Working on tasks in Project Web App Working on tasks in Project Web App And…SUBMIT! 20 Peek at what’s going on behind the scenes 22 3 24 More than just hours: Updating task progress

Working on tasks in

Project Web App:

A guide for team members

My Project Web App administrator is:

My Project Web App address is:

2 Working on tasks in Project Web App

Copyright

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in any Microsoft product. You may copy and use this document for your internal,

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© 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Table of Contents 3

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 3

Introduction 7

Hold on, what’s Project Web App?................................................... 7

Is this guide for Project Online or Project Server?.......................8

I need help! ..............................................................................................8

1 10

Get your bearings 10

Quick Launch..........................................................................................11

Ribbon ......................................................................................................11

Main display area ................................................................................. 12

Just want to see a list of projects?................................................... 12

2 14

Turning in timesheets 14

Why are timesheets important? ...................................................... 14

Okay, I’m convinced. Now how does it work? ............................ 15

Let’s fill out your timesheet!.............................................................. 16 Ready to enter your hours?..................................................................................................17 Don’t see the task you worked on? ....................................................................................17 What about hours that aren’t part of a project? ............................................................ 18 How do I get a task off of my timesheet?........................................................................ 19 Need to enter hours for a different timesheet period? ................................................ 19


And…SUBMIT! ...................................................................................... 20

Peek at what’s going on behind the scenes ............................... 22

3 24

More than just hours: Updating task progress 24

Time vs. task progress: What’s the difference? .......................... 24 Let’s look at an example… ................................................................................................... 25 Okay, but remind me, why are we doing this?............................................................... 26

Where do I enter my task progress? ............................................. 27 How do I know which way my organization is set up?................................................. 28

My organization is using separate views ..................................... 28 Report the percent of work you’ve completed .............................................................. 28 Update how much work you have left to do .................................................................. 32

My organization is using one view ................................................ 34 Report the percent of work you’ve completed .............................................................. 34 Update how much work you have left to do .................................................................. 37

Add comments about your work ................................................... 40 In the Tasks view…................................................................................................................. 40 In the Timesheet view….........................................................................................................41

Capture issues and risks .................................................................... 43 Add an issue ........................................................................................................................... 43 Add a risk ................................................................................................................................ 45

I need to look at a project document…where is it? .................. 48

Hand off work to someone else ..................................................... 50

4 53

Vacation, sick leave, and other non-project hours 53

Ahead of time....................................................................................... 53 Let your project manager know ........................................................................................ 54 Assign someone to enter your time and task progress ............................................... 54

Table of Contents 5

While you’re out .................................................................................. 55

After you’re back ................................................................................. 56

5 57

Uh oh, I didn’t mean to submit that! 57

Take back a timesheet that you sent for approval .................... 57

Delete a timesheet and start over ................................................. 59

6 60

Rejected! Now what? 60

How do I know if my updates were rejected?............................ 60

Why were my updates rejected? ..................................................... 61

What do I do now? .............................................................................. 61 Okay, but how? ......................................................................................................................62 When in doubt, add comments… ......................................................................................62

Appendix 63

In Project Web App, how do I…...................................................... 64

Introduction 7

Introduction

If you have been assigned a task in a project, this guide can help you learn how to

stay plugged into the project and keep your project manager up to date on how

your task is progressing, using Project Web App.

Send us your feedback ([email protected]). Please let us know what you

think about the quality of this content. If this guide does not meet your needs, let us

know how we can improve it. If this guide was helpful to you, let us know how it

helped. We love feedback!

Hold on, what’s Project Web App?

Project Web App is a project management application that you access in a web

browser. It is connected to a database, behind the scenes, that stores information

about the projects going on in your organization, including:

The tasks that are part of each project.

All of the people who are available to work on those tasks.

The materials needed to complete tasks for each project.

The costs associated with the people, materials, projects, and tasks in

your organization.


Is this guide for Project Online or Project Server?

Project Web App is a part of Project Server 2013 (on premises), or Project Online (in

the cloud). From a team member perspective, it really doesn’t matter whether you’re

using Project Web App as part of Project Server 2013 or Project Online. The

functionality is mostly identical, and the steps in this guide apply regardless of which

option your organization has chosen.

