Split project task

[Rayk Grabosch]

I have tasks in my project plan that are split in the task view of my team
members. Publishing the project plan again does not help to bring the split
tasks together. The weird thing is that one part to the split task has actual
values without any hours reported in the timesheet.

Does anyone have an idea how to merge the split task in my team member's
task view into one single task while keeping consistency between work and
actual work?

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Ray:

Task splits caused by tracking are typically a simple reflection of reality.
In this case, there's nothing to be done other than to accept that, in
reality, the task work was performed this way. Task splits caused by
scheduling, however, need to be reconciled in the Project client. You can
un-split a task in a number of ways: 1) Adjust the work contour 2) Use the
Gantt chart to drag the split task together. Keep in mind that the system is
scheduling tasks with splits for a reason. You're better served by dealing
with the scheduling conflict directly.

 

[Rayk Grabosch]

Thanks, Gary,

can there be any other cause than tracking or scheduling? The problem is
that the split task only appears in the task view for my team members. In my
project plan there is only one task. Furthermore, I have inconsistencies in
the reported hours in the timesheet, my project plan and the values in the
task view.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Rayk:

Your latest post leads me to believe that I shouldn't have interpreted your
use of "split task" as the literal it refers to in Project. It now seems to
me you're talking about a "duplicate" task. Did you publish more than one
version of the task? Did you create the task, publish it and then delete it?
That would leave behind a useless task on the timesheet. It helps to know
how it got there to advise you on how to clean it up.

 

[Rayk Grabosch]

Actually, the task is not duplicate as the end date of the first is the start
date of the second. But remember, this is only in the task view in project
web access!

Indeed, I published more than one version of the task as I adjusted its
properties. In that process it could also be that I deleted the task,
published it, recreated it and republished it.

Generally, I have deleted "deleted" tasks from my resource's timesheet that
were indicated with X by using an SQL script. However, the duplicate / split
tasks were not affected.

Please let me know if you need further information to discover the root
cause of this behavior.

Thanks

 

[Rayk Grabosch]

I have some more detailled steps of how this issue might have occurred:

1. I checked out the enterprise project
2. I saved the enterprise project as a mpp.file
3. I checked in the enterprise project
3. I adjusted the local project plan with changes in current tasks
4. I checked out the enterprise project
5. I opened the local project plan
6. I compared the two project plans and merged the changes to the enterprise
project
7. I published all information

My guess: Maybe project server was not able to overwrite the tasks from the
old project plan where resoures have reported actual work.

How can I transfer the reported hours from these tasks and how can I
physically delete these old tasks from the database?

Rayk

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

RayK:

The procedure you describe is something I'd characterize as bad practice
with Project Server. It, indeed, is the likely cause of the results you're
seeing. The only time you would ever save and make changes to a local
version of a published plan in this way, is when your intent is to delete
the current version from the server entirely and then replace it with the
updated local clone. I'm not certain what problem you were trying to solve
by saving to an mpp, but the Save off-line feature addresses most needs for
working on plans in a disconnected state. Otherwise, stop this practice or
face a world of potential data corruption, particularly at the assignment
level.

 

[Rayk Grabosch]

We are in the process of learning from our mistakes!

What is the risk of data loss in deleting the entire enterprise project and
making the local project a new enterprise project?

What would especially happen to actual work reported by my resources and the
associated workspace in SharePoint?

Thanks,
Rayk

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Rayk:

Begin with the following FAQ and read through the linked FAQ. Use this as a
guide for your best practice procedure:
http://www.projectserverexperts.com/Shared Documents/SaveAlternateVersionAsPublished.htm