Resoource Usage View

[Steve Wade]

Can someone explain to me why a task that is 100% complete
with no remaining work still shows a "nominal value" on
the resource usage view?

 

[JackD]

It is easy for actual work to be in the future when one simply marks a task
as 100% complete. Check the task to see what the actual complete date is.

-Jack

 

[John]

Steve,
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "nominal value" but let me expand
a bit on what Jack said. Lets say a task started in June 2004 and is
scheduled to complete in Aug 2004. Even though the task is shown as 100%
complete in July Actual Work values will show in the Resource Usage view
through the task end in August. An important step was missed. Since the
task in fact completed early, an Actual Finish date representing the
date the task finished needs to be entered by the user. Project has no
way of knowing when the task finished unless you tell it.

John

 

[Steve Wade]

Thanks John and Jack but the situation i have is:

1. The expected finish date of the task has passed. (Shows
in project as the completion date)
2. Task is marked 100% complete
3. Task detail form show 0 work remaining
4. Resource Usage view shows outstanding values during
weeks long passed.

Do I still need to go back and enter a finish date?

 

[JackD]

In that case check the following:
1) status date (project menu / project information / status date)
2) check that all your tasks have a baseline.

-Jack

 

[Steve House]

Resource usage should be showing the work they did do for those tasks in the
past - it's not simply a view of work yet to be done but shows all work
that was performed on tasks past and and will be performed scheduled on
tasks future. If you display the Actual Work row in the resource usage
you'll see hours equal to the Work row on the tasks marked complete and
blank on the tasks not yet done. Work doesn't get zero'ed out as work is
performed.

If you display a tracking table you will likely see a finish date has been
supplied when you marked the task completed. If you simply marked it
completed, it shows the actual start as the scheduled start, the actual
finish as the scheduled finish and the actual duration as the scheduled
duration.

 

[Steve Wade]

This sounds clear enough Steve but now complicates what I
am trying to do. Maybe I'm looking at this completely
wrong.

What I am trying to do is create a weekly report of
outstanding tasks by Resource that I can distribute to
team members so they know what is expected for an upcoming
period. All I need is a list of the tasks by resource
showing the hours scheduled for that week.

Can you help me out? Also, Is there a book that you would
recommend on Project?

 

[Steve House]

How about a variation on the To-Do report adding a start date to the filter
and hours to the table to be displayed?

Steve House

 

[Steve Wade]

That's what I started out trying to do Steve but I find
Project's report writer the most frsutrasting tool I have
ever used. When I attempt to modify a report (or create a
new one) I end up getting 75% of the way to the report I
am looking for but additional fields I need do not seem to
be available.

The outline I'm looking for is:

Task Work This period
Subtask
Resource 1 xxx
Resource 2 xxx
Resource x xxx

 

[John]

Steve,
What's wrong with the Workload/Task Usage report? It has the outline you
describe. If one of the crosstab time periods (i.e. week, month, etc.)
is not adequate for your "period", create a filter, perhaps an
interactive one, to get the period you want.

John

 

[Steve House]

All reports are based on a View, a Table, and a Filter. What you're looking
for is essentially a task usage view covering incomplete tasks displaying
work to be performed between two dates. You can see such a report on
screen by setting the task usage view timescale to a single tier with the
interval 1 week and creating applying the Incomplete Tasks filter. That
shows total hours to be done by task and resource for work that is still
incomplete. You can modify the filter to limit the report to a desired date
range if you like. You say you need additional fields but you haven't said
what additional fields you are trying to include and the report I describe
is precisely the one you illustrated.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[Steve Wade]

John and Steve. Thanks for your patience and quick
repsones! THe additional info you have provided is great!