Task Approval Page No Grid

[Shawn Everingham]

Using only PWA, I have a Resource Manager who sees 24 task approvals on his
PWA home page. However, when he clicks on the link that indicates 24 task
approvals or when he clicks on Approvals/Task Updates, all he gets is a very
basic page, with no grid, no tasks to approve, just the Toolbar ...no view
options...weird. Any help out there? Ideas?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Shawn --

It sounds like the PM may have accidentally or intentionally minimized the
Task Update Requests web part, or deleted it from the page entirely. Ask
him to do the following:

1. Navigate to the Task Updates page in PWA.
2. Click the Site Actions pick list (in the upper right corner of the page)
and choose Edit Page from the pick list.

Does the Task Update Requests web part appear on the page? If not, he needs
to add it back to the page by clicking the orange "Add a Web part" bar at
the top of the page. He should select the Task Update Requests web part.

If the Task Update Requests web part does appear, he should continue with
the following steps:

3. Click the Edit pick list button in the upper right corner of the Web
part and choose the Modify Shared Web Part item from the pick list.
4. In the sidepane on the right, he should select the Normal option in the
Chrome State section and then click the OK button.
5. When finished, he should click the Exit Edit Mode button in the upper
right corner of the page.

Let us know if this helps solve the problem.

 

[Shawn Everingham]

Dale, Thank you for your quick response. It was so quick, I had to wait all
weekend to try the solution.

So, great post btw, but did not solve my problem. I had not explored into
the depths of that page until then, so thanks!

I wish I could attach screen shots, so will do my best to explain in
words...

He does have the web part, as the tool bar that has actions, goto and
settings is displayed. Clicking on Actions, gives a drop down list, yet all
the items in it are greyed out (inactive). The goto drop down, gives a choice
of approved tasks and clicking that link displays a long list of previously
approved tasks. His Administrative Time Requests link also works, taking him
to a working grid with admin time off requests. His settings drop down list
are also all greyed out on the task updates page. Also, the select all,
preview, accept, reject, +, - portion of the tool bar is completely greyed
out.

I know he has tasks that he needs to approve, it says so on his home page.
He is running 12 projects, and opening one indicates he has tasks to approve.
He doesn't want to go into each project and approve tasks, as PWA gives him a
better way to manage each task approval.

Is this some strange security setting some where???? help!?
Thanks in advance!
--
Technology, like art, is a soaring stretch of our imagination...Daniel Bell.
1919

Shawn --

It sounds like the PM may have accidentally or intentionally minimized the
Task Update Requests web part, or deleted it from the page entirely. Ask
him to do the following:

1. Navigate to the Task Updates page in PWA.
2. Click the Site Actions pick list (in the upper right corner of the page)
and choose Edit Page from the pick list.

Does the Task Update Requests web part appear on the page? If not, he needs
to add it back to the page by clicking the orange "Add a Web part" bar at
the top of the page. He should select the Task Update Requests web part.

If the Task Update Requests web part does appear, he should continue with
the following steps:

3. Click the Edit pick list button in the upper right corner of the Web
part and choose the Modify Shared Web Part item from the pick list.
4. In the sidepane on the right, he should select the Normal option in the
Chrome State section and then click the OK button.
5. When finished, he should click the Exit Edit Mode button in the upper
right corner of the page.

Let us know if this helps solve the problem.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Shawn --

I have "shot my wad" on how to solve this problem. I suspect a technical
issue of some kind is the root of this problem. Would you mind reposting
the original question with additional details and then letting the other
take a stab at it? Thanks!

Dale, Thank you for your quick response. It was so quick, I had to wait
all
weekend to try the solution.

So, great post btw, but did not solve my problem. I had not explored into
the depths of that page until then, so thanks!

I wish I could attach screen shots, so will do my best to explain in
words...

He does have the web part, as the tool bar that has actions, goto and
settings is displayed. Clicking on Actions, gives a drop down list, yet
all
the items in it are greyed out (inactive). The goto drop down, gives a
choice
of approved tasks and clicking that link displays a long list of
previously
approved tasks. His Administrative Time Requests link also works, taking
him
to a working grid with admin time off requests. His settings drop down
list
are also all greyed out on the task updates page. Also, the select all,
preview, accept, reject, +, - portion of the tool bar is completely greyed
out.

I know he has tasks that he needs to approve, it says so on his home page.
He is running 12 projects, and opening one indicates he has tasks to
approve.
He doesn't want to go into each project and approve tasks, as PWA gives
him a
better way to manage each task approval.

Is this some strange security setting some where???? help!?
Thanks in advance!
--
Technology, like art, is a soaring stretch of our imagination...Daniel
Bell.
1919

 

[Shawn Everingham]

wanted to update you all on the solution to this.
We have been experiencing a fair amount of issues with all the IE clients
out there and office 2003 users we still support. Active X controls have been
driving us nutz with permissions, office not being up to date, os not up to
date, etc.

So seeing the Task Approvals page having no data in it was driving me nutz.
Followed the above post, upgraded everything, trusted sites, the whole
gambit. Still this Project Manager had 32 tasks to approve, yet an empty my
tasks page. Let me also add, that when I don't have tasks to approve from my
resources, there is a box with text in it saying there is nothing to approve
yada yada...He had the tool bar, had full access to customize the page.

He DIDN'T want to open up his 12 or so projects one at time, as he was
getting dependant on PWA. He finally submitted to opening up each and every
project. And each and every project he opened in MSProject, you know what, it
brings up the task approvals page right inside of MSProject. He stepped right
thru each one of them until...one project opened up with a blank task
approvals page. THAT WAS IT. He closed out of that window, said he
republished it and VOILA!

So, wanted to share. thanks for helping!

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Shawn --

Thanks for sharing the solution. My we assume that the PM can now see the
Task Updates page in PWA? Let us know.

 

[Shawn Everingham]

That is correct. The Project Manager of that project is now able to see all
of his task approvals in "Task Approvals" view.

Is there a way of identifying corrupted projects like this? I have a query I
use for corrupted tasks...but anything for projects?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Shawn --

To determine whether a project is corrupted or not, the best I have ever
been able to do is look for bizarre behavior in the Microsoft Project plan
itself. I realize that this is indirect at best. One of the behaviors you
can look for is the inability to publish the changes to a project. The PM
publishes the changed project, but the changes do not appear anywhere in
PWA. The solution to this problem is to save the project as an XML file,
delete it from the Project Server database, open the XML file as a project
and save it as an MPP file, and then import the project using the Import
Project wizard. Hope this helps.

 

[Shawn Everingham]

actually, it does help. I read that somewhere, but confirming it in this
situation does help.

Do I lose the actuals when I do this? thanks!

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Shawn --

No, you do not lose actuals. Hope this helps.