Multiple Projects

[ProjectMgr27]

I am new to MS Project and am hoping that someone can give me some direction on this. I am familiar with how to make one large (or small) project w/multiple tasks in MS Project. However, what I am trying to do is have one file with multiple projects in it. Maybe giving you a little background will help...

I work for a company that builds web sites. Quite a few of our daily "projects" are updates to exsisting web sites which can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 4 hours for a programmer to complete.

I was thinking that I could just have one file named "reoccuring projects" or something like that and track them that way putting each "project" as an actual "task" on the sheet. Would that be the way to do it? Let me know if that doesn't make sense!

 

[PDQBach]

There are several approaches you can use. Choose the one that best suits your style and corp requirements.

1. A project file with one summary task per website. Beneath that summary task are the individual tasks for the various workorders. You'll end up with a file that looks something like this:

WebSite1 (Summary Task)
WS1-WorkOrder1 (Summary Task)
WS1-WO1-Task1 (Detail Task)
WS1-WO1-Task2 (Detail Task)
WS1-WorkOrder2 (Summary Task)
WS1-WO2-Task1 (Detail Task)
WebSite2 (Summary task)
WS2-WorkOrder1 (Summary Task)
etc.
etc.

The notations "(summary task)" and "(detail task)" are for example purposes only. You wouldn't actually put that in the task name.


2. A project file for each website. Similar to what you see above except that, based on the example above, you'd end up with two files.

To get a consolidated view, create a Master Project. Open a blank project file, click on Insert | Project, navigate to each project in turn and include it in the Master Project. Remember to leave the "Link to Project" box checked.

3. A more advanced approach (one you might not want to think about initially since you are new to project) is to create a Resource Pool (a project with only resources). Then you create each individual project (as in example2 above) and, when it comes to assigning resources you click on Tools | Resource Sharing and select the resources from the Resource Pool.

This is probably a bit cumbersome for what you are doing but, in certain circumstances, it can be quite useful.

 

[Luv2Q]

PDQBach ..
Thanks for the reply. Like ProjectMgr27, I'm pretty new to MSP & was wondering much the same thing about multiple projects. The 3-tiered route you suggested in your #1 looks like it would work for me, but how do I go back & add a summary task representing the title of my project #1?

Thx in advance
Luv2Q (BBQ, that is!)

 

[PDQBach]

There are two ways:

1. Many steps
1.a On the Formatting toolbar, click on "Show"
1.b Click on "Outline Level1" to collapse all summary tasks
1.c Click on the first task in the project
1.d Press the Insert Key
1.e Type in the task Name that you want in the blank task.
1.f Select all the tasks underneath this new task
1.g On the Formatting toolbar, click on the "Indent" arrow.

2. Single step
2.a Tools | Options | View-tab and click on "Show Project Summary Task"

The two steps aren't *exactly* the same but either one should meet your requirements.

 

[Luv2Q]

PDQ .. Thanks!

I had discovered the 'Many steps' option shortly after submitting my post .. The 'Single step' option is nice to know, too.

Thanks for taking the time to clarify.

Luv2Q

 

[ProjectMgr27]

I read one of those Step by Step books before I jumped in but have now realized that there is SO much to know that just going in, doing it, and learning along the way has seemed to be the best way for me!

Thanks for all your help and I am sure that I will be back on with more questions!

 

[Luv2Q]

On just jumping in & learning along the way, yes, that's the approach I've been using, too. At the same time, though, I'm beginning to feel like PM has so much capability (& complexity) that I'm bound to overlook some good stuff without having a good guide or tutorial. So that's what I'm personally hunting for at the moment.

Regards
Luv2Q

 

[PDQBach]

Lots of people think MS Word is a complex and feature-ridden product.

Compared to the complexities of MS Project standalone versions, MS Word is a simple text editor with a few formatting options.

 

[ProjectMgr27]

Got one more question that pertains to this Multiple Projects question.

---Is there any way to automatically have all tasks that are entered have a specific constraint type applied to them? For example, I would like to have all tasks have an "as soon as possible" constraint type set on them. Instead of having to manually go into the task info for each task and change that, is there a setting that I am missing that can apply this to all tasks?

Thanks again!

 

[PDQBach]

Tools | Options | Schedule-tab

If "New Tasks" is set to "Start on Project Start Date" then they will be created with the constraint type "ASAP."

If it is set to "Start on Current Date" then they will be created with the constraint "SNET".

Natually, if you manually enter the Start date or the Finish date then you automatically impose a constraint on those tasks.