Change Working Time for specific projects

[Mary Tucker]

Hi. We need to be able to schedule specific resources to work on Saturdays
(typically a non-working day) for specific projects. Is there a way to do
this without creating a project specific calendar? We don't want to do that
as then they will not be in synch with the changes that are made to the
standard calendar. Thanks!

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mary --

Unless you want to drive your Project Server administrator crazy by forcing
him/her to individually edit each resource's calendar in the Enterprise
Resource Pool, I think a better approach would be for the Project Server
administrator to create a custom enterprise Base calendar that shows the
Saturdays as work days. Then each PM can apply this new Base calendar as a
Task Calendar on tasks in which the resources must work Saturdays. To apply
this calendar as the Task Calendar, you PMs would need to do the following:

1. Open a project.
2. Double-click a task that requires Saturday work.
3. Select the Advanced tab in the Task Information dialog.
4. Click the Calendar pick list and choose the custom enterprise calendar.
5. Select the "Scheduling ignores resource calendars" option.
6. Click the OK button.

To speed up the process, your PM could also select multiple tasks that
require Saturday work and then click Project - Task Information and then
make the same changes in steps #3-6 in the Multiple Task Information dialog.
Believe me, I think this approach would be a lot simpler. Hope this helps.

 

[Mary Tucker]

Thanks Dale, our issue is slightly different (sorry, I should have been
clearer). We won't be changing all Saturdays to be working days for the
project. The change would be when a specific project manager decides that he
needs a few of his resources to work on a specific non-working day (i.e.
Saturday, July 19). This might happen periodically for many of our projects
and would not always be the same resources and would not be across all
projects. Is there a way to do this without creating a separate calendar?
Thanks!

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mary --

Since the default permissions in Project Server 2007 do not allow PMs to
create their own local calendars, you would need to ask your Project Server
administrator to enable this permission. But the only way to address this
issue is to create a custom Base calendar that includes one or more
Saturdays, and then apply it as a Task Calendar on tasks that will include
Saturday work. If this is being used for future planning, then I would opt
for the custom Base calendar/Task Calendar option. If it is simply a
situation, however, where the PM says, "Let's work this coming Saturday,"
then I would ask the team members to enter the Saturday hours in their My
Timesheet or My Tasks page and let the software schedule the Actual Work on
the Saturday. Hope this helps.

 

[EJ]

I have a situation whereby a certain Saturday will be worked as an exception.
Fro these cases, you suggest:
""Let's work this coming Saturday,"
then I would ask the team members to enter the Saturday hours in their My
Timesheet"

I enter time for this Saturday and attibute to a new "working" category - eg: extra work.

However, this "working" exception is still not being reflected in my project plan (even though non-working exceptions in the same week are being reflected).

Any ideas?



Dale Howard [MVP] wrote:

Mary --Since the default permissions in Project Server 2007 do not allow PMs
13-Jun-08

Mary --

Since the default permissions in Project Server 2007 do not allow PMs to
create their own local calendars, you would need to ask your Project Server
administrator to enable this permission. But the only way to address this
issue is to create a custom Base calendar that includes one or more
Saturdays, and then apply it as a Task Calendar on tasks that will include
Saturday work. If this is being used for future planning, then I would opt
for the custom Base calendar/Task Calendar option. If it is simply a
situation, however, where the PM says, "Let's work this coming Saturday,"
then I would ask the team members to enter the Saturday hours in their My
Timesheet or My Tasks page and let the software schedule the Actual Work on
the Saturday. Hope this helps.





Previous Posts In This Thread:

Change Working Time for specific projects
Hi. We need to be able to schedule specific resources to work on Saturdays
(typically a non-working day) for specific projects. Is there a way to do
this without creating a project specific calendar? We don't want to do that
as then they will not be in synch with the changes that are made to the
standard calendar. Thanks!

