Setting % Complete on Milestones

[David Luper]

When we mark a milestone 100% complete, and then synch to actuals or Publish,
the milestone sometimes goes back to 0% even though it does not have a
resource assigned to it. If we want to use milestones for keying certain
events like billings, it will be critical for use to keep them from moving
accidentally. How do other groups deal with this?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

David --

They do this by applying SP1 or SP2 to both Microsoft Project and Project
Server. The issue you reference was fixed in SP1. Therefore, it sounds
like you are using the unpatched versions of both software packages. You
need to apply the latest service packs, my friend. Hope this helps.

 

[David Luper]

Dale,

Thanks for the response!

I believe we are on SP2 on Server, but I am not sure about Project. I will
investigate and let you know what I find out.

Thanks!
David

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

David --

We recommend that you always make sure that you upgrade the Microsoft
Project desktop client to the same service pack as Project Server. When you
upgrade Microsoft Project to SP2, I believe your milestone troubles will
disappear. Hope this helps.

 

[PK Consulting]

Mr. Howard,

We are seeing a similar problem and I'm wondering if it is a SP2A issue. If
I complete a task that has no actuals applied to it by typing in 100% in the
% Complete field, MS Project 2003 will accept the change. However, if I
synch with protected actuals (tools>tracking>sync to protected actuals), the
completion percentage is reset to the server value (usually zero). Is this a
SP2A issue (we have installed SP2 on the clients)?

On a related problem, we will sometimes complete tasks with remaining work
by inputting zero into the remaining duration. This updates the % complete
and % work remaining to 100%, but we sometimes (not always) receive the
out-of-synch message. Is this also related to SP2A?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

PK --

No, this is not an SP2A issue. If you are using Managed Time periods, you
cannot manually enter actuals in the Microsoft Project plan on any task
OTHER THAN a milestone task. That is why you get the "out of sync" error
and why the system resets the task to its original state. Hope this helps.

 

[PK Consulting]

Mr. Howard,

Thank you for the quick response. Unfortunately, our experience is
different than your response. We can enter % Complete manually if a)the task
has never had any time recorded against it, and b)there are no resources
(enterprise or local) assigned to it. I just ran a quick test and entered
100% in the % Complete (this task wasn't a milestone). I then published and
sync-ed with protected actuals and I had no problem.

Andy additional thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Nana]

I dont recommend updating the % complete field at all. Instead enter
the number of hours work on the task in the Actual work field. If no
work was done or the task was completed early, the set the Remainder
duration field to zero.

I would guess the problem you are running in is that the project server
engine calculates the % using these fields and since they are Zero in
your case then the % is set to zero. You can prevent your users from
updating the % complete in PWA

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

PK:

It seems to me that your experience is exactly in terms with Dale's
response. Part of the problem here is that your "similar problem" as stated
in your original post is not similar, although it seems as though it is.
Let's look at this more closely:

You asked: I complete a task that has no actuals applied to it by typing in
100% in
the % Complete field, MS Project 2003 will accept the change. However, if I
synch with protected actuals (tools>tracking>sync to protected actuals),
the completion percentage is reset to the server value (usually zero). Is
this a
SP2A issue (we have installed SP2 on the clients)?

Dale answered: No, this is not an SP2A issue. If you are using Managed Time
periods, you
cannot manually enter actuals in the Microsoft Project plan on any task
OTHER THAN a milestone task.

This is the correct answer. When you change the percentage of completion on
a task with an associated resource assignment in the Project client, you
accrue "actual work" in so doing. This creates an out-of-synch state between
the Project Plan and the protected actual work table. On the other hand,
when you do this to a task without a resource assignment, there is no work
accrued, because actual work occurs at the intersection between a resource
and a task (aka "assignment"), and therefore everything remains in synch.

No resource = No actual work
No actual work = No possibility of being out-of-synch

Does this make better sense to you now?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

PK Consulting --

You are SO funny, my friend! Why would you ever enter a % Complete against
a task when there is no resource assigned to it? The point of using Managed
Time Periods is to force all actuals to be entered by resources assigned to
tasks, and to restrict their actuals to only the current open time periods.
The feature prevents a team member from entering actuals in a past closed
time period or a future unopened time period. Hope this helps.

 

[PK Consulting]

Not trying to be funny at all. It isn't unusual to enter % Complete against
a task with no resources: we migrated existing projects to EPM and, for
historical purposes, we have added tasks and wanted them to show as complete.
Also, I fully understand the use of managed time periods and that is why we
are using them.

The way to make this work is to make sure to publish a task with no
resources, then enter % complete. If resources exist, and no time as been
entered against the task, those resources must be deleted, the re- published,
then a % complete entered. You can add local resources back to the task, but
not enterprise resources.