MS-Project, Multiple Projects and RUP

[King Kong]

Hi all,

I am running into a severe problem with MS-Project.
Here is what I have:
- One pool of ressources (30%, 50%, 80% etc. The wilder you guess the
closer you are to my reality)
- 3 projects I have to deal with with these ressources. The projects
are in different phases of the projects. One is in inception, the
other is in realisation and the last in transition.
- We have to use RUP (Rational Unified Process)
For those who don't know: RUP uses iterations and each iterations
usually has its own individual project plan

How can I use MS-Project best to cover this situation?
I made one calendar in a master project plan.
So far so good. But I need this for the other projects too.
But a simple copy is insufficient because then I would use the
ressources double. I also cannot say the ressources are split 33%,
33%, 33%.
20, 40, 40 si more likely.

And then I have the iterations. So far, for the first project, we used
separate project plans per iteration. Easy. I then manually copied the
basics into the master project plan for the management.
But now, with three projects, smae ressources etc., I have no idea how
to do this best without redudancy or three times work.

Ayn help?
For example:
Is there a way to reference from a master project plan to external
other project plans? So the master is automatically generated?
Or a way that changing ressources in on plan makes the adequate
changes in the other?

Thanks
kay

 

[Sarah]

- One pool of ressources (30%, 50%, 80% etc. The wilder you guess the
closer you are to my reality)...
...I made one calendar in a master project plan.
So far so good. But I need this for the other projects too.

First of all, I'm going to assume for the sake of my answeres that
you're using a version prior to the MS Project 2002 Server Edition,
such as 98 or 2000. This being the case, do you have a Shared Resource
Pool set up? This would take care of the redundancy you mentioned with
copying resource information from project to project. You set up
calendars and allocations in the Shared Resource Pool, then link all
projects to it.

And then I have the iterations. So far, for the first project, we used
separate project plans per iteration. Easy. I then manually copied the
basics into the master project plan for the management.

Have you tried using a Master Project and inserting all of your
iteration plans as subprojects? This will role up all of the
information into essentially one summary line, while still maintaining
individual plans. Use the Insert>Project feature.

Is there a way to reference from a master project plan to external
other project plans?

You can link between tasks in projects. Just open both projects, click
Window>New Window, select both projects in the dialog box, and a new
project will open with both of them. Select the tasks you want to
link, link them, then close the combined window without saving. It
will prompt you to save the changes to the individual plan.

Or a way that changing ressources in on plan makes the adequate
changes in the other?

Again, the Shared Resource Pool would solve this.

Hope this helps!
Sarah

 

[King Kong]

Hi Sarah,

I am glad for your help.

First of all, I'm going to assume for the sake of my answeres that
you're using a version prior to the MS Project 2002 Server Edition,
such as 98 or 2000. This being the case, do you have a Shared Resource

Project 2000

Pool set up? This would take care of the redundancy you mentioned with
copying resource information from project to project. You set up
calendars and allocations in the Shared Resource Pool, then link all
projects to it.

No, I have never heard of that.
I can do it in project I suppose.
But in the mpp isn't it then only valid
for this file?
Forgive my ignorance please.

Have you tried using a Master Project and inserting all of your
iteration plans as subprojects? This will role up all of the
information into essentially one summary line, while still maintaining
individual plans. Use the Insert>Project feature.

Good to know. Thanks a lot.
Can I then edit the stuff in both plans
or only in the subproject plans?

You can link between tasks in projects. Just open both projects, click
Window>New Window, select both projects in the dialog box, and a new
project will open with both of them. Select the tasks you want to
link, link them, then close the combined window without saving. It
will prompt you to save the changes to the individual plan.

Aha.
Wow, Project is better than I thought.

Again, the Shared Resource Pool would solve this.

Hope this helps!

A lot

Sarah

Thanks a lot
Kay

 

[Sarah]

Kay,

You should check out the Help files on the Shared Resource Pool as a
starting point. Basically, it is just a project file that only
contains resource information, nothing else. Then you link all of your
active projects to this file by using Tools>Resources>Share Resources.
I have never actually done this myself, as we have a Resource Pool
Administrator here, so you will have to read more about it before
setting it up and linking. The built-in Help files on this subject
seem to contain enough info to get you started.


As for the Master/Subproject relationship, I would again suggest
reading the Help files before you start. I don't really use this
feature, so I am not completely familiar with all the details.

Sarah