For more information about Project Online and Project Server 2013, go to:

http://office.com/project

I need help!

If this guide doesn’t answer your questions, you can try a few different things:

Ask your peers! The people you work with are often the best source of

information about working in Project Web App. They’re familiar with how

your organization has customized things, and what processes are in place. If

you need help, don’t be shy! Your coworkers may be just as confused as you

are, and working together may make things easier.

Search on Office.com. Articles on Office.com are designed to help you learn

how to use Project Web App, but may not cover specific details about how

your organization has set things up. Try searching for “Find information about

Project Server 2013” or “Find information about Project Online.”

Ask on the Project forums! The Project discussion forums on TechNet tend

to be very active, with subject matter experts and Microsoft MVPs responding

to posts, as well as some folks from Microsoft Support and Engineering. This

makes them a great resource for finding others who may have worked

through similar issues, or who have encountered the same situation. Take a

look at: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/projectserver

Introduction 9

And if none of that works, ask your

administrator! When you simply can’t

find the answer you’re looking for, try

asking your Project Web App

administrator.



1 Get your bearings

Ready to dive in and start using Project Web App? This chapter will help you figure

out what you’re looking at when you log in, so you know which pieces do what.

The Project Web App window is made up of three main areas: the Quick Launch,

the ribbon, and the main display area.

Quick Launch Main display area

Ribbon


Quick Launch

The Quick Launch lists the main views and pages that you are able to access. You

can click these links to navigate to different areas of Project Web App.

Some pages in Project Web App do not include the Quick Launch. For example,

when you fill out a form, you must complete and save the form, or cancel out of it, in

order to see the Quick Launch.

Ribbon

The ribbon is the toolbar that you use to perform actions on what's currently in the

main display area.

There may be multiple tabs on

the ribbon, to change between

different sets of actions.

Each tab contains groups of

related buttons that you can

use to interact with the page

content.


Main display area

The main display area contains information about your projects and tasks. This is

the main focus of each page, and is where you will enter and review data.

That’s it! You’ve got the basics of how to get around within Project Web App.

Just want to see a list of projects?

Most of the time, you’ll probably be entering time and task progress for tasks that

you’re assigned to. Occasionally, though, you might want to look at a list of all the

projects you’re working on. The Project Center shows a list of of your projects.

1. Click Projects on

the Quick Launch.

This shows a timesheet in the

main display area. Other pages

will also display here.


2. Click the name of a

project in the list to

view that project’s

tasks and schedule.

3. Click through the

links below the

project name on the

Quick Launch to

view information

about the project.

4. Scroll through the

list of tasks, and

view them on the

Gantt chart on the

right, to see the

work planned for

this project.

💡 TIP Slide the splitter in the middle over to see more of

either side of the view.

Also, what’s a Gantt chart? A Gantt chart is a fancy timeline. It shows time

going across the top, with bars for each row. Progress is shown within each bar,

and arrows show how one task or project relates to another.

List of tasks Gantt chart


2 Turning in timesheets

Timesheets are the core of what you, as a team member, will do in Project Web App.

This chapter covers why timesheets are important, how timesheets work overall in

Project Web App, and how you can get yours filled out and turned in.

Why are timesheets important?

Nobody loves filling out timesheets. If you’re working on a lot of different tasks at the

same time, it can be hard to figure out how much of your day was spent on each

task. It’s also sometimes tough to commit to having worked a set number of hours.

Maybe you feel like you should be working more hours, or maybe you feel like

you’re working too much. In either case, you might not feel inclined to draw

attention to your work hours.

When it comes to managing projects, the focus really

isn’t on your work ethic, although of course that’s still

important. The focus is about making sure the right

things get done on time and within budget. It’s about

making sure there are enough people to get the work

done without burning anyone out, or costing the

organization more money than planned.

The focus is about

making sure the right

things get done on

time and within

budget.


Project managers use timesheet data to help them figure out how many people

need to be assigned to similar tasks in future projects. Your HR department might

use this data to make sure they have appropriate headcount allocated to certain

roles. And yes, timesheets can translate to dollars in your pocket if you’re paid

hourly. But it’s important to remember that’s not all your timesheet data is…there are

bigger-picture benefits for your organization, that result in better planning and

efficiency going forward.

