Task Updates do not update the project plan

[Sam]

Hello everybody,

I have two very serious problems getting the actual work from task updates
into the Project Client.

We use Project Server 2007 with the following procedure: Working time is
entered in the timesheet and imported to My Tasks using the Import Timesheet
function. Users send their task updates here after editing the remaining time
and selecting the tasks. Now I can see the updates in PWA Task Updates. I
open the project in Project Client, accept all Task Updates and choose to
apply the changes to the project plan.

Sometime everything works fine, but somtimes one of the two problems appears:

Problem 1:
The "Applying Update" dialog appears and counts down from 30 secondes. After
reaching 0 secondes it restarts counting down from 30. This seems to be an
infinite loop - after several hours waiting nothing has changed.

The PWA Manage Queue Jobs shows one entry. This entry refers to this task
update and contains the following values:
Queue Entry Time:9/25/2007 11:29 AM; Queue Completed Time: 9/25/2007 11:29
AM; Job Type:Job Type:Status Update; Job State:Skipped For Optimization; %
complete:20%; Queue Position:N/A, Queue Typeroject; Error:empty

I tried Retry Job as well as Cancel Job in Manage Queue Jobs in PWA, but it
does not change anything. I can not delete the job from the queue. Other jobs
are performed.
Surprisingly this time the actual work was shown in the project plan after I
have closeed and reopened the project client and opened the project.

Problem 2:
The "Applying Update" dialog appers. After it is finished I coose to open
the Project Plan in Project Client to see the applied changes. But the
project plan shows NO actual Work from any of task updates that have just
been approved.
The submited task updates are no longer shown in PWA Task Updates. The queue
showes no entry.
I assume that the not working preview function during the task approval does
indicate that problem 2 will occure. But I am not sure, because I cannot
reproduce this behavior either with this nor an other project.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks a lot!

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Sam --

I have seen your second problem now at three different client sites so far
while doing Project Server 2007 training. Resources submit updates, PM
approves updates and then applies them (either from PWA or from within
Project Professional 2007), and then NO UPDATES appear in the Microsoft
Project 2007 plan. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why. In one
class, two of seven students did not see their updates. In another class,
no one did. In still another class, 3 of 14 did not see their updates. I
have reported this as a potential bug to Microsoft, but with no response on
their part. If anyone in this group has any insight at all into this
problem, I would appreciate their input.

 

[Vadim Gerya, PMP]

Hi All!
That bug makes my customers crazy. After playing with it I found nothing
else that 1) save project into local file (without last updates)
2) republish project from local file
3) ask resource re-enter last actuals
4) accept actuals again
Ussualy it works and schedule updates correctlly, but sometimes no.
May be it helps...

Dale, if Microsoft provides any comment to you, please let us know...
It is really important

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Vadim --

So, it sounds like you have seen this behavior as well? What percentage of
task updates would you estimate NEVER make it to the Microsoft Project plan?
If this is an actual bug, I think it practically renders Projet Server 2007
useless until Microsoft fixes it. Please let us know what percentage you
estimate based on your experience. And if anyone else has similar
experiences, I would welcome their comments here. The Project Conference is
coming up next month, and I believe this is an issue that the user community
must take up with Microsoft.

 

[Vadim Gerya, PMP]

I hope your day is going well !

Statistic
1) It happens 1 or 2 times per week in EPM system with 80 project per 500
-1000 tasks in each.
2) Project managers open 8-10 projects in 2007Pro 6-8 times per day applying
updates. Rest projects are opened 1-2 times per day.

Additional info:
1) When you accept updates in PWA - always click at Preview button. If you
see NO schedule - be sure update is not applied when you open project in
2007Pro.
2) I think there is something wrong with new 2007 algorithm of applying
updates on server side. As I saw probabiliy of bug increases if project
manager apllies updates at the same time as resources sending new ones.
3) When EPM hardware configuration was less powerfull - bugs occured 5-10
times per week

Hope this help ..

 

[Vadim Gerya, PMP]

I hope your day is going well !

Statistic
1) It happens 1 or 2 times per week in EPM system with 80 project per 500
-1000 tasks in each.
2) Project managers open 8-10 projects in 2007Pro 6-8 times per day applying
updates. Rest projects are opened 1-2 times per day.

Additional info:
1) When you accept updates in PWA - always click at Preview button. If you
see NO schedule - be sure update is not applied when you open project in
2007Pro.
2) I think there is something wrong with new 2007 algorithm of applying
updates on server side. As I saw probabiliy of bug increases if project
manager apllies updates at the same time as resources sending new ones.
3) When EPM hardware configuration was less powerfull - bugs occured 5-10
times per week

Hope this help..