Mary --Unless you want to drive your Project Server administrator crazy by
Mary --

Unless you want to drive your Project Server administrator crazy by forcing
him/her to individually edit each resource's calendar in the Enterprise
Resource Pool, I think a better approach would be for the Project Server
administrator to create a custom enterprise Base calendar that shows the
Saturdays as work days. Then each PM can apply this new Base calendar as a
Task Calendar on tasks in which the resources must work Saturdays. To apply
this calendar as the Task Calendar, you PMs would need to do the following:

1. Open a project.
2. Double-click a task that requires Saturday work.
3. Select the Advanced tab in the Task Information dialog.
4. Click the Calendar pick list and choose the custom enterprise calendar.
5. Select the "Scheduling ignores resource calendars" option.
6. Click the OK button.

To speed up the process, your PM could also select multiple tasks that
require Saturday work and then click Project - Task Information and then
make the same changes in steps #3-6 in the Multiple Task Information dialog.
Believe me, I think this approach would be a lot simpler. Hope this helps.





Thanks Dale, our issue is slightly different (sorry, I should have been
Thanks Dale, our issue is slightly different (sorry, I should have been
clearer). We won't be changing all Saturdays to be working days for the
project. The change would be when a specific project manager decides that he
needs a few of his resources to work on a specific non-working day (i.e.
Saturday, July 19). This might happen periodically for many of our projects
and would not always be the same resources and would not be across all
projects. Is there a way to do this without creating a separate calendar?
Thanks!

:

Mary --Since the default permissions in Project Server 2007 do not allow PMs
Mary --

Since the default permissions in Project Server 2007 do not allow PMs to
create their own local calendars, you would need to ask your Project Server
administrator to enable this permission. But the only way to address this
issue is to create a custom Base calendar that includes one or more
Saturdays, and then apply it as a Task Calendar on tasks that will include
Saturday work. If this is being used for future planning, then I would opt
for the custom Base calendar/Task Calendar option. If it is simply a
situation, however, where the PM says, "Let's work this coming Saturday,"
then I would ask the team members to enter the Saturday hours in their My
Timesheet or My Tasks page and let the software schedule the Actual Work on
the Saturday. Hope this helps.






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[EJ]

For situations like:
"Let's work this coming Saturday,"

you suggest:
"then I would ask the team members to enter the Saturday hours in their My Timesheet"

However, working exceptions entering in my timesheets for Saturdays are not being reflected in my project plan (even though non-working exception in the same week are!)

Any ideas?

EJ



Dale Howard [MVP] wrote:

Mary --Since the default permissions in Project Server 2007 do not allow PMs
13-Jun-08

Mary --

Since the default permissions in Project Server 2007 do not allow PMs to
create their own local calendars, you would need to ask your Project Server
administrator to enable this permission. But the only way to address this
issue is to create a custom Base calendar that includes one or more
Saturdays, and then apply it as a Task Calendar on tasks that will include
Saturday work. If this is being used for future planning, then I would opt
for the custom Base calendar/Task Calendar option. If it is simply a
situation, however, where the PM says, "Let's work this coming Saturday,"
then I would ask the team members to enter the Saturday hours in their My
Timesheet or My Tasks page and let the software schedule the Actual Work on
the Saturday. Hope this helps.





Previous Posts In This Thread:

Change Working Time for specific projects
Hi. We need to be able to schedule specific resources to work on Saturdays
(typically a non-working day) for specific projects. Is there a way to do
this without creating a project specific calendar? We don't want to do that
as then they will not be in synch with the changes that are made to the
standard calendar. Thanks!

Mary --Unless you want to drive your Project Server administrator crazy by
Mary --

Unless you want to drive your Project Server administrator crazy by forcing
him/her to individually edit each resource's calendar in the Enterprise
Resource Pool, I think a better approach would be for the Project Server
administrator to create a custom enterprise Base calendar that shows the
Saturdays as work days. Then each PM can apply this new Base calendar as a
Task Calendar on tasks in which the resources must work Saturdays. To apply
this calendar as the Task Calendar, you PMs would need to do the following:

1. Open a project.
2. Double-click a task that requires Saturday work.
3. Select the Advanced tab in the Task Information dialog.
4. Click the Calendar pick list and choose the custom enterprise calendar.
5. Select the "Scheduling ignores resource calendars" option.
6. Click the OK button.

