Admin Project Plan vs Categories 2007

[mike]

Hello, I am trying to weigh the pros /cons of using a project plan for
time off or Admin Categories.

Admin Plan- Each Resource manager would create a project plan listing
time off as separate tasks. In addition, the plan would also contain
Non project related work, for example Help Desk Support.

--The creator of the plan would assign resources to the Non project
related work task at a units, like 25 % of each day is on help desk.

-No one would be assigned to the time off tasks.

-As a team member, when I create my timesheet, I will see the Help
desk task, but I thought that I would be able to assign myself to
Vacation by clicking ADD Lines. When I do this, I see the ADMIN plan
name, but ONLY tasks that I have been assigned to.

Without turning on the ability to Add tasks to plans, is the process
above correct? Meaning am I missing anything. The creator of the
plan would have to assign the person to vacation, then the Team Member
can enter time to vacation.

------------------------------------
Admin Categories, - I am confused with the Plan Admin Time step. Must
I use this for NON-Working Admin Categories.

I changed the APPROVAL to no on the Admin Categories Server Settings,
and then I created a timesheet. In doing so, I did not have to use
the Plan Admin Time step. Am I missing anything here?

Mike

 

[Projectability]

Mike

There are various schools of thought as how best to capture/record time off.

With Project Server 2007 I tend to favour using the option to include
Vacation as a Timesheet Administrative Time category, this does of course
assume people will be using the timesheet functionality which is an optional
feature.

By using this approach you can have people book time off in advance - there
is the option for this non-working time category to require approval so that
there is visibility or awareness of the request having been made by
individuals. Booking time off may or may not be approved depending upon
circumstances and operational policies, for example if there is a
team/function/group it may be unacceptable for there to be more than a
certain number of them off work at the same time.

The benefits to using this approach are that Enterprise Resources have the
approved time "blocked out" in their personal "Base Calendar" - during that
time they will have no availability as they plan to be on vacation. This
record will be consistent for the resource across all projects as it is a
specific window of time. If you try to assign tasks to a person when they
are away on vacation Project will schedule the tasks to occur on the first
day they return back to work. If tasks are delayed into the window of time
that the resource has booked as vacation the delay will be aggravated by
their being unavailable, this is a "real world" predicament.

The problem with people creating projects with "Tasks" to represent resource
vacations is that this represents "Work" for the resources in question and
Project will allow you to schedule other tasks in the same window of time,
the resource will be shown as being excessively loaded as they are scheduled
to work on their Vacation and the other tasks scheduled in the same window
of time.Creating such projects can become a bit of an administrative burden
as well.

Admin time categories can also elegantly support the recording of
non-project work or business as usual workload. You can define as many as
you wish - if you elect to not always show them they can be added to
timesheets using the "Plan Administrative Time" option displayed in the
toolbar at the top of the timesheet page.

In Timesheets there is a horizontal dividing line which is visible and to my
mind a useful indicator you have above the line items which are tasks in
projects and below the line items which are Administrative time
classifications that you can book time to.

If you have the lastest Service Pack and Infrastructure Update installed
Timesheet headers also provide you with a running count of hours booked to
some of the Administrative time classifications.


--
Dominic Moss

Projectability - Helping People achieve more with Microsoft Project

Check the Downloads section on our Website for useful documents on both
Project Management and Microsoft Project

www.projectability.co.uk

Why not subscribe to our monthly newsletter for hints tips and views

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[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mike --

If you use the Admin time categories in Project Server 2007, and a user
requests a week of Vacation, and the user's resource manager approves the
Vacation, the system automatically adds a week of nonworking time to the
user's calendar in the Enterprise Resource Pool. Same thing with Sick
Leave. You would not get that benefit if you use a project plan for
tracking nonworking time. On the other hand, you could use the Admin
categories for nonworking time, specifically for Vacation and Sick Leave,
and use projects for tracking non-project work. Just a thought. I trust
the others will share their opinions with you as well. Hope this helps.

 

[mike]

Mike --

If you use the Admin time categories in Project Server 2007, and a user
requests a week of Vacation, and the user's resource manager approves the
Vacation, the system automatically adds a week of nonworking time to the
user's calendar in the Enterprise Resource Pool.  Same thing with Sick
Leave.  You would not get that benefit if you use a project plan for
tracking nonworking time.  On the other hand, you could use the Admin
categories for nonworking time, specifically for Vacation and Sick Leave,
and use projects for tracking non-project work.  Just a thought.  I trust
the others will share their opinions with you as well. Hope this helps.















