Gantt Chart Wizard (Critical Path) and Bar Name Corruption

[Don]

Has anyone noticed problems with the Gantt Chart Wizard corrupting bar
names (found in Format->Bar Styles) in MS Project 2007? I had an
earlier post about bar name corruption, but did not know the cause.
This morning I noticed the corruption returned and traced it to
running the Gantt Chart wizard. It appears repeatable.

(Julie - If you happen to read this, looks like this is what caused
the corruption in the names I saw. The question now is why SP1 and
the Infrastucture patch did not fix the problem as I am sure the SP is
installed and it appears the Infrastructure patch is also.)


Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Don

 

[JulieS]

Hi Don,

Thanks for the update. It appears that this is going to keep
recurring on Project files created in earlier version of Project.
I've not seen any problems with Project files created in Project
2007 and then using the Gantt Chart Wizard but if I take a Project
2003 file, open it in Project 2007 and run the Gantt chart wizard --
I see the same problem. If I recall from your previous post, this
was a file initially created in Project 2000.

A suggestion. Create multiple views fixing the Bar Style corruption
problem in each view and then do not re-run the Gantt chart wizard.
When you want to show different information (critical, baseline
etc.) just switch views.

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

"Don" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[Don]

Julie,

Actually, the only view I need is one showing the critical path. It's
a pretty simplistic schedule, but there are other issues that have
prompted me to run the Gantt Chart wizard for the critical path
repeatedly (see my post on the critical path not showing if you want).

More curiosity questions than anything:

1) Do you know if MS is aware of this issue with converting from old
schedules? If so, are they planning on addressing it?

2) What export type (eg XML, xls, etc) is most complete. Since the
issue appears to be the initial file type, what are the chances of
successfully exporting to (say) XML, creating a new 2007 Project, and
then importing the XML? Not a terribly elegant solution, but might be
a way to "save" projects from earlier versions of Project from
corruption problems. I will probably give this a shot, but as a
novice Project user I doubt I would notice some of the more subtle
issues that might come up in that process.

Thanks for the help!

Don

 

[JulieS]

Hi Don,

My comments are inline.

"Don" wrote in message

Julie,

Actually, the only view I need is one showing the critical path.
It's
a pretty simplistic schedule, but there are other issues that have
prompted me to run the Gantt Chart wizard for the critical path
repeatedly (see my post on the critical path not showing if you
want).

[Julie] You don't need to keep re-running the wizard to show changes
in critical path. Once you switch the format of the Gantt chart to
show critical path, if a task becomes critical it will automatically
change color.

More curiosity questions than anything:

1) Do you know if MS is aware of this issue with converting from
old
schedules? If so, are they planning on addressing it?

[Julie] I don't know if they plan on fixing it, but I think they
are aware of it.

2) What export type (eg XML, xls, etc) is most complete. Since the
issue appears to be the initial file type, what are the chances of
successfully exporting to (say) XML, creating a new 2007 Project,
and
then importing the XML? Not a terribly elegant solution, but might
be
a way to "save" projects from earlier versions of Project from
corruption problems. I will probably give this a shot, but as a
novice Project user I doubt I would notice some of the more subtle
issues that might come up in that process.

[Julie] If the idea is to try to avoid the issue, I'd try a couple
of less complicated methods first. Try inserting the existing file
into a new project file through Insert > Project. Uncheck the
option "link to project". Before doing so, make sure the new
project you are going to insert into has the same calendar
definition (you can copy the calendar through the organizer), set
the start date equal to the old project start date. Once you've
inserted the project select all tasks except for the first one and
outdent. That will restore the original outline settings. In very
quick testing with a project 2003 file that was exhibiting the same
problems you noted, this seemed to allow me to run the wizard in
2007 without the name corruption problem.

Thanks for the help!

Don

[Julie] You're welcome Don.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Don,

I'd rather say let's not use the gantt Chart izard in Project 2007.
If you want to show the critical path without using the wizard, here's how
Format, Bar Styles
Change the Show For... Line from Normal into Normal,Not Critical
Insert a row in third position
Name Critical
Show for: Normal, Critical
Color the middle bar red.

(This used to be like a "standing instruction" in 98 when the wizard wasn't
there yet)

HTH

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

Julie,

Actually, the only view I need is one showing the critical path. It's
a pretty simplistic schedule, but there are other issues that have
prompted me to run the Gantt Chart wizard for the critical path
repeatedly (see my post on the critical path not showing if you want).

More curiosity questions than anything:

1) Do you know if MS is aware of this issue with converting from old
schedules? If so, are they planning on addressing it?

2) What export type (eg XML, xls, etc) is most complete. Since the
issue appears to be the initial file type, what are the chances of
successfully exporting to (say) XML, creating a new 2007 Project, and
then importing the XML? Not a terribly elegant solution, but might be
a way to "save" projects from earlier versions of Project from
corruption problems. I will probably give this a shot, but as a
novice Project user I doubt I would notice some of the more subtle
issues that might come up in that process.

Thanks for the help!

Don