36 – Project Server 2010 – CU December 2011 – (KB 2597015)

That's a copy of the thread: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/projectserver2010general/thread/3815027a-a9d5-450c-80e9-a10733ddc16f
and of several TechNet articles.

With December CU, there was a major change on SEM (Single Entry Mode). Time entry in Tasks and Timesheet are not equivalent any longer:

I install December 2011 CU (KB 2597015) and I found some issue with updating Timesheet actuals. On our server we have enabled Single Entry Mode. Now when a user update task actual via Task page, this change is not writing in Timesheet. Only planned hours are updated. But vice versa updating task via Timesheet correctly updated actuals work task on Task page.

Also updates of Actual Work within MS Project Professional are not shown in Timesheet (only planned hours). Can you help me please, how can I solve this issue? Without this update everything works fine.

Answer:

OK, I received a reply from MS that this is by design and it is not an issue.

Did the following:

· Created a new Timesheet

· Saved Actual Work for some tasks (did not submit for approval)

· Checked newly created Timesheet under My Work

· Actual work was there

Here is where the part gets to be design to prevent actual hours being overwritten by users:

· Checked actual work on Timesheet- it is there

· Went to Tasks to modify the actual work or add some time for a new task

· I save and even submit for approval (then approve it) the task updates

· Timesheet actuals are still empty

· First actual values that were entered the first time on Timesheet remain-The other values entered after that point are not recorded anymore.

· This is "By Design" so a user cannot overwrite Timesheet actuals and the best practice is to use Timesheet to track assignments and actual work, and not Tasks.

So in general this means that actuals entered from Task page are filled in Timesheet only once when the Timesheet is created.

Best practice for timephased reporting is described here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh694531.aspx

This explains in detail the feature of the new SEM after December update.

Best practices for submitting and reporting on actual work

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh694531.aspx

Because Project Server helps you manage projects, actual work can be captured in multiple ways, and it is displayed in the way that makes it most useful for the user who is accessing it. For example, in the Timesheet the focus is on user-entered data on a per-day (or per-period) basis, whereas in the Microsoft Project client the focus is on the aggregate, or scalar, value for work completed and remaining on a task to help with planning.

This article outlines the set of best practices for submitting and reporting on Actual Work in Project Server 2010.

1. Use Single Entry Mode (SEM)

The best practice to help make sure that Actual Work is populated correctly throughout Project Server 2010 is to use Single Entry Mode and have resources only enter actual work through the Timesheet view.

To turn on Single Entry Mode:

1. On the Quick Launch, in the Settings section, click Server Settings.

2. On the Server Settings page, in the Time and Task Management section, click Timesheet Settings and Defaults.

3. In the Single Entry Mode section, select the Single Entry Mode check box.

If your organization is using Single Entry Mode, it may be in your best interests to hide the Tasks view completely so that resources can only enter Actual Work by using the Timesheet view. When both views are available, users can enter actual work in either view, and the data is persisted in both views. If your organization pulls data from timesheets to drive billing or payroll, for example, the best practice is to only allow users to enter actual work in the Timesheet view. This reduces the possibility for actual work to be incorrectly overwritten if a user can also enter Actual Work in the Tasks view.

An exception to this best practice is if there are Material resources. Assignment owners for material resources must enter time for those material resources by using the Tasks view. If your organization has assignment owners that record time for Material resources, the Tasks view should remain visible, and users should be instructed to only enter actual work for their assignments in the Timesheet view.

To hide the Tasks view:

1. On the Quick Launch, in the Settings section, click Server Settings.

2. On the Server Settings page, in the Look and Feel section, click Quick Launch.

3. Under Set Menu Item Details, click the Tasks view, in the Name column.

4. Click No in the Display link in Quick Launch list, and then click OK.

2. Protect user updates

Some organizations might choose to prevent a Project Manager from updating a Team Member’s actual work inside the project.

Note: Project Managers are unable to update a resource’s Actual Work recorded on a timesheet.

If your organization wants to maintain resource-entered values for actual work in the timesheets and make sure that value is reflected in the project plan, then the best practice is to turn on the feature in Project Server 2010 that protects user updates.

To protect user updates:

1. On the Quick Launch, in the Settings section, click Server Settings.

2. On the Server Settings page, in the Time and Task Management section, click Task Settings and Display.

3. In the Protect User Updates section, select the "Only allow task updates via Tasks and Timesheets" check box.

When you protect user updates, Timesheets always maintain exactly what the user entered for timephased work, and the scalar values between timesheets and the project plan are always consistent.

However, the timephased distribution of the scalar value may be slightly different in the project plan, as it is geared toward future work planning and not maintenance of actual work historical values. The scheduling engine may adjust some timephased actual work to keep the plan consistent.

3. Use submitted actual work from timesheets, instead of project plans, for timephased reporting

Actual work can be captured by using either the MS Project client (project plan) or timesheets. However, many users only capture actual work directly from their resources by using timesheets, especially if they are also protecting actual updates as previously described. When you are using timesheets to track the submission of actuals on a daily or weekly basis, the best practice is to report directly against the Actual Work captured in Timesheets when syncing with external ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and reporting systems. The Timesheet data is specifically rendered to ensure accuracy on a historical and per-period basis exactly as the user entered it, even when conditions in the project plan have changed.

While many calculations are made in a project plan, such as cost based on cost rates, these can be easily replicated with Timesheet data. The project plan, on the other hand, renders the Actual Work data (and other schedule data) with an emphasis on future work planning (analytics and earned value calculations). Therefore, there may be circumstances where the user-entered value in the Timesheet does not exactly match the same value in the project plan for a specific day. However the overall aggregate, or scalar, value for the assignment will be consistent between the project plan and the Timesheet when Protected Actuals is enabled.

If you are reporting on submitted Actual Work from Timesheets, it is important that resources be asked not to reassign or self-assign tasks. All assignments should go through the Project Manager or Resource Manager. This helps ensure proper handling of actual work data.

The BI Center in Microsoft Project Web App provides report templates that take advantage of the Reporting database (T-SQL) and Analysis Services (OLAP). These templates may help you author reports against the timesheet's data store.

4. Use Administrative time categories to track non-project work

Some organizations require the tracking of Administrative activities, or non-project work. Examples of administrative activities include sick time, vacation, and work-related repetitive activities such as customer support, system maintenance, or meetings. We recommend that these activities be tracked by using Administrative time categories. These categories require minimal maintenance, and time that is captured in these categories can be used to generate data analysis reports from the corresponding OLAP cube.

For more information about how to set up administrative time categories, see Administrative Time (Project Server 2010 settings):

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg982965.aspx

5. Close tasks to updates, instead of using the Publish and Booking Type fields

Project managers may find the Publish and Booking Type fields helpful for controlling task and resource visibility.

The Publish field can be used to control which tasks are visible in Project Web App, and the Booking Type field can be used to control which resources are visible during the resource planning process. However, be aware that these fields are part of the early planning process. They are not designed for limiting users’ ability to continue to track time on a particular task. If the Publish and Booking Type fields are used incorrectly, they can result in the removal of task entries from a user’s timesheet or task status. This is especially critical because the removal of task entries may mean the loss of submitted time.

If you have already published a task and then later set the Publish field to No, when you publish the project again, the task will be removed from any assigned resources.