This section contains the following topics:
Microsoft Project and CA Clarity PPM Schedule Connect
Requirements Before You Install CA Clarity PPM Microsoft Project Interface
How to Set up Microsoft Project with CA Clarity PPM
How to Upgrade CA Clarity PPM Schedule Connect
How to Uninstall the CA Clarity PPM Microsoft Project Interface with Schedule Connect
Working Copies of Projects in Microsoft Project
Data Exchanges between Microsoft Project and CA Clarity PPM
About Cost Data Retrieval (Microsoft Project)
External Dependencies in Microsoft Project
How to Open CA Clarity PPM Projects in Microsoft Project
About Project Locks (Microsoft Project)
How to Save CA Clarity PPM Projects in Microsoft Project
Unlock and Hold Locks on Projects (Microsoft Project)
How to Create Projects (Microsoft Project)
How to Assign Resources to Tasks (Microsoft Project)
Add Resources or Roles to Projects (Microsoft Project)
About Balanced Workloads (Microsoft Project)
How to Work with Subprojects using Microsoft Project
For large-scale replanning or to use automatic scheduling algorithms, open CA Clarity PPM projects in Microsoft Project using CA Clarity PPM Schedule Connect (Schedule Connect). Schedule Connect provides full bidirectional connection between CA Clarity PPM and Microsoft Project. The changes in CA Clarity PPM, or the desktop scheduler are automatically synchronized. You are always working with the most up-to-date information.
With Schedule Connect, you can:
Schedule Connect enables the exchange of information between CA Clarity PPM and Microsoft Project. The benefits of Schedule Connect are:
Before you install CA Clarity PPM Microsoft Project Interface, verify that you have the following third-party software products installed:
For Microsoft Project 2013,
For 32-bit and 64-bit - dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe
For 32-bit - vstor40_x86.exe
For 64-bit - vstor40_x64.exe
For Microsoft Project 2010,
For 32-bit - office-kb2075992-fullfile-x86-glb.exe
For 64-bit - office-kb2075992-fullfile-x64-glb.exe
For 32-bit and 64-bit - dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe
For 32-bit - vstor40_x86.exe
For 64-bit - vstor40_x64.exe
You can download the software using the following links:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35594
For Microsoft Project 2007,
Note: Install JRE x86 for Microsoft Project x86 and JRE x64 for Microsoft Project x64.
Use the following process to set up Microsoft Project with CA Clarity PPM:
For more information, see the Microsoft online help.
To take advantage of all features, install CA Clarity PPM Microsoft Project Interface with CA Clarity PPM Schedule Connect. Install a version of Schedule Connect that is compatible with the CA Clarity PPM server to which you are connecting. To verify your CA Clarity PPM version, open the about page.
If you do not have Microsoft Project Interface installed, opening a project from CA Clarity PPM into Microsoft Project results in a generic browser download.
Follow these steps:
You can also download Microsoft Project Interface (includes Schedule Connect) from CA Clarity PPM.
A dialog appears asking your language preference for the installer.
A series of dialog boxes take you through the setup process.
Note: If you have an existing installation, a message appears prompting you to copy the files to the same directory. Click Yes to continue.
The setup can take a few moments. A dialog appears when the files are copied to their destinations.
Important! Launch Microsoft Project Interface with Schedule Connect to enable communication between CA Clarity PPM and Microsoft Project.
Note: If you have an existing installation, a message appears asking you to confirm the upgrade. Click Ok to continue.
A series of installation dialog boxes take you through the process.
The install completed dialog appears last when the installation completes successfully.
If you are using a Microsoft Project version older than version 2010, execute the CA Clarity PPM Microsoft Project Interface macro. The MSPAdd2k.MPP file is the Microsoft Project Interface macro that adds CA Clarity PPM Integration as a toolbar or menu in Microsoft Project.
Verify the following before enabling the macro:
Follow these steps:
C:\Program Files\CA\Clarity\CA Clarity PPM MSPInterface\data
Note: Do not open this file from Microsoft Project using File, Open.
A dialog appears prompting to enable macros.
Microsoft Project launches and a dialog appears to display CA Clarity PPM Integration as a toolbar or menu.
The following browser option is suggested when connecting Microsoft Project to CA Clarity PPM using Schedule Connect. Use the following procedure to prevent the file download window from appearing when the browser encounters an encrypted page.
For more information, see Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Follow these steps:
The internet options window opens.