And you’ll see the benefit of that better planning and efficiency too, because you

won’t end up having to put in a ton of overtime trying to get your work done on

time. Your project manager will have a realistic expectation of how long things take

to get done, or how many people are actually needed on a given task, and you

might end up getting your weekend back.

Okay, I’m convinced. Now how does it work?

Behind the scenes, an administrator sets up the

timesheet periods for your organization (for

example, each week might be a separate

timesheet).

123

Task A

Task B

Task C

When your project manager

assigns you to a task, that task

shows up on your timesheet during

the period when it is scheduled in

the project plan.

8 8 4Task A

4 4Task B

4 8Task C

You fill out the actual hours you

spend on each task during the

timesheet period, and then you

submit it.


Every person in Project Web App is assigned a timesheet manager (sometimes more

than one). Your timesheet manager might be the project manager, or it might be

someone else, like a resource manager that is responsible for people across your

entire organization.

Your timesheet manager receives the

timesheet that you turned in, and reviews it. If

everything looks good, your timesheet is

approved. If things look different than

expected, your timesheet manager might reject

it and add some comments about why it’s

being rejected.

8 8 4Task A

4 4Task B

4 8Task C

8 8 4Task A

4 4Task B

4 8Task C

If your timesheet is approved, the time you submitted counts toward the total

amount of work done on the task, and the amount of work remaining on the task is

reduced. This is recorded in the overall project plan, so that the project manager can

accurately account for whether the project is progressing as planned.

Let’s fill out your timesheet!

First, we need to get to the Timesheet view.

On the Quick Launch, click Timesheet.

The Timesheet view is made up of a table with two sides, and a splitter in the middle.

The left side lists your tasks,

as well as things like sick

time and vacation.

The right side is where you enter

the actual hours that you spent per

day on each task.


💡 TIP Slide the splitter in the middle over to see

more of either side of the view.

Ready to enter your hours?

Find the task that you worked on in the list on the left side, and then follow the row

across to the right side of the view.

Don’t see the task you worked on?

Tasks assigned to you that are scheduled for the dates in the current timesheet

period will be automatically included on your timesheet. Sometimes, however, you

might start work on a task early, for example, and need to add a task to your

timesheet that isn’t automatically included. You can add a task to your timesheet,

and your time will be accounted for in the project.

1. Click the

Timesheet tab on

the ribbon.

Fill in your hours across the top row of the grid, next to Actual.

The bottom row of the grid shows the Planned hours, from

the when the task was initially scheduled in the project.

Do this ▶


2. Click Add Row, and then

choose the kind of task you

want to add.

What about hours that aren’t part of a project?

Your timesheet may also include non-project lines, to represent things like training,

travel, or even sick time and vacation. These are referred to as administrative tasks,

and you fill out hours in those rows the same as any other task. The difference with

administrative tasks is that the hours don’t roll up to any particular project.

▶ NOTE There’s more to read about sick leave and vacation time in

Chapter 4: Vacation, sick leave, and other non-project hours.

When the Project Name column lists

Administrative, hours in that row

won’t roll up to a project.


How do I get a task off of my timesheet?

If your timesheet includes a task that you aren’t currently working on, it’s really best

to just leave it there. It may look a bit cluttered, but removing it can cause issues for

other time periods. However, if a task on your timesheet isn’t really yours, you can

remove it from your timesheet. This submits a request to be removed from the task

altogether, and your project manager can decide whether this is the right call.

1. Select the check box

for the row.

2. Click the Options

tab on the ribbon.

3. Click Remove Task.

Need to enter hours for a different timesheet period?

There may be times when you need to enter time for a different period than the

current one. Maybe you forgot to fill out your time for a previous week, or you might


want to put in hours ahead of time because you know you’ll be in training or on

vacation when timesheets are due.

1. Click the

Timesheet tab on

the ribbon.

2. Click Select

Period, and then

choose which

period you want

to show.

If you don’t see

the period you

want listed, click

Select Period to

set specific dates.

Older periods

may be closed

for editing.

And…SUBMIT!

After you’ve entered your hours on a timesheet, the next step is to submit it to your

manager for approval.


1. Click the

Timesheet tab on

the ribbon.

2. Click Send > Turn

in Final

Timesheet.

