Considering Managed Periods

[ProjectAnalyst]

I'm considering switching from non-managed to managed timesheet periods.

Would anyone like to dissuade me?

What should I look out for? Is there anyplace to get more complete
information? I haven't had much luck online or with the various
configuration/setup guides.

From what I have read there seems to be an issue with 'synchronizing to
actuals' once you've gone to managed periods. Surely there can't be a
dialogue box that prompts you to synchronize and then results in the deletion
of Actual Work if you agree! My users would have a field day with that.

I really appreciate your insights. Thanks.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

ProjectAnalyst --

What is your reason for wanting to switch from non-managed to managed time
periods? Let us know.

I am not interested in either persuading you into using this feature or
dissuading you from using it. If you want to be dissuaded, simply search
through the posts in this newsgroup regarding Managed Time Periods. In
spite of the benefits gained in using this feature, I think you will see it
is also a source of much pain and frustration as well. Hope this helps.

 

[ProjectAnalyst]

Thanks Dale. I have indeed tried to find help in these posts, and primarily
I have seen one problem after another with Managed Periods. I was hoping
someone might have something really good to say.

The reason for us to consider Managed Periods is our accounting department
insists our project labor hours be locked after a period has past (to
coincide with the monthly and quarterly closing of the books).

Right now we've found that users will submit changes a month or two late,
after accounting has already recorded project data.

My fear is the administrative burden will increase dramatically with Managed
Periods, and Project Pro users will be able to accidentally erase Actual
Hours!

However, I don't know of any other way to insure that users don't try to
update prior periods.....

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

ProjectAnalyst --

Your reason for wanting to use Managed Time Periods is why Microsoft created
this feature in the first place. The feature will prevent team members from
doing the following:

1. Entering actuals in past closed time periods
2. Entering actuals into future time periods

It will also prevent project managers from changing Actual Work values.
These are the benefits. On the down side, the use of Managed Time Periods
is a bit labor intensive for the Project Server administrators since they
must manually create each new time period and close past time periods.
Since you see that people have struggled with this feature, my only advice
is to weigh the benefits versus the hassles. Hope this helps.

 

[ProjectAnalyst]

Thanks Dale. It's good to have confirmation that the feature is at least
workable, even if it's a little difficult.

Will Project Managers be unable to adjust actuals even within Project Pro
2003?

If so, isn't it possible to grant permissions to Adjust Actuals to all
Project Managers so they can continue to make changes as they see fit?
Would that require them to make their updates through Project Web Access?

Thanks again for the advice!

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

ProjectAnalyst --

Project Managers will not be able to enter Actual Work or adjust Actual Work
in the Microsoft Project plan. You can allow them to adjust actuals in PWA
by setting the "Adjust Actuals" permission to allow in the Project Managers
group in PWA. Hope this helps.

 

[ElaS]

Hello PA,

I've read this conversation with a great interest as I've been struggling
with researching this topic for some time.
First of all I don’t think that it will be additional administrative burden.
I think that your project managers and resource managers are likely to
complain more.

You are asking about documentation. I haven’t found much and none of it was
detailed.
And I’ve ended up with a number of problems/questions. A few of them I
posted. You may see with what result (Dealing with Managed Time Periods of
8/30/2006, How to see if RM rejected or didn't service a timesheet of
9/7/2006).

This way or another. Make sure that you have time to try it out in testing
environment.
In the MS Online books administrator’s guide (s. 8) you can read how to
republish assignments before switching the options. In my case it didn’t work
(at least I didn’t see the effect I had expected).

Good luck and keep us informed on your successes. I’ll follow your way.

Ela

 

[jlg]

Dale -

Is it true that if I grant PMs and / or RMs the 'adjust actuals'
priviledge in PWA that they can adjust actuals even for time periods
which are 'closed'? (btw, Yes, we are using Managed Time Periods.)
Due to accounting, we cannot allow actuals to change for closed
periods. If my question is true, is there another way to allow
adjusting actuals for only open periods of time?

Thanks, this newsgroup is a tremendous help!

....jlg

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

jlg --

After testing the use of Managed Time Periods with Adjust Actuals, sadly, I
can confirm that the system allowed me to adjust actuals during a closed
time period. Frankly, this looks like an oversight on the part of
Microsoft, and I know of no way to work around this. Hope this helps.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

I think this is working as intended. The adjustments are recorded so that it
leaves an auditable trail. That's the best it gets in this version. In its
current architecture, Project Server was never intended to collect payroll
actionable data, it was indented to collect work to progress tasks. The 2007
architecture gives us the auditability and the tools to confidently use
Project Server 2007 to drive payroll as well as task status.

 

[ElaS]

It's on purpose, indeed. In the MS online book - Administrators Guide - one
can read "After you define a managed timesheet period and mark it as Closed,
Project Web Access resources cannot enter or modify their time entries; only
users who are assigned the Adjust Actuals permission in Project Web Access
can access the Adjust actuals page in Project Web Access and adjust timesheet
actuals."

Here and there I can read that the changes made through 'adjust actuals' are
recorded and it is possible to compare original and adjusted data. But how to
create such a report?

Ela

 

[ElaS]

Jlg,

You write that you use Managed Time Periods. Do you employ RM for approving
timesheets before PM accepts them? Or on your flow only PMs accept the
submitted hours?

I really care for your answer.
Ela

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Ela --

Dont' place too much faith in the Microsoft documentation. Although the
documentation is correct on this issue, you will eventually find factual
errors in the same documentation. Thanks for your comments, however!

 

[ElaS]

Dale,

Thanks for warning. But what about my question to see the corrections?

Ela

 

[Jerry B]

So, how exactly can I turn off protecting actuals. Regardless of whether or
not this is a good idea or why I might want to do this, how do I do it?