Graphical view of Administrative Project (Vacations)

[Dave Coate]

Hi all,

We are doing a test install of Project Server 2003. I have set up an
Administrative Project (based on Administrative Time template) to track
vacations etc and have entered some test data. Now I am trying to find a way
to graphically display the data on PWA for users. As a manager, whenever an
employee asks me for time off, my first question is: Is anyone else taking
time off at the time you are requesting? I am looking for a way in PWA for
the users to answer that question on their own.

The closest I can find is the Assignments Summary view for the project
on PWA. However, it does not display the data quite right. To give an
example: Resource A enters vacation for Feb 18 - Feb 22 while resource B
enters vacation from Feb 18 - Feb 26. Then when I go to the Assignments
Summary view in PWA, I see "Vacation" tasks for Resource A & B, but
graphically, both bars are identical. Both show the resource on "Vacation"
from Feb 18 - Feb 26. It seems to "add" over-lapping vacations together and
display the sum value for both resources.

Am I using the wrong view? Is there a better view to use? I have tried
all the views that are available as well as attempting to build a custom
view, but I cannot seem to get what I want.

The closest I have found to my goal is the "Task Usage" report in
Project Pro 2003. That gives me the data I want, but it is 1) not available
on PWA and 2) not graphical. I would accept a Task Usage report on PWA if
anyone can show me how to build one, but I would prefer graphical.

How do other people display this data to their users? I can't believe I
am the only person trying to do this.

Thanks,
Dave Coate, MCSE

 

[Jonathan H]

Hi Dave,

In my old company where we used PS 2003 we used to represent holidays as
non-working time, not an administrative project.
You can then view the impact of this holiday in a graphical fashion using
the Resouce Centre (that's the 2007 name, I'm not sure what it is in 2003)
and comparing the available Working Time for all of your reports.
We also used to represent training in the same way.

I'm not sure I explained that very well, but hope it helped.

Jonathan

 

[Dave Coate]

Hi Jonathon,

At this point, we are just working on a test installation of PS 2003. We
like the Administrative Project for vacation and other non-working time for
the workflow aspect. (User clicks a link and submits a proposed vacation to
a manager, then the manager approves and the user receives confirmation via
Email) The main issue is for the users to see all vacations in our
department via PWA in an easily understood format.

I am aware that there may be other ways to accomplishing this, but I am
trying to pursue the Admin Project method to its conclusion before I explore
other options. Do you have any suggestions relating to a suitable view in
PWA for an administrative project?

Does anyone else?

Dave

 

[Jonathan H]

Okay, bear with me here because I'm doing this from memory...

If you had a seperate Admin project for each item (training, vacation, etc.)
then in the View Availability section of the Resource Centre you should be
able to change the view 'Assigned Work By Project' (I'm uncertain on that
name).
This will then show you graphically the amount of time the selected
resources (your team or department) are expected to spend on any project over
the selected time-frame against the total available time.
You can uncheck all other projects to just leave the Vacation project if you
wish for a clearer view.

Try that.

Jonathan