Specifies to prevent the file download window from appearing when the browser encounters and encrypted page.
Default: Cleared
Clear the check box.
When you open a project from CA Clarity PPM to update in Microsoft Project, you implicitly log in to CA Clarity PPM. No additional setup is required. Schedule Connect remembers your settings. You need only enter your password the next time you open the project in Microsoft Project. The same is true when you try to save projects or browse for resources in CA Clarity PPM.
If you open a project from Microsoft Project and save it to CA Clarity PPM, Schedule Connect connects you to the proper CA Clarity PPM server. Use the following procedure to set up for the first time connection to CA Clarity PPM.
You can connect Schedule Connect to only one CA Clarity PPM server at a time. To open or save projects to a different CA Clarity PPM server, change the connections settings. When pointing Schedule Connect to another CA Clarity PPM server, be sure to update the Proxy server setting if necessary.
Note: If you are using Federated SSO, then you must have an open CA Clarity PPM browser session. This browser session requires to be in the environment to which you are trying to connect, which is defined in the CA Clarity Host field.
Follow these steps:
The Log on to CA Clarity PPM dialog opens.
The fields to set up the connection display.
Specifies the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) handling preference.
Values:
Default: Full
Select Full.
Defines the name of the CA Clarity PPM server to which Microsoft Project is connected. This server defines the location from which you open a project, or to which you save a project. The login host is not the full URL.
Default: <Clarity Host>
Example: corpName
The port for the CA Clarity PPM server.
Example: 80 is typically the port for a CA Clarity PPM server.
Enter 443.
Defines the name of your proxy server. The proxy host is not the full URL.
Example: corpProxy
Note: If you are accessing CA Clarity PPM through a nonauthenticating proxy, enter the proxy host and port in the CA Clarity Host and Port fields.
Required: Only when accessing an authenticating proxy
Defines the port for the proxy server.
Defines the user name for connecting to the proxy server.
Defines the password for connecting to the proxy server.
You are connected to the CA Clarity PPM server.
In general, you can set up Microsoft Project as you like. This section provides guidelines for setting up Microsoft Project to work effectively with CA Clarity PPM.
To set Microsoft Project options, select Options from the Tools menu.
For more information, see the Microsoft online help.
The following options are available:
On the Calculation tab, select Automatic Calculation. Automatic calculation is the preferred setting, but it is not required. If you select Manual Calculation, you must manually calculate the project before saving it to CA Clarity PPM. The project is recalculated whenever you open the project from CA Clarity PPM even if you have Manual Calculation as your calculation setting.
On the Calendar tab, select Set as Default. This setting helps ensure that the default start and end times match the shift schedule on your system wide standard calendar set in CA Clarity PPM.
On the View tab, clear the Show links between projects dialog on open check box. This feature is incompatible with CA Clarity PPM external dependencies, and is ignored when selected.
On the Save tab, change the file location as desired. In general, you can save the MPP files to any folder. However, if you share your computer with other users and update master projects, set the file location to a commonly shared folder.
See your Windows administrator for assistance.
Periodically look for CA Clarity PPM releases or patches. Accompanying release notes advise you if a Microsoft Project Interface or Schedule Connect upgrade is recommended or required.
In general, you are not required to upgrade Schedule Connect each time you upgrade CA Clarity PPM. But if upgraded, the latest product enhancements and bug fixes display.
Use the following process to uninstall Microsoft Project Interface with CA Clarity PPM Schedule Connect:
After you uninstall the MSP Interface and Schedule Connect from Windows Control Panel, the following contents are removed:
A clean.vbs file is placed under the root folder on Windows System drive(For example, C:\clean.vbs). If the VBA code and the MSP Integration toolbar or add-in are not removed automatically, run the clean.vbs to remove them.
A working copy of a project lets you update the project offline for extended periods of time. When you open and save a project as a file, Microsoft Project creates a working copy. Save projects locally as MPP files in Microsoft Project.
Unless you save the project to CA Clarity PPM during the same session, the project remains locked. You can continue updating the project in Microsoft Project. The next time you save the working copy, Microsoft Project assumes that you are saving back to CA Clarity PPM.
When you open and save projects, Schedule Connect coordinates updates between CA Clarity PPM and Microsoft Project, even when changes occur concurrently. To enable this coordination of information, Microsoft Project fields are mapped to CA Clarity PPM fields. You can do this using Studio.
For more information, see the Studio Developer’s Guide.
