task roll ups

[shahab]

we have projects with single assignments per task. in PWA 2003, we would do
task updates to custom fields by publishing them as task level fields and
allowing assignments to update them. after updates were 'accepted', when we
opened the mpp file in professional the gantt view would show the updates at
task level (auto roll-up from assignment to task?). But in 2007, whether we
set the custom fields to rolldown or not, when an assignment updates the
task, it shows up under task usage, but doesnt roll-up to task. is there some
way to auto rollup or do i have to VBA it??? thanks.

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

VBA will do it, although if you allow multiple assignments per task, you'll
have to determine the rollup logic for each custom field in the VBA script.

I don't think that 2003 worked any differently though...? The main difference
between 2003 and 2007 is that 2007 will roll down the initial field entry
to the assignment level - but won't roll it back up. As I recall, that feature
wasn't available in 2003.


- Andrew Lavinsky
Blog: http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/epm

 

[Gary Chefetz]

Shahab:

It is a change from 2003, which did not store discreet values at the
assignment level the way 2007 does. So, for 2003, if there were multiple
assignments against the task, the last person who updated the value in the
custom field won. IOW, because you were updating the task-level field
directly, whoever submitted the last value for the custom field, was the one
that the system would retain and show.

So, with multiple assignments against a task, the system is capable of
storing each person's choice of value independently. If one person chooses
black, and the next person selects white, which one do you rollup?

 

[shahab]

dear gary, thanks for the reply. i understand why multiple assignments
rolling up to single task poses a issue. but there are legitimate cases where
one wants that.. for eg. Actual finish - i would like the 'last assignment
update' to record the actual finish for a task... or for a similar custom
field i might create... i want to know if there is a way to specify the rule
or even just say take the last update as the right one... i know a macro can
do this IF the updates are accepted in professional, but if they are accepted
in PWA how do i run a macro???? and how do i make it run automatically..

 

[Gary Chefetz]

Shahab:

If you are using hours by day tracking the system automatically takes care
of the Actual Finish date for you. If you drive this through a custom field,
and I don't know why you want to rewrite something the system already does
for you, then you must provide the programming logic to accomplish what you
want. Similarly, you either need to write some VBA (acting in the client) to
do your custom field rollups or provide the logic through a custom event
handler (acting on the server) on the server.

You cannot run macros in PWA as this is not an Office Client Application
where Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is run. Instead, you must develop
custom code that is either triggered by the eventing system on the server
and uses the Project Server Interface (PSI), or uses a timer service on the
server.