Set up timesheets and task status

Before team members can record time on their timesheet or submit their task status, you need to set up timesheets, task status, or both.

Set up timesheets

Set up task status

Create financial periods

1. On the Quick Launch, click Server Settings.

2. On the Server Settings page, click Financial Periods.

3. In the Manage Fiscal Period section, click the year that you want to define as the fiscal period, and then click Define.

4. In the Define Fiscal Period Start Date section, enter the date on which the fiscal year should begin by using the date picker .

5. In the Set Fiscal Year Creation Model section, select a formatting method for the fiscal period:

   • 4,5,4 Method      This method sets a four-week fiscal period, followed by a five-week fiscal period and another four-week fiscal period.

   • 4,4,5 Method      This method sets a four-week fiscal period, followed by another four-week fiscal period and a five-week fiscal period.

   • 5,4,4 Method      This method sets a five-week fiscal period, followed by a four-week fiscal period and another four-week fiscal period.

   • 13 months      This method sets each period as four weeks.

   • Standard calendar year      This method sets each period according to the standard 12month year beginning on January 1.

6. In the Define Period Naming Convention section, create a unique name for the periods by entering:

   • A prefix of up to 15 characters.

   • A sequence number of up to six digits.

   • A suffix of up to 15 characters, such as Qtr. #, '08.

7. Click Create and Save.

On the Fiscal Periods page, the fiscal period will be displayed with the individual periods showing in the Adjust Fiscal Months grid.

After defining a fiscal period, you can edit it by using the grid. If you want to adjust the end date for a date range within the fiscal period, in the End Date column for the fiscal period row, type or select a new date by using the date picker . The dates for the following periods will automatically be adjusted so that all periods are contiguous.

Tip: If you want to redefine the fiscal period further because of a mistake you made, you need to first select the period, and then delete it by clicking Delete , and then redefine it by clicking Define .

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Set up timesheet periods

When you create a timesheet period, you are setting up the periods that team members select and report time against.

1. On the Quick Launch, click Server Settings.

2. On the Server Settings page, click Timesheet Periods.

3. In the Define Bulk Period Parameters section, specify the number of periods that you want to create, the start date of the first timesheet period, and the standard length of the periods in days.

4. In the Define Batch Naming Convention section, specify the naming convention for each timesheet period so that team members can easily identify them.

   • In the Type a prefix box, type a unique prefix to be used as the beginning of the naming convention.

   • If you are creating more than one period, in the Next Sequence Number box, type a sequence number that can be used to identify each unique period.

   • In the Type a suffix box, type a unique suffix to be used as the end of the naming convention.

5. Click Create Bulk to create the periods, and then click Save.

6. In the Create Periods section, you can further modify the periods.

   • Click Insert Before or Insert After to insert an additional timesheet periods.

   • To rename a timesheet period, click the name of the timesheet period in the Period Label column, and then type a new name.

   • To change the status of the period, click Open or Closed in the Status column.

     Note: The status of all new timesheet periods is set to Open. Only a server administrator can close a period. It is possible to restrict future timesheets from being submitted by using the Timesheet Settings and Defaults page.

7. Click Save.

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Define timesheet line classifications

Classifications are categories that you define for the work that your organization performs. For example, your organization may have different classifications for billable and nonbillable work.

By default, all timesheet lines use the Standard (or default) line classification.

1. On the Quick Launch, click Server Settings.

2. On the Server Settings page, click Timesheet Classifications.

3. In the Edit, Enter Line Classification section, click New Classification.

4. In the grid, type a new name and description that identifies the timesheet line classification for team members.

5. By default, the Status column is set to Active. Set the status to Inactive to deactivate the classification so that it can no longer be applied. The classification will remain in Project Web Access for historical reporting purposes.

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Specify timesheet settings and defaults

1. On the Quick Launch, click Server Settings.

2. On the Server Settings page, click Timesheet Settings and Defaults.

3. In the Outlook Display section, specify how you want to display scheduled, actual, overtime, billable and non-billable time in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

4. In the Project Web Access Display section, select The Timesheet will use standard Overtime and Non-Billable time tracking check box to allow team members to submit overtime and non-billable time. Team members will still be able to submit time for their scheduled work.

5. In the Default Timesheet Creation Mode section, specify which data should be included in the default timesheet:

   • Select Current task assignments to pre-populate timesheets with information about the team members' tasks assignments.

   • Select Current projects to pre-populate timesheets with information about the team members' current projects.

   • Select No prepopulation to create blank timesheets for team members.

6. In the Timesheet Grid Column Units section, specify whether the default timesheet tracking units are days or weeks.

7. In the Default Reporting Units section, specify whether time units within time periods are reported in hours or days.

   To specify how many hours constitute an entire day's worth of work, type the hours in the The number of hours in a standard timesheet day is box.

8. In the In the Hourly Reporting Limits section, specify the maximum and minimum hours allowed in a timesheet, as well as the maximum number of hours allowed to be reported in a day. If team members report time beyond these limits, errors will appear on their timesheets when they submit them.

   If you don't want to set a maximum or a minimum hourly reporting limit, type 999 to represent unlimited hours or type 0 to represent no minimum time. Typing 0 effectively turns off reporting limits.

   Tip: You can specify the default number of hours in a day, up to 999 hours to cover the reporting hours needed for a team.

9. In the Timesheet Policies section, specify the following:

   • Select Allow future time reporting to enable team members to record time for periods in the future.

   • Select the Allow unverified timesheet line items check box to permit team members to create timesheet entries for projects or tasks that are not in Microsoft Office Project Server 2007.

     Note: This check box must be selected if you are only using the timesheet, and are not tracking project tasks by using task status.

10. In the Auditing section, click the Enable Timesheet Auditing check box to create a detailed record all the changes made to a timesheet.

    Tip: Click Purge Log to clear the log.

11. In the Approval Routing section, click the Fixed Approval Routing check box to prevent team members from manually specifying the next approver when they submit their timesheet.

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Set up task status

1. On the Quick Launch, click Server Settings.

2. On the Server Settings page, click Task Settings and Display.

3. In the Tracking Method section, select the tracking method that best represents how you want team members to report their progress on project tasks.

   Tip: If you want project managers to have the option of specifying different reporting methods for their projects, clear the Force project managers to use the progress reporting method specified above for all projects check box. However, requiring the same reporting method ensures consistency in reports that display organization-wide data.

4. In the Protect User Updates section, specify how you want updates on actuals to occur:

   • To restrict the project manager from a team member's task status, select the Restrict updates to Project Web Access check box.

   • To require that team members record actuals by first syncing up their task status with their timesheet, select the Time entry by Timesheet only, users will sync to update tasks check box. If this check box is selected, task status can only be entered by clicking Import Timesheet. After the timesheet data is imported, the time cannot be edited within the task status pages.

5. In the Define Current Tasks section, type the number of days within which a task must be scheduled for completion in order for it to appear by default and be considered current in the team member's task list.

6. In the Enable Team Member Gantt view section, select the Enable ActiveX Gantt view for all users check box if you want to enable users to the ActiveX controls that are needed to use the Task Gantt view on the Task Center page.

Why can't I perform some actions in Project Web Access?

Depending on the permissions settings you used to log on to Project Web Access, you may not be able to see or use certain features. Also, what you see on some pages may differ from what is documented if your server administrator customized Project Web Access and did not customize the Help to match.