Different Server Settings for Different Administrators

[Marcus]

I’d appreciate some help understanding the following situation:

We set up Project Server 2007 at our company and, in the Task Settings and
Display section, we made the following settings (among others):

1. “Hours of work done per period†as our tracking method.
2. CHECKED the “Force project managers to use the progress reporting method
specified above for all projects.†box.
3. CHECKED the “Time entry by Timesheet only. Users will sync to update
tasks.†box.

A PWA administrator other than myself then went on to create three different
projects and everything is running smoothly. Then I and this other PWA
administrator decided we wanted to experiment with some of the other progress
reporting methods and updating tasks without having to do it through the
timesheets. So I went into Server Settings – Task Setting and Display page
and made the following changes to the settings there:

1. UNchecked the “Force project managers to use the progress reporting
method specified above for all projects.†box.
2. UNchecked the “Time entry by Timesheet only. Users will sync to update
tasks.†box.

Then I went and created a new test project, assigned myself and the other
PWA administrator as resources, and began to experiment with updating tasks
through the Assignment Details page, submitting changes to tasks, and
accepting and rejecting them.

What I don’t understand, is that when the other PWA administrator tried to
do the same thing on his Assignment Details page for the test task I had
assigned him to, the Start, Finish, and Remaining Work fields where he should
have been able to make changes were grayed out, and he couldn’t enter
anything into the calendar either.

So he went into the Server Settings – Task Setting and Display page and we
discovered that when he looks at the settings, they do not appear with the
changes I made – the two check boxes I detailed above were still checked. But
when I look at them, they are unchecked. Can someone explain why this is?

1. Is this because he is the owner of current projects that were created
under the first settings?
2. If he goes and changes the same settings in the same way on his Server
Settings – Task Setting and Display page, will the projects he has already
created be affected?
3. What exactly determines whether or not a team member will have grayed out
fields in the Assignment Details page?

Thank you for any help you can offer me.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Marcus:

The first situation could occur if the changes were made to the admin
section while the other user is logged in. The old settings would still show
in his session if he didn't exit and restart. To answer the numbered
queries:

1) Projects retain the original tracking method unti you open and publish
after changing the tracking settings within the project. Changing the server
settings do not back-peddle into existing projects. Note that tasks that
started using one method, will retain that method to completion.

2) No, see answer above.

3) It depends on tracking settings and user permissions.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
For Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com