Re: PS03 Issues list: Spooler errors, lost data, time*** display and more.

From: J Baird (jill[dot]baird[at]lmco[dot]com)
Date: 05/05/04 

Date: Wed, 5 May 2004 12:03:23 -0400

Other than newsgroups, or having a friend/golf
partner/in-law/acquaintance/buddy who's a Microsoft programmer for your
system, the only Microsoft Feedback method () that I know of, is the
"Microsoft Web Site and Corporation Feedback" web page.
It says that you can "Report a Web site bug, send feedback about the
Microsoft.com Web site or send comments to the Microsoft Corporate office."

See the "Microsoft Web Site and Corporation Feedback" link on this "Contact
Us" page:
http://register.microsoft.com/contactus30/contactus.asp

"ITG_Mike" <england(at) itgssi dot com.> wrote in message
news:787A2653-DFCF-4DFA-924F-77678A16BF52@microsoft.com...
> Yesterday I posted a note "Yet another problem in Task List display". In
that note, which complained about incorrect handling of Completed task list
items, I made reference to having many other similar annoyances. I got on a
tear last night and created the following list. These are the items I can
think of right now. There are probably more, but I did not want to make a
career of documenting our troubles with Project Server 2003
>
> First, a bit of history.
>
> We upgraded from eLabor's Enterprise Project to Microsoft Project Server
2003 this year. For those unaware, Microsoft purchased eLabor's technology
a few years back and used it as the basis for Project Server 2002.
>
> I remember that, back in the early days of Windows, we use to joke that
Microsoft always took until the third version of an application before they
got things mostly right. Versions 1 and 2 were always plagued with bugs and
missing or strangely implemented features. Given the infusion of eLabor
technology, Project Server 2003 is effectively the second version of the
product. I wish I had paid more attention to history.
>
> After using the system for four months, there are a bunch of problems that
make the system difficult and non-intuitive to use. When I ask about these
problems the most frequent reply I get is "That is a training issue",
followed closely by "if doing that causes a problem, don't do it".
>
> Attached below is a list of the problems we have encountered for which I
have no solutions. I would welcome input from anyone that has solutions for
any of these problems. I would note further that, while not perfect, eLabor
Enterprise Project properly handled most of these items reasonably well.
>
>
> 1) Lots of bugs when using the "Assign myself to an existing task"
function. I have documented five different ways to generate errors using
"Assign Myself", some of which corrupt projects, other cause duplication of
assignment in resource task lists and (my personal favorite) one that causes
hours one resource enters to be moved to the task list of a different
resource.
>
> 2) For reasons no one has been able to explain, I have projects that
generate a 0x80040E14 error in the Spooler whenever ANY publishing action is
attempted. Microsoft cannot explain what causes these errors nor how to fix
the problem so the project can again be published.
>
> 3) There is no concept of a "Trusted Editor" for a project. I own a
project and want to grant to specific others the ability to edit
(Read/Write) my project. There is no way, as a PM, that I can do this.
>
> 4) Admin projects are not grouped with other projects when viewed in
Adjust Actuals and View Resource Assignments. This makes it annoying to try
and review the total time for a set of resources.
>
> 5) There is no way to turn off notifications for Administrative projects.
I am forever generating notes to resources that their "Vacation assignment
has changed" or the like.
>
> 6) After a PM updates time into a project, MSP does a Publish of New and
Changed on the next save even when if the collaborate option for Publishing
at every save is turned off.
>
> 7) Cannot change the content of task update notifications (to show hours
worked THIS update as opposed to total hours on the task for example). If a
PM has resources working on a task that spans six weeks, an update in week
four of total hours worked tells me nothing about what happened in the last
week. The PM must investigate what was completed in week three and do the
math themselves.
>
> 8) A resource (Bob) is assigned to a task. Bob never does any work on the
task, and other resources complete the task. Because the task is complete,
the PM updates the schedule in MSP, removing Bob's remaining work and then
changing the Task %complete to 100%. After publishing, Bob's task list
still contains the assignment with 0 planned work, 0 actual work, and 0
remaining work. Even though the task has no remaining work, it is not
marked as complete in the task list and never disappears.
>
> 9) Can't remove the Outlook integration link from the PWA home page, even
if the feature is disabled in PS Admin.
>
> 10) No option to have RBS managers (rather than Project Managers) approve
timesheets (without managed periods turned on). Even with Managed Periods,
the RBS approval is more a suggestion to the PM that a real approval. BTW,
we have been told by our consultant to stay away from managed periods, as
there are a number of problem in this area.
>
> 11) No tools or reports to ensure compliance with time*** submission
(when not using managed periods). For example, how do we see which
resources have not submitted time or which managers have not processed
updates? Senior managers have to way of getting status of how up-to-date
their PM's are.
>
> 12) Settings for Filters are not sticky across sessions. I use a filter
to get exactly the task list view I want. The next time I log on, the
filter is gone.
>
> 13) A resource has daily time entries which have been previously approved
and updated into MSP. Realizing later that these entries are not correct,
the resource returns to their task list and deletes the entries. They then
update the row. The changes that the resource made are not propagated
forward into MSP. The user must instead enter zeros in PWA and update these
zeros.
>
> 14) A resource has a task with 10 hours of planned work. On the first day
of the task, they work 1.5 hours. They make a typo when entering this time
and instead enter 15. They realize this error immediately, and change the
entry to 1.5. Unfortunately, the task list control has now changed the task
to be 15 hours in duration and they have remaining work of 13.5h.
>
> 15) Changing %complete in MSP for a task that has remaining work creates
actual work. There should be an option to instead reduce remaining work
when %complete is changed. (No be fair, this "feature" has been in MSP for a
long while).
>
> 16) No way for a resource to get back an assignment that they hid from
their task list. Why must the PM republish for everyone assigned to the
task? This has the affected of also un-hiding the task for anyone else that
had it hidden.
>
> 17) No way to mark a project as complete. A completed project would allow
people to enter or correct time entries in prior to the completion date but
would not accept new time submissions for days after the completion date.
Sure, a PM could reject these later entries, but I buy software to make such
control automatic, not to burden PM's with managing these details. I should
be able to say "This project is done as of this date" and then PS03 should
limit future submissions.
>
>
> I realize that this is, in some sense, nothing more than a rant. A few of
these problems have workarounds, though I get very tired of constantly
training people in the Project Server "Work Around du Jour". And note that
in some cases, if someone forgets the Work Around just once, data can be
lost.
>
> As I have asked previously, how do the users of Project Server ensure that
these problems are registered with Microsoft and they get them fixed in a
patch or a follow-on version?
>
> Mike
> (england(at)itgssi_dot_com)
>
>
> P.S. My pre-emptive reply to my own problem list is below.
>
> 1) The only workaround to this problem is to disable Self Assignment. The
Self Assignment feature simply does not work.
> 2) No solution available.
> 3) No solution that does not involve creating more security groups. This
cannot be managed by the PM's.
> 4) Workaround: Delete admin projects and replace them with regular
projects
> 5) No solution available
> 6) No solution available
> 7) No solution available
> 8) No solution available
> 9) Solution: Manually modify the .ASP pages to remove the link to the
outlook integration files
> 10) No solution available
> 11) No solution available
> 12) Workaround: Create a saved link. This only helps for pages that have
that option. No solution for Task List display.
> 13) Workaround: Have the resource delete entries by entering 0h.
> 14) Workaround: Have the resource correct the remaining work entry
> 15) Workaround: Train the PM's not to touch the %complete value for a
task.
> 16) Workaround: The PM needs to republish
> 17) No solution available
>
>

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