💡 TIP When you choose Turn in Final Timesheet, your timesheet is

locked for editing. If you’re not ready to commit to that, click Send

Progress for All Tasks or Send Progress for Selected Tasks.


Peek at what’s going on behind the scenes

After submitting your timesheet, it should theoretically go to your manager for

approval. Sometimes, however, things go a little sideways and something might get

stuck in the system. It’s a complicated system…these things happen.

You can check on the things you’ve submitted using the My Queued Jobs page.

1. Click Settings > PWA Settings.

2. Click My Queued Jobs.


3. Use the Jobs > View list to

narrow down what’s displayed in

the grid.

In the grid, you can see all of your actions in Project Web App, including the state of

each action, and whether it is complete.

If something doesn’t seem to be acting the way you expect, take a look in your

queued jobs to see if something is stuck. If you see anything that looks problematic,

it might be worth chatting with your project manager or administrator.


3 More than just hours: Updating task progress

While it’s important to turn in the hours you work on your tasks, it’s equally important to

communicate with your project manager about how things are going in a more general way.

This chapter covers what the differences are between reporting time and updating task

progress, why it’s important to keep your project manager up to date, and how to submit

your task progress in Project Web App. We’ll also cover how you can capture issues and

risks, and where you can store documents.

Time vs. task progress: What’s the difference?

Before we talk about how to report on task progress in Project Web App, it’s

important to make sure we’re clear on the differences between time and task

progress.


Time is the actual number of hours you spend working on a specific task.

This is what you fill out on your timesheet (covered in Chapter 2:

Turning in timesheets), to capture the number of hours you spent on

different things during your work week.

◔ Task progress is an umbrella term for things like the percent of work that

is complete for a task (percent complete), and how much work is left to

do before the task is finished (remaining work).

Submitting task progress is a way to capture a broader description of how you think

things are going with your tasks.

Let’s look at an example…

Task A: 40 hours In this example, you are assigned to a

task that is scheduled to take 40 hours.

You spent 8 hours on the

task on Monday, 4 hours

on Tuesday, and 8 hours

on Wednesday, for a total

of 20 hours.

Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri Total

Actual 8 4 8 0 0 20

Planned 8 8 8 8 8 40

This is the time that you would enter on a timesheet.


Now, let’s look at the work you did from a task progress perspective.

Even though 20 of 40

hours have been spent on

the task, you may not feel

that you are 50%

complete.

You may think you are

farther along, say 75%

complete, or a bit behind,

maybe 25% complete.

20 of 40 hours looks like this ▶ ◑

But really, you may be

ahead of schedule, like this ▶ ◕ Or behind schedule, like this ▶ ◔

When you communicate your estimated percent complete, this is your task

progress. Communicating your estimated number of hours left on the task

(remaining work) is also considered your task progress.

Continuing with our example, after completing 20 of the 40 scheduled hours, you

may feel like you have more than 20 hours of work left to do before the task is

finished. By submitting your estimated remaining work to your project manager, you

are communicating task progress.

Okay, but remind me, why are we doing this?

Remember, just like with timesheets, reporting on task progress, frankly, isn’t

about you. It’s about the project itself, and making sure things get done on time

and within budget.

If the task you’re working on is taking longer than expected, for

whatever reason, your project manager may be able to rearrange

things down the road so that the overall project isn’t derailed.


Even when you do your job to the best of your abilities, things don’t always work as

planned. Every good project manager knows this, so don’t stress it if your task

progress doesn’t line up with the schedule. Just be honest, share how things are

going, and you’ll be doing your part to keep the project on track.

Where do I enter my task progress?

This is kind of a tricky question. There are two ways to set up Project Web App for

entering task progress.

Separate views for time and task progress.

If your organization has set up Project Web

App this way, team members enter and submit

time in the Timesheet view, and task progress

in the Tasks view.

Time Hours in the

Timesheet view

Task

progress

Percent complete

in the Tasks view

+

Remaining work in

the Tasks view

One combined view for time and task

progress. If your organization has set up

Project Web App this way, team members can

capture both time and task progress in the

Timesheet view. Task progress is represented

by your hours, in this case, rather than percent

complete, in addition to remaining work.

