MOPS 2007 - anyone given up on Timesheets?

[SW]

Sounds like a drastic and regressive step, but I was wondering of anyone had
given up on Timesheets and gone back to manually updating task progress
because it's too hard to get perfect user compliance at both the MSP end of
things (having tasks always in the correct time period, correct people
assigned, publish set to "yes", publishing the file, setting closed tasks to
publish "no") and the unfriendly screens in My Tasks, Timesheet and Add Lines.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

There are plenty of businesses that have tried to implement timesheets and
have failed due to lack of management commitment. This is a common story.
Chances are, though, if you can't get the users to report the time, you'll
also fail to track on a manual basis because lack of discipline in an
organization tends to run pretty deep.

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Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
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[Marc Soester [MVP]]

Hi SW,

as Gary suggests, it is important that your organisation commits to the
timesheets, having said this, I agree that the way timehseets and task
updates are implemented wihtin Project Server 2007 is not ideal and I hope
that the next realease will be more user friendly. The UI is certainly not
the best, but there is alwasy the custom dev option. Either way, the main
point to have success with timesheet implementation is organisational
commitement, executive sponorship and governance to ensure that all
resources understand the importance of timesheeting.
Hope this help
Marc

 

[Mark E. Read]

I would add to this that the SDK contains a timesheet audit report
that helps a ton with compliance efforts. Visibility gives management
the data they need to drive compliance... we've also developed some
other reports that will manage the disparity between timesheets and
tasks. It does take time to move a company through this process.

 

[Chupacabra]

timesheets, having said this, I agree that the way timehseets and task
updates are implemented wihtin Project Server 2007 is not ideal and I hope

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the timesheets in Project Server 2007
suck eggs. They were much better and more flexible in the 2003 product.

 

[Caroline]

I would add to this that the SDK contains a timesheet audit report
that helps a ton with compliance efforts.  Visibility gives management
the data they need to drive compliance...  we've also developed some
other reports that will manage the disparity between timesheets and
tasks.  It does take time to move a company through this process.

Can you give us the name of the report and how to access it, it sounds
useful.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

The fact is that Timesheets did not exist in 2003, so this is version 1.0..
After applying the Infrastructure update to Project Server, the My Tasks
page functions almost exactly like it did in 2003, so there's no need for
anyone to be sucking eggs. When you add the "tied-mode" solution available
free on codeplex, the timesheet story in 2007 is a lot better than the base
release.

--
----------
Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
Project Server Training: http://www.projectservertraining.com
Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com
Project Server Help Blog: http://www.projectserverhelp.com

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

Caroline:

Like Mark said, it's in the SDK:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms512767.aspx

--
----------
Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
Project Server Training: http://www.projectservertraining.com
Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com
Project Server Help Blog: http://www.projectserverhelp.com

I would add to this that the SDK contains a timesheet audit report
that helps a ton with compliance efforts. Visibility gives management
the data they need to drive compliance... we've also developed some
other reports that will manage the disparity between timesheets and
tasks. It does take time to move a company through this process.

Can you give us the name of the report and how to access it, it sounds
useful.

 

[Chupacabra]

The fact is that Timesheets did not exist in 2003, so this is version
1.0.. After applying the Infrastructure update to Project Server, the My
Tasks page functions almost exactly like it did in 2003, so there's no
need for anyone to be sucking eggs. When you add the "tied-mode" solution
available free on codeplex, the timesheet story in 2007 is a lot better
than the base release.

Well, it may not have been called "Timesheets" on 2003 but the time
reporting capability in 2003 was just so much easier to use, and much more
functional as an end user. The "Timesheets" capability of 2007 just sucks
from an end-user perspective. IMHO of course.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

I take it that you haven't installed the infrastructure update.

--
----------
Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
Project Server Training: http://www.projectservertraining.com
Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com
Project Server Help Blog: http://www.projectserverhelp.com