The resources assigned to your project likely use timesheets in CA Clarity PPM to enter the weekly work they accomplish on their assigned project tasks. These timesheets automatically include tasks you have scheduled for that week.
Timesheets must be submitted and approved before they can be posted to the project plan. Pending actuals are displayed in Microsoft Project before posting actuals. The Pending Actuals field is mapped to the Number2 field in Microsoft Project.
When a timesheet is posted, the estimate to complete (ETC) on any assignment for which actuals were entered on that timesheet is modified. In most cases, the amount of the actuals reduce the ETC so that the total work on the assignment remains the same.
In Microsoft Project, assignments with a work contour assigned Contoured ("Fixed" in CA Clarity PPM) are processed differently. In this case, the estimates that were scheduled on or before the week are replaced with the actuals and the estimates after the week are kept intact. The result, depending on when the estimates were scheduled in Microsoft Project, can be an increase or a decrease of total work.
Note: In Microsoft Project, work contour assignments are reset to "Contoured" if you edit the work distribution. If you modify the total actual or remaining work distributions, the work contour is not modified.
Most of the time, posting a timesheet does not immediately change the finish dates of the tasks that were on that timesheet. For example, when more actuals are entered than planned, the result is a new, reduced ETC.
When less work is completed on a task during the week than was planned, this work is scheduled at the higher rate within the task schedule. In this case, when you open the project in Microsoft Project, the task is rescheduled and the finish date is delayed.
Resource timesheets are assumed to be a complete accounting of the project work the resource did that week. If a scheduled task does not appear on the timesheet, it implies the resource completed no work on that task, and the task must be rescheduled for the following week or beyond.
Note: When you open your project in Microsoft Project, it is scheduled. The project is scheduled even if you use Manual Calculation mode in Microsoft Project. As a result, task finish dates and resource work distribution in Microsoft Project can be different from CA Clarity PPM.
| Copyright © 2010 CA. All rights reserved. | Email CA Technologies about this topic |