Can a report show a parent task?

[jessle42]

I have a project plan for which the child tasks are simple and are basically
repeated X times for the X deliverables.

The deliverables are the parent tasks: (e.g., Deliverable A, Deliverable B,
Deliverable C).

The child tasks are (1) Author Deliverable (2) Review / Revise Deliverable
(3) Finalized Deliverable

I have assigned responsibility at the child level, but not at the parent so
that I'm not double-counting my resources.

When I run my reports, the reports show the child tasks, but not the parent
tasks. This normally wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that the
child tasks are too generic and I can't tell what deliverable these child
tasks are associated with.

Can you tell me if there's a way to make project report on the parent tasks
without assigning responsibility and throwing off my resource leveling?

Obviously, I could rename my child tasks to tie them specifically to the
parent, but I was hoping to keep the plan cleaner and simpler.

Please let me know if you have any suggestion.

Thanks!


I would like to use the MS reports (e.g., To-Do list) but it's too generic
because it doesn't show the name of the deliverable.

 

[John]

I have a project plan for which the child tasks are simple and are basically
repeated X times for the X deliverables.

The deliverables are the parent tasks: (e.g., Deliverable A, Deliverable B,
Deliverable C).

The child tasks are (1) Author Deliverable (2) Review / Revise Deliverable
(3) Finalized Deliverable

I have assigned responsibility at the child level, but not at the parent so
that I'm not double-counting my resources.

When I run my reports, the reports show the child tasks, but not the parent
tasks. This normally wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that the
child tasks are too generic and I can't tell what deliverable these child
tasks are associated with.

Can you tell me if there's a way to make project report on the parent tasks
without assigning responsibility and throwing off my resource leveling?

Obviously, I could rename my child tasks to tie them specifically to the
parent, but I was hoping to keep the plan cleaner and simpler.

Please let me know if you have any suggestion.

Thanks!


I would like to use the MS reports (e.g., To-Do list) but it's too generic
because it doesn't show the name of the deliverable.

jessle42,
A project plan that is "clean" and "simple" is one that is
understandable. It sound like yours is not. Although you may think that
you have several identical tasks (e.g. Author Deliverable), each task is
in fact unique, that is, each "author deliverable" is uniquely tied to a
specific deliverable.

In a project schedule the best task descriptions contain enough
information to make them performance tasks (i.e. contain an action verb)
that are unique within the whole project plan. In your case I would add
the deliverable identifier to each performance task. That way, whatever
report you chose or whatever filter you apply, you will always be able
to see which task is which.

John
Project MVP