 

[FrankC]

I'm seeing this problem as well with no resolution as yet. This is critical
in a shop with several hundreds users reporting time to a dozen or so
projects. Any news from Microsoft?

 

[jose incio]

Hello, I have this problem and I apply a patch for Office Servers 2007 and Project Professional 2007, the problem stills, but if I open the project file I saw updates in Project Professional and if I re-published the project file, project task are updated in PWA with no problems.

Anyone else found a better solution?
Best Regards,
José



A Womand Told Me
http://www.awomantoldme.com

 

[jose incio]

Hello, I have this problem and I apply a patch for Office Servers 2007 and Project Professional 2007, the problem stills, but if I open the project file I saw updates in Project Professional and if I re-published the project file, project task are updated in PWA with no problems.

Anyone else found a better solution?
Best Regards,
José



A Womand Told Me
http://www.awomantoldme.com

 

[jose incio]

Hello, I have this problem and I apply a patch for Office Servers 2007 and Project Professional 2007, the problem stills, but if I open the project file I saw updates in Project Professional and if I re-published the project file, project task are updated in PWA with no problems.

Anyone else found a better solution?
Best Regards,
José



A Womand Told Me
http://www.awomantoldme.com

 

[MP]

Hi Dale,

I'm experiencing this problem. Do you know if SP1 solve this?

Thank you

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

MP --

Yes, I believe that is one of the bugs targeted with SP1. Have you
installed SP1 yet? If not, install it and let us know the results.

 

[MP]

Not yet, but we are working on that.

Thanks

MP --

Yes, I believe that is one of the bugs targeted with SP1. Have you
installed SP1 yet? If not, install it and let us know the results.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Paul --

Yes, SP1 fixes this very vexing problem. Install it with all due haste!
Hope this helps.

 

[milrock]

Not yet, but we are working on that.

Thanks








- Show quoted text -

Hi,

I was experiencing this issue at a client for a number of months. We
have now updated the client implementation to SP1 and the problem
still persists. It is NOT fixed with SP1. We have exported the
project to an XML file and re-imported and still the problem exists.

Hopefully, the roll-up hot-fix that was promised by now will finally
fix this issue.

Scot

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

milrock --

Apparently "fixed" is a very loose term. I have not seen the problem
anywhere since applying SP1, so I could have sworn that was one of the bugs
fixed in SP1. I would be glad for others to share their experiences with
this as well.

Not yet, but we are working on that.

Thanks








- Show quoted text -

Hi,

I was experiencing this issue at a client for a number of months. We
have now updated the client implementation to SP1 and the problem
still persists. It is NOT fixed with SP1. We have exported the
project to an XML file and re-imported and still the problem exists.

Hopefully, the roll-up hot-fix that was promised by now will finally
fix this issue.

Scot

 

[Morten]

Hi

In our installation one critical project plan started Monday to have the
same problem - 20 % skipped for optimization and task updates/progress are
not correctly updated in the project plan. We have installed SP1 and after
finding the bug installed Hotfix Rollup but still having the problem.

After using a lot of hours searching for the "bug" (errorlogs, SQL trace
etc.) - we identified our problem - one task had a start date on 1/2/84 (2.
January 1984) - no resource was assigned - just a simple task with a start
date on 1/2/84. After changing the date - the plan works fine again!

Further investigation into this issue in different Project solutions has
showed that the bug can be reproduced just adding a task to a project plan
with 1/2/84 then try include a task update using Project Pro when Project
will "hang" for several minutes and no progress will appear in the plan.

It might be an unknown feature but it seems more like a "funny" critical bug
- I wonder if there might be a list of "forbidden" dates? (Tried the 1/3/84 -
"forbidden" but the 2/1/84 is OK to use)

Morten

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Morten --

Thanks for sharing the cause of and solution to the problem.

 

[milrock]

Hi everyone,

I think that this issue may also be a symptom of the bug that exists
when adding additional resources to a tasks that has already started,
adding additional work to a tasks that has already completed or re-
delegating tasks that have already started. This issue also caused
users who were already assigned to the task and the user who was added
to the tasks to receive an Unexpected Error Has Occurred when
accessing My Tasks.

It's currently the bane of my existence at a number of clients and I
can reproduce it a will so hopefully a fix will be available soon.