Probable bug: % Complete being set to 0%

R

RickD

We have identified what we believe to be a bug specific to the setting of
task % Complete to 100%.

PROBLEM
If a task is set to 100% Complete and Remaining Work is >0, an icon will
appear in the Info column indicating that a Publish New & Changed Assignments
is required. When the % Complete is set to 100%, the Remaining Work is set to
0, but if the Task Usage View is used, the Actual Time will not reconcile to
the timesheets. The Publish will (a) save the plan to MPS and (b) cause a
warning that "Your actuals may be out of sync with timesheets". After
completing the Publish action, the % Complete is set to 0% in all tasks and
many Publish icons will appear in the Info column.

WORKAROUND

Modify the Gantt and Tracking Gantt Views in Enterprise Global to include
Remaining Work.

For any task that is to be updated to 100% Complete, FIRST check whether
Remaining Work is greater than zero. If it is, set to zero and THEN set the %
Complete to 100%. Proceed with other updates and when complete Publish if
required.

This problem is most predominant when timesheets are not submitted by team
members, or timesheets are submitted but team members do not update Remaining
Work. If you educate your team members to set Remaining Work to zero on their
timesheet, you will reduce or eliminate this problem.
 
R

RickD

Addendum: It would appear that this problem only occurs on (a) Imported plans
and (b) with managed periods.
 
R

RickD

Ignore my last post. I have recreated the problem but with non-imported
projects.

It is associated with Remaining Work. If the person submitting a timesheet
does not reduce Remaining Work to 0 before submitting the timesheet for
approval, and the PM tries to mark the task 100% Complete, a synchronization
warning will be given. This should be OK because if the task is truly 100%
complete, then the actuals should synchronize to the same result.
Unfortunately, the % Complete column for the task, and all preceeding tasks,
is reset to 0% Complete.

The workaround is correct. Preferably, resources will set Remaining Work to
0, but if they forget, the PM must set Remaining Work to 0 BEFORE setting %
Complete to 100%.
 
J

James Hart

Hi Rick D,

We've tried this work around but it doesn't seem to work. We're
experiencing the same problem, so I'll explain what w're trying to achieve.

We have Project Server set up with Managed Time Periods. When invoices are
received (eg for a contractor) we want to enter the amount in the project
plan. So we put a task in with zero duration and assign a resource with a
"per use cost". When the invoice actually arrives, I set the % complete to
100% but when I publish, I get the "sync warning" and the % complete changes
back to zero.

If you're not sure why this is happening, perhaps you could explain how we
can enter invoice costs in a better way.

Thanks
James
 
M

Mike Glen

Hi James,

Try posting on the server newsgroup. Please see FAQ Item: 24. Project
Newsgroups. FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information
can be seen at this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
 
Top