Limitations on the size of a project

[Lou]

We currently use MS Project for EVMS at the milestone level. We need to
drive earned value management down to the task level. We have another
application that manages "cost" side, but we are unsure if MS Porject can
manage the task side. Specifically, we need an EVMS tool set capable of
handling as many has 60K tasks. We have confirmed that the cost management
tool can.
Can someone confirm any experience using MS Project for projects that size
and larger?

 

[Prj_Mngr]

I think that Microsoft recommends a max of 1500 tasks and a duration of under
12 months. I have used a lot more than that without any problems. However the
main issue you will have is the maintenance of 60k tasks. Unless you have a
very welll sequenced schedule then changes will be difficult to track.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Lou:

This is actually within Project's capabilities, but a single plan with 10K
tasks is cumbersome, to say the least, let alone a 60K line plan. I would
hope that you'd be managing this in smaller component plans making up a
program or portfolio. Manipulating a plan is very difficult once you exceed
a couple thousand tasks.