In the previous installments of my series on Time Tracking and Management for SharePoint, I have brought up the main benefits and some of the reasons why organizations want to track time and cost. This PM Central R3.5 and Time Tracking Management R1.5 – Better Together as a Solution blog post provides details as to why you may want to couple time management with project management. New versions of both products, Bamboo Project Management Central and Time Tracking Management R1.5 for SharePoint 2010, were recently released.

Now that we've covered the "Why," you probably want to better understand the "How," or, more specifically, "How do I get started?," so we'll conclude this series by answering that question in this post.

Time Tracking and Management (TTM) can be configured to use Bamboo Project Management Central for its tasks, resource lists, and standard rates for cost. After the TTM site has been created, you just need to perform the actions listed below to configure it to use PM Central data sources for tasks, resources, and costs.

1. Configuring PM Central for Time Tracking:

To integrate TTM with PM Central, first you need to tell PM Central which Time Tracking and Management site to use:

1. In your PM Central portfolio (top-level) site, click the Settings tab.
2. In the settings page, click Time Tracking and Management Integration.
3. In the Time Tracking and Management Integration page, enter the Time Tracking and Management Site URL. If the site is in the same Web application as PM Central, you can enter a relative URL (./site). If the site is in a different Web application, enter an absolute URL (http://server/site).
4. Click OK to connect to the Time Tracking and Management site.

 

When you connect PM Central to a Time Tracking and Management site, the following additional features will be activated in the PM Central portfolio site:

• In the My Summary tab, a My Timesheets section is added. This section provides a summary of timesheet status for the current user, and a link to the TTM site so the user can enter time.

• In the Reporting tab, additional reports related to time entry are activated. These reports allow managers to view actual work and cost data from timesheets, and compare it to work and cost data in PM Central.

2. Add timesheet Settings for Resources:

Time Tracking and Management allows all of the resources in your PM Central Enterprise Resource Pool (ERP) to submit timesheets. To take advantage of this and other TTM features, edit each ERP resource entry and complete the fields listed below.

Note: Using the PM Central ERP as the data source for timesheet resources is optional. You can also use the Timesheet Resources list included with the TTM site. See Adding Resources and Timesheet Managers for more information. However, using the ERP simplifies timesheet setup for new project team members by centralizing resource configuration.

1. In your PM Central portfolio (top-level) site, click the Resources tab.
2. In the Enterprise Resource Pool tab, click the item drop-down menu and select Edit Item.
3. Complete the following fields related to time tracking for every resource that will be completing timesheets in TTM:

Field Name	Description
Primary Timesheet Manager	REQUIRED. Enter an individual user who can approve timesheets submitted by the resource. If you imported this resource into the ERP from SharePoint using the User Profiles Import tool, the Manager from the user's SharePoint profile is automatically entered as the Primary Timesheet Manager. You can use this account or you can change the value to a different account.
Secondary Timesheet Manager	If you want to name a backup person who can approve timesheets if the Primary Timesheet Manager is unavailable, enter a name in the Secondary Timesheet Manager field. Either manager can approve timesheets.
Allow Overtime	To allow this resource to work more than the standard number of hours in the timesheet period, select this option. If overtime is allowed, validation for the maximum number of hours allowed per day or per pay period will be ignored.
Maximum Unit	Enter the percentage of the timesheet period that this resource is available to work on tasks. For example, if a part-time resource is only allowed to work 20 hours of a 40-hour week, enter 50%. If this field is blank, TTM will assume a Maximum Unit of 100%. Maximum Unit is taken into account for working hours validation, but is ignored if overtime is allowed.
Standard Rate	If you enable cost tracking and want to use the rate from PM Central to determine the cost of work entered for tasks in TTM, enter a labor rate in your local currency here. To use this rate, you must also check the option to use PM Central as the labor rate source in the cost tracking options configuration page. The rate will be used for both internal and billable cost calculations.

4. Click Save to save changes.

3. Select PM Central as a Data Source for Tasks:

After you have configured PM Central with the location of the Time Tracking and Management site, configure TTM to use PM Central's resources and tasks. Users in the PM Central resource list will be able to submit timesheets, and project tasks will automatically be included in the timesheet for the assigned resource. To ensure timesheet features work properly, use the Enterprise Resource Pool as a resource list, and not a project Contacts list.

As noted previously, using the ERP as the data source for resources is optional. You can still use tasks from PM Central and resources from the Timesheet Resources list in the TTM site. However, using the ERP simplifies and centralizes timesheet configuration for new project team members.

Follow the same steps as detailed in my previous post, Creating a TTM Site & Configuring Time Tracking. However, in the step where you Select the Data Source, follow these steps to select PM Central as your task source instead.

4. Select PM Central for Timesheet Resources:

Follow these steps to select PM Central as your source for timesheet resources.

5. Configuring Cost Tracking for Project Management Central:

When you enable cost tracking in Time Tracking and Management (TTM), TTM uses the labor rates assigned to cost codes to calculate the cost of work submitted in timesheets for each task. You can configure labor rates in TTM, or you can use labor rates from PM Central. Read the steps here to learn how to track costs for PM Central tasks and resources.

You can also use the data from the real time and real cost tracking from TTM to compare to your projectized actual work and actual cost tracking by electing to copy actual cost and actual work from TTM to PM Central.

The rest of the steps are the same as in my Configuring Cost Tracking & Entering Time in the Timesheet post for configuring and using. With the combination of Time Tracking and Management and Bamboo Project Management Central, you can now gain efficiencies in:

• Resource allocation, so that employees are not overworked;
• Budgeting and spending in relation to project costing and billing services;
• Future planning and quoting with new projects;
• Making business decisions and corrections, such as when to cut down the number of features versus adding costs;
• Estimating time to market if you are in the business of making products;
• Tracking revenue versus expenses;
• Time management, and how that time is spent by all resources; as well as
• Leverage other features in PM Central for document management, issue management, process management, change management, and more.

Give PM Central and Time Tracking and Management a try individually by contacting our Sales team, or try them out together for free in our sandbox. You can also sign up to attend one of our free webinars to see them in action.

Read the entire User's Guide to Time Tracking and Management for SharePoint 2010:

• Part 1: Creating a TTM Site & Configuring Time Tracking
• Part 2: Configuring Cost Tracking & Entering Time in the Timesheet
• Part 3: Approving and Rejecting Timesheets
• Part 4: Reviewing Work and Cost Details
• Part 5: Configuring PM Central for Time Tracking