Actual Task Hours "Auto-populating" in Resource Timesheet

[Clemay300]

Hello!

I have a question about tasks that seem to have time actual values "auto-populate" in them on an employee's timesheets. Basically, when looking at a timesheet in Project Online (PWA), what causes some tasks to automatically show an hour value, when the resource has not yet entered anytime? Where-as other tasks on the same project will not show this automatically populated time, even though they are assigned to the same resource and still have time remaining? 

I have an example below. Of the three tasks below, all 3 were still active, but only the "Project Management" task is displaying values in the "Actual" field that the resource did not enter? 

Looking at the task details in the Project Desktop application, all of the tasks are very similar in the Assignment Information. They are all assigned to the same resource, they are all manually scheduled, etc. The only difference that I can see is the "Work Contour" field show as "Contoured" on the task that is auto-populating time values. Whereas the other tasks are set as "Flat". 

Project Management Task Info: 

Other Task Info: 

Would this "Work Contour" field be having the impact described above on the employees' hours on the Timesheet? If so, how/where is "Work Contour" being determined? 

If something else may be causing the auto-populating values on the Timesheet, I would be happy for any additional information.

Thanks!

Chris

[#2]

Clemay300 --

When Actual Work values appear automatically on the Timesheet page for one or more users, this indicates that the project manager has manually entered Actual Work for those tasks in the Microsoft Project schedule. Otherwise, there should never be Actual Work values that are automatically populated for a user. Would that explain them mystery? Let us know and we will try to help you.

[#3]

@Dale_HowardMVP 

Thank you for the quick reply!

To clarify, if a project manager manually manipulating the "Actual Work" values for the tasks in questions, where would they have done that?

Looking at the task in the project in question I can add the "Actual Work" field, however, our PMs are not very adventurous in poking around the app, so I do not think they would have added that field and then updated it. Would they be doing these manual edits elsewhere?

[#4 · Accepted solution]

Cleymay300 --

If the project manager opens the enterprise project in Microsoft Project, and then manually enters a % Complete value on a task with resources assigned to it, the software will automatically calculate the Actual Work for each resource assigned to the task. If the PM then publishes the project, the Actual Work will automatically show up on each resource's Timesheet page in PWA. Have you quizzed your PMs to determine whether any of them are doing what I just described? If they are, tell them to stop doing this, as it appears you want all progress to be entered from the Timesheet page in PWA. The only exception for your PMs is that they can manually mark the % Complete value to 100% on only Milestone tasks. Hope this helps.

[#5]

This certainly seems like it is most likely the case for what the PMs are encountering. I will check with them and confirm if they are doing what you described above. Thanks again for the information!

[#6]

@Clemay300 & @Dale_HowardMVP  It's possible to fix this issue.  The steps below worked for me, but I'd recommend you try this on a test project and task.  The key is getting the Actual Work value set to what the user actually entered in their timesheet. Let me know how it goes.

1. You need to retrieve the total Actual Work the user entered in their timesheet.  You can connect Power BI to the TimesheetLines table and sum the ActualWorkBillable or Actual lWorkNonBillable depending on how your site is configured. 
   • This OData query should get you that information, but you'll need to sum it https://<Your PWA>/_api/ProjectData/TimesheetLines?$filter=(ActualWorkBillable gt 0 or ActualWorkNonBillable gt 0)&$select=AssignmentId, PeriodStartDate, ProjectName, TaskName, ActualWorkBillable, ActualWorkNonBillable, TimesheetOwner, TimesheetOwnerId, TimesheetApproverResourceName
2. Open project containing the auto-populating tasks
3. Open Resource Usage view
4. Set the Actual Work value to the value found in step 1 above for each task/resource.
   • Ensure the Remaining Work value and Finish dates are valid.
5. Publish project
6. Have user go to Manage timesheets, select problem timesheet then click Delete.  This does not delete entered actuals.
7. Click the Click to Create option for the timesheet you just deleted.
8. Timesheet is opened and the actuals are no longer auto-populated.

[#7]

Interesting. I do not have access to PowerBI, but I should be able to use postman to do the API requests. I will see if I can get that actual work data and let the PMs know how to update.

Thanks for that info!

[#8]

@Clemay300 - You can also run the query I provided in Power Query within Excel.

[#9]

@RodFromm 

Okay, I think I got the query to work. I am a little confused on what I am seeing. I am guessing that the query pulled all timesheet data where the following is true? 

- ActualWorkBillable > 0

- ActualWorkNonBillable > 0

However, within the results I am not sure how to interpret what I am seeing. For example, The "Project Managment" task in question has an "Actual Work" value of 201.36. When I run the query provided, I get back two results for that Project/Task combination. 

{

"ActualWorkBillable": "10.000000",
"ActualWorkNonBillable": "0.000000",
"AssignmentId": "a3f133f6-0c6a-ee11-b81d-5084928c8376",
"PeriodStartDate": "/Date(1710115200000)/",
"TaskName": "Project Management"

}

{

"ActualWorkBillable": "5.000000",
"ActualWorkNonBillable": "0.000000",
"AssignmentId": "a3f133f6-0c6a-ee11-b81d-5084928c8376",
"PeriodStartDate": "/Date(1702857600000)/",
"TaskName": "Project Management"

}

Both of the tasks above have the same TimesheetOwner. Is this saying that only 15 hours were entered via the timesheet, so they would overwrite the 201.36 with just 15? 

[#10]

@Clemay300 Yes, it's telling you the user only submitted 15 hours against this task in their timesheet. When you close Power Query in Excel you can have the date written to a new worksheet then create pivot table report to sum the values. 

The fix is performed by you, or the PM.  Now that you know the correct value for Actual Work, continue with step 2 of the instructions I posted and correct the resource assignment.

[#11]

That is interesting. Where is that 201.36 "Actual Work" value coming from for the task? Just wondering as that is a big discrepancy!

Is that part of the auto-calculation over the timesheet periods because they adjusted the %complete, as Dale mentioned?

[#12]

@Clemay300 Yes, that is part of the auto-calculation Dale mentioned.

[#13]

@RodFromm. Just to confirm in step 6 of your instructions. This would be the user doing the following -> 

1. Open Project Online. 

2. Go to "Server Settings". 

3. Go to "Manage Timesheets". 

4. Select current timesheet. 

5. Delete timesheet. 

Is this deleting the timesheet for the individual user or would this delete that timesheet period for everyone in our organization? 

Thanks! 

[#14]

@Clemay300 Good question.  This only deletes that specific user's timesheet and not the timesheet period for your org.  Any hours entered will populate the timesheet when they click "Click to Create".  The timesheet user can perform this, or anyone who has the privileges can act as a delegate and perform this for them.