Time Hours in the

Timesheet view

Task

progress

Hours in the

Timesheet view

+

Remaining work in

the Timesheet view

The “combined view” method (which your administrator might know as “single entry

mode”) eliminates having to record things in two places, but you lose the ability to

report percent complete in a more general sense (“I’m about 25% done with this

task”). So, there are pros and cons. Ultimately, as a team member, you’re just going

with whatever your organization has chosen, but sometimes it’s helpful to know the

behind-the-scenes details.


How do I know which way my organization is set up?

You could ask your Project Web App

administrator about whether your organization is

using single entry mode, but an easier way to

figure it out on your own is to look at the Quick

Launch.

If your organization is tracking time and task

progress separately, you’ll most likely see both

the Tasks and Timesheet views listed on the

Quick Launch.

If you’re still not sure, ask your coworkers!

They’ve probably already been submitting time

and task progress, so they should know where

you should be entering your hours.

My organization is using separate views

Report the percent of work you’ve completed

1. Click Tasks on the

Quick Launch.

Got both? You’re

probably tracking things

separately.


2. Fill out your hours on

the right side of the

grid.

The % Work Complete

column, on the left side

of the grid, will be

automatically updated

with the percent

complete.

Actual Work = % Work Complete

Actual Work

+ Remaining Work

If you don’t see the task

that you want to

update, click Tasks >

Add Row.

If you’re completely

done with a task, select

the check box for the

task, and then click

Tasks > Mark

Complete. Percent

complete is updated to

100%.


3. Send your updates to

the project managers

for your tasks.

If you’re ready to send

all of your updates, click

Tasks > Send Status >

All Tasks.

If you only want to

submit some of your

updates, select the

check box for each task,

and then click Tasks >

Send Status >

Selected Tasks.

But the percentage doesn’t look accurate…what do I do?

Remember how percent complete is calculated?

20 hours completed

= 50% complete 40 hours scheduled


You know how much you worked, and you have an idea about what percentage

of the total work that represents, so what you’ll need to adjust is the number of

hours that are scheduled for the task.

For example, let’s say you’ve worked 20 hours, but you really only feel about 25%

complete on the task. That means that you really think the task will take 80 hours,

not 40, because 20 hours is 25% of 80 hours. Here’s what the math looks like:

20 hours completed


To adjust the hours scheduled, you can either change the hours in the Work

column, to reflect the 80 total hours, or you can change the hours in the

Remaining Work column, to reflect the additional work left to do.

In this example, you’re saying that you think the whole thing will take 80 hours,

and you’ve already completed 20 of those hours. That means you have 60 hours

of remaining work. When you enter 60 in the Remaining Work column, the %

Work Complete column is updated to reflect the percentage that you feel is

more accurate.

Keep reading. The next section talks about how to submit your remaining work to

the project manager.


Update how much work you have left to do


Quick Launch.

2. Update your tasks.

In the grid, fill out the

Remaining Work

column.


that you want to

update, click Tasks >

Add Row.


If you’re completely

done with a task, select

the check box for the

task, and then click

Tasks > Mark

Complete. Remaining

work is set to 0 hours.



for your tasks.



Tasks > Send Status >

All Tasks.

If you only want to

submit some of your

updates, select the


and then click Tasks >

Send Status >

Selected Tasks.


💡 Not ready to submit? If you aren’t ready to send

your remaining work to the project manager, click

Tasks > Save to save your updates and submit

them later.

My organization is using one view

Report the percent of work you’ve completed

When your organization uses one view to track time and task progress, the hours

that you fill out on your timesheet are used to calculate percent complete.

1. Click Timesheet on the

Quick Launch.

2. Use the right side of the

view to enter the hours

you worked on the task.




for your tasks.



Timesheet > Send >

Send Progress for All

Tasks.

If you only want to

submit some of your

updates, select the


and then click

Timesheet > Send >

Send Progress for

Selected Tasks.


4. After you’ve sent your

updates, the task will be

updated on your

timesheet, with the new

percent complete in the

% Work Complete

column.

But the percentage doesn’t look accurate…what do I do?

Remember how percent complete is calculated?

20 hours completed


You know how much you worked, and you have an idea about what percentage

of the total work that represents, so what you’ll need to adjust is the number of

hours that are scheduled for the task.

