Any pitfalls to watch out for in linking tasks between projects

[Burnley81]

I have a project plan - owned by another company.
I have created our own internal project with all dependant links back into
the original project, so that we can just look at our workload and add in
specific resource names.
What pitfalls should I watch out for - because obviously I do not have it
linked into the other companies original as they email it to ourselves?

I assume the only way is to update changes in our project plan manually
based on what's emailed to us.?
Can anybody think of a better way of doing things ?

Thanks in anticipation Burnley81

 

[John]

I have a project plan - owned by another company.
I have created our own internal project with all dependant links back into
the original project, so that we can just look at our workload and add in
specific resource names.
What pitfalls should I watch out for - because obviously I do not have it
linked into the other companies original as they email it to ourselves?

I assume the only way is to update changes in our project plan manually
based on what's emailed to us.?
Can anybody think of a better way of doing things ?

Thanks in anticipation Burnley81

Burnley81,
I guess I don't understand your first paragraph wherein you say you've
linked your plan to the one sent to you by the other company. I'm sure
you are aware that those links on only valid as a snapshot (i.e. only
valid for that version of the other company's plan). As soon as they
mail you a new update, all your links are worthless.

Here's my suggestion. Do not try to link to the other plan. Rather set
up your plan based on the first one they sent. For there on use the
Compare Project Versions utility to find what changes occur between each
new version of the plan the other company sends. Then use that
information to manually update your plan.

As far as "better" ways to do this, it depends on the nature of the
plan, the version of Project, whether there might be a common remote
server that could contain both plans, etc.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Jim Aksel [MVP]]

Sorry this is running late for a reply. We used to do this the same way
John suggests, but it created a lotof work for us to analyze the differences
in the supplier schedule every month. So here is what we did:

1. Make a list of the known links from their file ihto yours. For example,
your supplier task lines 14, 23 and 91 may be important to you (they are
predecessors to tasks in your file).

Verify the links go only one way -- from them to you. If you have any links
back to their file, this will not work.

2. Inform your supplier that these lines are "sacred" and may not be changed
in any way in their copy of the plan. It is OK if the line numbers change,
but they cannot cut/paste that those tasks. The bottom line is the [Unique
ID] of the tasks cannot change. If the finish dates change, then you have a
schedule impact and they should be asking your permission.

3. Set up a folder on your machine for their file. You can link to this
file from yours with no problem (yes, use links between the files so they
automatically update). You should also be keeping an archive copy of all the
files the supplier sends to you in another location.

4. When the supplier sends you a new file, you may use the file compare
utility for understanding what the changes are but you do not have to be so
rigourous ... all you really care about are the lines that link between your
schedules.

5. When you are convinced the new file is OK, you can OVERWRITE the "last
month" file you set up in Step3. Make sure you keep the same name as last
time.. the name of the linking file may never change and it must always be
in the same location.

6. Open your schedule and it will update automatically. Generally we keep a
folder "current month" containing both the schedules.

The bottom line is the supplier needs to be accountable to you for any
changes in their schedule that will drive your schedule. We do this a
little more formally with a Givers/Receirvers section at the top of the
schedules.... it keeps everything together for us as we have 7 suppliers
feeding into one schedule (yes, it gets busy).

Jim Aksel, MVP