TMGR: Changes In Outlook Overridden By Member Task List (162098)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Team Manager
  • Microsoft Outlook 97
  • Microsoft Schedule+ for Windows 7.0
This article was previously published under Q162098

SYMPTOMS

In Outlook, if a team task is edited so that Actual Work is greater than Total Work, then when Outlook synchronizes with Team Manager for Team Members, the Total Work in Outlook is set equal to the Actual Work and the Percent Complete is set to 100%. This happens even if a value less than 100% is entered for Percent Complete before synchronizing with Team Manager for Team Members.

NOTE: Similar results apply to Schedule+, where the Actual Effort and Estimated Effort fields in Schedule+ correspond to the Actual Work and Total Work fields in Outlook.

WORKAROUND

The methods below show how to edit a team task based on new Percent Complete and Actual Work values, where the Actual Work is larger than the current Total Work. In the first method, edits are done in Team Manager for Team Members, and in the second method, edits are done in Outlook. For detailed tracking of actual work for specific date ranges, the first method should be used.

Method 1

  1. In Outlook, on the Go menu, click Tasks.
  2. On the Tasks menu, click "Team Manager for team members".
  3. In Team Manager for Team Members, in the "Actual Work for ..." field, enter the desired total actual work minus the actual work already in the "Actual Work Before ..." field.
  4. Manually calculate the corresponding total work by dividing the desired total actual work by the desired Percent Complete in decimal format (for example, if Percent Complete is 75%, then divide by 0.75).
  5. In the Remaining Work field, enter the total work calculated in step 4 minus the desired total actual work.
  6. Close Team Manager for Team Members.

Method 2

  1. In Outlook, on the Go menu, click Tasks.
  2. On the View menu, click Show Fields. If Actual Work is in the Available Fields list, select it and click the Add button. If Total Work is in the Available Fields list, select it and click Add, and then click OK.
  3. In the Actual Work field, enter the desired value.
  4. In the Total Work field, enter the Actual Work divided by the desired Percent Complete in decimal format (for example, if Percent Complete is 75%, then divide by 0.75).
  5. On the Tasks menu, click "Team Manager for team members" to synchronize Outlook with Team Manager for Team Members.
  6. Close Team Manager for Team Members.
NOTE: In step 3, if Actual Work is entered that is less than the "Actual Work Before ..." field in Team Manager for Team Members, then the edits in Outlook will be ignored after synchronization with Team Manager for Team Members.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Changes made to team tasks in Outlook are synchronized with Team Manager for Team Members when Team Manager for Team Members is started or closed. When both applications are open, they can be resynchronized by clicking the Tasks icon in Outlook and choosing "Team Manager for team members" or Send Updates from the Tasks menu, or by clicking Send Updates in Team Manager for Team Members.

When Team Manager for Team Members synchronizes with Outlook, previous changes made in Outlook to the Percent Complete, Actual Work, and Total Work fields may be lost depending on which of these three fields was changed and what values were entered. Outlook has no consistency checking between these fields, so Team Manager for Team Members uses the changes to one or two of these fields to compute one of the others.

Team Manager for Team Members has two actual work fields. The first has a title of the form "Actual Work Before <last update date>". It represents the total amount of actual work previously sent in update messages to the team manager. It cannot be edited in Team Manager for Team Members. The second actual work field has a title of the form "Actual Work for <date range>". The date range can be selected from the Next Report dropdown calendar. For detailed tracking of actual work for specific date ranges, actual work should be entered in Team Manager for Team Members, not in Outlook.

There is only one Actual Work field in Outlook. If a value is entered in Outlook's Actual work field that is less than the actual work already reported to the manager, then edits are ignored after synchronization with Team Manager for Team Members.

The table below shows some of the possible edits in Outlook and the results that occur when Outlook is later synchronized with Team Manager for Team Members. In the table, %C stands for Percent Complete, AW stands for Actual Work, and TW stands for Total Work. In the formulas, multiplication is represented by '*' and division by '/', and %C is in decimal format (for example 75% is treated as 0.75). The first column lists the fields that were edited, the second column lists conditions immediately after the editing, and the third column shows what actions or calculations are performed when Outlook is later synchronized with Team Manager for Team Members.

To simplify the formulas, it is assumed that no actual work has been reported to the manager, i. e. the "Actual Work Before ..." field contains 0 in Team Manager for Team Members. 
Fields          Conditions After        Result after Sync with
Edited          Edits But Before Sync   Team Manager for Team Members
------------    ---------------------   -----------------------------
%C              AW <= TW                Sets AW = %C * TW
%C & TW         AW <= TW                Sets AW = %C * TW
%C & AW & TW    AW <= TW                Sets AW = %C * TW
%C & AW         %C > 0 and AW <= TW     Sets TW = AW / %C
%C, AW          %C = 0 and AW <= TW     All edits ignored
AW and/or TW    AW < TW                 Sets %C = AW / TW
AW and/or TW    TW = AW > 0             Sets %C = 100%
Any of them     AW > TW                 Sets %C = 100% and sets TW = AW
Any of them     AW and TW both 0        Accepts all edits.
For example, suppose that Outlook is currently synchronized with Team Manager for Team Members, that no actual work has been reported to the manager, and that a task has the following values: 
    Percent Complete    50%
    Actual Work         1d
    Total Work          2d
Next, you decide that 3 days of work have been done so far and the task is only 75% complete, so you enter 75% for Percent Complete and 3d for Actual Work. You leave the Total Work at 2d hoping it will be calculated for you. However, when Outlook is later synchronized with Team Manager for Team Members again, Total Work is set to 3d and the Percent Complete is set to 100%.

To get the desired result, Total Work has to be one of the fields edited. The correct value for Total Work comes from dividing the desired Actual Work by the desired Percent Complete in decimal format. In the above example, the Total Work should be 4d (3d divided by 0.75). If 3d is entered for Actual Work and 4d for Total Work, synchronization will calculate Percent Complete to be 75%.

REFERENCES

For more information on integrating Team Manager for Team Members with Outlook and Schedule+:

  • Read Mtcsetup.wri located in the Microsoft Team Manager program folder.
  • In Team Manager for Team Members, click the Help button, then click the Index tab and type Outlook or Schedule+.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/17/2005
Keywords:KB162098
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