Hi Jim,
My comments are inline.
I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.
Julie
Project MVP
Visit
http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project
Jim said:
Playing with it further...
The way I use Projects generally is to create seperate smaller
projects and
bring them into a summary project created seperately.
[Julie] Ok, thanks for that information, it really does help to know you
are using consolidated projects, and may explain some of the things you
are seeing. When you create the master project, how are you placing the
subproject files in the master?
Are the subprojects embedded or are they simply a static copy? I am
*guessing* you also have tasks which are part of the master project, not
part of inserted subprojects.
I have noticed several errant behaviors when using Projects in this
way -
the "split screen" problem described,
[Julie] I still cannot reproduce. In a consolidated project, when I
select a task or resource I have data in the bottom portion of the
screen.
the "task summary" field does not fill
in on "resource usage" (it remains blank, unlike it does when a lower
level
project is indented to make a summary task),
[Julie] When I view the Resource Usage view in a consolidated project
(project files embedded in a master), the "Task Summary Name" field is
populated for tasks that are at outline level 2 (they are subtasks of
summary tasks). The Task Summary Name field is blank if the tasks is
not a subtask of another task.
and the resource pull down boxes
do not work, even though the resources are brought in with the lower
level
sub-project.
[Julie] The resources are not "brought in". They appear as part of the
resource sheet, but they are embedded from the inserted project. The
resources that show in the drop-down lists depend upon whether you have
a task selected that is part of an embedded project (shows resources
from that project) or part of the master project. If I select a task
that is part of the master project, the only resources I see in any
resource listing are resource that belong to the master project, not any
inserted subprojects.
Speaking of resources, everytime I bring in a new project as a
sub to the overall projects, the resources just keep adding and
adding,
creating duplicates.
[Julie] Creating master projects by inserting projects, does *not*
consolidate resources. You need to create a resource pool file, connect
your pool file to the sharer files (project files which will get the
resources from the pool file.) Then you can easily create a
consolidated master file, pulling all tasks from all sharer files. You
can also view resource utilization for the same resource across multiple
project files. See Article #17 by fellow MVP, Mike Glen at:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/epmsolution/HA102053441033.aspx
for information on creating resource pool files to share resources.
The only option is to manuall enter all sub-projects under one files
and
manually indent within that files and use the pull downs for
resources. This
method is cumbersome, because it does not give me the flexibility to
move
sub-projects in and out of the main project the way the desired method
does.
[Julie] I believe if you create resource pool file, you'll be more
sucessful.
I hope this helps.
Julie