- Show quoted text -

Dominic / Dale

Thank you both for your replies. I myself am a fan of Admin
categories for Vac / Sick /Other time off, and a project plan for Help
Desk. What I a little unsure of, is would I run into an issue down
the line, if I change the Administrative Categories to NOT require
approval. TO schedule a vacation time 3 weeks from now, I would open
up a timesheet (granted System Setting s have to allow this far out to
open) and enter the request. When submitted, the RM would approve.
Since the Admin category is being used, I thought the time would still
get blocked off on my calendar.

Last point on the Time off Project Plan approach. Correct me if Im
wrong but add lines will only show you tasks on a project plan that
you have been assigned to, either in the past r future. Therefore, in
order for a team member to add themselves to vacation, when the plan
is first submitted, everyone would have to be on the time off task.
The plan can then be rep-opened, with all removed, and then re-
published. This would allow me to assign myself to sick on my
timesheet whenever I need to.

An alternative approach, assign everyone to the time off task, but at
0% units. I thought it was a bad practice to assign at 0% units.

Thanks again for your recommendations, I am in agreement with each of
you.

Mike

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mike --

To request planned vacation, the user would not create a Timesheet for that
period and enter the Vacation time. Instead, the user should navigate to
the My Timesheets page and click the Plan Administrative Time button, and
enter the planned Vacation for the correct time period. When approved by
the RM, the system will then add the Vacation time as nonworking time on the
resource's calendar in the Enterprise Resource Pool, and add the planned
Vacation on the user Timesheet for that time period.

Regarding your assumptions about using an enterprise project instead of
Administrative time periods, your assumptions are correct. Frankly, I just
don't recommend using the enterprise project, except for non-project time.
And in this case, you would need to add each user to those tasks so that
they can add the task line to their My Timesheet page. Hope this helps.

Mike --

If you use the Admin time categories in Project Server 2007, and a user
requests a week of Vacation, and the user's resource manager approves the
Vacation, the system automatically adds a week of nonworking time to the
user's calendar in the Enterprise Resource Pool. Same thing with Sick
Leave. You would not get that benefit if you use a project plan for
tracking nonworking time. On the other hand, you could use the Admin
categories for nonworking time, specifically for Vacation and Sick Leave,
and use projects for tracking non-project work. Just a thought. I trust
the others will share their opinions with you as well. Hope this helps.















- Show quoted text -

Dominic / Dale

Thank you both for your replies. I myself am a fan of Admin
categories for Vac / Sick /Other time off, and a project plan for Help
Desk. What I a little unsure of, is would I run into an issue down
the line, if I change the Administrative Categories to NOT require
approval. TO schedule a vacation time 3 weeks from now, I would open
up a timesheet (granted System Setting s have to allow this far out to
open) and enter the request. When submitted, the RM would approve.
Since the Admin category is being used, I thought the time would still
get blocked off on my calendar.

Last point on the Time off Project Plan approach. Correct me if Im
wrong but add lines will only show you tasks on a project plan that
you have been assigned to, either in the past r future. Therefore, in
order for a team member to add themselves to vacation, when the plan
is first submitted, everyone would have to be on the time off task.
The plan can then be rep-opened, with all removed, and then re-
published. This would allow me to assign myself to sick on my
timesheet whenever I need to.

An alternative approach, assign everyone to the time off task, but at
0% units. I thought it was a bad practice to assign at 0% units.

Thanks again for your recommendations, I am in agreement with each of
you.

Mike

 

[mike]

Mike --

To request planned vacation, the user would not create a Timesheet for that
period and enter the Vacation time.  Instead, the user should navigate to
the My Timesheets page and click the Plan Administrative Time button, and
enter the planned Vacation for the correct time period.  When approved by
the RM, the system will then add the Vacation time as nonworking time on the
resource's calendar in the Enterprise Resource Pool, and add the planned
Vacation on the user Timesheet for that time period.

Regarding your assumptions about using an enterprise project instead of
Administrative time periods, your assumptions are correct.  Frankly, I just
don't recommend using the enterprise project, except for non-project time..
And in this case, you would need to add each user to those tasks so that
they can add the task line to their My Timesheet page.  Hope this helps..









