Need to Display WBS in Tasks in PWA 2007

[L. Davis]

Hello,

Based on some searches I've done here to see if someone has already
addressed this issue, I think I know the answer...however, I would
like to float the question again in a different way just to be sure.

We need to display the WBS/Task hierarchy in the Tasks functionality
of PWA 2007. We have a time tracking view that displays a week grid
for entering actual hours spent on a task. Currently, you only see
the name of the workplan, and the subsequent tasks you are assigned to
are indented beneath it and are displayed in alphabetical order. The
order in which they are displayed in PWA is therefore not connected to
the order in which they are entered in the workplan.

Is there any way to manipulate the view to display the WBS with the
rollup tasks and correct indentation? You can see this in PWA 2003 so
I've got my fingers crossed that they didn't take this away in
2007...please let me know.

Thank you!

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

L. Davis --

Uncross your fingers, my friend; Microsoft removed summary tasks from the My
Tasks page. The only ways to display the WBS are:

1. Click the name of the task and the you can see the WBS on the Assignment
Details page, underneath the Task Name field.

2. Float your mouse pointer over the name of the task, and then click the
pick list arrow button that appears to the right of the task name. On the
pick list that appears, choose the Task Path item. The system displays the
name of the project, plus all summary tasks, plus the name of the task.

As a way to work around this limitation, your Project Server cannot create a
custom field containing a formula to display the WBS and then display this
custom field in the My Assignments view. The system does not allow custom
enterprise Task fields containing formulas to be displayed in this View.
Hope this helps.

 

[.jussi]

Hi L.Davis,

I have come to absolutely hate the my tasks -control. What you describe is
one of the many reasons - fortunately this one can be worked around.

While Dale is right that you can't have a custom field that shows the
summary data with a formula, you *can* have a custom field that gets updated
as you save the project. This will require some custom code in the enterprise
global, but if you are familiar with manipulating the EG, it is not difficult
to get at least one extra level from the WBS visible (parse the tasks and
update them with e.g. their parent task name). With extremely large projects
this may not be a preferable solution though. With moderate project size (a
few hundred tasks) and a modern computer the user does not notice it.

Hope that helps,
- Jussi

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jussi --

You are correct, my friend. Using a custom field that is updated by VBA
code is one way to work around this problem. In Microsoft's defense, they
removed summary tasks from the My Tasks page because of many COMPLAINTS from
clients. They did not do this for no reason. And now they are getting
COMPLAINTS from users who want to see summary tasks. So, in the end, whose
complaints do they respond to?

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

Good news, we'll be releasing a web part that solves this problem in the
coming weeks. Email me offline if you want to be among the first to have
access to it. Don't forget to remove the nospam part of the address.

--
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Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
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