Bucket Tasks in 2007

[Sinister]

I have a bit of a problem with 2007. I work in an environment where it's
crucial to be able to track tasks that don't have an end date. We call them
bucket tasks. For example, SERVER MAINTENANCE or MEETINGS - FOR PROJECT X.
The way we were doing these in 2003 was to make the task a fixed duration -
not effort driven. Then we assign the resources and remove any hours they had
assigned from the work field. When they needed to put time against these type
of tasks they would go into their tasks in PWA 2003, make sure "All Tasks"
was selected, and put in the time they worked.

I've noticed 2007 has removed the "All Tasks" option from PWA, and now a
user can only see current tasks. Because these tasks are always listed as
complete there doesn't seem to be a way to show them.

Some have suggested using the administrative time section in PWA but it
doesn't let me select who can see what admin task.

Help! This is kind of a make or break situation here. If I can't figure out
a way to capture these type of tasks the management has talked about
switching to another product.

Any help on this is much appreciated.

 

[Chris King]

Sinister,
While there is no direct All Tasks button within PWA 2007, you can
still view all tasks that are assigned to a user. On the My Tasks screen
under the settings there is a "view Options" section. Under this area there
is a check box that says "show only current tasks". If you uncheck this box
you will be able to see all tasks assigned to the user no matter the start or
finish date of the task. You should still be able to continue to function
the way you always have and the users will be able to see the tasks if they
uncheck that box.

Let me know if this helps.

 

[Sinister]

I knew that was there, but my conundrum is being able to see them in the my
timesheets so they can put hours in against them.

 

[B Weed]

Are you familiar with the "Add Lines" option on My Timesheet. If the
task has not been closed, then as long as a resource has been assigned
time to a task, they should be able to add it to their timesheet.

 

[Sinister]

Yes, but wouldn't the user have to keep adding those lines every week?

 

[B Weed]

Yes, that would mean adding them to the timesheet each time. However,
most of our resources would rather select the ones from the list
rather than their timesheet being populated with a page full of task.
Definitely not a perfect solution, but one option