Microsoft KB Archive/905252

= Information about administrative projects in Project 2003 =

Article ID: 905252

Article Last Modified on 7/27/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003
 * Microsoft Office Project Server 2003
 * Microsoft Office Project Web Access

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SUMMARY
''This article describes administrative projects n Microsoft Office Project 2003. Additionally, this article includes examples of expected and unexpected behavior in administrative projects''



INTRODUCTION
In Project 2003, administrative projects are used to track non-working time and non-project time. The following is a list of non-working time and non-project time tasks:
 * Vacation time
 * Sick leave time
 * Meeting time
 * Training time

These types of tasks are considered as on-going tasks because the do not have an end date. Tasks that are in regular projects have a start date and an end date.

You should use the Administrative Time enterprise template to create an administrative project. The Administrative Time enterprise template is designed so that only the Task Name and the Resource Name fields are visible in the entry table of the Gantt Chart view. The Administrative Time template lets you correctly design and use administrative projects.

Note Do not schedule actual work time in an administrative project. If you schedule actual work time in an administrative project, you experience an unexpected behavior when resources start reporting actual work time against an administrative task.



Characteristics of administrative tasks
The following is a list of the characteristics of administrative tasks in an administrative project:
 * The task is a Fixed Duration task type.
 * The task does not have any actual work time assigned.
 * The task does not have any remaining work time assigned.
 * The task tracks the hours of work that are completed per day.

Tasks that the project manager performs in an administrative project
The following is a list of the tasks that the project manager performs in an administrative project:
 * Adds or removes task names in the Administrative Time enterprise template to suit the needs of the organization.
 * Assigns resources to the tasks.

Note If the Administrative Time enterprise template was not used when an administrative project was created, the project manager will perform the following tasks:
 * Enters only the task names and the resource names.
 * Clicks to select the check box that is next to the administrative project when saving the administrative project.
 * Publishes all the information for the administrative project.

Calculations that are made in an administrative project
As actuals are reported by resources in Microsoft Project Web Access, the following calculations are reported for an administrative project in Project 2003:
 * The Work field, the Actual Work field, and the Actual Work Protected field will update to equal the value of the actual work that is reported by the resource.
 * The % Complete field will be set to 100%.
 * The Remaining Work field will equal 0 (zero).

As actuals are reported by resources in Project Web Access, the following calculations are reported for an administrative project in Project Web Access:
 * The value for the work that remains for the task in Project Web Access will update to equal the value of the actual work that is reported in Project Professional 2003.

Note You will never see a completed task in an administrative project in Project Web Access. This behavior allows for on-going reporting of non-project actual work over the life of the administrative project.

How to report and accept updates in an administrative project

 * The resource will update the value for the actual work per day as required.
 * If the resource cannot update the administrative task, a different resource that has Adjust Timesheets permissions must update non-project work in Project Web Access. An example of non-project work is sick leave time.

Note Never update actual work time in Project Professional 2003. If you do update actual work time in Project Professional 2003, the Actual Work Protected field will become out of synchronization with the Actual Work field.
 * Project managers will only use the Project Web Access Update User Interface to accept the value for the Actual Work field that is submitted in the administrative project.

Note The start date of the task will be set to match the earliest start time of actual work that is entered by a resource. The finish date will be calculated based on the amount of work that is reported and on the availability of the resource.

Examples of expected behavior in an administrative project
The following examples demonstrate expected behavior in an administrative project.

Example 1
 Start Project 2003, and then log on. On the File menu, click New. On the New Project task pane, click On my computer. On the Enterprise Templates tab, click Administrative Time, and then click OK. For the Training task, type a resource name R1 in the Resource Names column. On the File menu, click Save.</li> In the Save to Project Server dialog box, follow these steps: <ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;"> In the Name box, type the name of your administrative project.</li> In the Type box, click Project.</li> In the Version box, click Published.</li> Click Save.</li></ol> </li> On the Tasks task pane, click Publish project information to the Web.</li> On the Publish Project task pane, click to select the following check boxes: <ul> New and changed assignments</li> Project plan</li></ul> </li> Click Publish.</li> In Project Web Access, log on as the resource R1.</li> Click Tasks.</li> In the task assigned, type 2h in the Actual Work field for a specific day.</li> Select the task, and then click Update Selected Rows.</li> Logoff Project Web Access, and then log on to Project Web Access as the project manager.</li> Click Updates, click Accept all, and then click Update.</li> <li>Logoff Project Web Access, and then log on to Project Web Access as the resource R1.</li> <li>Click Tasks.</li></ol>