To speed up the process, your PM could also select multiple tasks that
require Saturday work and then click Project - Task Information and then
make the same changes in steps #3-6 in the Multiple Task Information dialog.
Believe me, I think this approach would be a lot simpler. Hope this helps.





Thanks Dale, our issue is slightly different (sorry, I should have been
Thanks Dale, our issue is slightly different (sorry, I should have been
clearer). We won't be changing all Saturdays to be working days for the
project. The change would be when a specific project manager decides that he
needs a few of his resources to work on a specific non-working day (i.e.
Saturday, July 19). This might happen periodically for many of our projects
and would not always be the same resources and would not be across all
projects. Is there a way to do this without creating a separate calendar?
Thanks!

:

Mary --Since the default permissions in Project Server 2007 do not allow PMs
Mary --

Since the default permissions in Project Server 2007 do not allow PMs to
create their own local calendars, you would need to ask your Project Server
administrator to enable this permission. But the only way to address this
issue is to create a custom Base calendar that includes one or more
Saturdays, and then apply it as a Task Calendar on tasks that will include
Saturday work. If this is being used for future planning, then I would opt
for the custom Base calendar/Task Calendar option. If it is simply a
situation, however, where the PM says, "Let's work this coming Saturday,"
then I would ask the team members to enter the Saturday hours in their My
Timesheet or My Tasks page and let the software schedule the Actual Work on
the Saturday. Hope this helps.





Saturday work
I have a situation whereby a certain Saturday will be worked as an exception.
Fro these cases, you suggest:
""Let's work this coming Saturday,"
then I would ask the team members to enter the Saturday hours in their My
Timesheet"

I enter time for this Saturday and attibute to a new "working" category - eg: extra work.

However, this "working" exception is still not being reflected in my project plan (even though non-working exceptions in the same week are being reflected).

Any ideas?


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[Projectability]

EJ

Dales suggestions are sound, are you using Timesheets and if so are you
using timesheet data to update task status? Timesheets and Task Updates are
by default "disconnected". There is an option to synch timesheet data with
tasks, there is also a "connector" available on TechNet I believe, I have
not employed it myself but I am sure if you search this newsgroup you will
find advice about it.

If you are going to have the occasional exceptional working on Saturdays can
I suggest having a custom Enterprise Calendar created to allow working on 6
days of the week, Monday through Saturday, this can then be assigned to
selected tasks when appropriate, Task Information>Advanced Tab>Calendar -
the advantage of this approach is that it can be employed when required and
applied to selected tasks rather than the entire project so for example the
maintenance team might work on tasks on a selected Saturday but no other
groups or teams of people would be working on the same exception day.

Happy planning.

--
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

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[EJ]

Sorry - perhaps I am guilty of presuming all you helpful folks are also
clairvoyants!
In our situation we do not plan to update task progress using timesheets,
nor do we know exactly what tasks will be done on Saturday.

We will be using timesheets to allow resources to enter their known
working/non-working time. This may include occasional Saturdays.

These exceptions will then be taken into account in the project plans (when
we assign resources to tasks).

EG : Our standard calendar is a normal 5-day week.
A resource agrees that for a certain week, they will take the Wed off and
work the Sat instead.
They enter 1d in their timesheet against a non-working category for Wed.
They then enter 1d in their timesheet against a working category for Sat.

The problem is that project plans DO reflect the non-working exception(Wed),
but NOT the working exception(Sat).

 

[Gary Chefetz]

EJ:

If you use hours of work done per day tracking method, the system should
record actual work on the dates it is reported by the resources. There
were/are some unfixed bugs around actual work moving in the Project Client,
but actual work does not move when recorded to the timesheet tables (Those
fed by My Timesheets). Because the My Tasks page gets refreshed with data
after every publish, it is possible for work represented here to get
distorted if distortion happens in the project plan. All of this presupposes
that you are affected by one of the known issues, something we cannot
determine with the little we know about your situation.

It is possible that you're experiencing one of these issues if you resources
are entering time on nonworking days as this is the particular catalyst for
some of these issues to occur. So tell us your system patch level, and
gather some very specific steps to reproduce. This will help us advise you
as to what to do next.