Add-on product to Project Server 2007 that will "batch task update accept/publish"?

[anovak]

In our organization, the philosophy we will use is the assumption that
progress reported is correct and we will deal with exceptions.
Having said that, is there an add-on product that will automate the
task update acceptance/publishing tasks for Project Managers? Or is
the only option writing a custom application that provides that
capability?

Thanks,
Andy Novak
UNT

 

[Jack Dahlgren]

I haven't seen this product as an add-on, but it is possible to write an
add-on which does this.
The publish method is accessible through VBA.

-Jack

 

[Ben Howard]

Hi Andy,
You can partly do this without code by creating a rule that automatically
accepts all updates (task updates | actions | manage rules).

The 2nd peice, you'd need to write some code (I wouldn't suspect this would
take too much effort therefore low cost) that published each project every
night. That should meet your requirements.

 

[anovak]

Hi Andy,
You can partly do this without code by creating a rule that automatically
accepts all updates (task updates | actions | manage rules).

The 2nd peice, you'd need to write some code (I wouldn't suspect this would
take too much effort therefore low cost) that published each project every
night. That should meet your requirements.

Ben, I take it that each PM must create a rule that auto-accepts all
task updates for the projects they own?

 

[Ben Howard]

They can do it globally for all projects they own, but it does need to be
done for each PM

 

[anovak]

They can do it globally for all projects they own, but it does need to be
done for each PM

I created an "Auto Task Update" rule for me as PM (auto ran the rule),
then logged on as different (Test) user who was assigned tasks on that
PMs project and submitted changes.

When I logged on as the PM, I still had 3 tasks waiting to be approved
for update. Does the auto-accept rule not take effect until an
overnight job runs or something? Doesn't appear to have worked.

Thanks
Andy Novak
UNT

 

[Ben Howard]

Hi Andy, I did exactly that test before posting and it worked fine for me
with no delay.

 

[anovak]

HiAndy, I did exactly that test before posting and it worked fine for me
with no delay.
--
Thanks, Ben.http://appleparkltd.spaces.live.com/








- Show quoted text -

I think I understand how this works now. I was under the impression
that once you create the rule and have it "run automatically",
when a resource submits updates, Pow!, its done. The reality seems
to be that until I go into the Manage Rules and "Run All" rules, the
task updates are still in my pipeline waiting to be applied.
Is this right or should I not have to run the Rule each time?

Thanks,
Andy Novak
UNT

 

[Jonathan Sofer]

Did you try and run the rule after the updates were submitted.

Also, you could make all Status Managers for all project task assignments
set to a special account. Then, you create the rule under that one account
only. This will prevent you from requiring all PMs to create the rules.
Just a thought.

Jonathan

 

[anovak]

Did you try and run the rule after the updates were submitted.

Also, you could make all Status Managers for all project task assignments
set to a special account. Then, you create the rule under that one account
only. This will prevent you from requiring all PMs to create the rules.
Just a thought.

Jonathan

Yes, I ran the rule after the updates were submitted because the
updates were in my pipeline. I guess what I'm trying to confirm here
is that that the PM has to manually go in and "run" the rule each and
every time to accept all the task updates. Is this correct? Or
should the task updates submitted from the resources automatically be
applied to the projects without any PM intervention?

 

[Ben Howard]

Hi Andy, once you have created the rule, any new updates will run through
automatically without any PM intervention, and then these updates will be
applied to the project the next time the project is opened.

 

[Jonathan Sofer]

You need to manually run the rules. Did you consider my suggestiong to use
one account as the status manager of all project tasks so you only have to
create the rule once and run it once each week?

Jonathan

 

[anovak]

You need to manually run the rules. Did you consider my suggestiong to use
one account as the status manager of all project tasks so you only have to
create the rule once and run it once each week?

Jonathan

Johnathan, I'm not as concerned about how many people run the rules as
I am understanding whether or the rules need to be run in the first
place. All in all, this doesn't sound very automatic to me. I do
recall that if there are updates pending, when I open the subject
project the next time, it will prompt me to accept the changes - I
think that happens even if the rule doesn't exist.

If we were thinking about writing an application that runs each night
and publishes each and every project, couldn't that job also apply all
the pending updates prior to the mass publishing?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Andy --

In reality, Rules in PWA 2007 are NOT automatic as you hope. At best, they
are semi-automatic, meaning that the PM must click the Run Rules button to
actually run the Rules on all pending task updates. I have NEVER been able
to confirm that the system runs them automatically without user
intervention. I believe that anyone who tells you this is in error. I
tested this thoroughly while writing our Project Server 2007 book for
project managers, and believe that what we state in the book is correct, in
spite of what others might claim. Hope this helps.

 

[anovak]

Andy --

In reality, Rules in PWA 2007 are NOT automatic as you hope. At best, they
are semi-automatic, meaning that the PM must click the Run Rules button to
actually run the Rules on all pending task updates. I have NEVER been able
to confirm that the system runs them automatically without user
intervention. I believe that anyone who tells you this is in error. I
tested this thoroughly while writing our Project Server 2007 book for
project managers, and believe that what we state in the book is correct, in
spite of what others might claim. Hope this helps.

Dale, this helps tremendously. What you say is what I've been
experiencing for sure.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Andy --

You are more than welcome, my friend!