Example 2
<ol> <li>Start Project 2003, and then log on.</li> <li>On the File menu, click New.</li> <li>On the New Project task pane, click On my computer.</li> <li>On the Enterprise Templates tab, click Administrative Time, and then click OK.</li> <li>For the Training task, type a resource name R1 in the Resource Names column.</li> <li>On the File menu, click Save.</li> <li>In the Save to Project Server dialog box, follow these steps: <ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;"> <li>In the Name box, type the name of your administrative project.</li> <li>In the Type box, click Project.</li> <li>In the Version box, click Published.</li> <li>Click Save.</li></ol> </li> <li>On the Tasks task pane, click Publish project information to the Web.</li> <li>On the Publish Project task pane, click to select the following check boxes: <ul> <li>New and changed assignments</li> <li>Project plan</li></ul> </li> <li>Click Publish.</li> <li>In Project Web Access, log on as the project manager.</li> <li>Click Resources.</li> <li>Click Adjust Actuals.</li> <li>In the Available resources list, click the resource R1, click Add, and then click Apply.</li> <li>In the Actual Work field, type  2h , and then click Update Actuals.</li> <li>Click OK when you receive the following message:

Updates have been sent to the project manager for approval.

</li> <li>Click Updates, click Accept all, and then click Update.</li> <li>Logoff Project Web Access, and then log on to Project Web Access as the resource R1.</li> <li>Click Tasks.</li></ol>

Results The left side of the Tasks grid in both of the examples displays the following results.

For more information about the expected behavior as described in these examples, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

867835 The percentage complete always equals zero for administrative tasks when you create an administrative project in Project Professional 2003

Examples of unexpected behavior in an administrative project
The following examples demonstrate unexpected behavior in an administrative project.

Example 1
If any one of the following fields is changed after a resource reports a value in the Actual Work field in an administrative project, the Work field may increase unexpectedly:
 * Work
 * Finish
 * Duration
 * Actual Work

In a regular project in Project Professional 2003, if a task is 100 percent complete when the previously mentioned fields are changed, additional work will be added to the task.

In an administrative project in Project Professional 2003, this scenario may be experienced because a task is always 100 percent complete.

For example, consider a situation where a resource submits eight hours in the Actual Work field in an administrative project in Project Web Access. If the administrative project is opened in Project Professional 2003, the Work field and the Actual Work field will display 8h. Additionally, the task is set to 100% complete.

In this situation, 16 hours for the Actual Work field and the Work field is not reported for the task if the finish date of the administrative project is changed in Project Professional 2003 to one day later. Additionally, you receive a warning message that the resource is assigned outside the dates for the task.

Example 2
Administrative tasks do not have a predefined schedule. If the project manager performs the following tasks in the order that they are presented, the administrative project will behave like a regular project:
 * Changes the schedule.
 * Enters a value in the Actual Work field.

Example 3
When a project manager updates an administrative project, the following symptoms may occur:
 * When a project manager reviews the task updates in Project Web Access, the Actual Work field may appear to be blank.
 * When the project manager updates the Microsoft Project 2003 administrative project in Project Web Access, the values that are in the Actual Work and the Actual Work Protected fields are not updated with the correct values for administrative projects.

This scenario may occur if a resource performs the following tasks in the order that they are presented:
 * Submits a value in the Actual Work field in the timesheet for an administrative project.
 * Presses the BACKSPACE key or the DELETE key to make the entry blank.
 * Submits time for another day.

To work around this problem, the resource should not use the BACKSPACE key or the DELETE key in the timesheet. Instead, the resource should type 0 in the timesheet for an incorrectly submitted value. After the resource completes that task, the resource should submit the update to the project manager. Then, the resource can submit the correct value in the timesheet.

The &quot;Notify your manager of time that you will not be available for project work&quot; feature in Project Web Access
The &quot;Notify your manager of time that you will not be available for project work&quot; feature is used in an administrative project when a user is assigned to track resource availability to accurately reflect resource availability information. The &quot;Notify your manager of time that you will not be available for project work&quot; feature lets a user display the time that they will not be available for work. The time is then added to an administrative task for the time that the resource enters in the Work field in Microsoft Project Access.

However, if the resource works during the time that they specified as not being available with the &quot;Notify your manager of time that you will not be available for project work&quot; feature, the total value in the Actual Work field is inflated if they submit this value in the Actual Work field. In this scenario, the administrative task is behaving like a regular task.

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