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Test time and task management settings in Project Server 2010

 

Applies to: Project Server 2010

Topic Last Modified: 2011-11-21

Summary:  The sixth article in a series of nine articles about how to test a Microsoft Project Server 2010 deployment as an enterprise project management system administrator or solution tester. Use the series as a guide to test the functionality of a newly deployed Project Server 2010 instance. The articles in this series discuss the functionalities that are on the Server Settings page, and some initial tests that you can run to connect and check server communications by using the Project Professional 2010 client application.

Contents

  • Configure fiscal periods

  • Configure time reporting periods

  • Timesheet adjustment

  • Configure line classifications

  • Timesheet settings and defaults (complex)

  • Configure administrative time

  • Task settings and display

  • Close tasks to update

  • Next steps

Configure fiscal periods

Fiscal periods are primarily used in timesheet adjustments and enterprise reporting. You can create, modify, and delete financial period definitions in this section.

Important

You must have Manage Timesheet and Financial Periods permissions to configure fiscal periods.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Microsoft Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Financial Periods.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Financial Periods web page appears.

4. Select an undefined fiscal period to manage; for example, 2012.

5. Click Define.

The page refreshes with detailed sections.

6. Select a Fiscal Year Creation model.

    Example: 4, 5, 4 method.

7. Define Period Naming conventions; for example:

  • Enter the Prefix: FY

  • Enter Numbering Sequence: 01

  • Enter Suffix: FP

8. Optional: To change the end date for a specific month, click the end-date cell for that month.

The date picker is available for you to select a specific date.

9. Click the save to create button.

The page refreshes with the list of fiscal periods in the system.

Note

To delete the defined fiscal period, click the Delete button.

Configure time reporting periods

You can create timesheet periods in bulk, which saves the administrator time.

It is important that you define the timesheet periods correctly at the outset because they affect many aspects of the solution. When the data is migrated, the existing Project Server groups are created in Project Server 2010.

Important

You must have Manage Timesheet and Financial Periods permissions to configure fiscal periods.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Time Reporting Periods.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Timesheet Periods web page appears.

4. Define Bulk Period Parameters.

Example: Create 52 periods.

  • Specify the start date as 1/1/2010 so that you create periods for a full year.

  • Define the period length: 7 Days. Or, if no one in the organization works or reports time on Saturdays or Sundays, you can set it to 5 days.

After you click Save, the changes are saved to the server.

5. Define Batch Naming Convention.

    For multiple reporting periods, you can set a unique name for each period.

After you click Save, the changes are saved to the server.

Timesheet adjustment

To view approved timesheets, available timesheets, and unsubmitted timesheets, follow these steps.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Timesheet Adjustment.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Timesheet Approval page appears. Use it to view approved timesheets, available timesheets, and unsubmitted timesheets.

Configure line classifications

You can duplicate timesheet lines by defining timesheet line classifications, which become unique identifiers for a timesheet line.

By default, the system creates a standard classification.

In this example, you create timesheet classifications to help identify timesheet line items.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Line Classifications.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Line Classifications web page appears.

4. Click the new classification button.

A new row appears.

5. Specify a name and description for each line classification.

6. Click Save.

New timesheet classifications are created.

Timesheet settings and defaults (complex)

Because of the complexity of this admin setting, the information in this section is divided into sub-test scenarios.

How timesheets are displayed in Project Web App

Timesheets can display planned work, overtime, and non-billable time. To disable the overtime and non-billable timesheet types, clear the check box to the right.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Timesheet Settings and defaults.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Settings and defaults page loads.

4. Open another Internet Explorer PWA session, and then click the My Timesheet menu.

The My Timesheet view opens.

5. Click Create to create a new timesheet.

A new timesheet page appears.

Note

The overtime and non-Billable time tracking sections appear if the check box is selected.

6. Toggle the setting on the admin page and then refresh the timesheet view.

Important

If you don’t see the toggle occurring, check the actions bar on the My Timesheet page and see whether that the user has not chosen to hide this as a personal setting.

7. Click the actions bar, select the show billable work.

    If the menu is greyed out, the admin has cleared the display setting.

Default timesheet creation mode

Users can enter data on their timesheets against projects or current assignments. Use this setting to enable site-level consistency for the kind of default timesheet that users see.

Example 1: When you create a new timesheet, it defaults to using the current task assignments. This way, users do not have to select the current task assignments when they create a new timesheet.

Example: 2: Users start with a blank timesheet because that is what they prefer.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Timesheet Settings and Defaults.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Settings and defaults page loads.

4. Locate the Default timesheet creation mode section.

    Select the No – Population option.

5. Click Save.

6. Open another instance of Project Web App.

7. Click the My Timesheets menu.

8. Click Create.

The system creates a new timesheet.

9. If no pre-population is selected, non-project task assignments appear on the timesheet.

Important

Administrative Time still shows as default line items if the administrator has set them to show.
This feature is for project-related items.

Timesheet grid column units

Timesheets support weekly or daily tracking. When you specify Weekly, each column in the timesheet represents seven days, and the date in the column displays the first day of the week.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Timesheet Settings and Defaults.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Settings and Defaults page loads.

4. Go to the Timesheet Grid Column Units.

5. Change the units to weeks.

6. Click Save.

7. Open the My Timesheet page.

8. Look at the date ranges; they are in weeks, not days.

9. Change the setting back to days and then click Save.

10. Open the My Timesheet page.

11. Look at the date ranges; they are in days, not weeks.

Default reporting units

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Timesheet Settings and Defaults.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Settings and Defaults page loads.

4. Go to the Default Reporting Units page.

5. Set the following:

    Standard timesheet day = 8

    Number of hours in a standard work week = 40

6. Click Save.

7. Open the My Timesheet page.

8. Try to specify values outside the ranges specified and submit them.

The system prevents you from submitting a timesheet that has values outside the settings.

