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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Project Server 2010 - Task and Timesheet workflow


There are some valuable content related to the Project Server 2010 Time-sheet and Task data flow been added on the TechNet site, including videos. I have witnessed frequent question posted on the Forums regarding Timesheet and Tasks management, also after the introduction of the great new feature of Project Server 2010 SEM (single entry mode). I believe these videos will be of huge help to the users to understand the concept and functionality of the timsheet and task management. 


Also, i want to take the advantage and remind you about the work-flow diagrams related to the same topic posted a while ago on the TechNet forums, click here to access.

Below diagram, and more you can access from the above posted link, will certainly help you understand the data flow of the task and timesheet in a SEM.



Saturday, February 19, 2011

Project Professional 2010 - Baseline BUG

Seems like it's a BUG finding season!

But this time it's much more severe and the impact is not acceptable. But the good thing is, or may be bad not sure really, that it seems more like a client side issue, i.e. Project Professional 2010. One of my Blog reader has drawn my attention towards this, after briefly discussing with few of the Project Forums active members, i thought of documenting the Issue here to spread the word.

Details:

Consider the organization setup where the PMO or some other governing body is responsible to set the baseline of the Project and restrict the users to not to change the baseline values by utilizing the Project Server permissions. What if I tell you that user can still be able to change baseline values even in the presence of DENY BASELINE PERMISSION. how its sounds – Scary!

This is exactly the case with the Project Professional 2010, that the user is able to change the baseline values of the certain fields and can save and publish the project, even when he is not allowed to do so.

Environment:


Project Professional 2010 connected to the Project Server 2010 PWA instance.




Server
Client
Patch Level
Project Server 2010Project Professional 2010Dec CU(both client and server)
Project Professional 2007

 

Steps to Produce the BUG:

Lets make sure first that the Project Server Group save baseline permission is Denied for the group users



  1. Login as Administrator to the PWA
  2. Go to the Server Settings, Manage Group Permission
  3. Click the Project Manager Group
  4. Select the category associated with the Group, scroll down to the Project Permissions and DENY the SAVE PROTECTED BASELINE permission




All set, lets move further. Assuming that there is already a Project exist for the Project manager with the Baseline values set by the PMO. Now let's retrieve the Project plan from the server and verify if change in baseline values are REALLY DENIED for the user.



  1. Open the Project Professional
  2. Connect to the server using the appropriate Profile
  3. Retrieve the Project Plan from the server
  4. Insert the baseline columns to the Project Plan, such as Baseline Duration, Baseline Work, Baseline Cost, Baseline Start/Finish.
Try Set the Baseline:

  1. Select the Project tab from the ribbon
  2. Click Set Baseline, and select Set baseline from the drop down
  3. Check the Set Baseline radio button, select the Baseline0 and click OK
  4. The message will appear to inform you that you do not have the sufficient permission




Try Clear the Baseline:

  1. Select the Project tab from the ribbon
  2. Click Clear Baseline
  3. Check the Clear Baseline Plan radio button, select the Baseline0 and click OK
  4. The message will appear to inform you that you do not have the sufficient permission



Now back to the Project Plan where we have inserted the Baseline columns:


  • Select the BASELINE WORK field, and its READ-ONLY







  • Select the BASELINE DURATION field, and its EDIT-ABLE







  • Select the BASELINE START field, and its EDIT-ABLE




  • Select the BASELINE FINISH field, and its EDIT-ABLE







  • Select the BASELINE COST field, and its EDIT-ABLE








Workaround:

The only alternate solution is to use the Project Profession 2007 until the FIX release. But Project 2007 can only be use with Project Server 2010 if the server is configured to be use in BCM state. So this further narrows this  option to be opt by the organizations who migrated or upgraded from Project Server 2007 OR earlier planned to use Project 2007 along with the Project 2010.
 

To any effected user out there, open the ticket with Microsoft support to sort this out if its urgently required or wait until the FIX releases. Although I don't think if you can compromise on this even for a short while, but since it's not fixed in the DEC CU – so you better log a call now.

Any feedback, comments are most welcome.






 

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Project Server 2010 - Project Read-Only BUG

I want to share the details of the recently discovered Project Server bug, thanks to the Project forums, later verified in my environment and draw MS attention towards it. It's now been acknowledged by the Microsoft as a bug.