Dominic / Dale

Thank you both for your replies.  I myself am a fan of Admin
categories for Vac / Sick /Other time off, and a project plan for Help
Desk.  What I a little unsure of, is would I run into an issue down
the line, if I change the Administrative Categories to NOT require
approval.  TO schedule a vacation time 3 weeks from now, I would open
up a timesheet (granted System Setting s have to allow this far out to
open) and enter the request.  When submitted, the RM would approve.
Since the Admin category is being used, I thought the time would still
get blocked off on my calendar.

Last point on the Time off Project Plan approach.  Correct me if Im
wrong but add lines will only show you tasks on a project plan that
you have been assigned to, either in the past r future.  Therefore, in
order for a team member to add themselves to vacation, when the plan
is first submitted, everyone would have to be on the time off task.
The plan can then be rep-opened, with all removed, and then re-
published.  This would allow me to assign myself to sick on my
timesheet whenever I need to.

An alternative approach, assign everyone to the time off task, but at
0% units.  I thought it was a bad practice to assign at 0% units.

Thanks again for your recommendations, I am in agreement with each of
you.

Mike- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the clarifications Dale !

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mike --

You are more than welcome, my friend!

Mike --

To request planned vacation, the user would not create a Timesheet for
that
period and enter the Vacation time. Instead, the user should navigate to
the My Timesheets page and click the Plan Administrative Time button, and
enter the planned Vacation for the correct time period. When approved by
the RM, the system will then add the Vacation time as nonworking time on
the
resource's calendar in the Enterprise Resource Pool, and add the planned
Vacation on the user Timesheet for that time period.

Regarding your assumptions about using an enterprise project instead of
Administrative time periods, your assumptions are correct. Frankly, I just
don't recommend using the enterprise project, except for non-project time.
And in this case, you would need to add each user to those tasks so that
they can add the task line to their My Timesheet page. Hope this helps.









Dominic / Dale

Thank you both for your replies. I myself am a fan of Admin
categories for Vac / Sick /Other time off, and a project plan for Help
Desk. What I a little unsure of, is would I run into an issue down
the line, if I change the Administrative Categories to NOT require
approval. TO schedule a vacation time 3 weeks from now, I would open
up a timesheet (granted System Setting s have to allow this far out to
open) and enter the request. When submitted, the RM would approve.
Since the Admin category is being used, I thought the time would still
get blocked off on my calendar.

Last point on the Time off Project Plan approach. Correct me if Im
wrong but add lines will only show you tasks on a project plan that
you have been assigned to, either in the past r future. Therefore, in
order for a team member to add themselves to vacation, when the plan
is first submitted, everyone would have to be on the time off task.
The plan can then be rep-opened, with all removed, and then re-
published. This would allow me to assign myself to sick on my
timesheet whenever I need to.

An alternative approach, assign everyone to the time off task, but at
0% units. I thought it was a bad practice to assign at 0% units.

Thanks again for your recommendations, I am in agreement with each of
you.

Mike- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the clarifications Dale !

 

[Projectability]

Mike,

I am in agreement with Dale. If you want visibility of your resources and
their Workload/Availability I suggest the following:

Create a copy of the Resource Usage View - give it a meaningful name.

Add the Remaining Availability and Over-Allocation fields to the timephase
display of your new view. Change the cell colour for Remaining Availability
so you get a differentiating band running across the screen, I favour Lime.

When using this view I tend to zoom out to show a week at a time.

For any time period your resources will exhibit one of 4 specific states.

1: No work and plenty of remaining availability
2: Some work and some remaining availability
3: Too much work no remaining availability and an Over-Allocation
4: No Work and No Availability due to resource time off for vacation - this
is my favourite!!

If you see a resource with work and remaining availability both showing in
RED chances are they have a minor overlap somewhere during the week,
probably not worth getting too concerned about. Likewise you might see
resources where the over-allocation equates to up to 20% of capacity or
potential on occasion, again this probably comes with the territory - the
schedule is showing what might happen if things go exactly according to plan
and assuming your estimates of effort are always 100% correct. Where you
should be concerned is where a resource has excessive work scheduled over a
sustained window of time, that will need to be resolved as it is
unrealistic.

What I would dearly love and have not been able to achieve so far is an
elegant report that will show me how much time off a resource has booked in
any defined window of time, I have had several customers request this and
express exasperation at its not being readily available as it is likely to
be a fairly common requirement amongst users.

--
Dominic Moss

Projectability - Helping People achieve more with Microsoft Project

Check the Downloads section on our Website for useful documents on both
Project Management and Microsoft Project

www.projectability.co.uk

Why not subscribe to our monthly newsletter for hints tips and views

http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=001WVdpo956d6lHqIISFtfgVw==