When working in Studio, keep in mind the following:
Key information such as resources and the costing rules is controlled in CA Clarity PPM. You cannot save any changes to global information from Microsoft Project back to CA Clarity PPM. You can only save changes to global information locally. For example, suppose you create a resource in Microsoft Project and then reference it in your project. Verify that the resource is first created in CA Clarity PPM, and then the project saved to CA Clarity PPM.
Certain types of information are protected and cannot be updated or edited from Microsoft Project. For example, you can edit actuals when resources are enabled to use CA Clarity PPM timesheets. When you submit actuals, the project plan is recalculated when the actuals are compared with the estimates (ETC).
When saving a project to CA Clarity PPM, information about a project including its tasks and assignments is updated, with the following exceptions:
You cannot delete projects, tasks, and team staff members that have submitted actuals. You cannot remove resource assignments from tasks that have submitted actuals. When you try to delete an assignment with actuals, the estimates (ETC) are set to zero. When you try to delete a task with actuals, the task is marked as "Complete".
The tasks are relocated under a Deleted Tasks summary task in the work breakdown structure (WBS). The logic in CA Clarity PPM either creates this phase or reuses an existing phase. CA Clarity PPM sets the ID of the task to a value that is not localized. CA Clarity PPM and Microsoft Project can recognize the task based on the language settings.
You can update timesheets or financial transactions in CA Clarity PPM that can affect information about projects that you are updating. When a project is locked, most timesheets and transaction updates that affect a project are blocked.
The following changes are retained and merged when saving projects to CA Clarity PPM:
When you save the project to CA Clarity PPM, unplanned tasks and assignments are not deleted. Any unplanned tasks and assignments opened in Microsoft Project are marked as "Planned". You can delete unplanned tasks and assignments from Microsoft Project at a later time.
Note: Assignments are tracked when the Track Mode field in CA Clarity PPM for associated projects and resources is set to Clarity or Other. Actuals, Actuals Thru Date, Pending Actuals and for Pending Estimates field information (except for setting it to blank) is maintained from CA Clarity PPM. Any changes you make to these fields from Microsoft Project are ignored.
Cost information is retrieved from the financial cost matrix in CA Clarity PPM when you open projects using CA Clarity PPM in Microsoft Project. Cost rates determine the cost associated with a resource assigned to a task in a project. The cost rates displayed in Microsoft Project are retrieved from the Cost field in the CA Clarity PPM cost matrix. These costs are shown over time by task and at the project level.
For more information, see the Financial Management User Guide.
Microsoft Project supports time-varying and project-specific cost rates. The changes you make to the cost rates in Microsoft Project are for what-if purposes only and cannot be saved to CA Clarity PPM.
You can insert dependencies into an open project without having to open the project from which the dependent relationship is created. In Microsoft Project, you can insert dependencies by entering the file name and task ID of the dependent task. You must have both files open in Microsoft Project to create the external dependency.
For more information, see the Microsoft online help.
When you have a project with external dependencies open in Microsoft Project, the external task information and external dependencies are retrieved. No other information is retrieved. In Microsoft Project, the task ID of the external dependency is displayed as the [Project Name]\[Task ID]. For example, wireless_upgrade\5.
When you save a project with external dependencies, external tasks are updated as needed.
You can open projects from:
Before you open a project from CA Clarity PPM into Microsoft Project:
Suppose, you have Microsoft Project running and Schedule Connect is already connected to a CA Clarity PPM server. Schedule Connect attempts to open a project with the same ID from the CA Clarity PPM server to which Schedule Connect is currently connected. If the project ID is not found, the project cannot open.
You can open any active projects you have rights to view or edit from CA Clarity PPM. To open projects from CA Clarity PPM, they must be formatted in Microsoft Project. Tasks created with dates set in CA Clarity PPM that are different than the project start date acquire Start No Earlier constraints to hold them there. Work effort estimates for each role on each task are loaded into Microsoft Project including the distribution of this work over time.
The access rights to view or edit a project allow you to open the project as read-only or read/write from CA Clarity PPM in Microsoft Project. If you have the read-only access rights to a project, or if the project is currently locked, you can open the project as read-only.
Note: You cannot open projects with the same project ID and the MPP file name in Microsoft Project from different CA Clarity PPM servers on your computer. If you open a project under the conditions, delete the MPP file that you have saved locally. Then, open the project with the duplicate project ID from the other CA Clarity PPM servers.