Details:
If you try to open the project to edit using the project icon displays besides the Project name in project center, the project will be open in READ-ONLY mode for you. Although it meant to open in edit mode so that user can update the project, but due to the issue it opens in read-only state and thus not to let the user to edit the Project.

System Requirement:
Following environment detail only state the target server/client software and not the detail such as pre-requisites required to run the mentioned software.

Server 
Client 
Patch Level 
Project Server 2010 Project Professional 2010 Dec CU 
Project Professional 2007 

  Steps to produce the Bug:
  1. Login to the PWA as a Project Manager
  2. Go to the Project Center
  3. Click the project icon available along with the Project name
  4. Make sure the Project is not already checked-out
Project Center View

     5. The project will open in Project professional client in read-only mode

    Project Professional

        6. Further if you try to save the project after edit, the pop-up will display with the deny message.

      Deny Message



      Effected users:
      The business user or end user, mostly Project Manager or the Team leads, will get effected due to this issue. It certainly is not a showstopper but the issue can became headache, or led to another issue, to the administrator due to the repetitive queries from the users if not notified proactively. Also If not aware, the administrator of the system can also lost in troubleshoot the exact issue.

      Solution:
      The formal solution or patch by the Microsoft is yet to release, and we may expect the fix in the coming Project Server CU. However, there are few alternatives to accomplish the objective:

      First Alternative – Open/Edit Project In Project Web App

      1. Login to the PWA as a Project Manager
      2. Go to the Project Center
      3. Click the project
      4. Select the Schedule project detail page
        Schedule PDP
           
            5. Click on Edit available on the PWA ribbon, and select the In Project Web App option from drop down


        Edit in Project Web App


          Second Alternative – Open/Edit Project in Project Professional

          1. Open Project Professional, and select the Profile to connect with the server
          2. Select File, and click on Open
          Project Professional

                3. Retrieve the project list from the server

            Select Project
                  4. Select and open the project to edit/update

              Project Professional



               

              Thursday, February 10, 2011

              Project Server - Project Progress Tracking Methods


              One of the important functionality the Project Server offers is the "Project Tracking Methods". It enables an enterprise to set feasible and best to go option ,in terms of adaptability and accuracy, for their employees so that the resources can report the project progress through their PWA page using My Timesheets/My Tasks.

              Project Server provides the following three option to track project progress:
              1. Percent of Work Complete
              2. Actual work done and work remaining
              3. Hours of work done per period
              Whilst configuring any one out of the above, you also have an option to lock down the selected method to be followed by all the Projects or to allow each Project manager to select the tracking method on a project by project basis. Let me start with the brief description of each method followed by the detailed illustrative explanation of how to use it.

              Percent of Work Complete:

              This will enable users to enter a % of Work Complete value in the % Work Complete field for any task in the My Task page. User can also use the Remaining Work field to adjust the remaining work of the task so that the task duration will be adjusted accordingly, else the Project scheduler will consider that the resource has done the extra work to finish the task in the same duration.

              Actual Work Done and Work Remaining:

              This will enable users to enter the Actual Work done (hours) in the Actual Work field for any task in the My Task page. User can also use the Remaining Work field to adjust the remaining work of the task so that the task duration will be adjusted accordingly, else the Project scheduler will consider that the resource has done the extra work to finish the task in the same duration.

              Hours of Work Done Per Period:

              This will enable user to enter the actual work (hours) on a daily or weekly basis for any task in a time phased manner in the My Task page. User can also use the Remaining Work field to adjust the remaining work of the task so that the task duration will be adjusted accordingly, else the Project scheduler will consider that the resource has done the extra work to finish the task in the same duration.

              If an organization uses either the Percent of Work Complete method of tracking progress, or the Actual Work Done and Work Remaining method of tracking progress, then it is important for team members to report an Actual Start date and an Actual Finish date on tasks.  Otherwise, lacking an Actual Start date, the system assumes the task started AS SCHEDULED, even if it started late.  And lacking an Actual Finish date, the system assumes that the task finished AS SCHEDULED, even if the task finished late.  By asking team members to enter an Actual Start date and an Actual Finish date, this makes Project Server more date sensitive and help Project Manager to determine the actual against the planned date.  So in case of the first two methods the best practice that team members enter Actual Start dates and Actual finish dates, in addition to enter % Work Complete, or Actual Work and Remaining Work. This is the reason that Hours of Work Done Per Period is the recommended method for tracking the Project progress, this method is date sensitive and allows Project Manager to track the date slippage easily.

