Tracking Actual Time in MS Project

[Jule]

Hi,

Do any of you actually import/input actual time into MS Project and track the actual time in MS Project for actual/planned comparision?

What would happen if you entered the actual time spent on a task and later your team decides that task should have sub-tasks... what would happen to the actual time that was entered against that task (now becomes a summary task)?

I feel that the above task's actual time should be stored and closed, and then another new task should be defined/created with its own sub-tasks for entering actual time from the time on. What is your opinion on the above scenario?


Thanks,

Jule

 

[Sarah]

Jule,

I would agree with your scenario. If you create a subtask under a task
that already has actuals charged to it, you create a lot of headaches
for yourself. You've hit on the best option yourself; close the
original task, and create a new set for actual time going forward.

Sarah
(sarah_kiko@(removethis)cinfin.com

 

[Jule]

Thanks, Sarah

Do you use MS Project for tracking actual work hours

I have not met anyone who import the actual work hours to MS Project for tracking.

 

[Gérard Ducouret]

Hello Jule,
Why do you want to *import* the actual work hours to MS Project instead of
entrer them directly in MS Project ?
It's so easy !

In fact, you can really import actual work : it's easy if you import a
global lump of work for each task (via a map and a merge). It's more
complicated if you want to spread the actual work on a time scale.

Gérard Ducouret

Thanks, Sarah.

Do you use MS Project for tracking actual work hours?

I have not met anyone who import the actual work hours to MS Project for

tracking.

 

[Scott McClure]

I'll offer one very good reason for wanting to import actuals. We enter
actuals in our ERP work order system and don't want to (but so far have to)
enter them again. We do indeed want to enter by date. Just how complicated
is it?

We have run into so many cases where MSP doesn't accept the hours we entered
the first time and that makes us a little worried. It wants us, I think, to
separate overtime which we can't. If it finds we entered more than the
selected resources have available for the day it moves some of it into the
future.

Scott

 

[Sarah]

Jule,

Yes, we enter Actual Work in all of our schedules. Once you've saved a
baseline for your plan, then entering actuals can indicate how well
work is proceeding according to the original plan. We know whether
we're ahead, behind, or on schedule, and can adjust as necessary.

Sarah
(sarah_kiko@(removethis)cinfin.com

 

[Steve House]

You'll have to do the handiwork and split out the work total into
regular and overtime for it all to come out correctly. "Work" is
defined as effort conducted during the resource's regular working hours
as defined by his calendar (which, BTW, is also what defines which
minutes in the day count for the task's duration measurement and which
minutes don't). "Overtime Work" is effort conducted during any hours
OUTSIDE regular working hours. Regular work can *only* take place
during the hours that the calendars say that work happens. If my
calender says I work 8 hours a day and I report I worked 10, I've either
done 2 hours of OT or 2 hours of the work into the next day - I simply
cannot have done 10 hours regular work on that day because it is
impossible by the definition of "work" to do more than 8. The calendar
says I'm only physically present and able to work for 8 hours a day,
period. It doesn't necessarily mean I get overtime pay, but it is 2
hours of overtime none the less. If it's overtime work, the 2 hours
will be deducted from the remaining duration and the task will show
finishing 2 hours earlier which is probably what you want to see. If
it's just plain work, it means you somehow got a head start on the next
day - maybe he stayed 2 hours late today and will come in 2 hours late
tomorrow - and thus is credited to the next day without the duration and
end time being changed.

--
Steve House
MS Project MVP
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[Scott McClure]

Yeah, that's too bad. Our payroll system is smart enough to understand that
if the calendar says I work 8 hours today and report 10 hours (today!) I
couldn't have worked two hours tomorrow so it must be two hours of overtime.
Silly.

 

[Steve House]

Project's method is consistent with its role as a schedule and budgeting
engine. It is not a payroll, personal time management, time and billing, or
accounting system and cannot function as a replacement for them.

Steve House
MS PRoject MVP

 

[Scott McClure]

Not trying to replace any of those -- just trying to avoid entering time in
those and duplicating that entry in Project!

 

[ML]

We are having some of the same issues. We also are not trying to use MSProject in place of any payroll, etc. systems, however for us to re-enter our job cost information (this already collects charged to tasks electronically) into MSProject in effect makes the product (MSProject) very costly and much less useful to us than it would be if we could import the actuals daily electronically. (As we have previously with another package.
Any information on ironing this issue out would be appreciated

 

[RonSo]

I have the same issue in reverse. Our time entry system records time at too large granularity to be useful for task management. So I want the actual hours entered in project server timesheets to be the source that gets rolled up into our bi-weekly timesheets.

What a HUGE headache! I also ran into a big problem where updating a task %complete changes actual hours EVEN IF you have UNCHECKED the tools/options/calculations/Updating task status updates resource status. Since percent complete is only useful as a high-level management tool, the fact that actual hours get changed renders the whole setup useless.

If anyone knows how to keep a task %complete from changing actual hours, please let me know.

 

[John]

RonSo,
Are you sure you unchecked the "task status updates resource status"
box? I just tried updating a task in one of my sample files with the box
checked and unchecked. When checked, Actual Work and % Complete are
dependent. When unchecked, the two fields are independent. Are you sure
you are not inadvertently changing % Work Complete instead of just %
Complete?

John

 

[Steve House]

Actual Hours refers to duration, Actual Work refers to, well, work.
Changing % complete will update duration hours since that is what % complete
refers to but if you have cleared the checkbox in question it will not
update actual work.

Steve House
MS Project MVP

I have the same issue in reverse. Our time entry system records time at

too large granularity to be useful for task management. So I want the
actual hours entered in project server timesheets to be the source that gets
rolled up into our bi-weekly timesheets.

What a HUGE headache! I also ran into a big problem where updating a task

%complete changes actual hours EVEN IF you have UNCHECKED the
tools/options/calculations/Updating task status updates resource status.
Since percent complete is only useful as a high-level management tool, the
fact that actual hours get changed renders the whole setup useless.

If anyone knows how to keep a task %complete from changing actual hours,

please let me know.