Actual Work Moving

[Temporalis]

I'm having an interesting problem in MS Project 2003 Pro, and I'm not
sure how to get around the behaviour.

Sometimes when I enter time into "Actual Work" on the "Task Usage"
pane, it moves the Actual work when I leave the cell. This only
happens when I'm trying to enter actual work before the task is
currently scheduled.

Here's an example:
I have Task A which is scheduled from February 2nd to the 5th, and I
enter actual work performed on it on the 1st of February. I would like
the task to stretch, so that it now is scheduled from February 1st to
the 5th, but it moves the time I entered in the 1st over to the 2nd.

Right now I'm entering historical data into MS Project for current
jobs, and I realize that this problem won't occur once everyone at work
starts using Project, but at this point I'm taking the "start date"
from our job proposal and I'm taking the actual time data from
logsheets (for historical jobs). If this problem is just how Project
works, then I can manually fix these problems as they occur for now,
and hope that everything works out properly in the future.

Thanks for your help in advance!
- Kurtis Story

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Kurtis,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Try entering Actual Work and Remaining Work.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for Project Tutorials

 

[Temporalis]

How can I enter the Remaining work on the "Task Usage" view?

I did figure out how to enter Remaining Work anyways (using the Entry
table), which does help. However, it doesn't resolve the problem I'm
having when I attempt to add actual work to the project before the task
start date.

Thanks,
- Kurtis Story

 

[Dave]

Does this problem just occur for this task - try creating another test
task for example and see if the behaviour persists.

Are there any other reasons why time shouldn't be worked on that day?
Is the day non-working time for example or are there any predecessors
which say that work can't start until 2 Feb?

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Kurtis,

In the Resource Usage view, Insert the column for Remaining Work.

When I add Actual Work, in the Task Usage view, a few days before the task
should start, I get a warning to move the task start earlier or cancel. If
I select the start to move forward it re-adjusts the remaining work
spreading the original remaining hours. If I then add more Remianing Work,
it is spread again by lengthening the task.


Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[Temporalis]

Mike:
Your suggestions seem to have worked for doing things manually.
Thanks!

Dave:
This problem occurs for all tasks, but Mike's suggestion took care of
it.

I've managed to circumvent the issue entirely using Timesheets in
ProjectServer - there doesn't seem to be this movement issue when I do
everything through PS2003.

Thanks!

 

[Mike Glen]

You're welcome,

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP