how task emails work when tasks linked FtoS

[ksharman]

We have just started using the MS project server 2003 with Project 2003

clents for the PM's. We have noticed that if you link two tasks
together as say Finish to Start, Task A first and Task B next, then the

overdue alerts to team members are not as we expected them to be. For
example, if the resource is overdue in finishing Task A and has not
completed that task yet on PWA, the team member for Task B is still
getting alerts that their task has started -and in some cases - that
Task B is overdue. I understand that project is just using the
information that is has been given so maybe if there is no event from
the user (or manager) to work with, it is just using it predefined plan
and sending
the alerts as we have configured in the PWA view. But is this how it
should work? We would like for the Team member of task B to not
receive the overdue alerts since the linked task A before it is not
done yet but is the best way for this to happen by letting the PM's
update the task dates realistically for overdue tasks within the
Project Pro interface so that the linked tasks after those will have
the desired cascading effect and stop the 'unnecessary' emails?
Thanks for your advice
ksharman

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

ksharman --

Project Server's automatic e-mail functionality does not work the way you
wish. If I subscribe to e-mail notifications that alert me 1 day before a
new task is schedule to begin, the system sends me the e-mail message one
day before that task is currently scheduled to begin, REGARDLESS of whether
any predecessor tasks are complete. Therefore, I think you may want to make
this a training and performance issue with your team members. I would
recommend that no team member begin work on a new task until they are
certain the work on any predecessor tasks is completed. You can ask your
Project Server administrator to give team members access to a detailed
Project view of their project in PWA. They can then refer to this detailed
Project view to determine who is working predecessor tasks and contact them.
Ask your Project Server administrator to refer to the following FAQ to set
up team members so they can see their own projects in a detailed Project
view in PWA:

http://www.projectserverexperts.com/Shared Documents/TMViewProjects.htm

Hope this helps.

 

[Reid McTaggart]

Yes.