Scenario
A project manager named George Stewart is leaving on vacation for two weeks. In his absence, he needs a fellow project manager named Genea Mallow to handle his project management responsibilities. Specifically, George needs Genea to do the following for him while he is away:
- Accept task updates for his project in the Approval Center of Project Web App.
- Open the project in Project Professional 2010 and reschedule uncompleted work from the past into the current reporting period.
- Save and publish the project using Project Professional 2010.
- Approve Timesheets submitted by the resources that report to him.
- Accept Status Reports in PWA for a status report request that George uses with his team members to capture text-based information about their project work.
Unfortunately for George and Genea, the default permissions in Project Server 2010 do not allow Genea to perform any of the above actions. However, using several new features in Project Server 2010, George and Genea can easily handle this situation.
Solution
To address this special situation, George and Genea must use two new features in Project Server 2010 and one previous feature continued from Project Server 2007. These features are:
- George must grant Genea special permissions to open, edit, save, and publish his project using the new Project Permissions feature in Project Server 2010.
- George must create a delegation session for Genea using the new Delegation feature in Project Server 2010.
- Genea must open George's project and use the Status Manager column, a previous feature continued in Project Server 2010 from the 2007 version.
Setting Up Special Project Permissions
The default permissions in Project Server 2010 do not allow Genea Mallow to open or edit George Stewart's project using Project Professional 2010. To allow Genea to open and edit his project, George must do the following:
1. Launch Project Professional 2010 and connect to Project Server.
2. Open the enterprise project.
3. Click File > Info. Project Professional 2010 displays the Information page in the Backstage, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Information page in the Backstage
4. Click the Manage Permissions button in the Permissions section of the Information page. The system launches the Internet Explorer and navigates to the Project Permissions page in Project Web App, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Project Permissions page
5. Click the New button on the Permissions ribbon. The system displays the Edit Project Permissions page for the enterprise project that George Stewart opened in step #2.
Figure 3: Edit Project Permissions page
6. Select the name, Genea Mallow, in the Available Users and Groups list and then click the Add button to add Genea to the Users and Groups with Permissions section of the page.
7. In the Permissions section of the page, select the option checkboxes for the following permissions at a minimum:
- Open the project within Project Professional or Project Web App.
- Edit and Save the project within Project Professional or Project Web App.
- Publish the project within Project Professional or Project Web App.
8. Click the Save button. Figure 4 shows the Project Permissions page with the new set of special permissions for Genea Mallow.
Figure 4: Project Permissions page shows
special permissions for Genea Mallow
9. Save, publish, and close the enterprise project and then exit Project Professional 2010.
At this point, Genea Mallow now has the necessary permissions to open, edit, save, and publish George Stewart's project in his absence. After he returns from vacation, George can delete these special permissions, if needed.
Creating a Delegation
In order for Genea Mallow to approve Timesheets for the resources that report to George Stewart, and to receive the Status Reports from his project team members, George must create a delegation session for Genea using the new Delegation feature in Project Web App. To do this, George must complete the following steps:
1. Click the Personal Settings link in the Quick Launch menu. The system displays the Personal Settings page shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Personal Settings page
2. Click the Manage Delegates link in the Personal Settings page. The system displays the Manage Delegates page shown in Figure 6.
WARNING: The default permissions in Project Server 2010 do not allow you to delegate your work to another project manager using the new Delegation feature. If your organization wants to allow project managers to use the Delegation feature, your Project Server administrator must enable this feature for members of the Project Managers group.
Figure 6: Manage Delegates page
3. Click the New button on the Delegations ribbon. The system displays the Add Delegation page shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7: Add Delegation page
4. In the From and To fields, specify a date range during which the delegation is effective.
5. Click the Browse button in the Set Delegate section of the page. The system displays the Choose User dialog shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8: Choose User dialog
6. Select the name, Genea Mallow, in the Choose User dialog and then click the OK button.
7. Click the Browse button in the Working on Behalf of section of the page. The system displays the Choose User dialog shown previously in Figure 8.
8. Select the name, George Stewart, in the Choose User dialog and then click the OK button.
9. Click the Save button to complete the temporary delegation to Genea Mallow. The system displays the temporary delegation to Genea Mallow from George Stewart on the Manage Delegates page, as shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9: Temporary delegation to Genea Mallow
At this point, Genea Mallow now has special permissions to log into PWA as George Stewart and to act on his behalf. After he returns from vacation, George can delete the temporary delegation to Genea, if needed.
Specifying the Status Manager Setting
After George Stewart gives Genea Mallow special permissions to open and edit his project, Genea can now see and open the project in Project Professional 2010. Before she can actually approve task updates from team members in the project, however, Genea must specify herself as the status manager for every task in the project. To do this, Genea must complete the following steps:
1. Launch Project Professional 2010 and connect to Project Server.
2. Open the enterprise project belonging to George Stewart.
3. Apply the Gantt Chart view.
4. Right-click on the Duration column header and select the Insert Column item on the shortcut menu.
5. Select the Status Manager column in the list of available columns.
Figure 10 shows the project after Genea inserted the Status Manager column. Notice that the Status Manager column currently lists George Stewart as the status manager for every regular task in the project. This means that when a team member in this project submits a task update, the update goes to George Stewart for approval in PWA.
Figure 10: Status Manager column added to the Gantt Chart view
6. Click the Status Manager pick list for the first task and select her own name from the pick list in the cell. When Genea Mallow clicks the Status Manager pick list for the first task, she sees two possible managers for this task, George Stewart and her, as shown in Figure 11.
Figure 11: Status Manager pick list includes
George Stewart and Genea Mallow
7. After selecting a value in the Status Manager column for the first task, Genea can drag the Fill Handle (black box in the lower right corner of the cell) down to the last task in the project, copying her name into the Status Manager cell for each task.
8. Save and publish the project.
At this point, the system now designates Genea Mallow as the Status Manager for every task in the project. This means that when a team member submits a task update for this project, Genea can see the task update in the Approval Center in PWA and then approve or reject the task update. When George Stewart returns from vacation, he must complete the same set of steps performed by Genea, and designate himself as the Status Manager for every task in the project.
Working with a Delegation
To approve Timesheet submissions by the resources that report to George Stewart, and to receive Status Report responses by the team members in his project, Genea Mallow must work in PWA on behalf of George Stewart. To do this, Genea must complete the following steps:
1. Log into Project Web App.
2. Click the Personal Settings link in the Quick Launch menu. The system displays the Personal Settings page shown previously in Figure 5.
3. Click the Act as a Delegate link on the Personal Settings page. The system displays the Act as a Delegate page shown in Figure 12. Notice that the page shows the delegation created by George Stewart for Genea Mallow.
Figure 12: Act as a Delegate page
4. Select the delegation from George Stewart and then click the Start Delegate Session button on the Delegations ribbon. Project Web App displays a yellow banner across the top of the page, indicating that Genea Mallow is currently acting as a delegate on behalf of George Stewart, as shown in Figure 13.
Figure 13: Delegation session started for Genea Mallow
At this point, Genea Mallow is functioning in Project Web App as if she were actually George Stewart. The system grants her all of George's permissions while she is acting on his behalf. This means that she can approve Timesheets submitted by the resources that report to him, and she can receive Status Report responses submitted by the team members working in his project.
5. When Genea completes her work on behalf of George, she must click the Stop Delegate Session button.