Timesheet Approval

E

Ed Kluk

Can someone explain to me in detail how I can setup multiple teams within a
single project so that the head of each team can approve the timesheets? We
have setup a large project in which there are many teams working
simultaneously. The Project Manger has expressed a desire to delegate to
the heads of each team the responsibility of approving timesheets and having
the timesheets applied to the project. Is there a away to do this in
Projects using the PWS. I tried this by placing the heads of the teams in
the "Team Leads" group and "Resource Manager" group but neither worked.



Any help would be greatly appreciated.



Edward Kluk

Technical Project Lead

Western Michigan University
 
E

Earl Lewis

Ed,

My understanding is that in order for this to work you need to use the RBS.
This is a custom enterprise field (Enterprise Custom Outline Code 30 I
believe) that is reserved for this purpose. Once you create the appropriate
hierarchy that represents your organizational structure (prefereably aligned
along resource management groups) then you assign this appropriate codes to
each resource in your enterprise resource pool. You also need to assign the
team leads to the level of the RBS that they will approve timesheets for and
make sure those team leads are in the Resource Managers group.

See "Appriving Timesheet Entries" in the Project Server 2003 Application
Configuration Guide for further help. A quote from that doc:

This View timesheet summary page shows a simple display of the actual hours

submitted for all resources. The organization's Resource Breakdown Structure
(RBS)

definition determines which resources are displayed for a resource manager.
It is

critical that RBS be set up so that it reflects your organization's actual
structure so that

the Project Web Access timesheet approval process works correctly.


Earl
 
G

Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]

Ed

To distribute the approval and update process among multiple managers in the
same plan, each person who will be approving updates for tasks must open the
project plan and use Collaborate > Republish for the tasks that they will
supervise, selecting the checkbox that says become the manager for these
tasks. After doing this, all updates for the tasks will flow to them.

This has nothing to do with the RBS, btw.
 
E

Ed Kluk

That worked. It seems a little cumbersome but I think we should be able to
work within those parameters.

I could not get the RBS part to work. Is this because I needed to change
the some security settings or does it not have the ability to perform this
functionality?

Ed
 
D

Daryl

I assume this solution requires that each of the 'team heads' has Microsoft Project Professional installed - correct? Then they will get the update notifications, and when they push the update button - they will need Project Pro to update the project...

Is there a way to delegate the approval without having to give each approver Project Pro? Can the Actual PM just run the update at some point

I do not see any way around this, but I may be wrong

----- Ed Kluk wrote: ----

That worked. It seems a little cumbersome but I think we should be able t
work within those parameters

I could not get the RBS part to work. Is this because I needed to chang
the some security settings or does it not have the ability to perform thi
functionality

E
 
G

Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]

Like I said in the previous post, the RBS has nothing to do with task
management or approval in the Project Plan.
 
G

Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]

Daryl:

You are correct, to manage a plan this way, each person managing tasks must
have a copy of Project Pro. This is true as long as they're the ones
updating the project plan itself. With 2003, you can implement a timesheet
approval process separate from the plan updates, but this doesn't prevent
the PM from updating the actuals into the plan before the timesheet is
approved.




Daryl said:
I assume this solution requires that each of the 'team heads' has
Click to expand...
Microsoft Project Professional installed - correct? Then they will get the
update notifications, and when they push the update button - they will need
Project Pro to update the project....
Is there a way to delegate the approval without having to give each
Click to expand...
approver Project Pro? Can the Actual PM just run the update at some point?
 
E

Earl Lewis

Gary,

Your posts seem to directly contradict what I found in the MS documentation
regarding timesheet approvals. Are we talking apples (project pro) and
oranges (web access) here?

For clarification to everyone here, could you please explain how the RBS can
have "nothing to do with task management and approval" when the
documentation says what it does?

Earl
 
G

Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]

Earl:

People misuse terminology here all the time. So, let's start with that: Ed's
use of the term "timesheet approval" is a bit off as you can plainly see
that in the context of the message he's talking about approving updates to
the project plan. The RBS has no impact on this process; the only thing that
governs this process is the fact that the approver owns the task which is
determined through the publishing process. If I, as a lowly PM, publish a
task to the CEO of the company, when the CEO updates her timesheet, that
update is coming back to me, the lowly PM. Her boss, the Chairman of the
Board, may also get to approve her timesheet, which may contain other tasks
issued by PMs, but that doesn't stop me from updating my plan.

The timesheet approval offered outside the update process, is controlled by
the RBS and the My Direct Reports relationship established by the RBS. This
has no effect on the Update process and PMs may update their plans with time
submitted regardless of what happens in the Timesheet approval process.
These are strictly advisory.
 
E

Earl Lewis

Gary,

Thanks for taking the time to clarify this. It's very helpful to me, and I
hope to others. I use this NG heavily to help resolve questions/problems and
good clear information is the key - so thanks for offering your expertise so
willingly.

Earl
 
E

Ed Kluk

Gary,



Thanx also for taking the time to explain this clearly. I was using
terminology rather loosely. You were right in that what I was really
talking about was approving tasks changes submitted by resources who are
"team members".



I do appreciate clarifying this point.



Ed Kluk
 
Top