Timesheet entry issues

J

James

Hi,

We don't want resources to post hours over and above the original hours
scheduled for an assignment. In otherwords when a resource completes their
timesheet, once the remaning hours drop to zero and the task is marked as
complete, how do we stop resources booking additional hours to the task ?

Also we noticed that if someone makes a mistake, that is they enter 5h for a
task on a Tuesday in error, and that causes the task to be 100% complete if
they then go back and mark the 5h as 0h, it changes the remaining work value
to 5h,(and the work complete drops from 100% to 50%), when in fact it isn't.
Why does this behaviour occur and how do we prevent it from happening ?

Thanks

James
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

James --

There is no default method within Project Server to stop a team member from
entering more Actual Work than they were originally assigned. Because of
this, I would suggest that you make this a training and performance issue.
Hope this helps.
 
J

James

Hi Dale,

Thanks for your response. It's what I thought. Whilst training helps,
experience has shown that this doesn't always work ... People will book what
they did. Our premise is that we do not want them to book more hours than
they were scheduled and that this very fact forces them to go to the PM and
ask for more hours on the task...

On my second point, since people DO occasionally make mistakes, Project
Server seems very intolerant of this and unable to accomodate this
particular issue - unless I missed something...

Thanks

James
 
E

Earl Lewis

James,

Can I ask why you don't want to know the actual amount of time spent on a task?

From a project management perspective I'm always interesting in the real amount of time spent vs the planned amount. Is this a special kind of task that is used for payroll or some other special circumstance?

Earl
Hi Dale,

Thanks for your response. It's what I thought. Whilst training helps,
experience has shown that this doesn't always work ... People will book what
they did. Our premise is that we do not want them to book more hours than
they were scheduled and that this very fact forces them to go to the PM and
ask for more hours on the task...

On my second point, since people DO occasionally make mistakes, Project
Server seems very intolerant of this and unable to accomodate this
particular issue - unless I missed something...

Thanks

James
 
J

James

Hi Earl,

Its not that we don't want to know the actual amount of time spent on a
task - we simply do not want staff to book time over what has been
authorised without further authorisation. If they have spent the allocated
time on a task then they must request more time from the PM before
proceeding further. Project Server only seems to allow you to record this
time after the fact. On Defence contracts we are becoming more tightly
bound to a process that limits cost overruns and this is a process that
allows us control over potential overruns. Booking time to a task after the
fact is simply not something we would deem acceptable without authorisation
by the PM.

Even worse, PWA allows you to continue to book time to a task even when its
100% complete (!!) so there doesn't seem any way to lock this down...

Regards

James


Earl Lewis said:
James,

Can I ask why you don't want to know the actual amount of time spent on a task?

From a project management perspective I'm always interesting in the real
Click to expand...
amount of time spent vs the planned amount. Is this a special kind of task
that is used for payroll or some other special circumstance?
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

James --

There is no automated system in Project Server to accomplish either of your
objectives. Therefore, I believe you should make this a training and
performance issue with your team members, and stress the importance of
following the policies you establish. Your project managers can quickly
ascertain whether anyone is not following your policies by doing the
following:

1. Open any project
2. Click View - Task Usage
3. Click View - Table - Work
4. Click the AutoFilter button on the Formatting toolbar
5. Click the autofilter drop-down arrow on the Variance column and select
Custom
6. Click "Is greater than" and enter 0, then click OK

The resulting view will show any resource who has added Actual Work after
the task was marked as 100% Complete or who has increased the Remaining Work
value. I would recommend that your project managers add a Note to every
task in which the resource(s) requested and received permission to perform
either of these actions. Just some thoughts. Hope this helps.
 
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