Unwanted increase of tasks' Work

[david7]

Hi,

I have a project on which task type is set to "Fix Units" (effort-driven
checkbox unchecked) and on which a baseline has been saved before actual work
entries through project web access.
My problem is that the the "Work" of several tasks have been increased and
is now bigger than their "Baseline Work" whereas, their "Actual Works" have
not reached their "baseline works".
The result is that the calculated "Remaining Work" of these tasks is
becoming unaccurate.
My assumptions were:
- as long as "Actual Work" < "Baseline Work" then, "work" = "Baseline work",
- and if "Actual Work" > "Baseline Work" then, "Work" = "Actual Work".
What should I do to fix this problem?

Thanks,

 

[Jim Spiller]

Baseline Work is not used for any calculations. Work=Actual Work+Remaining
Work.

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi David,

Try posting on the microsoft.public.project.server newsgroup (forum).
Please see FAQ Item: 24. Project Newsgroups. FAQs, companion products and
other useful Project information can be seen at this web address:
http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[Jim Aksel]

Baseline Work (and corresponding baseline cost) are used for calcuation of
earned value parameters. Your earned value may never exceed 100% of Baseline
Cost (therefore baseline work by extention). Once Actual Work = Baseline
Work, your earned value should cease growth.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim Aksel, MVP

Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com

 

[david7]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your answer but the earned value is not the problem I am dealing
with.
The main problem is that since we are entering "Actual work" in the project,
the "work" is increasing in the same time for no reason and so, the remaining
work calculation for these tasks is raising too.
As we are still on track with our scheduled hours, an actual work increase
should not increase the work but only decrease the remaining work regarding
the formula Work=Actual Work+Remaining Work.
To be more precise, I am using Project 2003.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[JulieS]

Pardon me for bumping in -- but you mention you are using PWA. I
know very little about tracking through PWA, but I just must ask --
are your users manually editing the remaining work value when they
enter their time? Again, I don't use PWA but is it possible that
tracking actuals work through PWA does not automatically drop
remaining work?

You might try scanning the Project Server newsgroup to see if there
are posts covering this. If not, post details to that newsgroup
with information about release (Project 2003) and service pack
levels.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[david7]

Hi Julie,

My Users are just entering their actual works every week without editing the
remaining work manually.
My problem is that, for some tasks the remaining work is correctly calculate
(i.e : through the formula Work - actual work = remaining work, with work
datas remaining the same) by MS Project while for other tasks, this
calculation ends-up with wrong remaining work.
For these tasks, I noticed that their work has been increased for no reason;
only their actual works should have gone up due to the manual editing.

Thank for your help again

 

[JulieS]

Hi David,

Are your users entering through PWA? If so, re-post your question
(if you haven't already) to the server newsgroup. It's likely
you'll catch the eye of one of the server gurus more quickly there.

Julie