My Tasks – Why do I see completed Tasks/Assignments in Current View?

Some of you may have encountered this issue before. If not already, then you will soon!
The definition of Current tasks should be in-progress, overdue and assignments due to start within set number of days as configured by administrator.

Consider a scenario, where a task/assignment in My Tasks is completed. This is done either by the Project Manager (owner) directly in the plan or the team member via collaborative task updates. When you next navigate to PWA > My Tasks to view current tasks, you will see the competed assignment. Over time, this list will get longer and longer as the number of projects are completed. Now, imagine if your business processes involved EPM timesheeting. When you Add Lines, your list will look enormous.

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Best Practises for dealing with this issue

Here are some of the best practice step when completing tasks/activities.
After updating the project with actuals (or % complete), Project Managers/Owners should;

1. Set the ‘Publish’ flag for completed tasks to ‘No'. Note: use built-in filter to quickly identify completed tasks.
   
2. Save Project
   
3. Publish project
   
4. File > Close and Check-in

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Doing this will stop the completed Tasks from appearing in My Tasks and My Timesheets. voilà…..sorted!!

It does involve a structured approach to ‘closing’ completed project activities/tasks but it pays off in the end.

Note: The alternative is to set the Project Resource ‘Booking Type’ to ‘Proposed’. I would not recommend this as this conflicts with Resource Management processes.

Why Can’t I add Timephased Actuals in My Tasks following SP2 Upgrade?

Does your EPM business process include adding timephased actuals in My Tasks i.e. not via My Timesheets?. If so, you may want to read about the following changes in SP2.
If, however, your EPM business process involves capturing actuals via My Timesheets and then importing timesheets to update task progress in MyTasks, then this does not affect you.

Pre SP2 Scenario

Prior to SP2, even if the Task Tracking Method was set to ‘Percent of Work Complete’, users could enter timephased actual in My Tasks. This was a flaw in the system. This feature should only have been available for projects with Task Tracking Method of ‘Hours of work done per period’.

Note: Light weight projects i.e. ‘Proposals and Activity Plans’ have Task Tracking Method hard coded to ‘Percent of Work Complete’. There is no means for project managers/users to change to any of the other method of Task Tracking.

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Post SP2 Scenario

Users/Team Members will not be able to enter timephased actuals directly in My Tasks if project Task Tracking Method is set to ‘Percent of Work Complete’. This flaw has been resolved in SP2. Users who had previously been able to do this may not see this as a positive change. This also applies to users of light weight projects i.e. ‘Proposals and Activity Plans’ as they have Task Tracking Method hard coded to ‘Percent of Work Complete’. The timephased actuals field will be disabled. See example below.

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For projects planned using Project Professional, users need to ensure that correct Task Tracking Method is used i.e. ‘Hours of work done per period’. For light weight projects, users will need to use My Timesheets to capture actuals and then import timesheets to update task progress in MyTasks.

EPM2007 Post SP2 Apr CU – Fixes and Verification

You may be aware that post SP2 April CU was released towards end of April.
Issues that are fixed by this HF package are detailed below;

Project Server

1	When you edit a custom field through PWA for a project plan that has in-progress tasks, and then you reopen the project in Project 2007, the duration and percentage complete for these tasks are unexpectedly changed.
2	After you accept updates for assignments, Project 2007 shows different contours for actual work and for actual overtime work. If you save and publish the project, the resource's timesheet on the My Tasks page shows the same incorrect contours.
3	By default, the booking type for all resources is Proposed. This may cause issues. For example, assume that the resource booking type is set to Proposed for the enterprise resource. However, in the project, the same resource’s booking type is set to Committed. After you change the details about the resource and then publish the project plan, the booking type in the project changes back to Proposed. Therefore, resource pending updates for that project are lost. Additionally, resources cannot see their work on the My Tasks page.
4	Milestone becomes 100-percent completed if one of the following conditions is true: · You use the QueueUpdateProject Project Server Interface (PSI) method two times to update the task constraint date. · An update is made to a predecessor task.
5	On the approvals page, the timephased view starts at the beginning of the affected tasks instead of the date range where the new updates are at. For example, assume that you have a task that begins January 1 and ends December 31. Also assume that it is now May, and when you visit the updates page, you see the timescale starting in January instead of in May. This means that you have to scroll to the new May updates.
6	On the My Tasks page in Project Web Access (PWA), you perform grouping on one or two fields. In the list of tasks or assignments, if the leaf on which the grouping is performed is clicked, no tasks or assignments are displayed. Additionally, you receive the following error message: The indicated project is not available in Project Centre.
7	After you accept updates and periods on the My Tasks page, an actual work contour of 0 hours is added to dates after the last date that has actual work for some assignments. This causes actual work to redistribute across the period.
8	When you set the site regional settings as Swedish, Norwegian, or Finnish in PWA, the sorting order in the Select Task – Webpage Dialog box is incorrect if one or more of the Å, Ä, or Ö characters is included in a project name. In this situation, the sorting order in the Select Task – Webpage Dialog box starts by listing all the projects first, followed by all tasks.
9	When you visit the Assignment Details page directly from the My Tasks view, the Gantt Chart is always set to use the date range of the current date instead of the range that is set in My Tasks view.
10	On some assignments, when a task update that has actual work hours is submitted from PWA and accepted by the project manager, additional hours of actual work are incorrectly added to that assignment.
11	On the My Tasks page in PWA, if the data is displayed as being timephased, and any grouping is applied, you may receive the following error message when you try to print the view: The "TaskPart" Web Part appears to be causing a problem. Object reference not set to an instance of an object. Web Parts Maintenance Page: If you have permission, you can use this page to temporarily close Web Parts or remove personal settings. For more information, contact your site administrator. Troubleshoot issues with Windows SharePoint Services.
12	If an enterprise resource task assignment has 0 hours of work associated with it, the values that you see for the summary resource assignments under the Other Projects and Commitments in the Resource Usage view may not match.
13	When you search specific Korean characters on the Edit Project Properties page, you may receive the following error message: This project is currently checked out. No edits can be made to it while it is checked out. Note This issue does not occur on the Manage User page when you search the same characters. The same issue also occurs in an English-language environment if you search some Chinese characters.
14	On the My Tasks page, you enter time on the Gantt Chart for a multiple-week task. However, after you click Save All, some time may not be saved.
15	When you delete a timesheet line in PWA and then add another line, the added line is empty. Additionally, you receive the following error message: While communicating with the project server an error occurred. Check connectivity with your administrator to determine if further action is necessary.
16	The Resource Assignment page returns no data when the filter that is applied is based on an enterprise custom field.
17	When you delete resources in PWA or through the PSI, the deletion fails, but no error is returned to tell you why the deletion failed.

