Multiple Projects, Urgent!

[ProjectNewb]

Hello,

I am hoping someone can assist me, after reading the forum im hopeful someone can.

My Question: I want to create a 'Master Project' which will be the 'Resource Pool' - this will hold all the resource information that other projects can link into.

I need to then know how to link as many projects to this master copy as possible. (This is so all projects linked use this for resource allocation) - so for example staff wages can be monitored or what staff are on what job).

In summary, I want to know how to create the master project and link others to this, so resources can be allocated and monitored.

If anyone can show me how this is done, I would be very greatful.

Thanks in Advance.

 

[PDQBach]

1. Create the resource pool: open a blank project, click on View | Resource Sheet, put your resources in, save the resource pool project.

2. Create a project with tasks: open a blank project, put in the tasks, do not assign resources, save the project with tasks.

3. Create the remaining project(s) with tasks (step 2 above).

4. Open the resource pool project; open one project with tasks. In that project, click on Tools | Resources | Share Resources. Choose "Use resources from ..." and select the Resource Pool project.

5. Repeat for the other project(s) with tasks.


Now you can do two things:
1. Open the Resource Pool project and see your overall resource allocations.
2. Open a blank project; click on Insert | Project and insert project(s) with tasks (select all that you are inserting) and you will get an overall schedule. This is what Master Projects are used for.

Be aware: some people under certain circumstances have noticed *SUBSTANTIAL* performance penalties using Resource Pools. I've never had the time to track it through to see if there is a specific causitive factor or if it is inherent to Resource Pools.

(You also talked about monitoring staff wages. You are confusing a payroll system with a project scheduler.)

 

[ProjectNewb]

Thanks for your great reply, that is exactly what I wanted to know. I have had a thought but am not sure how to start going about it, so im looking for ideas and someone hopefully to point me in the right direction or something.

Now I have built the Master Project showing an overall view of Projects ongoing...Is there a way to link an Interface to this, so it looks good and maybe click on hyperlinks to open individual projects shown in the master project and link buttons (maybe macro's?) to say print all projects stored in the 'master'.

In Summary what im asking is can an Interface be 'layed' ontop of what I have at present to make it easy for people to use and look good....im not sure if MS Project can create this (I thought not) and if another Program could be used and linked to create what im wanting??

If anyone has any ideas on my problem, id be really pleased to see what you have to say.

Thank You.

 

[johnherman]

Hey ProjectNewb,

If your question was so urgent, why did it take you over a week to reply to PDQ BAch?

Just curious.

-------------------------
The trouble with doing something right the first time is that noboby appreciates how difficult it was.
- Steven Wright

 

[ProjectNewb]

Simple Answer to your question....The main part of what im wanting to build was the interlinking resource pool...which PDQ Bach so kindly helped me with, so iv been very busy and once I built I got round to the next bit which is why I asked the question above.

Not sure why you felt the need to post your reply without helping me but you have your answer anyway...Hope thats to your satisfaction Johnherman.

If anyone can help with the above question regarding an Interface I would be very grateful.

Thanks once again.

 

[ProjectNewb]

Any ideas, anyone...as I have not seen this kind of thing attempted before and not sure if its viable ??

You MS Project experts out there, I need your input please

 

[PDQBach]

The reality is ... your "specifications" are so nebulous that a reasoned answer is, quite simply, impossible.

What do you mean by "interface"? (a form? an export to Excel? a specially crafted Project View? text only? graphical? what data? what layout?)

What do you mean by "link"? (Updateable? Viewable only? What fields? What criteria?)

 

[ProjectNewb]

ok, sorry for the lack of content (I don't know if what I was asking was possible in Project so didn't go into details)....I will try and explain:

The Master Project....which shows start/finish dates of all projects in the pool - Something like a blue background with a white box on the right showing the bars of project finishes (gantt) and a box at the left with hyperlinks to open each individual project would be what I was hoping.

And the same kind of layout for individual projects a coloured background with two boxes (one on the left holding the usual information and a seperate box on the right showing the Gantt chart.

Im not sure also if that can be done at all or something similar but if it can I was hoping to put Macro buttons maybe to link from individual projects back to the master one (so if a user was in an individual project they could click the button and it would return them to the 'master' project).

Basically its trying to turn the 'boring' view of Project into something more appealing to the eye....background colours, coloured hyperlinks, macro buttons to navigate.

Anything which can be done along these lines would be really great, but im totally in the dark with this kind of thing in MS Project.

Thats what I meant by "Interface" - its like im wanting to put a layer over the workings of the resource pool to make it easier to use and more appealing to the eye.

If you can help me in any way shape or form that would be very much appreciated.

Thank you very much. Hope there is enough detail there.

 

[alexhu]

Project doesn't do colours (as per Excel), so I think you're going to be dissapointed

Alex

 

[PDQBach]

Ain't gonna happen.

As I have commented to others here: if you want something to help PMs develop schedules and track projects, you want Project -- but it doesn't do pretty pictures.

If you want something to develop pretty pictures, you need a nice graphics program -- but it won't do project schedule development and tracking.

In my long experience, I have found that a simple Gantt chart is pretty enough. Anything prettier than that takes too much time to create a "pretty-fied" diagram ... time that would be much better spent on project tracking.

 

[rdarrelt]

Sounds like what you want is an executive reporting view of your project portfolio. This functionality has been provided in MS Project 2003 server. It does "stop light" reports and other color coded summary level reporting for management. This is probably not what you wanted to hear but it sounds like what you're looking for. Otherwise there are a number of MS Project add-ons that also do executive reporting (more cost, nothing is free).

Good Luck

 

[PDQBach]

Stoplights? Damn useless things. (None of us would ever cheat on the way we record progress in a project, would we. No, of course not.)

Is a red stoplight on a two day task that isn't on the critical path worse than a yellow stoplight on a 6 day task that is on the critical path?

 

[rdarrelt]

A similar question would be why do SPI and CPI at the individual task level? Is that statistically valid?