Background Information
Before your organization can use the Timesheet
Approval feature in Project Server, your Project Server administrator must do
each of the following:
·
Select the Managed Time Periods feature on the Tracking settings page in Project
Web Access and set up at least one timesheet reporting
period (click Admin - Customize Project Web Access).
·
Set the Timesheet Approval and Approve Timesheets for Resources permissions to
Allow on the Server configuration page in Project Web Access (click Admin -
Server configuration).
·
Open the Enterprise Global file in Microsoft Project Professional and build an
outline code in the RBS field that represents your organization’s reporting
structure.
·
Open the Enterprise Resource Pool in Microsoft Project Professional and set an
RBS value for every resource to show Project Server “who reports to whom” in the
organization.
·
Add to the Resource Managers group in Project Web Access those managers who will
approve timesheets for team members (click Admin - Manage users and groups -
Groups).
Resolution
The Timesheet Approval process works as follows:
1. The Resource
Manager navigates to the Approve Timesheets page in Project Web Access
2. The Resource
Manager can see task updates for only his/her team members, as defined by the
RBS field values in the Enterprise Resource Pool
3. The Resource
Manager accepts or rejects each set of task updates, and then clicks the Save
button
4. The Project
Manager navigates to the Updates page in Project Web Access
5. The Project
Manager clicks the View Options tab and makes sure the "Show timesheet status"
option is selected (this feature is NOT selected by default)
6. In the
timesheet portion of the Updates page, unapproved and rejected task updates have
an asterisk symbol to the right of each number
7. The PM only
accepts task updates that have been approved by the Resource Manager (approved
updates do not have the asterisk symbol)
NOTE: The
timesheet approval system
is not an automatic system that prevents the Project Manager from
accepting task updates that the Resource Manager has rejected or has not yet
approved. Instead, timesheet approval is a
voluntary system in which the Project Manager should not update
unapproved or rejected tasks. Because of the voluntary nature of the timesheet
approval process, however, the Project Manager can actually update both rejected
and unapproved tasks!