Hourly reporting units

Accounting systems, customers, or internal business policies might restrict how you can enter time. If you use team resources, make sure that you consider such restrictions when you set these values.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Timesheet Settings and Defaults.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Settings and Defaults page loads.

4. Go to the Default Reporting Units page.

5. Set the following:

    Maximum Hours per Timesheet: 50

    Minimum Hours per Timesheet: 40

    Maximum hours per day: 15

6. Click Save.

7. Open the My Timesheet page.

8. Try to specify values outside the ranges specified and submit them.

The system prevents you from submitting a timesheet that has values outside the settings.

Timesheet policies

The administrator can use settings in this section to help you comply with accounting and regulatory policies.

You can restrict users from submitting hours in pay periods that are in the future.

You can also restrict users from specifying line items on the timesheet that cannot be verified against Project Server.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Timesheet Settings and Defaults.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Settings and Defaults page loads.

4. Go to the Timesheet Policies page.

5. Clear the Allow Future Time Reporting check box.

    Clear the Unverified line items check box.

6. Click Save.

7. Open the My Timesheet page.

8. Try to save time in a future pay period.

The system prevents the action.

9. Try to add line items by clicking the Add Lines button.

The system prevents you from submitting unverified line items.

Auditing

You can use timesheet auditing to record changes that are saved to timesheets during creation, approval, and modifications or adjustments.

We recommend that you turn on auditing from the beginning of the implementation so that you have a full history.

Important

Auditing data can consume a lot of space in SQL Server. Therefore, work with IT to ensure that you have allocated sufficient disk space.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Timesheet Settings and defaults.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Settings and Defaults page loads.

4. Go to the Auditing section.

5. Select Enable Timesheet auditing.

6. Click Save.

The system logs creation, approval, and adjustments to timesheets.

7. Use the purge log feature with utmost caution.

Important

Purge is permanent.

Approval routing

Fixed Approval routing disables the ability to change the next approval during timesheet submission. Because the transaction comment is also disabled during submission, users should comment in the timesheet header instead.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Timesheet Settings and defaults.

    (Located in the Time and Task Management section.)

The Settings and Defaults page loads.

4. Go to the Approval Routing section.

5. Clear the fixed approval routing check box.

6. Click Save.

The system prevents the timesheet App rover from being changed.

Configure administrative time

Administrative time enables you to track exception time and any other categorized non-project time that employees spend and that your company tracks. You can set each category to require managerial approval before employees commit time.

Additionally, you can set each category to display by default on each user's timesheet. To specify this setting, select the Always Display option.

By default, the following administrative time options are made available. If you do not want the options to always be displayed on the timesheet, clear the Always Display option.

  • Administrative

  • Jury Duty

  • Sick Time

  • Vacation

In this example, you create new categories.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Administrative Time.

    (Located in the Look and Feel section.)

The Administrative Time web page appears.

4. Click the New Category option.

5. Specify the name of the new category.

    Example:

    Maintenance Work_DoNot Always Display

    Training_Always Display

6. Click Save.

The new time categories are created, and are now available on the My Timesheets page.

Task settings and display

This is a global configuration for the instance of Project Server that you are configuring.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Click Administrative Time.

    (Located in the Look and Feel section.)

The Administrative Time web page appears.

4. Examine the tracking method options:

  • Percentage of work complete. Resources report the percentage of work that they have completed, from 0 through 100%.

  • Actual work done and work remaining. Resources report the actual work done and the work that remains to be done on each task.

  • Hours of work done per period. Resources report the hours worked on each task per period.

5. Of those options, choose the following for this example:

    Select Percentage of work complete.

    Check the form project managers to use the progress reporting method for all Projects.

6. For Reporting Display, choose Hours worked each day.

7. Select the Time entry by Timesheet only check box if you want to ensure that the users always report the same timesheet hours as task progress. Users must then import from a timesheet to update task progress and submit.

8. In the Near Future Planning Window on the Tasks page, specify the number of reporting periods to include.

    In this example, set it to 5 days.

   

9. Click Save.

The changes are saved to the server.

Close tasks to update

Use the "Close tasks to update" feature to select the project for which you want to lock down tasks. These changes do not take effect until the next time that you publish this project.

Publishing a project publishes all applied task updates and any other changes that were made to the plan. To preview all pending changes, open the project in Microsoft Project Professional 2010 before you publish.

Test Step Expected / Desired Results Actual Results (if deviation)

1. Open Project Web App.

The Project Web App loads.

2. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

3. Assign yourself to all the tasks on the schedule.

4. Save the project.

The project is saved to the server.

5. Publish the project.

The project is published. The Task assignments are available on your My Work page.

6. Open Project Web App.

7. Click My Tasks in the left menu.

A list of task assignments appears.

8. Update some of the fields.

The system enables you to edit the fields.

Next, you CLOSE the task to updates, which prevents future updates to the task.

Note

The task still appears on the timesheet view. However, it is in a read-only state.

9. Open Project Web App.

Project Web App loads.

10. Click Server Settings.

The Server Settings page appears.

11. Click Close tasks to update.

     (Located in the Look and Feel section)

The Close Tasks to Update web page appears.

12. Select a project from the list.

Lists of tasks for the project appear.

13. Select the tasks that you want to close.

14. Click the update/save button.

15. The selected tasks are now closed to updates.

Important

Take note of the rules that are described in the summary of this test scenario.

16. Open the My Work / Tasks Page.

     Try to edit some values for the tasks that are closed to updates.

The system prevents you from capturing time against a closed task – the task is read-only.

Important

The task will still appear on the timesheet.