When you open a project from CA Clarity PPM in Microsoft Project, the following occurs:
Follow these steps:
The task list appears.
Default: Read-Write
Note: If you have access rights only to view the project, or if another user locks the project, Read-Only is selected by default. Also, the list box becomes unavailable.
The project opens in Microsoft Project.
Use the following procedure to open CA Clarity PPM project from Microsoft Project after you have set up your connection to a CA Clarity PPM server. You can open any active CA Clarity PPM project to which you have view, or edit rights from Microsoft Project using Schedule Connect.
The Open from Clarity window displays a list of CA Clarity PPM projects. A list of active projects formatted for Microsoft Project that you can edit or view are displayed in the table.
Follow these steps:
The Open from Clarity window opens.
Defines the unique identifier for the project that is typically auto-numbered.
Limits: 20 characters
Required: Yes
Displays the name for the project. The value for this field is based on the Project Name field on the project properties page.
Defines the user name of the resource currently editing the project.
Specifies the email address of the resource responsible for managing the project.
If the project is locked and saved locally, a message appears prompting to open the CA Clarity PPM version and replacing the local version.
When you open a project from CA Clarity PPM in Microsoft Project, you can open in the following modes:
When you lock a project in CA Clarity PPM:
Use the following process to save CA Clarity PPM projects in Microsoft Project:
When you save a project that you updated in Microsoft Project back to CA Clarity PPM, the saved project in CA Clarity PPM reflects the updated schedule. The MPP project file is uploaded to CA Clarity PPM including discrete information, such as task schedules and resource work amounts.
Note: Use the Save and Save As feature of Microsoft Project to save the file locally. Use Schedule Connect to save projects to CA Clarity PPM.
If the following conditions are true, you can create a project in Microsoft Project and then save it to CA Clarity PPM:
When you save a new project created in Microsoft Project to CA Clarity PPM, the following occurs automatically:
Note: If the project ID exists in CA Clarity PPM, you can save a project over an existing project by clicking Save As... from the CA Clarity PPM Integration menu or toolbar. If you save over an existing project, the new project information replaces the existing project information. Unplanned tasks, assigned tasks with actuals are moved to the Deleted Tasks summary phase as deleted tasks.
If you open a project from CA Clarity PPM, the project ID stored in the MPP file is used as the default project ID. If the project is not opened from CA Clarity PPM, the project title is used as the project ID.
You can change the project ID. If the project ID is unique in CA Clarity PPM, a new project is saved to CA Clarity PPM. If the project ID exists in CA Clarity PPM, a confirmation message appears letting you know the ID exists already. Click Yes to replace the existing project with the new project information.
Note: If you change the ID, the MPP file name changes to match it.
Follow these steps:
The Save As to Clarity dialog appears with a list of active projects to which you have access rights.
Defines the unique identifier for the project that is typically auto-numbered.
Limits: 20 characters
Required: Yes
Defines the default local path and the MPP file name of the project. The MPP file name defaults to the project ID. If the project name exists already, information from the new project replaces the existing project.
Note: The path and file name are based on the Tools, Option, Save settings in Microsoft Project. Any changes to the setting do not take effect until the next time you start Microsoft Project.
Indicates the tracking method that is used by resource assignments to enter time spent on project tasks.
Values:
Default: Clarity
You can save a copy of an existing CA Clarity PPM project as a new project. Such action copies all the project information to the new project. Both projects exist independently of each other. No file sharing occurs.
Saving a copy of a CA Clarity PPM project, discards your lock on that project, unless you save it as an MPP file.
Follow these steps:
The project opens.
The Save As To Clarity dialog appears.
A copy of the project is saved as a new project in CA Clarity PPM.
To save an existing project to CA Clarity PPM, requires you to have edit access rights and lock option on the project. You cannot save to CA Clarity PPM when another user has locked the project, or when you did not lock it. If necessary, you can force a save.
Once you save your existing project, you can continue to modify the project, even when it is locked.
Follow these steps:
The project remains open and locked.
If you do not have a lock on the project, a message appears prompting to force a save.
Your changes are saved.
A lock is placed on a project when you open it from CA Clarity PPM as read/write. In general, closing a project in Microsoft Project, unlocks the project in CA Clarity PPM, even when you exit Microsoft Project with the project open.
You can unlock a project from Microsoft Project.
Follow these steps:
The project is saved.
The project unlocks.