For example, let’s say you’ve worked 20 hours, but you really only feel about 25%

complete on the task. That means that you really think the task will take 80 hours,

not 40, because 20 hours is 25% of 80 hours. Here’s what the math looks like:

20 hours completed



However, you’re a team member, not the project manager, so you can’t just go in

and change the project plan to get your numbers to work out. You need to

communicate this part of your task progress to your project manager. You do this

by submitting the remaining work on the task.

In this example, you’re saying that you think the whole thing will take 80 hours,

and you’ve already completed 20 of those hours. That means you have 60 hours

of remaining work.

Keep reading. The next section talks about how to submit your remaining work to

the project manager. Once you do that, the percent complete should look

accurate.

Update how much work you have left to do


Quick Launch.


2. Find the task that you

want to update on the

left side of the view.

3. Use the scroll bar at the

bottom of the grid to

scroll right, to the

Remaining Work

column. Add the hours

you think are still

required to get the task

done.


that you want to

update, click

Timesheet > Add

Row.




for your tasks.



Timesheet > Send >

Send Progress for All

Tasks.

If you only want to

submit some of your

updates, select the


and then click

Timesheet > Send >

Send Progress for

Selected Tasks.


Add comments about your work

Another way to communicate task progress is by simply adding

some comments when you send updates to your project

manager. Sometimes you may need to explain why things are

taking longer than planned (“I added 20 hours of remaining work

because…”), or you might want to give a few more details about

the work you did that week (“I spent 6 hours on that task on

Tuesday doing…”).

“I added 20

hours of

remaining

work

because…”

You can add comments to your timesheet and task progress when you send them to

your project manager.

In the Tasks view…

1. Click the Tasks tab, and

then select the

Comment on Submit

check box in the

Show/Hide group.

2. Fill out your task

progress and then click

Tasks > Send Status

to choose what you

want to send.

If you’re not sure which

option to choose, take

a look at the sections

earlier in this chapter.


3. Fill out the comment

box, and then click OK

to send your updates to

your project manager.

In the Timesheet view…

1. Click the Options tab,

and then select the

Comment on Submit

check box in the

Show/Hide group.


2. Fill out your timesheet

and then click

Timesheet > Send to

choose what you want

to send.

If you’re not sure which

option to choose, take

a look at the sections

earlier in this chapter.

3. Fill out the Comment

box, and then click OK

to send your timesheet

to your manager.


Capture issues and risks

Projects very rarely go exactly as planned. (Talk about stating the obvious!)

Issues may come up along the way that have an impact on the

project schedule. Maybe someone you need to talk to goes out on

leave unexpectedly, or a tool you need to get the work done breaks.

Risks are things that can impact the schedule, and that you’re

aware of when the project is planned. These may be things like an

upcoming personnel change, or a tight turnaround time on a

particular deliverable.

As a person who is assigned to do the work on a project, you may have the best

perspective on exactly what risks there are, and you certainly know what issues you

run into.

By planning for a project’s risks ahead of time, and recording the issues that come

up as the project progresses, your project manager is better able to manage the

project schedule. Sometimes, the project manager will do this work without asking

team members to add anything. In other cases, project managers will ask team

members to help fill out issues and risks on the project site.

Add an issue


the Quick Launch.


project in the list.

!


3. Click Project Site

on the Quick

Launch.

4. Click Issues on the

Quick Launch.

5. Click New Item.


6. Fill out the form,

including as many

details as you can

about the issue.

7. When you’re done,

click Edit > Save.

Add a risk


the Quick Launch.





on the Quick

Launch.

4. Click Risks on the

Quick Launch.

5. Click New Item.

6. Fill out the form,

including as many

details as you can

about the risk.


The Probability,

Impact (which is a

general score, in

comparison with

other risks), and

Cost of the risk help

your project

manager

understand the risk,

at a glance.

The Description

should cover why

the risk is a

possibility, and what

will happen if it

occurs.

The Mitigation

Plan is what you

need to do to try to

avoid the risk

occurring.


The Contingency

Plan is what you’re

going to do if the

risk actually does

occur.

The Trigger

Description and

Trigger are the

things that happen

that will indicate

when the risk is

occurring, and when

you need to put the

contingency plan

into action.

7. When you’re done,

click Edit > Save.

I need to look at a project document…where is it?