PWA version – Check the version of PWA via SITE SETTINGS, should read: 12.0.0.6504.

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Project Server Database Version Table. The alternative is to check the Project Server Database Version Table. Right click on the Version table and select ‘Open Table’.
The version should read: 12.0.6503.5000.

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I would recommend checking all the four Project Server databases rather than simply focusing on the Published DB. The version number should be the same in all the four DBs.

Project Professional 2007

This update should put the final 'nail in the coffin’ for the on-going project ‘check-in pending' issue.

1	In Project 2007, in the Open dialog box, when you sort projects by using the Last Modified field, the sorting is incorrect.
2	In the Task Usage view, the ACWP field is not displayed correctly in the grid pane.
3	After you accept updates and periods on the My Tasks page, 0 hour actual work contours are added to dates after the last date that has actual work for some assignments. This causes actual work to redistribute across the period.
4	After you perform a recalculation, task names disappear if a certain grouping type exists in the project plan.
5	Baseline values are reset when you save an .eds file to the server.
6	In Project Web Access (PWA), you check in a project. Then, you open this project in Project 2007. However, this project displays a status of "Check-in pending."
7	Project 2007 returns unexpected leveling results when you level on a day-by-day basis in Project 2007.
8	A project file together with child project is not checked in when you click the Close button (the "X" at the top of the window) to exit Project 2007.
9	If the total value length of a field exceeds 255 characters, you cannot filter custom fields.

To check if Project Professional 2007 has been upgraded correctly, review the version under Help > About Microsoft Office Project.
The version should read: 12.0.6503.5000

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Thinking about upgrading to IE8? Known Issues

If you use EPM2007 and are thinking about upgrading to IE8, you will experience a visual issue in PWA > Home Page. The 'Reminders' and 'Project Workspace' webparts do not expand to the full extent of the window.
Note: Microsoft is aware of this issue. I am sure this will be resolved in the next cumulative update (CU).


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There are no known functionality/data related issues.

Status Reports – Users not able to view cc’d Responses?

Here is another thing that catches users out.

Users without appropriate rights will not be able to view CC'd Status Reports.

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The users need to have the Global Permission enabled for ‘Edit Status Report Request’.

Dos and Don’ts of OLAP Reporting – Configuration Guidelines & Best Practise

I am often asked why certain custom fields don’t appear in OLAP reports/views. Here are some things to bear in mind. Hope this helps.

Dos

Carefully read the customization rules (detailed below) prior to specifying custom fields as dimensions or measures. More to the point, before specifying/designing custom fields for your reporting needs it very important to understand these rules.

Don’ts

Do not simply add all the custom fields to the cube i.e. more than actually needed for your reporting purposes. If you are not sure and add many unnecessary custom fields to the cube data, this will adversely affect performance.

Customisation Rules

Specifying dimensions and measures for cubes involves the use of Project Server custom fields. There are some restrictions when using custom fields as dimensions and measures. You must observe customization rules when adding a custom field as a dimension or measure to a Office Project Server 2007 OLAP cube. These rules include:

Custom Fields as dimensions

• Must have roll up set to ‘None’
• If type is TEXT must have a look up table. Dimensions support custom fields with lookup tables
• Dimensions support Flag custom fields (which cannot have a lookup table).
• Multi-value custom fields cannot be included in a cube. They are not supported because of a limitation in Analysis Services.

Custom Fields as measures

• Measures support only Cost, Duration, and Number custom fields.
• Must have roll up set to ‘Sum’
• Date, Flag and Text CF are not supported as measures
• You cannot add custom fields with formulas.
• Use Calculated Measures for Minimum, Maximum, Average…
• Task custom fields with a lookup table cannot roll up to summary tasks and cannot be used as measures.
• Only custom fields without lookup tables can be measures for Task entities. Custom fields either with or without lookup tables can be measures for Resource or Project entities.
• If Task custom fields have a Sum rollup for task summary rows, they can be measures.

You cannot add custom fields as measures for the time-phased cubes.

Fields that have an Assignment roll-down and attributes set to None can be dimensions or measures.

My Tasks - Grouping Funtionality (New feature)

A new feature has been added to 'My Tasks' with the SP2 update. We now have the capability to group tasks. However, the filtering functionality in this view seems to have not made it.

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