Adminstrative Tasks

[SJ_Digriz]

We have overhead adminstrative tasks on each of our schedules that need to
run the entire duration of a project. Is it possible to create tasks that
run the entire length of a project without declaring a specific amount of
work to be performed? In general there will be several management and
administrative people who will charge time on an as needed basis.

 

[John]

We have overhead adminstrative tasks on each of our schedules that need to
run the entire duration of a project. Is it possible to create tasks that
run the entire length of a project without declaring a specific amount of
work to be performed? In general there will be several management and
administrative people who will charge time on an as needed basis.

SJ Digriz,
This type of question has been asked and addressed a few times before in
this newsgroup. There are several methods for addressing support type
tasks, some of which are: Level of Effort (LOE), Hammock tasks, and a
separate file for administration and support. I suggest you do a search
for past posts on the subject. For example, see "Best Practice", posted
on 11/9/05. Otherwise try the search words "administrative" and
"management".

Meanwhile you might want to go to our MVP website at:
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm
and take a look at FAQ 49 - Summary task resources, and FAQ 19 - Hammock
Tasks.

Personally, I like the idea of a separate file for administrative and
support tasks. Depending on your needs, it may offer a little more
flexibility than trying to include support effort with the main
performance tasks.

John.
Project MVP

 

[Jeff Cecil]

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply. I did try the searches first but didn't seem to be
putting in the correct question to narrow the replies. Most of what I got
dodged the issue. I will look at your suggested examples.

I can't use the admin suggestion though. We have specific cost centers per
project. The projects are under work centers (of which there are several
hundred) and the admin/management who will charge have to show against
specific RBS/WBS/CostCode at the project level.

We are using a custom system now. I was looking into possibly using Project
Server, but there are so many little things like this that are going to make
a transition a nightmare. Hopefully I can figure it out.

 

[John]

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply. I did try the searches first but didn't seem to be
putting in the correct question to narrow the replies. Most of what I got
dodged the issue. I will look at your suggested examples.

I can't use the admin suggestion though. We have specific cost centers per
project. The projects are under work centers (of which there are several
hundred) and the admin/management who will charge have to show against
specific RBS/WBS/CostCode at the project level.

We are using a custom system now. I was looking into possibly using Project
Server, but there are so many little things like this that are going to make
a transition a nightmare. Hopefully I can figure it out.

SJ Digriz,
You're welcome. Just for reference, at our company each program had
their own WBS that defined a structure for our Project files. An actual
charge number (as used by employees on their timecards) was the next
level below the WBS structure used for the program Project files. In
some cases a particular task in a project file might in fact be
represented by a specific charge number, but generally, the charge
numbers were too low a level for tracking in Project - that's what our
financial system did - and it was much better at it. In the case of
support/administrative effort from functional organizations, their
effort would show up in the actuals for the program but there was no
specific task in a program Project file that tracked their support. That
worked because their effort was generally minimal - after all, it was
just support. However any significant effort on the program, including
program management, program business personnel, etc. was represented by
tasks in a Project file. If the effort was not readily measurable, it
was shown and tracked as level-of-effort (LOE).

The above approach allowed us to keep Project files at a manageable
level yet had a full accounting trail for all program costs.

John
Project MVP