Reporting Actual Work Through Outlook


Project Server includes a COM add-in for Outlook that enables Outlook users to see their task assignments and report their status. This information is submitted to Project Server for project manager approval and is eventually incorporated into the project plan as actual work. The Outlook integration add-in allows team members who would rather work in Outlook than in the Tasks Center in PWA to see their assignments and keep the project manager up to date on their status.

In this section, we’ll illustrate how a team member works with his Project Server-based EPM task assignments in Outlook. Brad Sutton, a team member at A.Datum Corporation, has task assignments in several active and upcoming project plans. Brad has previously used PWA to record progress on his assignments, but now he’d like to work in Outlook. Brad has previously installed the Outlook integration add-in from Project Server.

1. Brad checks his Outlook To-Do List and sees his task assignments from Project Server.

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2. Brad double-clicks one of the tasks. The task details appear in a new window.

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Here, Brad sees the key information for this assignment-the task and project from which his assignment originated as well as his timesheet view.

Brad can choose to display this and his other tasks in PWA by clicking the Go To Web Timesheet button. However, the timesheet for the task that’s visible here is sufficient for his reporting needs.

3. Brad reports on the task health and updates his remaining work estimate.

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At this point, his status is entered in the form but has not been submitted to the project manager. Brad takes care of this detail next.

4. Brad clicks the Save to Project Web Access button in the Project Web Access Appointment dialog box. The add-in submits Brad’s task status to Steve Masters, the project manager of the Active Directory West project. This update will remain in Project Server until the project manager approves it. It then will be recorded in the Active Directory West project plan.

As far as the project manager is concerned, the actual work submitted through Outlook is essentially the same as actuals submitted through PWA. For reporting status on assignments, the Outlook integration add-in makes Outlook a reasonable substitute for PWA for resources who prefer to work in Outlook.




Microsoft Office Project 2007 Step by Step
MicrosoftВ® Office Project 2007 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))
ISBN: 0735623058
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 247

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