Update Project Progress Overwrites Actuals

[Iain Carlin]

I have the following scenario:

1. MS Project & Server 2003
2. Users entering Actual Hours and Remaining hours via timesheet
3. Project Manager does "Update Project Progress" to import the actuals to
the Project.
4. During the time the PM is updating/reviewing the entries to approve, a
Resource enters more actuals in their timesheet.
5. Once the Update is completed by the PM, the new entries by the Resource
are gone and the actuals are lost.

Is this a bug or do I have some settings wrong. I would think that Update
Project Progress should just process the items the PM has accepted and leave
any new actuals entered alone?

Iain Carlin

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Iain:

It's more a design flaw than a bug. Because the timesheets are not
transactional, this can happen if you don't set some discipline around
timesheets and updates. Typically we tell folks to have their timesheets
updated by the end of the work week on Friday, and have PMs perform their
updates by the end of day on Mondays. Tell the resources that they can start
updating their Timesheets on Tuesdays.

 

[Iain Carlin]

Hi Gary and thanks for the info.

Problem I have is that the plans I am dealing with have short duration tasks
(hours and minutes) and lots of resources. The PM's want to be able to update
the plan a couple of times a day to see where they're at during the day.

I tried tracking by Hours Worked and having Protected Actuals but that
doesn't seem to work quite 'as advertised' - when used "Sync to Protected
Actuals" the results were variable, sometimes tasks that hadn't even been
updated were changed in the plan??...should this work and if so do you think
it will give me the effect I am after?

Cheers,

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Iain:

Wow. Multiple updates per day? It's rather remarkable that you're getting
people to do this as many of our clients have difficulty getting this
accomplished on a weekly basis, let alone semi hourly!!! I don't think
protected actuals give you any advantage in this situation. To handle this
you really have two options: 1) A whole bunch of automation coding 2)
Implement a daily discipline whereby you reserve specific time slots for PM
updates and make sure resources don't post timesheet updates during those
update periods.

 

[Iain Carlin]

Thanks Gary,

Multiple updates was easy, we just wrote a desktop tool that gives an
annoying popup until they complete their task and that they can't turn off

Beating Project into submission to make it all work....another matter

I'll explore the two options you mention to see how I can get it to work.

Cheers,

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Iain:

I think we could market that tool! Have you figured out a way to make it
physical? Some of our toughest cases could use more than visual nagging.<g>

 

[Iain Carlin]

<grin> Origninally I had a audio file built in that yelled "Wake Up" at them
when they had a new task</grin>

Re my original issue, I have done a work around whereby I have customised
the Update Project Progress script to include a call to a web service that
tells the Resource desktop timesheet application that the project is
currently being updated.

This prevents any updates to PWA until the PM has completed the project side
of things at which point everything is unlocked again.

Not the best solution but it looks to be going to do what I want.

Thanks again for the pointers,

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Brilliant!

<grin> Origninally I had a audio file built in that yelled "Wake Up" at
them
when they had a new task</grin>

Re my original issue, I have done a work around whereby I have customised
the Update Project Progress script to include a call to a web service that
tells the Resource desktop timesheet application that the project is
currently being updated.

This prevents any updates to PWA until the PM has completed the project
side
of things at which point everything is unlocked again.

Not the best solution but it looks to be going to do what I want.

Thanks again for the pointers,