Allowing team members to edit Start Date for tasks

[Vasantha]

Hello,

I am a novice user of Microsoft Project Server version. I would like to
provide privileges to my team members to edit the start date for the tasks
that they own. Currently, when the team members login, they can only edit the
% complete and Remaining work fields.
Can someone please let me know if what I am trying to do is allowed. And, if
so, can you please point me to the steps to do this.
Any help in this regard is much appreciated.
Thank you.

-Vasantha

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Vasantha --

You have wisely uncovered the major problem using the % Work Complete method
of tracking, which is that the method of tracking is not date sensitive. To
resolve this problem, you will need to add the Actual Start and Actual
Finish fields to each user's timesheet in PWA using the steps in the
following FAQ:

http://www.projectserverexperts.com/Shared Documents/changestartandend.htm

Hope this helps.

 

[Vasantha]

Hi Dale,

Thank you for your prompt response and for pointing me to the right steps. I
was able to successfully include the Actual Start and Actual Finish dates to
my project plan that also includes the % Work complete field. Now, the team
members are able to edit the Actual Start date. But, if they change an Actual
Start date and I accept the changes, the 'Start' date field in the plan is
not getting updated automatically. I was expecting that any changes to the
Actual Start date would also change the "Start" date. Is this expected
behaviour?

Also, in many entries for the Actual Start or the Actual Finish date I see
the "NA" value even though, there are actual dates in the "Start" and
"Finish" fields in the plan.

My Global enterprise template includes the Start, Finish and % Work complete
fields, but NOT the Actual Start and Actual Finish. Is this ok?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

regards,
-Vasantha

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Vasantha --

The Start date will only change after all team members assigned to the task
have entered an Actual Start date has been entered for the task. If you
wish for your team members to see the Actual Start and Actual Finish dates
for previously-completed tasks, you will need to do the following for each
in-progress project:

1. Open the project
2. Click Collaborate - Publish - Republish Assignments
3. Select the "Overwrite actual work entered by resources" option
4. Click OK

If you added any extra fields to the list of Published fields in the
Enterprise Global file, you should remove them from the list on the right
side of the Published Fields dialog, as they serve no useful purpose in
being there. Hope this helps.