Changing Tracking Settings

[John Cello]

We are currently running ProjectServer 2003, with the
Tracking Settings set to "Hours of work done per day or
per week: Resources report the hours worked on each task
during each time period." Our project managers have
expressed a desire to have their resources use
the "Percent of work complete: Resources report the
percent of work complete, between 0 and 100% reporting"
option.

Are there any ramifications in making this switch if
projects have tasks that currently have progress reported
against them in hours? I realize its a simple change to
make, but being a Microsoft product, the simple changes
can often wreak havoc.

Thanks in advance.

John Cello
John Cello Consulting
Communications For Business
www.johncelloconsulting.com

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

John --

We have found that in many companies, the most effective method for
reporting progress is the "Hours of work done per day or per week" with the
"Resources should report their hours worked every day" option selected.
Using this method sets up a daily timesheet reporting system in which
resources should enter their hours on a daily basis and then submit the
numbers to their project managers at the end of the week. Using this method
will capture when each task actually started and actually ended, along with
the actual amount of hours worked to complete the task. This method is
effective in showing an early finish and a late finish to a task, and can
actually predict when a task is behind schedule and will probably finish
late.

In some companies, however, the above method will not work. For example, in
a construction project environment, the % work complete method of tracking
may be more effective. If you switch to the % work complete method of
tracking, the limitation of this method is that it will not show you an
early finish, a late finish, or work performed that exeeds the original
estimate. It will simply show you the % of the task completed. When a team
member enters a % work complete value for a task, the software will assume
the task started exactly as scheduled, and when the team member sets the %
work complete to 100%, the software will assume the task finished exactly as
scheduled. To overcome this limitation, you could also include the Actual
Start and Actual Finish fields in your list of published fields in each
project (Tools - Customize - Published Fields). You could then ask team
members to enter an Actual Start date plus their % Complete, and if they
finish the task to enter an Actual Finish date rather than entering 100%
complete.

In the end, the most effective tracking method will be the one based on your
company's needs for tracking project progress. Hope this helps.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

John --

Is this a client request for tracking a single project or will you be
changing the method of tracking progress for all of your projects? I am not
personally aware of any problems such as database corruption, loss of
information, etc. However, you should know that if the project is already
underway and you change the default method of tracking progress in the
system, then only unstarted tasks will receive the new method of tracking.
In fact, if you change the method of tracking progress for all projects,
then each project manager must open every project and click Collaborate -
Publish - Republish Assignments and then click OK to "push" the new method
of tracking progress to each user's timesheet. If the project has not been
started and has not been published, then the new method of tracking progress
will be set for each task in that project on each user's timesheet when the
project is published. Hope this helps.

 

[John Cello]

Dale:

This will be a global change impacting 40+ existing
projects. The implications have been communicated to the
PMs as to what they will have to do, and they want the
change made.

They understand that they will have to manually update
tasks currently in progress, but they feel that the
number is small enough to be manageable.

Thanks for all your help.