Circular Links

[Wayne Spray]

Does anyone know of a tool that will help to resolve a problem between
several projects with external links that have somehow gotten a circular
link between them? When you open the first 3, everything is ok. After you
open the 4th, you get the error and then everything is hosed.

Thanks,
Wayne

 

[John]

Does anyone know of a tool that will help to resolve a problem between
several projects with external links that have somehow gotten a circular
link between them? When you open the first 3, everything is ok. After you
open the 4th, you get the error and then everything is hosed.

Thanks,
Wayne

Wayne,
For circular links the first place to look is at the Summary Lines. Make
sure there are not links to or from any Summary Lines in any of the
files.

If Summary Lines look ok, I would analyze external links on the 4th file
by itself. First try showing external links by checking the option under
Tools/Options/View tab. If that crumps the file then try it without
external links showing. You can still see where the links are by the
break in Task ID sequence. Then, go to Tools/Links between Projects and
delete links in a controlled sequence until the circular link problem
goes away.

See where that gets you. There are other more drastic tricks that can be
used if none of the above works.

John

 

[Wayne Spray]

Thanks John! That's what we did in this case. We systematically removed
the links in the 4th project until we found the one that caused it.

I still would like to find a tool which traces through paths in the
schedules and identifies where circular logic exists. That would save time
over the "hunt and peck" method, if this should happen again.

Wayne

 

[John]

Thanks John! That's what we did in this case. We systematically removed
the links in the 4th project until we found the one that caused it.

I still would like to find a tool which traces through paths in the
schedules and identifies where circular logic exists. That would save time
over the "hunt and peck" method, if this should happen again.

Wayne

Wayne,
I'm glad the "solution" was that simple. I doubt you will find a tool to
ferret out circular relationships other than the algorithm built into
Project itself, (the one behind the error message), simply because a
circular relationship doesn't occur until you attempt to create it,
either via direct input or by building a master file or similar
operation. The best way to avoid circular relationships is to not put
links on Summary Lines and not get overzealous in linking tasks.

If you are interested in a trace macro that allows you to see link
paths, you could take a look at Jack Dahlgren's trace macro. You can
find it on Jack's website at:
http://masamiki.com/project/macros.htm
It won't show you circular relationships, but it might help you manage
links you do have.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP