Changes to My Tasks and Timephased view - PS2007

[jimmack]

Project Server 2007. SP2 not applied yet on server side.

I am modifying a copy of the My Tasks view to add the Actual Start and
Actual Finish dates so that we can more realistically record work started
against future tasks. We track by hours, not percent complete.

When I add Actual Start and Actual Finish to the view, the Time-Phased
version of the view no longer works correctly--the fields that should appear
to the right, containing the dates no longer show.

Any way to add those fields without breaking the Time-phased view?

Thanks!
Jim

 

[jimmack]

Okay, this is weird. I had removed the "Progress" field from my new view.
When I added it back in, the time-phased view worked again. So it either
needs to be present or it's just a coincidence...
Jim

 

[Gary Chefetz]

Jim:

If you're using hours by day, you probably should not add actual start and
actual finish as these will be captured by the system automatically. It is
one of the stronger arguments for using hours-by-day. If you add these
fields, users will be able to change them. Removing the progress field
should not make or break the view, so it sounds coincidental.

 

[jimmack]

Thanks, Gary. We're not using hours-by-day strictly, but rather hours of
work. (Work, Actual Work, Remaining Work)

Our problem has been actual hours applied to future tasks. PWA doesn't seem
to adjust the Start date when actual time is applied against future tasks, so
we end up with work "taking place in the future."

In order to correct that, I'm modifying the Start and Finish fields to
read-only (thanks to a nice blog post over at MSProjectExperts) and adding
Actual Start and Actual Finish fields.

Is there a better way to go about it?

Thanks!
Jim

 

[Gary Chefetz]

You are doing things correctly for the method you are choosing, so I'm
wondering why the reference to the "time-phased version of the view?" This
would not be applicable unless you're collecting hours by day.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jim --

Are your team members entering Actual Work in the future on future tasks?
If so, the problem is with the team members and not with the tool, as they
should be entering work on future tasks in the current time period. Let us
know and we will try to help.

 

[jimmack]

Gary-
The reference to the time-phased view was because it seemed to disappear
upon adding the Actual Start field. It corrected itself somehow (or my
glasses started working better!)

We are just collecting Actual Work and Remaining Work in the aggregate.
Thanks for your help!
Jim