Perplexed at Lack of Summary Tasks

[Trev]

I have been trying to set up Project Server 2007 and PWA in order for us to
move away from 2003. I have read a few posts indicating that the My Tasks
view and any custom views you create for that form do not and can not display
the summary tasks. For me this seems absurd right now and I cannot find the
reasoning. I feel like I must be missing some new methodology for users to
view their tasks. Im my case I have a programming and QA staff who could
have hundreds of tasks and test cases. If they cannot view the tasks similar
to what I see within Project with summary views and they cannot sort
properly, what use is this? Hopefully someone can shed some light on this
for me while I continue to research.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Trev --

I believe Microsoft removed summary tasks from the My Tasks page because of
the tremendous volume of customer complaints about this feature. Their
company was that the presence of summary tasks made the View My Tasks page
way too long in Project Server 2003. So, based on customer feedback,
Microsoft removed this functionality. If it were up to me, I would have
simply added an option to display summary tasks or not display summary
tasks. That feature would probably have satisfied both camps. But, that
isn't how the My Tasks page is designed in Project Server 2007. Team
members can see the WBS (summary tasks) on the My Tasks page:

1. Float the mouse pointer over a task name, click the pick list that
appears, and then click the Task Path item on the list.
2. Click the name of the task to view the Assignment Details page.

Also, in the near future, our company will begin selling a custom My Tasks
web part that includes summary tasks. Watch this newsgroup for the
announcement. Hope this helps.

 

[Trev]

Thanks for the information. I am really stunned at this. We are a Microsoft
Gold Partner and being forced to go use Non MS products for software
development. Sometimes I have to wonder.. The MouseOver is ok if you forget
the summary task but when you could have alot of tasks and need them grouped
its not useful.

Thanks again

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

Trev:

Our custom web part does not replace the My Tasks web part, rather it
enhances it by causing it to work the way many people want.

--
----------
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

 

[Langhorne]

2003 also allowed you to collapse the subtasks and just show summaries. This
was very useful for printing or processing timesheets, which just cared about
totals at the summary level, but still allowing you to view the task level.
In fact you can set the default level -- summary or detailed. Very handy.

Dale and Gary, you've got my attention about your upcoming custom My Tasks
web part. A few questions:

1 - how soon is "near future"?
2 - does it provide weekly totals per task or summary (please, please say yes)
3 - does it let the user collapse and expand the way 2003 did?

Glad someone is stepping in to fill the obvious void. Thanks.

- L

 

[Langhorne]

I've found that Project Server 2007 *does* have a control that comes close to
matching what we are looking for for timesheets -- collapsible summary tasks
and weekly totals. It's the Task Updates Approval screen. Once the dates
are set, it's pretty much just like the late lamented timesheet view in PS03.


Two questions -- do you plan to make those two features available in the web
parts you're working on? If not, do you know of any way to customize the
PS07 setup to use the Task Updates Approval control for timesheets instead of
the one used by default? It's so close to what we're looking for (and I
think Trev is also, based on the original message in this thread...). Thanks.

- L

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

We haven't played with adding totals, but I don't think it's impossible. The
way we've implemented the summary tasks is that you can choose to display
them or not to display them, but they don't affect the outline structure of
the display which collapses at the project level.

--
----------
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