Updating Assignment Progress through PWA Timesheets
Project Online provides a variety of methods for updating tasks. These include allowing PMs to update the task progress manually in the project schedule, utilizing the Tasks page to capture task updates, and finally using timesheets to capture both project and non-project work.
While some organizations use timesheets to simply capture a resources time and update the PM with that information, there are methods of capturing not only the hours worked on a given task, but also the progress of the task itself. If a resource only updates their hours worked on a task the scheduling engine will assume that the original plan for that task is still true. For a 10-hour task, after 5 hours have been reported in a timesheet, the task would then show 50% complete.
What if the resource needs less (or more) time on the task? In this example, maybe the resource completed the task after only 5 hours and would like to inform the PM of these details. This is where the remaining work and % complete assignment fields come in handy.
To add these fields to the timesheets you will need to edit the “My Timesheet” view. An admin can make this change in the “Manage Views” section of PWA settings. Simply add the “Remaining Work (Assignment)” and “% Work Complete (Assignment)” columns to the view and save.
Figure 1: PWA Settings
Figure 2: Edit the “My Timesheet” view
Figure 3: Add the “Remaining Work (Assignment)” and “% Work Complete (Assignment)” columns to the view and save
Figure 4: Columns are added to the left side of all timesheets
The status updates that the PM (or Status Manager) receives will now contain additional detail on the task progress. It is important to note that these are assignment fields vs task fields. If a task is assigned to two resources and one submits their timesheet with a 0 in remaining work for that task, then it will not necessarily complete the task. There still could be remaining work on the other task assignment.
Whether the task is taking less or more time than originally planned, allowing the resources to report task progress through their timesheets increases the communication between the project team and the project manager.