If you exit Microsoft Project without saving the project locally, a message appears prompting to save the project. If you save, the project is saved locally, but is not saved back to CA Clarity PPM.
You can do the following to create projects:
You can assign resources to tasks from CA Clarity PPM or from Microsoft Project.
In CA Clarity PPM, you can assign resources to tasks in the work breakdown structure (WBS) in the Gantt view. The resource assignments that you create default to the default resource load pattern. Your CA Clarity PPM administrator can define this option using the Default Load Pattern field, which is a default project management setting.
When you open a CA Clarity PPM project in Microsoft Project, the following occurs:
If the assignment exists (previously opened in Microsoft Project and saved to CA Clarity PPM), the work contour in Microsoft Project does not change.
|
Updating Task Status Updates Resource Status |
Split In-progress Tasks |
Work Contour set to |
|---|---|---|
|
Selected |
Not Selected |
Contoured |
|
Selected |
Selected |
Flat |
|
Not Selected |
Not Selected |
Flat |
|
Not Selected |
Selected |
Flat |
Note: If the project Track Mode field in CA Clarity PPM is set to Clarity or Other, the Updating Task Status Updates Resource Status check box is cleared. The check box is cleared regardless of the user settings in Microsoft Project.
The schedule for the work can change when opening the project in Microsoft Project.
Examples
Suppose, you create a Front-loaded assignment in CA Clarity PPM with 40 hours on a five-day task. CA Clarity PPM schedules that work as full-time over those five days. Microsoft Project schedules those 40 hours over 8.33 days.
Suppose, you assign a resource uniformly to a five-day task in CA Clarity PPM and then change the task duration to ten days. The rate of work is reduced to half-time, retaining the total amount of work. Microsoft Project reschedules this change as full-time, shortening the task back to five days.
Add any CA Clarity PPM resource or role to which you have access rights to hard or soft book to a project open in Microsoft Project. When you add a resource using Schedule Connect, the resources are allocated to tasks manually.
When you add a resource to the project, the resource information is downloaded from CA Clarity PPM. The resource is allocated at 100 percent to the project as if the resource is staffed in CA Clarity PPM. You can modify the resource availability in the project and implicitly change the allocation to another value.
To add a resource to a project in Microsoft Project, create a resource and enter the ID in the Initials field. The resource ID requires matching with the resource ID in CA Clarity PPM. The remaining resource attributes are set to match the CA Clarity PPM information when you save and reopen the project in CA Clarity PPM. To save the project to CA Clarity PPM, the resource requires existing in CA Clarity PPM.
Follow these steps:
The browse resources dialog appears.
The list of selected resources and roles that you add to the project.
The list of resources and roles to which you have booking rights.
To select a role, expand the role folder and select the role name. To select individual resources, expand the role folder and select the resource name.
The selected resources or roles are added to the project.
When you assign resources to a fully developed plan, you can balance the workload. The resource-leveling feature is a Microsoft Project solution to balance the workload. The feature shifts task schedules without changing task durations, or the distribution of work.
If you opt not to use the feature, you can manually reassign work by modifying the model. For example, manipulate assignment delays and assign work contours.
For more information, see the Microsoft online help.
You can insert CA Clarity PPM projects as subprojects into a project you have open in Microsoft project. Subprojects open as read/write or read-only depending on how you opened the master project from CA Clarity PPM. The read/write status of each of the subprojects also determine how they open.
Note: Use care when linking subprojects to multiple master projects. You can reference subprojects many times from different projects.
When you open a master project in Microsoft Project, the subprojects and nested subprojects are opened and linked to the master project. A shared resource pool project is created locally when resources are shared across multiple projects.
Example:
wireless_pool.mpp
This shared resource pool project allows the master project to share its resources with its subprojects. The shared resource pool is associated with the master project and opens only when you open the master project. When you save a master project in Microsoft Project back to CA Clarity PPM, all project teams update with the resources from the shared resource pool. The subprojects must be read-write.
When you open a subproject from CA Clarity PPM in Microsoft Project, you open it as read/write or read-only. The access depends on how you open the master project and the read/write status of each of the subprojects.
Subprojects you open as independent projects open without any associations to their master projects or shared resource pools. Opening a subproject and linking it to its master projects, creates a shared resource pool project to share resources across multiple projects.
Access rights and locks control subproject access. When you open a master project from CA Clarity PPM in Microsoft Project, the access rights and locks are verified in all subprojects. The following are verified:
Note: If you have the subproject already open as read/write in Microsoft Project, this version is used instead of opening another version from CA Clarity PPM.
