Task Sorting/Custom Group

[TooNewToProjectToKnow]

I am using Project Standard 2003. I have a 500 task schedule.
The proposal submitted was placed in a project file in a given order.
However, now we need to "resort" the schedule.

I inserted Text1 and input the groupings that I want.. GoupA, GroupB, etc.
Some of these tasks are together, but others are not. GroupA may be tasks
10,11,12,13 and then 121,122, and 200 to 225. Similar for the other groups.
Each of these groups has its own summary task.

I want to regroup the schedule and still keep the same indenture of summary
tasks where practical. This way, all my GroupA is together.

What is the best approach to do this?

 

[John]

TooNewToProjectToKnow

I am using Project Standard 2003. I have a 500 task schedule.
The proposal submitted was placed in a project file in a given order.
However, now we need to "resort" the schedule.

I inserted Text1 and input the groupings that I want.. GoupA, GroupB, etc.
Some of these tasks are together, but others are not. GroupA may be tasks
10,11,12,13 and then 121,122, and 200 to 225. Similar for the other groups.
Each of these groups has its own summary task.

I want to regroup the schedule and still keep the same indenture of summary
tasks where practical. This way, all my GroupA is together.

What is the best approach to do this?

ToNew...
A few questions of my own are in order.

First, since you apparently received the file from a customer in a
specific order for proposal purposes, does the file still need to retain
the original order? My guess is it probably does.

Second, you said you are using Text1 for your grouping identifiers and
then you gave an example of non-contiguous tasks being a part of one of
those groups. Then you said that, "each of these groups has its own
summary task." Each of which group? GroupA as a whole or each "group" of
contiguous tasks within groupA (i.e. tasks 10, 11, 12 & 13 are under one
summary, tasks 121 & 122 under another summary and so forth)?

Third, what exactly do you mean by regrouping the schedule and keeping
the same indenture of summary tasks?

Basically a more detailed explanation of what you are trying to do would
help. Meanwhile, you might want to take a look at the grouping
functionality of Project. You have already designated Text1 as your
grouping field. Go to Project/Group By/Customize Group By and set the
group by field as Text1. Check the option to show summary tasks and see
if that gets what you want - or perhaps close enough.

John
Project MVP

 

[TooNewToProjectToKnow]

Thank you. I tried the grouping including the summary tasks. It includes
the summary tasks but does not appear to keep the subtasks of that task
together. I will look into that more.

I can keep an original copy of the file, so permanent changes are OK.

My groupings GroupA, GroupB, etc. are spread out. If I have a summary task,
then three summary tasks under it -- One of those will all be GroupA, another
GroupB, the third GroupC. What happens is there will be other super
summaries with Group A and B only, maybe a GroupD, etc.

The Group By seems to get me pretty close. Is there a way to freeze it that
way? I mean permanently reorder the file so it was like I typed it that way
originally? I need to have a GroupA as a summary task with all it summaries
and children, then GroupB, etc.

What happened is we were given a file that was created by vertical functions
(Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality). Each function then bid "Item1",
"Item2" as assemblies underneath. Instead, we need Item1: Engineering,
Manufacturing, Quality. Item2: Engineernig, Manufacturing, Quality.

So, generally that is what is followed. After I get it permanently the new
way, I can move the remaining tasks with cut and paste.

 

[John]

TooNewToProjectToKnow

Thank you. I tried the grouping including the summary tasks. It includes
the summary tasks but does not appear to keep the subtasks of that task
together. I will look into that more.

I can keep an original copy of the file, so permanent changes are OK.

My groupings GroupA, GroupB, etc. are spread out. If I have a summary task,
then three summary tasks under it -- One of those will all be GroupA, another
GroupB, the third GroupC. What happens is there will be other super
summaries with Group A and B only, maybe a GroupD, etc.

The Group By seems to get me pretty close. Is there a way to freeze it that
way? I mean permanently reorder the file so it was like I typed it that way
originally? I need to have a GroupA as a summary task with all it summaries
and children, then GroupB, etc.

What happened is we were given a file that was created by vertical functions
(Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality). Each function then bid "Item1",
"Item2" as assemblies underneath. Instead, we need Item1: Engineering,
Manufacturing, Quality. Item2: Engineernig, Manufacturing, Quality.

So, generally that is what is followed. After I get it permanently the new
way, I can move the remaining tasks with cut and paste.

ToNew...,
If I understand you correctly, you want to re-order the file under your
designated groups and still retain the original summary lines.
Unfortunately that is not possible - it defeats the meaning of "summary
line". Existing summary lines would need to appear in more than one
place and that doesn't "compute", so to speak.

Given that you cannot retain the original summaries, what is it about
the Group By function that doesn't meet your needs? You can't
permanently re-order the file as you see it presented in grouped by, but
you can always save a custom group so it can be viewed or printed.

Depending on how your group A, group B, etc. relate to Engineering,
Manufacturing and Quality, it may be possible to manually edit and
re-build the file in the format you want. If the file is large such that
a lot of manual editing would be required, a VBA macro could be written
to automate the process.

John
Project MVP