FYI - Administrative Task BUG

[dianaw]

If you use Administrative tasks and track actuals, you need to be aware of this bug. If you create Admin tasks and assign resources to them at some allocation other than 0% such that they have a positive remaining work, then when the resource reports actual time via PWA, Project will fill in the reported actual PLUS all future scheduled work as actual!! I've been able to reproduce this reliably with an Administrative project. If I create the same exact task in a regular project (or even copy the admin task to a regular project) it doesn't behave this way - only the actual entered by the user gets into the schedule

This is a huge problem, and I can't believe Microsoft hasn't fixed it. I certainly hope they didn't intend Administrative tasks to work this way. Project should NEVER fill in future actuals

Any comments, advise, or words of wisdom from Microsoft???

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Dianaw:

May I suggest that you use regular projects for administrative projects. The
point about the 0% assignment is that Admin assignments do not affect
availability, so your effort there is wasted. Even if the bug were fixed,
there'd be no reason to ever change the percentage of assignment. This is by
design, albeit a bad design, IMO.

There are many times when Project will fill in future actuals, such as
marking a fixed duration task that extends into the future as 100% complete
without setting actual start and end dates. How is Project supposed to know
what you want to accomplish? Understanding these behaviors is key to using
the software effectively.

A rule of thumb: If you find yourself frustrated over what Project is doing
to your schedule - you need training.

If you use Administrative tasks and track actuals, you need to be aware of

this bug. If you create Admin tasks and assign resources to them at some
allocation other than 0% such that they have a positive remaining work, then
when the resource reports actual time via PWA, Project will fill in the
reported actual PLUS all future scheduled work as actual!! I've been able
to reproduce this reliably with an Administrative project. If I create the
same exact task in a regular project (or even copy the admin task to a
regular project) it doesn't behave this way - only the actual entered by the
user gets into the schedule.

This is a huge problem, and I can't believe Microsoft hasn't fixed it. I

certainly hope they didn't intend Administrative tasks to work this way.
Project should NEVER fill in future actuals.