              Now let's jump to the more detail explanation with the screen shots to help the reader understand what this all above exactly means. Let me start with the Hours of Work Done per Period option, which is the recommended method to use and can be taken as the best practice to track the project progress. You need to login as an Administrator to configure the Tracking Method:
              1. Login to PWA as administrator
              2. Click on server settings
              3. Under Time and Task Management, click Task Settings and Display
              4. Select the Tracking method





              Hours of work done per period:

              Once the selection is done, consider the project with the assignments are published to the server and resource has to update the progress through My Tasks. When the resource will login to the PWA and open his My task page, he will be able to see the list of his Project and the tasks along with the time phased reporting window. The highlighted areas in Fig-1, before the user has update the progress, reflects the date the task meant to Start and the Remaining and the Planned work.


              Fig-1

              Now assume that there is slip of 1 day in task start, i.e. user finished and updated the progress on 2/4/2011, the user has to mark the actual hours on today's date to report the correct Actual start of the project. Notice the Fig-2 for the change in the Start date after the user has updated the progress of the task. This practice has to be delivered well during the training to the team members, so that they can understand the importance of correct progress update. 


              Fig -2

              As mentioned above the remaining two methods are not date sensitive, so add the Actual Start and Actual Finish columns in the My Assignments view to report the actual start date.
              1. Login to PWA as administrator
              2. Click on server settings
              3. Under the Look and Feel section, click Manage Views
              4. Under My Work, click My Assignments
              5. Select the Actual Start/Actual finish from the available fields and add to the displayed fields

              Actual Work Done and Work Remaining:
              The resource will login to the PWA and open his My task page, and can notice that the time phased windows is read-only now. User has to report the Actual Work progress (hours) in the Actual work field and can adjust the remaining work field if required.




              The actual start date will be equal to the planned date when the user will update the progress even though the task start is delayed, see the Fig-3 for reference:

               
              Fig - 3

              User has to change the Actual Start date with today's date, Fig-4, also can adjust the remaining hours if required.


              Fig - 4


              Percent of work complete method also operates in a same manner, the only difference is that rather than entering Actual Work (hours) to update the progress the user has to enter the %work complete (such as 50% or 80%), see Fig-4 for the reference. The user also has to use the Actual Start field to report any gaps, and can use the Remaining Work field to adjust the work. Also repeated as above that this practice has to be delivered well during the training to the team members, so that they can understand the importance of correct progress update.



              This description applies to the Project Server 2007 and 2010 both. I hope this will help understand the functionality and its concept to the readers, and as usual any feedback would be greeted with smile :)
               

              Wednesday, February 2, 2011

              SSRS Report - Document Map Label

              While working on reporting, using SQL Server Reporting Service, i ran into an odd issue with the report view format. Eventually figured it out after some research and its sorted, thought it would be a good share to help others in future.


              Have you ever stuck with a situation where your SSRS report started showing the "Document Map" by default in the report? And you will have to click on show/hide to remove it from the page  each time to view the report on full screen. I found it really annoying, it really is when you have to do this few times in a day, besides your customer can also raise objection.


              This happens when you have grouping in your report, SQL add this "Document Map table" option to your report by default that make this appear on the report. Now the first thing you can check to remove this, I did the same, is to go to the group properties and remove the Document Map label entry.
              1. Open the report in Visual studio
              2. Select the layout tab of your report
              3. Right click and edit the group
              4. Select the general tab, and clear the expression from the Document Map label box.
              5. Repeat the same step for all the groups you have in your report
              But things will be little more nasty, if there will be no expression defined for any of the Document map label field for each group.



              The other option is to edit the URL, pass the parameter "rc:DocMap=false" to the URL use to call the report and it will hide the label by default. But obviously it's not a viable option for business user to do this every time they have to access the report.

              The final, and my favorite, option is to edit the XML defined in the report definition file directly and you will get rid from this issue.
              1. Rite click on the layout tab, and click on Open file containing folder
              2. Copy the original report definition file first, and then rite click and open in notepad or visual studio.
              3. Search for the "Grouping" instance within the file and remove the label defined for every group: "<label>field….</label>".
              4. Remove for every group instance you can find within the file.


              Be careful that you do not edit any other tag in the file, save the file and open report now, and the tab will not appear by default:



              I hope this helps, and as usual any comments and feedback are more than welcome.

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