what affects the setting of Status Manager

[L8rdays]

2007

I need to understand when and under what circumstances does the program set
the Status Manager field.

I know how to manipulate it manually. My problem is that somehow the status
manager is being set on tasks to someone other than the project owner. Since
I am currently the only person in my project server install, I know it's not
users.

So I am doing something that is causing this. But I can't figure out what.

This is important because of the way we have our views / security setup.

All comments appreciated. (even the obvious ones. I go live next week. )

 

[Aj]

@L8rdays,
Project Server includes built-in support for status reports. This
functionality can be used by anyone with permission, but is most
commonly used by project managers. This feature is commonly used in
programs for change request & periodic stausing. As I understand, you
are the only user at the moment; You need to have a target user who
would respond to your request. I am trying to explain the procedure
below for status reporting. If this doesnt help, requesting you to
clarify your problem further with more details.

Start at the top by giving the report a name. If it is for a
departmental team, consider naming the report after the team name.
After naming the status report, select the frequency that the report
should be completed by the team. Frankly, although options exist for
monthly and yearly frequency, the only practical option is weekly. The
next item in the Frequency part of the page allows for biweekly or
other less frequently used options. Once again, although there may be
some roles that would seek a less frequent status report, such a
frequency is probably not appropriate for the project manager.
Finally, in the next part of the page are a set of checkboxes for the
days of the week when the report or reports are required. On rare
occasions, when a high visibility or priority project is in “crunch
time,” it could make sense to seek status reports more frequently than
weekly, but remember that completing the report takes time. The next
step is to select the team that is being asked to complete the status
report. Move the resources from left to right in the Resources section
of the page. Multiselect is enabled in this feature, so use the ctrl
or shift keys as appropriate. After selecting the
resources, click the Add button.

The last section of the page allows the requester to determine the
content of the status report. In following classic status report
basics, Microsoft provides the following sections to start the status
report:
• Major Accomplishments
• Objectives for the Next Period
• Hot Issues
These sections are just a starting point; you can change and delete
them as necessary. To delete a section, highlight the row, and select
the Delete Section button. New sections can be added as well. Once the
status report request is ready, select the Send button and the
recurring status report will be enabled. The people who were selected
each receive an e-mail notification. In addition, they can
individually add personal alerts if they so choose. Finally, if a
status report is late, the PWA Home Page displays a notice for the
user.

When status reports are submitted to the requester, a useful set of
features is available. Select the title of the requested report to see
the details of any responses. You can view any individual response by
highlighting the paper indicator and then selecting the Open button.
To see an aggregated team report (a great feature), select the row
header (the date range of the report), then select Open. Notice that
each section of the status report includes all of the team’s
respective responses. Each response includes a date stamp to reflect
the day that the report was submitted.

I hope this helps.
Ajit
www.epmguru.com

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

L8rdays --

The Status Manager is set at the time the project is published the first
time, and it is set to the name of the person who does the initial
publishing. The mystery to me, however, is this: If you are the only
person set up in your Project Server system, then WHO ELSE is the system
setting as the Status Manager? Let us know.

 

[L8rdays]

Sorry more clarification.

I have several users defined. As stated I will be opening this up to groups
on Monday.

During our training session with users a couple of weeks ago we walked them
through creating test projects so they could see the differences between
standard and server version. I was then going to delete these projects prior
to Monday so we start out clean. However, I have been asked up to the last
minute to change security policies. So had left them in there to test my
security policies.

I have been logging on the system as myself as well as another user to test
my security settings. (Yes ideally I should have done this on the test
server.. please no lectures.)

What I was seeing was that user 1 was being set as status manager on
projects he opened when I was testing as him. The problem was I can't
recreate him being set as status manager on a consistent basis.

