MSP updates actual work when editing work in resource usage view

[sTu_Deimus]

Hi, we recently switched to a master project arrangement (in MS
2007+SP2) for all our projects, which brought on the need to us
resource usage view to hand edit the distribution of remaining work fo
each resource/task.

This has generally worked fine, except recently we've found this ver
annoying problem - when we alter the work values, MSP is actually als
modifying the actual work values with the same numbers - why would it b
doing this?

Heres an example:

Task1: Res1 has completed 5 hours of actual work, and has 4 hour
remaining. These are scheduled for a Monday in 3 weeks, and we want t
shift those 4 hours to the Wednesday of that week. Previously we coul
just edit those hours in resource usage view via the work cells in th
time-phased table, but sometimes we see this:the 4 hours are allocate
as actual work (thus work also equals 4 hours for that column), a
though the resource had now completed those 4 hours.

FWIW, the status date is correctly set to where the actual wor
finishes, and all remaining work and the cells we're trying to modif
are well past the status date, so I cannot understand why its doin
this.

Any tips?

Stu

 

[JulieS]

Hi Stu,

Sorry, I cannot repro on my installation of Project 2007, SP2.
You mention this is a recent change. Is this change occurring
since installation of SP2 or has SP2 been installed for awhile?

I am guessing from your comment of "sometimes we see this" that
it is not occurring on all tasks. Can you drill into the
specific tasks and see if they are different in some way? What
task type (Fixed work, fixed duration, fixed units?). Is this
occurring with just one specific resource or all?

Are you making the edits in the master file or in the subproject
file? Does the same occur if you edit the subproject file alone?

I hope these questions will help lead us and you to some answers.

Best,
Julie

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[sTu_Deimus]

Hi Julie.

You mention this is a recent change. Is this change occurring sinc
installation of SP2 or has SP2 been installed for awhile?

No, about 6 weeks ago we migrated direct to MSP2007+SP2+master-sche
from MSP2003, and only started noticing this problem in the last fe
weeks.

I am guessing from your comment of "sometimes we see this" that it i
not occurring on all tasks. Can you drill into the specific tasks an
see if they are different in some way? What task type (Fixed work
fixed duration, fixed units?). Is this occurring with just one specifi
resource or all?

Yes, only on a few tasks. Generally we use fixed-units. Not sure whic
resources exactly. Only seen on two projects of around 12.

Are you making the edits in the master file or in the subproject file?
Does the same occur if you edit the subproject file alone?

Edits usually done initially on subproject file, and then in master fil
for master project view. Usually see it during the subproject edits.

I hope these questions will help lead us and you to some answers.

Yes, you've given me a prod for some more things to check, thoug
usually I refer not to muck-around with live projects, and my tes
projects aren't early as complicated as the live ones, so I don't se
the problem with them.

It would be nice if there were some way to burrow under the hood of MS
to see its data in a more raw form... but yeah - I'll have to tinke
around the edges for now.

Thanks, Stu

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Stu,

Why not use Save As... to a different file - you can then play with that to your heart's content without affecting the live project.

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



Hi Julie.

You mention this is a recent change. Is this change occurring since
installation of SP2 or has SP2 been installed for awhile?

No, about 6 weeks ago we migrated direct to MSP2007+SP2+master-sched
from MSP2003, and only started noticing this problem in the last few
weeks.

I am guessing from your comment of "sometimes we see this" that it is
not occurring on all tasks. Can you drill into the specific tasks and
see if they are different in some way? What task type (Fixed work,
fixed duration, fixed units?). Is this occurring with just one specific
resource or all?

Yes, only on a few tasks. Generally we use fixed-units. Not sure which
resources exactly. Only seen on two projects of around 12.

Are you making the edits in the master file or in the subproject file?
Does the same occur if you edit the subproject file alone?

Edits usually done initially on subproject file, and then in master file
for master project view. Usually see it during the subproject edits.

I hope these questions will help lead us and you to some answers.

Yes, you've given me a prod for some more things to check, though
usually I refer not to muck-around with live projects, and my test
projects aren't early as complicated as the live ones, so I don't see
the problem with them.

It would be nice if there were some way to burrow under the hood of MSP
to see its data in a more raw form... but yeah - I'll have to tinker
around the edges for now.

Thanks, Stu.

 

[JulieS]

You're welcome Stu. Let us know how you do and please post back
if we can be of further assistance.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

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[sTu_Deimus]

Sure guys.. I'll post back in the coming days, and yes, will need t
take a copy of the sched to tinker..

 

[sTu_Deimus]

Well, finally I've had another stab at this problem. I think I know wha
is causing it, but am not really (yet) sure how I need to tackle it.

The problem seems to go away if I remove various predecesso
relationships in the MPP file. Initially I started off removing th
preds for the task and all its parent and immediate sibling tasks, an
that didn't seem to work. Later, after various other hack trials, I wen
and removed ALL pred relationships in the file, and that saw the tw
tasks (that I was testing with) start working properly.

I think its safe to assume that there may well be some other task wit
related predecessor arrangement (eg. distant task still linked to it
that can explain the problem I had - I will investigate that furthe
tomorrow. This does however bring me to my area of uncertainty in how w
should manage our data. We traditionally would rely almost explicitly o
preds for sequencing tasks, and then splitting or (ideally) using tas
priorities during levelling. Problem is that we currently prefer to jus
specify the distribution of remaining work directly into task/resourc
usage views (it mirrors our operational reality rather better) - I fee
this leaves the predecessor setup as a rough guide that will ultimatel
be over-written by these usage view edits as the project progresses, bu
is still a useful guide.

Any thoughts on my general dilemma?

Any thoughts on why MSP would be futzing my data like this in the usag
views?

Further tinkering with the problem just now reveals that:
- initially I'd zero the actual/remaining work for the single user o
that task.
- then enter 10 days of 2 hours remaining work. actual work is zer
everywhere.
- then enter 1 hour of actual work on (say) day 2 - that days remainin
work goes to 1 also.
- that would see the rest of that weeks remaining work zero'd.
- Then, if I touch any days remaining work for the rest of that week
the actual work would update to match it.
- Interestingly, this did not happen at the same time/week for eac
task, but was always the same time/week for any given task.
- I thought it might have something to do with status or current date
(project info), but it doesn't.

Stu