Linking a predecessor from one project to another in Project Serve

[Tricia R.]

We have implemented Project Server and had a consultant help us with the
initial configuration and recommended we do not allow Master Projects (I
can't remember exactly why at this point).

In addition to our PMO projects, we would like to start tracking the small
projects (under 80 hours) but one of our managers would like to link these so
that he can assign 3 or 4 of these to one resource and link them such that
the dates from one drive the dates in the others. Is it possible to set a
predecessor in a project as task from another project? Thanks!

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Tricia R --

Yes, you can do this by creating a temporary master project. To do so,
complete these steps:

1. In Microsoft Project, open each of the projects you would like to link
with one another
2. Click Window - New Window
3. In the New Window dialog, select each of these open projects and click
OK
4. Expand each of the subprojects in the new temporary master project
5. Link tasks as needed
6. Click File - Close
7. When prompted about saving the master project, click the No button
8. When prompted about saving the subprojects, click the Yes to All button

Another method to create a temporary master project is this:

1. Navigate to the Project Center page in PWA
2. Select the row header for each of the projects that will be in the
master project
3. Click the Open button
4. Expand each of the subprojects in the new temporary master project
5. Link tasks as needed
6. Click File - Close
7. When prompted about saving the master project, click the No button
8. When prompted about saving the subprojects, click the Yes to All button

Hope this helps.

 

[Al Gardiner]

Dale,

Thanks for the help. I'm the PM Tricia was referring to. Your suggestion
worked great. However, I have a follow on question. Occasionally (actually
frequently) I need to adjust some of these relationships. I can open the
file-based master project which will then open the 29 Project Server based
projects that I am trying to manage. When I complete my adjustments, there
are, as expected, task updates that need to be published. I cannot do this
while the projects are open in a master file because we do not allow master
files in Project Server. Is there a way to publish multiple projects at one
time or am I stuck opening 29 individual files and publishing every time I
make a change?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Al Gardiner --

You might want to download and use the View Populator utility for Project
Server 2003. It allows you to publish multiple projects simultaneously
without having to open Microsoft Project Professional. It is available at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...d5-3cdb-4a57-a1fd-748bf968d48b&DisplayLang=en

Hope this helps.