Managed Period

[Andrea]

Hi,

I have 2 questions :

1 - I would like to know what are the main advantages of activating the
Managed Period functionality.

2 - We tried to activate this function before SP1 and we got tones of errors
in our project plans and I would like to know how is the situation after SP1.

thanks a lot
Andrea

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Andrea --

1. The use of the Managed Time Periods feature in Project Server 2003
restricts team members from reporting task progress in past closed time
periods and in future time periods. It limits team members to entering time
only in current open time periods.

2. When you said "tons of errors" what kind of errors specifically?

 

[Andrea]

Thanks for your answer.

The kind of error we get when we activate Managed Period functionality are
normal messages (I guess) that ask to synchonize the actual work each time we
open a project in Project Pro. These messages make us sometimes confused
because we don't know which action MsProject will take after that. Managed
period functionality is not explain in Project 2003 book written by Tim Pyron
and I would need more details about it.

Thanks
Andrea

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Andrea --

The "synching up" messages you receive are normal in an environment using
managed time periods. What this means is that the information in the
project plan must be synchronized with the information in PWA. This also
means that you cannot enter Actual Work manually in the Microsoft Project
plan, and that all Actual Work must be submitted by team members using their
PWA timesheet. This is one of the limitations of using managed time
periods, one that frustrates many good people (such as yourself).

Beyond this, I would recommend that you get a book specifically on Project
Server 2003. Click the URL in my signature block for information about
ordering our company's book on the software. Hope this helps.