Projects sometimes come equipped with a lot of documents, from proposals and

planning documents, to research and presentations. Each project in Project Web


App has an associated project site, with a spot for storing and working with

documents.


the Quick Launch.




on the Quick

Launch.

4. Click Documents

on the Quick

Launch.


5. Click the name of

the document in the

list, to open it.

Hand off work to someone else

There are a lot of reasons why you’d need to reassign one of your tasks to someone

else. Here are some examples:

Maybe you’re being pulled onto another, higher-priority project, and you

need someone else to take on part of your existing workload.

Maybe another person on the team has more experience than you do with a

certain aspect of the project, and your project manager has asked you to

transition your work to that person.

Or…maybe you’re just really good at delegating.

Regardless, reassigning a task is easy.



Quick Launch.

2. Click Tasks >

Reassign.

3. Find the task that

you want to

reassign in the

Select New

Resources grid,

and choose a new

team member in

the Reassign To

column.


4. Set a Start Date

for when the

transition should

happen, and add

Comments if

you’d like.

5. Click Submit to

send the

reassignment to

the project

manager.


4 Vacation, sick leave, and other

non-project hours

Hard work frequently results in one of two things: a well-

deserved vacation, or a miserable, knock-you-off-your-

feet headcold.

Okay, maybe there isn’t a direct correlation, but in the

course of working on a project, you will surely have some

time that you’ve spent doing things other than working on

your tasks. Sometimes it’s vacation, sometimes it’s sick

leave, and sometimes it’s work-related (but not project-

related) things like training or business travel.

This chapter covers what you need to do ahead of time, while you’re out, and after

you’re back from time spent outside of your assigned tasks.

Ahead of time

There are a couple of things that you can do ahead of time, when you know you’re

not going to be working on your tasks for a certain day or set of days. You can let

your project manager know, for planning purposes, and you may be able to

assign someone to enter time and task progress for you while you’re out.


Let your project manager know

If you know ahead of time that you’re going to be out of the office, or not able to

work on your tasks for some other reason, you can do your project manager a huge

favor by sharing that information as soon as you know you’re going to be out.

Your project manager can enter your planned time away into a

calendar that reflects your working hours. Project Web App uses that

calendar to determine the project schedule, and your task work will

be automatically pushed out until you get back.

Assign someone to enter your time and task progress

Depending on how your organization uses Project Web App, you may be able to

identify someone who can enter and submit time and task progress on your behalf

while you’re out. This person is know as a “delegate.”

Before you leave for vacation (or whatever else has you away from your project for a

short period), set up a new delegation in Project Web App, so that someone else can

log in for you while you’re out.

1. Click Settings >

PWA Settings.

2. Under Personal

Settings, click Manage

Delegates.


3. Click Delegations >

New.

4. Use the From and To

dates to set the time

period when you’ll be

away.

5. Enter the name of the

person that you want to

enter things for you

while you’re out.

6. Click Save.

After you get the delegation saved, don’t forget to chat with the person you just

assigned to let them know that they’re set up.

While you’re out

Time spent away from your project tasks can make for a refreshing

change of pace…especially if that time is spent poolside with a

tasty beverage. But even if your time away is spent in a training

session, or under a blanket on the couch with a box of tissues,

you’ll probably find that when you return to your task work, you

have a new perspective. 🍹


Really, the only thing you need to worry about while you’re out is making sure that

your time and task progress gets submitted on time. In some cases, you can submit

your information ahead of time, but not always. Some organizations require that you

submit things only on specific days or dates. That’s where your delegate comes in.

If you assigned a delegate to enter time and task progress for you, that person can

log in by clicking Settings > PWA Settings, and then clicking Act as a Delegate

under Personal Settings.

After you’re back

Welcome back to your tasks! Now that you’re back, you need to account for your

time away on your timesheet. Time spent on non-project work, including vacation

and sick time, is called administrative time in Project Web App.


Quick Launch.

2. Fill out the Actual row, on

the right side of the grid, for

vacation, sick time, or

another category of

administrative time.

If the administrative task you

need isn’t listed on your

timesheet, click Timesheet >

Add Row > Add Non-

Project Line.

3. Continue filling out the rest of your timesheet, and submit it whenever you’re

ready. For more information on this, see Chapter 2: Turning in timesheets.


