Exporting Sub Tasks To Project from Access.

[Bill]

Hi All,

Just to establish whether something is feasible before embarking .......

We are exporting information that is held in an Access database to MS
Project. Exported data contains task dates and resource information.

At the moment we are only exporting information that relates to the summary
task bar having entered all the appropriate information into that summary
task within Access, however I see a situation where we will need to be
entering sub task information into Access and letting Project do the
calculations. The information for the sub task will be basic such as start,
finish dates and resource allocation, i.e. it does not need to include stuff
such as the type of link the with other tasks etc.

So my question is whether it is possible from within Access to tell Project
that a particular task is a sub task of a summary task and have Project do
all the resourcing calcs?

Hope this comes over ok - its difficult to keep this sort of thing short and
meaningful!!!!

Regards.
Bill.

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Bill,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

I'm afraid I know little of Access. However, Project works by you inputting
Task Names, their Durations and Precedence (logic) links. Then you input
resources and level. Project will then calculate what is feasible with the
data you've entered. The only date you should enter is the Project Start
Date, and Project will then do as it's designed - calcluate all the dates
for you.

You refer to sub tasks which, to me, means you have a heirarchy of summary
tasks with sub tasks beneath. A Summary task's data exists solely when you
give it sub tasks. You should not/cannot input summary dates, resources or
logic links as you are likely to corrupt the file. Hence, although I'm sure
you can import the sub tasks' data as you've described from Access, I don't
believe it will give you a satisfactory project. Import sub task
information, including logic links, durations and resources, then indent
them under a summary to create a useable project.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for Project Tutorials

 

[Bill]

Thanks Mike,
Yeh - I had got so engrossed in the problem that I had overlooked the fact
that the summary task only exists due to the sub tasks.
Cheers.
Bill.

 

[Mike Glen]

You're welcome, Bill and good luck

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP