Project Server 2003 changing Actual Work

[Mike]

So - if I have an apllication that manually enters task, assignment, and
timephased data into the database - what would cause Project profesional to
change the actual work, and add values onto the timephased data?
Data in the db looks good before it is opened in Professional - once I open
it in Project Pro, additional rows get added on.

is there an internal calculation somewhere I should look for?

 

[Jack Dahlgren]

Changing task status such as % complete on a task can and will change actual
work depending on the settings that you are using.

What settings are you using for how project calculates actual work?
How specifically are you updating the data? What are you doing about
remaining work?

There are a large number of factors that come into play. Are you aware that
it is not recommended to edit the database directly and at least in Project
2007 even reading the databases other than the reporting database is not
supported?

-Jack Dahlgren

 

[Mike]

Oh yes - we're working on an API only interface for 2k7. This legacy stuff I
just inherited, and am trying to patch it up for a few months until we can
phase it out.

I think I figured it out, we had apparently been sending total actual work
over in the assignment row, as well as sending over timesheet data. Still
need to test it a bit. I'm not sure at all why that would cause it skew the
timesheets though.

 

[Mike]

Of course, the other issue I'm seeing is when we port over a lot of timesheet
data (directly into the database), when Project Pro is opened for the first
time, it takes a VERY long time to load. It seems directly related to the
amount of timesheet data sent over, but the "open" time can be upwards of 1-2
hours. I'm guessing it's a calculation Project has to do on every timesheet
- I'm not sure if there's a way to speed it up though.

 

[Mike]

It turns out it did not fix the problem.
We're inputting information directly, since we're trying to push over data
from another software system, so tasks/assignments, and timesheets are put
directly into the MSP tables.

The first time we put all of the above into project, everything looks good.
however, once the Project is saved sindie of Project Pro, and subsequent
attempt to synchronize (using the same methods used for the intial push), and
actual hours are being modified - it seems they are getting pushed out to the
project end date.

 

[Rod Gill]

You say the project takes a long time to open. This could be because Project
is finding conflicting information and is therefore stuck in a loop
re-calculating. In the pjdb.htm file, there is a sequence list of how
Project calculates data. I recommend you update the minimum information
required for Project to calculate what you need. Do not enter data that
Project can calculate for itself.

As this is legacy stuff, have you considered using VBA macros in Project to
read the data? This may well be much quicker and simpler. The code once
working could be converted to an Add-in that works in 2003 and 2007.

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com