One example this morning was I opened a project in Pro (was hoping he didn't
have access to). I had never opened this project with this user account
previously. Wanted to make sure I didn't have any status manager issues as I
was testing security. Seeing he had access, I went to File - Close, clicked
disgard changes and check-in project. I then tightened the last possible
piece that could be allowing him access to this other person's plan. (in my
mind. ) I then tried to access this other user's plan again, he was
still allowed in. So I added the status manager column while I had it pulled
up in pro and sure enough he was set as status manager on the summary tasks
as well as the last two tasks in the plan. He is not a resource on the plan
anywhere. So then I removed him from the task level as the Status Manager,
but it will not allow me to remove him as the Status Manager from the summary
tasks. Also to note this user I am testing with is not at an admin level
either. He is at what we call a standard user level. (project manager)

One more thing, when I did open this plan the first time (prior to adding
the status manager column), all I did was choose to close the project,
discard changes and check it in. I did not republish this project.

So thus, I'm asking when / why is project setting the status manager field.

The big deal about this is we do not want anyone with edit rights to any
plan they do not own.

 

[L8rdays]

Additional information:

As I am researching / testing further I noticed something else.

I now opened up the plan I am referring to below, but under my account, not
user1 account. When I insert the Status Manager column, I am now the status
Manager on all summary tasks. Without saving or checking in the project. I
just opened it to see if my previous changes took affect, even though I
didn't publish.

I am even more confused now than ever of what / why / when this field gets
set.

Thanks!

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

L8rdays --

From the best I can surmise, you have three problems:

1. You have messed with Project Server 2007 security permissions in ways I
cannot even imagine. By default, the system only allows each PM to open the
projects for which he/she is the Owner or Manager. The fact that a PM can
open and edit someone else's project means you have opened up these
permissions, which is giving undesirable results? So, in the first place, I
think you need to reset the default permissions in the system.

2. The Status Manager setting on a summary task means absolutely nothing,
and I would advise you to stop worrying about it. What matters is the
Status Manager set for each regular task. As I stated in my last message,
this value is set at the time a PM publishes a project for the first time.
Another PM (who has the proper security permissions) can open the project at
a later time and make him/herself the Status Manager for one or more tasks
manually, and then publish the latest changes to the project.

3. I do not mean to lecture or berate you, but I believe our biggest
problem is that your are aboslutely NOT ready to "go live" on Monday. I
dread what will happen when you allow people into a complex system that
neither you nor they fully understand.

Given your knowledge deficit, I would strongly recommend that you consider
purchasing our books on Project Server 2007. They provide complete
documentation on how to configure and administer Project Server 2007 (our
book for administrators) and how to properly use the system, including how
to use the Status Manager field (our book for project managers). These
books are available at:

http://www.projectserverbooks.com

Beyond this, if you organization will fund this, I would recommend that you
and your PMs get training on how to set up and use Project Server 2007.
Hope this helps.

 

[L8rdays]

Dale,

I appreciate your honest feed back. And to that, I do have one of your
books. As well as other Project Server books.

I have modified security settings from the default based on security
requirements my upper management has requested. This is not done in
ignorance (completely ) I do have security groups / categories defined
that will do the following:

A PM can view any project but only edit projects they own. Where this
becomes a problem is when someone is set as the status manager on a task
because of the way the permissions for projects are set. This is why
understanding the status manager field is so important to me. I have read
your admin guide and there is very little that speaks to how and why this
field is set. What it does speak to as well as many on this forum speak to,
is how I can use this field for multi PM managing of a project or various
people getting task updates, and how to set it manually. My questions are
around the fact that this field is being set by the program based on
something that I can not consistently recreate.

I am doing some testing and pushing the envelope of how security is defined,
that I will admit. Tomorrow I move to the development box to continue this.


As far as consultants, we did hire consultants. I feel they have prepared
us for tomorrow. Especially since we are staging this out in baby steps and
only opening up for a few users. I am being challenge to take this product
to it's limits, thus comes my questions.

If you say the summary task field is irrevalent, than I will trust that and
continue my testing to see what is happening.

I just cleaned up my production server and will start testing new tomorrow
in Development.

I do appreciate all feedback. Have a wonderful week!