Entering work and saving to Project Web Access
This Office product will reach end of support on October 10, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see , Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.
Topic Last Modified: 2016-11-14
Organizations have their own set of requirements and processes to track time in the My Tasks page, Timesheets, and the Microsoft Office Project 2007 Add-in for Outlook.
Team members can enter time after configuration of the add-in for Outlook is determined and assignments are imported. Assignments can be accessed in either Outlook Tasks or Outlook Calendar.
After the assignment opens, a detailed description of the schedule can be viewed with the following fields:
Task Name
Project Name
Task Hierarchy
A description of the task details section is standard when imported assignments open in Outlook. However, the Project Web Access (PWA) Time and Task Management settings influence how assignments in Outlook are viewed, how work is entered, and how work is saved to PWA. These settings specifically affect the following options:
Task Management
Timesheet
Hours of work done per day
Task Management
Task Management is equivalent to the Project Web Access My Tasks page, where users enter their assignment progress. The task is eventually submitted to the Project Manager to perform a Task Update, which is reflected in the project plan.
If users select the Tracking Method in the add-in for Outlook for Percent of work complete or Actual work done and work remaining, then both the Task Management tab and the Timesheet tab can be viewed.
Percent of work complete method
The fields that comprise this tracking method are Task Health, Percent of work complete, Remaining work, Total Work, and Actual Work. Users enter the percentage of work that is complete.
On a five-day task (Total Work = 5d), if half of the assignment is worked and 50% percent of the assignment is entered, the Remaining Work automatically recalculates to 2.5d.
Actual work done and work remaining method
The fields that comprise this tracking method are Task Health, Actual Work, Remaining Work, Total Work, and Percent of Work Complete. The amount of work for the assignment is entered into the Actual Work field. The remaining work recalculates, but it can be modified.
On a 2-day task (Total Work = 2d), if 1 day of work is performed and entered in the Actual Work field, then Remaining Work automatically recalculates to 1 day and the Percent of Work Complete is 50%.
Hours of work done per time periods
Hours of Work Done Per Day is the third option in the add-in for Outlook for tracking task assignment progress and utilization for administrative time. Users can select this tracking method and any of the Outlook Display options in Timesheet Settings and Defaults to combine Task Management and Timesheet in the add-in for Outlook into one option.
The fields that comprise this tracking method are Health, Percent of work complete, Remaining Work, and Total Work. Users enter the amount of work in hours into the appropriate time period. The other fields can be modified.
The following options are also available when the Hours of Work Done Per Day option is used:
Copy from Planned. –If work is completed according to the project plan schedule, users can select this option to populate the dates. This results in less manual data entry for users.
Save to Project Web Access. Users can commit the time that is entered to Project Web Access in the following ways:
A bulk update is performed after progress is entered, saved, and closed in Outlook. Users can click Update to Project Web Access on the Outlook toolbar to perform a bulk update. Assignments that contain uncommitted changes to Project Web Access are updated on the Outlook toolbar.
Users can click Save to Project Web Access to enter time for an individual assignment.
And submit to Project Manager. When a Task Update is saved, the user can specify that the entry is submitted automatically to the Project Manager. The user chooses the And submit to Project Manager option to automatically submit the entry. The option is enabled by default. If the option is disabled, it is the team member’s responsibility to submit an update to the Project Manager by using the My Tasks page.
This dialog box also contains the following options:
Options. Opens the Outlook Options page.
Go to Project Workspace. Opens the Project Workspace WSS site to enable users to link documents, issues, and risks.
Go to Web Timesheet.
Go to My Work. The assignment is accessible for review in PWA before the user enters progress or after the user commits to a task. The user clicks Go to My Work to access the assignment. An Internet Explorer window connects to the Project Server URL that is specified in the add-in for Outlook PWA properties.
Help. Outlook Help.
Timesheet
The new Timesheet feature in PWA enables users to track their labor for a time period. The same feature is available with the add-in for Outlook to record non-project work hours for assignments. Users enter the effort in hours on the Timesheet tab of the add-in for Outlook. Depending on the Outlook Display criteria in PWA Timesheet Settings and Defaults, an organization can specify that users enter time in the following ways:
Actual Hours and Scheduled Hours
Actual, Overtime, and Scheduled Hours
Billable, Non Billable, Overtime, and Scheduled Hours. These are enabled by default.
Hours that are entered in Outlook for task assignments, Administrative Time (non-working or working), and New Line Items in the PWA Timesheet equal the total utilization for the designated period. New Line Items cannot be created in the add-in for Outlook.
Timesheet versus Task Management
Time that is entered in Task Management records the effort in hours for task assignments. Hours that are entered in the Timesheet can include Administrative Time that will contribute to the overall utilization for the resource for a specific time period. An organization can also consider additional options to assist team members when they update to the PWA Timesheet.
Time entry by Timesheet Only
Hours that are entered for a task assignment in Task Management and the same task assignment that is added to the Timesheet may vary. For example, during an assignment, a team member may enter eight hours in the Timesheet and six hours in Task Management. The eight hours include six hours to complete the work and two hours of pre-work, organization, and thinking.
The Time entry by Timesheet only option in Task Settings and Display ensures that users always report the same timesheet hours as task progress. Users synchronize to update tasks when this option is enabled.
PWA Import Timesheet
Hours that are entered in the Timesheet for Outlook task assignments do not automatically update to the project plan. After a user saves or updates modifications to a task assignment to the PWA Timesheet from Outlook, the Timesheet must be imported to the My Tasks page and submitted to the Project Manager for a Task Update.
Download this book
This topic is included in the following downloadable book for easier reading and printing:
See the full list of available books at Downloadable books for Office Project Server 2007.