A
Ahmad Khan
Hello everyone,
We are facing a serious problem (atleast we think so
)
We have a couple of projects on MSP Server 2003 that need to be
renamed. We decided to do the following,
1. Save plan as mpp file.
2. Delete the plan from Server.
3. Upload the mpp file with the new name.
4. Republish the new plan with overwrite option turned on ( so that
the resources can see their actuals for the past on their timesheets).
This is where the problem occurs.
If for this plan, resources had submitted Actual Work and Actual
Overtime Work, then this causes problems while using the Overwrite
Actuals option turned on during Republish.
Let me give an example to explain the problem:
1. Jane submitted the timesheet for 10/1/04 with Actual Work = 4 hrs
and Actual Overtime Work = 3 hrs. Therefore PWA shows,
Work = 7 hrs, Actual Work = 4 hrs and Actual Overtime Work= 3 hrs.
(Note: PWA doesnot add Actual Overtime Work in Actual Work field)
2. Project Manager accepted the updates. Now in the plan, for
10/1/2004, for Jane we see the following:
Work = 7 hrs, Actual Work = 7 hrs and Actual Overtime Work = 3 hrs.
(Note: MSP adds Actual Overtime Work in Actual Work field, unlike PWA)
3. Now the plan gets renamed on the server using the steps listed
above.
4. Plan is republished with the overwrite actuals option turned on.
5. As a result, Jane sees this on her timesheet for 10/1/2004:
Work = 7 hrs, Actual Work = 7 hrs and Actual Overtime Work = 3 hrs.
This is confusing for Jane since she doesnot expect PWA to add Actual
Overtime Work in Actual Work hours. Jane thinks that she really
reported Actual Work as 7 hrs!
6. Jane enters time for another day and submits her timesheet. Project
Manager accepts the updates.
7. Now in the plan, for 10/1/2004 we see this,
Work = 10 hrs, Actual Work = 10 hrs, Actual Overtime Work = 3 hrs.
Actual Work became 10 hrs because MSP adds Actual Overtime Work in
Actual Work!
Clearly the Actual Work is wrong in MSP and PWA now. (This cycle of
increasing Actuals can go on if Project Manager keeps the option of
Overwrite Actuals turned on, on every Republish)
We have the above scenario for many resources in all the projects we
have to rename.
There seems to be a major problem with Overwrite Actuals option if the
Actual Overtime has been reported by resources.
To avoid this problem, we are going to test the Renaming Utility soon,
but I am curious to know if someone else has faced this problem or
not? How can we use the Overwrite Actuals option with any Actual
Overtime reported without corrupting the Actual Work.
All suggestions and comments are much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ahmad Khan.
We are facing a serious problem (atleast we think so
)We have a couple of projects on MSP Server 2003 that need to be
renamed. We decided to do the following,
1. Save plan as mpp file.
2. Delete the plan from Server.
3. Upload the mpp file with the new name.
4. Republish the new plan with overwrite option turned on ( so that
the resources can see their actuals for the past on their timesheets).
This is where the problem occurs.
If for this plan, resources had submitted Actual Work and Actual
Overtime Work, then this causes problems while using the Overwrite
Actuals option turned on during Republish.
Let me give an example to explain the problem:
1. Jane submitted the timesheet for 10/1/04 with Actual Work = 4 hrs
and Actual Overtime Work = 3 hrs. Therefore PWA shows,
Work = 7 hrs, Actual Work = 4 hrs and Actual Overtime Work= 3 hrs.
(Note: PWA doesnot add Actual Overtime Work in Actual Work field)
2. Project Manager accepted the updates. Now in the plan, for
10/1/2004, for Jane we see the following:
Work = 7 hrs, Actual Work = 7 hrs and Actual Overtime Work = 3 hrs.
(Note: MSP adds Actual Overtime Work in Actual Work field, unlike PWA)
3. Now the plan gets renamed on the server using the steps listed
above.
4. Plan is republished with the overwrite actuals option turned on.
5. As a result, Jane sees this on her timesheet for 10/1/2004:
Work = 7 hrs, Actual Work = 7 hrs and Actual Overtime Work = 3 hrs.
This is confusing for Jane since she doesnot expect PWA to add Actual
Overtime Work in Actual Work hours. Jane thinks that she really
reported Actual Work as 7 hrs!
6. Jane enters time for another day and submits her timesheet. Project
Manager accepts the updates.
7. Now in the plan, for 10/1/2004 we see this,
Work = 10 hrs, Actual Work = 10 hrs, Actual Overtime Work = 3 hrs.
Actual Work became 10 hrs because MSP adds Actual Overtime Work in
Actual Work!
Clearly the Actual Work is wrong in MSP and PWA now. (This cycle of
increasing Actuals can go on if Project Manager keeps the option of
Overwrite Actuals turned on, on every Republish)
We have the above scenario for many resources in all the projects we
have to rename.
There seems to be a major problem with Overwrite Actuals option if the
Actual Overtime has been reported by resources.
To avoid this problem, we are going to test the Renaming Utility soon,
but I am curious to know if someone else has faced this problem or
not? How can we use the Overwrite Actuals option with any Actual
Overtime reported without corrupting the Actual Work.
All suggestions and comments are much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ahmad Khan.