Subprojects that you have set to read-only are opened from CA Clarity PPM in Microsoft Project as read-only. The case holds good, unless the subprojects are already open in read/write mode, or you open them later as read/write. In this case, the subprojects in the master project temporarily change to read/write.
As long as you open the master project as read/ write, subprojects that you open as read/write, open so in Microsoft Project.
Note: You can update read/write master projects and subprojects, and link master projects to other master projects from different computers. You can do so, until the user who first checks out the master project checks it in before you.
You can save a subproject you have open in read/write mode by saving the master in Microsoft Project back to CA Clarity PPM. The following conditions are verified before a subproject is saved:
You can create a baseline of the project from Microsoft Project, or from CA Clarity PPM. You can keep a copy of the schedule now, or at any point, by creating a baseline. The baseline is saved with the resources time-varying rate at the time you create a baseline revision.
Best Practice: You can encounter performance issues when opening up a CA Clarity PPM project in Microsoft Project that has many baselines. So, limit the transfer to only the current baseline information. Your CA Clarity PPM administrator can select the Only Export Current Baselines When Opening Investments in a Scheduler project management setting.
Microsoft Project 2000 can support only a single baseline.
When you open a project from CA Clarity PPM in Microsoft Project:
Note: If no baseline revisions are sent from CA Clarity PPM, Schedule Connect verifies that the baseline information in the MPP file and on the project plan are cleared in Microsoft Project.
When you save the project to CA Clarity PPM, Schedule Connect checks for baseline information. If the plan has:
Microsoft Project 2002 and later can support up to 11 baselines. Multiple baselines are managed by saving each revision to baseline slots in the MPP file. For example, the information for the current revision is saved to the baseline slot. A previous baseline revision is saved to the baseline1 slot, and so on, up to baseline10.
When you open a project from CA Clarity PPM in Microsoft Project:
When you save the project to CA Clarity PPM, Schedule Connect checks each possible baseline slot in the project. The check begins with the baseline slot and ends with the baseline10 slot:
Note: If the MPP file contains information for a revision whose matching baseline slot is empty, Schedule Connect sends the revision information to CA Clarity PPM. A Delete flag is used to tell CA Clarity PPM to delete the baseline revision.
If you are using CA Clarity PPM with Microsoft Project and creating multiple baselines for a master project, a baseline (Baseline1) is created for the master project and its subprojects. When you save the master project back to CA Clarity PPM, the baseline information for the master includes the values from the subprojects. For example, a master project has a task with five hours of ETC, and its two subprojects have a task with ten hours ETC each. When you save the project back to CA Clarity PPM, the master project baseline usage is 25 hours.
For more information, see the Microsoft online help.
Follow this step:
With the project open in Microsoft Project, navigate to Tools, Tracking, and Save Baseline from the menu.
The resources assignments on 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.
Resources must submit their timesheet and the project manager must approve the timesheet before it is posted to the project plan. Pending actuals are displayed in Microsoft Project before posting actuals. The Pending Actuals field in CA Clarity PPM is mapped to the Number2 field in Microsoft Project.
When a timesheet is posted, the estimates (ETC) on assignments for which a resource enters actuals on their timesheet is adjusted. In most cases, the ETC reduces the amount of the actuals 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 ETC that are scheduled on or before the week are replaced with the actuals. Also, the ETC scheduled after the week are kept intact. The result, depending on when the estimates are 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 work on a task takes longer than planned (more actuals are entered than planned), the result is a new, reduced ETC.
Less work is completed on a task than was planned for the week is scheduled at a higher rate within the task schedule. In this case, when you open the project from CA Clarity PPM in Microsoft Project, the task is rescheduled and the finish date is delayed.
A posted timesheet is assumed to be a complete accounting of the project work that a resource did that week. A scheduled task that does not appear on the timesheet implies that the resource did not complete any work on that task. The project manager must reschedule the task for the following week or beyond.
Note: When you open a project from CA Clarity PPM in Microsoft Project it is scheduled, even if you use Manual Calculation in Microsoft Project. As a result, task finish dates and resource work distribution in Microsoft Project can be different than in CA Clarity PPM.
Once actuals have been posted, rework your plan. Reworking the plan helps ensure that work is balanced. Also, the rate of progress does not demand a change of scope, sequence, or other elements of the project.
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