Without ‘Actual work’ from a timesheet, MS Project is just a dead schedule. And the bigger the schedule, the worse the problem is. Here’s why:
Huge project schedules look great the day you create them. Every is as accurate as you can make it. Dates, durations, resource assignments, milestones, deliveries… they’re all exactly where you hope they will be. But all you’re doing is looking into the future with your best guess.
Problem is, by tomorrow, a portion of that future has passed.
Resources have started on their tasks. They’ve reported back to you. Some tasks are wrong. Some will take more time. Others, less time. And the bulk of them carry a large degree of uncertainty.
Only when you get some actual hours on those tasks do you really know how accurate they are, and how they affect the schedule.
That’s why timesheet hours are important.
Import your actual work from your timesheet to your schedule, and everything changes.