% Complete

M

Matteo

Dear all,
someone could confirm me that if the pm modify the %complete field actually
modify actual work, without have to approve updates from resource?

I am asking this because some pm are modifying this field to track progress
but actually they are charging hours into the tasks wihtout receiving updates
from resources, is it correct use the % phisical complete insted of %
complete field?

Thank you in advance.

Matteo
 
G

Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]

Matteo:

Of course this happens when PMs alter %complete. If you increase the
percentage of completion, you increase actual work, and the same holds true
in reverse when you reduce the percentage of completion. In Project, Work,
Durations and Units are tightly bound. If you change one, one of the others
must change as well. This is very fundamental Project Client behavior that
your users should fully understand before using Project in a stand-alone
world, let alone an EPM environment.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
For Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com
 
M

Matteo

Yep, Gary, I am facing each day since we introduced Project Server 2007 this
kind of issues, many people doesn't know Project Management mechanics and
rules, so I tried to focus them into the three task type because they are the
keys to understand many changing into the project when they accept updates
from resources...but sincerely it's really hard to transmit the 3 variables
rules to them...

Any way thank you for the confirmation.

Matteo
 
M

Matteo

Oh yes, but the problem is introduce to people that usually work in a per
need fashion a more structured and organized manner... It's a mountain that I
have to climb... :D
 
N

nmatteucci

Of course this happens when PMs alter %complete. If you increase the
percentage of completion, you increase actual work, and the same holds true
in reverse when you reduce the percentage of completion. In Project, Work,
Durations and Units are tightly bound. If you change one, one of the others
must change as well. This is very fundamental Project Client behavior that
your users should fully understand before using Project in a stand-alone
world, let alone anEPMenvironment.
Click to expand...

I agree with % complete changing actual work so long as that work has
not been modified from timesheet data. What's worse is the additional
ability to delete tasks that have actual timesheet data.

This is unacceptable in any environment where Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) is
in play and is completely inexcusable IMO. Employee timesheets should
be digitally signed off by PMs or managers but should never be
changed, or worse, accidentally deleted.

We have a server based system (similar to EPM) that integrates with MS
Project. What we do is allow percent complete adjustments so long as
actual time has not been entered. Once entered, even if modified or
deleted in MS Project and synchronized with our VPMi Professional, we
gray out but maintain all the timesheet entries and their original
tasks. This is the proper behaviour for timesheet data as no amount
of training is going to keep someone from having a bad day and
deleting or inadvertently modifying time data.

We should impress upon Microsoft for a fix to this obvious problem.
In a MSP plan where actual timesheet hours exist do not allow PM's to
modify or delete the timesheet data though % complete changes or
delete. Better to lock these features and force the PM's to have
users back out their own hours first then destroy important SOX
records. I have been lobbying for this since Project 95 so I don't
think they are getting the message.

Best Regards,

Nick Matteucci
[email protected]
Partner and Co-Founder VCSonline.com
VPMi = Simple + Sensible + Supportable Web 2.0 Project Management
Server
http://www.VCSonline.com
 
M

Matteo

Probably is not completely what you are looking for but inside server
settings (project server 2007) into the Time and Task Management section,
select task settings and display, inside it you can restrict updates to
actual work only via Project Web Access, at least a part of your problems is
solved.

Hope this helps you.

Matteo

MCSE 2003 Certfied since... 7th December
 
G

Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]

It is possible to comply with this rule in both 2003 and 2007. In 2007, in
particular, changing percent complete does not and cannot alter timesheet
data, it simply changes actual work values in the Project plan. If you allow
this, you can trust the data in the timesheet records, but actual work
recorded in the project plan will show variance from the timesheets.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
For Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com
 
M

Matteo

Gary,
but if you allow actual work values changes only via PWA, project managers
cannot insert values into the project plan's actual work lines instead of
enterprise resources. Right?
 
M

Matteo

Could you say me which ones? Just to think about which solution would be the
best one for our environment... not all but 4-5 pm did it as mistake.

Thank you Gary for our time.

Matteo
 
M

Matteo

Yes, but I think this is ok, the thing that I don't wanna let pm do is
changing actuals of resources, in the case that you say is a change coming
from a resource that send again task updates, so it's right!

Locking updates only via PWA the PM cannot change it in Project Professional
2007

Thank you

Matteo
 
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