server
• Head of Development at deroso Solutions GmbH
• Blogger, speaker, author adis.jugo.ba

4. 9/22/2014
4

5. • It is challenging for information workers to get a
comprehensive view of their tasks, or to have a
central point for managing their work
• Tasks are stored across applications and systems,
and even in case where all tasks are stored within a
single system, information can still be scattered
9/22/2014
Why
5

6. • New in SharePoint 2013
• Provides functionality to aggregate tasks into central
place
• Tasks are accessible through the personal site (My
Tasks)
9/22/2014
Work Management Service Application
6

7. Work Management Service Application
• Tasks can be aggregated from Exchange, Project
Server and SharePoint
• Based on 'Provider model' so that other systems can
be eventually integrated in the future
• Tasks are cached to a users personal site
• Work Management Service is exposed as part of
each users My Site / Newsfeed experience

8. High level picture

9. Features
• Tasks managed from one location (My Tasks in
personal page)
• Unified tasks timeline (view, add, close tasks)
• Sync to Outlook (Exchange)
• Categorized/grouped by “locations”
• “Pinning tasks (marking tasks as important)
• Searching tasks

10. Prerequisites
• Work Management Service Application (WMA)
• User Profile Service Application
• Import from AD
• Search Service Application
• necessary for SharePoint 2013 tasks
• Exchange 2013*
• Project Service Application *
• Personal/Newsfeed site (MySites)

11. TASK AGGREGATION IN SP
2013
DEMO 1
9/22/201411

12. Under the hood

13. Service application high level
architecture

14. SharePoint 2013: Supported Task Types
• Task Types
• 171 / New tasks from SP 2013 (“TasksWithTimelineAndHistory”)
• 107 / Tasks from SP 2010 (Upgraded Lists)
• 150 / GanttTasks (Upgraded Lists)
• Any Tasks from any list that support Task content type
• Task content type must be set as a default content type

15. Aggregator for SP 2013 as a Task Provider
Get from
cached
locations
Look at the
hint store
Search for
tasks (if
search > 3h
ago)
Update
cached
locations
Provider refresh
minimum time between provider refreshes: 5 min
Refreshing or
accessing MyTasks
page triggers
aggregator code

16. Property Default Value Description
minimumTimeBetweenProviderRefreshes
minimumTimeBetweenProviderRefreshes 0:05:00
This value specifies the minimum amount of
time between refreshes for a provider for a
given user. There cannot be a refresh of data
if this value is not met, all refresh operations
will be null before that.
minimumTimeBetweenSearchQueries
minimumTimeBetweenSearchQueries 3:00:00
This value specifies the minimum amount of
time between calls to search for a given user.
This is used to discover new providers not
yet known to have tasks for this user.
WMA Properties

17. WMA Admin Settings
• Cannot be set in GUI
• Must be set with PowerShell with
• Set-SPWorkManagementServiceApplication

18. Relationship to Search
• Search Crawler locates tasks lists and loads them into the
cached locations for Querying by the WMA Provider
• When a task list is added to the cached locations, new tasks
from this task list will be found during the next Provider
refresh
• Most of the times, even new tasks from the list that are not
cached will show up in MyTasks
• Hints (rely on Event Receivers on Task lists)
• Not triggered if user has no permissions on that list
• Legacy SharePoint lists will not trigger receiver code (will not end
up in hints)
• Generally not guaranteed

19. Limitations
• Cross farm aggregation is not supported.
• The My Tasks page will not report and aggregate tasks from
another farm from the same domain or from a different
domain, regardless of the existing trust between the
domains and farms.

20. Development model

21. 9/22/2014
Developing for WMA Service
21

22. 9/22/2014
SSOM/CSOM
22

23. 9/22/2014
23
Microsoft.Office.Server.WorkManagemen
t
UserSettingsManager
UserOrderedSessionManager
UserOrderedSession
LocationOrientedUserOrderedSession
TaskQuery
Task
Location
RefreshResult
KeywordFilter
FieldFilter
CustomAttributeFilter
LastModifiedDateRangeFilter
LocationFilter
PinnedFilter

24. TAMPERING WITH THE
TASKS THROUGH SERVER
OBJECT MODEL
DEMO 2
9/22/201424

25. Working with refreshes
DEMO3

26. Client Object Model
• CSOM: Full
• REST: None

27. Building a metro app
• DEMO4

28. Thus spoke Microsoft…
Implementation is based on provider model, so
that additional systems maybe integrated to
same architecture in future

29. <NotSupported />
9/22/2014
…no!
29

30. Tampering with the Provider
Model (18+)
DEMO 5

31. Further reading: Microsoft white paper
My Tasks Aggregation in SharePoint Server and Exchange
Task Integration
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/
download/details.aspx?id=38799
Work Managenment Service Development model
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mvpawardprogram/archive/2014/03
/31/work-management-service-in-sharepoint-2013-a-short-overview-
for-developers.aspx

32. Questions?
22.09.201
4
THANK YOU!!!
@adisjugo -- http://adisjugo.com