Is there a way to lock a completed task in MS Project 2003?

[Dan Bridy]

I am looking for a way to lock a 100% complete task in a project plan so it
can never be edited again (hours added to it). Does anyone know if this is
possible and how? Thank you.

 

[John]

I am looking for a way to lock a 100% complete task in a project plan so it
can never be edited again (hours added to it). Does anyone know if this is
possible and how? Thank you.

Dan,
From a practical standpoint tasks cannot be locked from further editing
as long as users have write access. However, a much better approach is
training. If your company does not already have a set of rules
concerning the use of Project then you need to develop a set. Then train
all users. Beyond that you can either issue the management decree that
anyone who violates the rules will be shot, or a little less drastic, do
some remedial training and take a proactive approach.

A good proactive approach is to make regular backups of all files and
when necessary use the "compare Project versions" utility to help keep
everybody honest. That's what we did and it worked very well. We never
had a catastrophic problem and we never failed to detect the occasional
inadvertent but illegal change made by a user.

Oh yeah, and we never had to shoot anybody, although we did wing a
couple of guys

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Dan Bridy]

John, thanks for your help. We actually have a macro that was developed and
auto updates the plan. I wanted to ensure that users wouldn't enter hours on
a task that has already been complete, but ideally those tasks shouldn't go
out to users on their task sheets. Thanks for your help.

 

[John]

John, thanks for your help. We actually have a macro that was developed and
auto updates the plan. I wanted to ensure that users wouldn't enter hours on
a task that has already been complete, but ideally those tasks shouldn't go
out to users on their task sheets. Thanks for your help.

Dan,
Whew! I'm glad you won't have to shoot anybody either - I hate when that
happens - it's just so messy.

Seriously, you're welcome.

John

 

[Stephen Ruggiero vnet.net>]

If you're looking to keep timesheet users from adding hours, this can be done
using the PDS method AssignmentsSave, which was introduced in SP1. It
requires some programming, but does allow you to "lock" an assignment from
timesheet editing.