5 Uh oh, I didn’t mean to submit that!

Maybe you were working from home and your four-year-old accidentally submitted

your timesheet, or your cat walked across your keyboard and entered some extra

hours for you. Or, more likely, you forgot to add some task work to your timesheet

before sending it to your project manager. Whatever the reason, sometimes, you just

didn’t mean to submit things yet.

This chapter covers how to recall a timesheet you’ve already submitted, and how to

delete a timesheet altogether.

▶ NOTE You can only recall or delete timesheets that are not yet

approved. If they’re approved, you’ll need to chat with your project

manager about your changes.

Take back a timesheet that you sent for approval

If you realize, after you’ve sent your timesheet for approval, that you need to make

changes, you can recall your timesheet if it hasn’t been approved yet.


1. Click Settings > PWA

Settings.

2. Under Time and Task

Management, click Manage

Timesheets.

3. Click the row for the timesheet

you want to recall.

4. Click Timesheets > Recall.

5. Click OK to confirm the recall.


Delete a timesheet and start over

Sometimes it’s easier just to start a timesheet over from scratch. You can delete the existing

timesheet, as long as you haven’t sent it for approval yet.

1. Click Settings > PWA

Settings.

2. Under Time and Task

Management, click Manage

Timesheets.

3. Click the row for the timesheet

you want to delete.

4. Click Timesheets > Delete.

5. Click OK to confirm the

deletion.


6 Rejected! Now what?

If your timesheet or task progress doesn’t match what your manager

was expecting, you may find out it’s been rejected. This never feels

great, but it’s probably not personal, and hopefully your project

manager has included some comments outlining why your updates

were rejected.

This chapter covers how to figure out if your updates are rejected, how to find out

why they were rejected, and what you should do to get your time and task progress

resubmitted.

How do I know if my updates were rejected?

When your time or task progress is rejected, this status shows up in the Process

Status column on the Timesheet or Tasks view.

Rejected! Now what? 61

In the Timesheet view… In the Tasks view…

Why were my updates rejected?

Hopefully, your project manager will chat with you about why they’re rejecting your

updates. If not, he or she may have added a comment before sending it back to you.

If you see an update that has been rejected, it’s best to look closely at the task and

see if a comment has been added, before hunting down your project manager to

ask questions.

1. Click the name of the

rejected task in the

list on the Timesheet

or Tasks view.

2. Comments are listed

under Recent Task

Changes.

What do I do now?

Once you’ve reviewed comments, and chatted with your project manager if needed,

the next step is to make appropriate changes to your timesheet and task progress,

and then resubmit it.


When you see that your

updates have been

rejected…

8 8 4Task A

4 4Task B

4 8Task C

…you figure out what

you need to do to fix

them…

8 8 2Task A

6 6Task B

2 8Task C

…then you resubmit

your updates…

8 8 2Task A

6 6Task B

2 8Task C

…and your project

manager can approve

them if they make sense.

8 8 2Task A

6 6Task B

2 8Task C

Okay, but how?

This process doesn’t require anything different or fancy…you just do things the same

way you submitted things initially:

If you need help resubmitting your timesheet, see Chapter 2: Turning in

timesheets.

If you need help resubmitting your task progress, see Chapter 3: More

than just hours: Updating task progress.

When in doubt, add comments…

Adding comments when you resubmit your updates can help your manager

understand what changes you made, and how they address the issues that came up

initially. Chapter 3: More than just hours: Updating task progress covers how to

add comments in the Timesheet and Tasks views.

63

Appendix

In Project Web App, how do I…

See a list of my projects? Click Projects on the Quick Launch.

Add a task to my timesheet? Click Timesheet > Add Row.

Enter vacation or sick time? Fill out the Administrative lines on your

timesheet.

Switch to a different timesheet? Click Timesheet > Select Period.

Add a task in the Tasks view? Click Tasks > Add Row.

Add comments about my work

in the Timesheet view?

Choose Options > Comment on Submit.

Add comments about my work

in the Tasks view?

Choose Tasks > Comment on Submit.

Hand off work to someone else? Click Tasks > Reassign.

Find out why my updates were

rejected?

Click the task name on the Timesheet or

Tasks view, and look under Recent Task

Changes.


My Project Web App address is: