Repeating Project Tasks

[whstewart1]

I am relatively new to project and perhaps starting out with
complicated scenario. I am getting ready to start fixing up a 50 uni
apartment complex with the residents still living there. Due to this
my scheduling has to go down to the hour of each of 2 or 3 days that w
move the residents out. I want to know the best way of managing thi
relatively simple task and multiplying it by 50 (once for each unit)
started out by having each task as a sub task of the day of work and th
2 days of work as subtasks for the apartment unit that I am working o
at that specific time. The problem is- I want to be able to change th
schedule for the first Unit and for it to apply to all 50 units.
Basically I want to have the same set of tasks repeated 50 times and b
able to adjust or add to only one of them and have it change all of th
rest. Is there any clean way of doing this. I was thinking of makin
each unit a separate project and having a master project to run th
whole thing but that does not solve the problem of if I need to chang
the schedule because one item is taking longer than expected. I do no
want to have to go in and to that on all 50 files or in all 50 subtask
if it is all in 1 project. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

[Rod Gill]

I think I would start with 50 tasks, one for each apartment. I would then
specify tasks for each apartment in Excel and allocate hours for each task
and day 1, or day 2 etc. Add hours for each apartment to relevant task in
Project and go from there. Printed task list in Excel goes to team for each
apartment.

You are creating a lot of work trying to time manage using Project. Assign
one person to be responsible for an apartment and get them to plan the work,
pre-order materials carry out inspection tasks then manage the work. Your
project is part project management but mostly time management and Project is
not a time management tool.

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project - http://www.project-systems.co.nz

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see: http://www.projectvbabook.com

I am relatively new to project and perhaps starting out with a
complicated scenario. I am getting ready to start fixing up a 50 unit
apartment complex with the residents still living there. Due to this,
my scheduling has to go down to the hour of each of 2 or 3 days that we
move the residents out. I want to know the best way of managing this
relatively simple task and multiplying it by 50 (once for each unit) I
started out by having each task as a sub task of the day of work and the
2 days of work as subtasks for the apartment unit that I am working on
at that specific time. The problem is- I want to be able to change the
schedule for the first Unit and for it to apply to all 50 units.
Basically I want to have the same set of tasks repeated 50 times and be
able to adjust or add to only one of them and have it change all of the
rest. Is there any clean way of doing this. I was thinking of making
each unit a separate project and having a master project to run the
whole thing but that does not solve the problem of if I need to change
the schedule because one item is taking longer than expected. I do not
want to have to go in and to that on all 50 files or in all 50 subtasks
if it is all in 1 project. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


--
whstewart1
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[Jim Aksel]

It depends on exactly what you want to do. For example, if you have a task
"Fix Electrical" and that is set to 3 hours. If you decide that it will take
4 hours, there is no way for Project to automatically increase the other 50
apartments to 4 hours for electrical on those remaining apartements.

You can do some things that will help. For example, create a summary task
called "Apartment#" and then indent everything you will do to the aparment
underneath that summary task. You can also include two milestones "Start
Work on This Apartment" and "Apartment Complete". Now you can now collapse
and copy this summary task and paste it several times. If you use your head,
you can paste once, then copy two items. Paste (you now have 4), then copy
all 4 and paste, you now have 8... You will have to manually tag each
summary task with the apartment ID.

To link the apartments, you establish a Predecessor/Successor (Link) between
the Apartment Finished and Apartment Start tasks going between the cascading
aparements. So, if Apartment 17 runs long ... then Apartments 18-50 will
automatically roll assuming you did not manually key any dates.

Now, let's shift to the idea that "electrical" may need to increase from 3
hours to 4 hours for all remaining apartments. What I would do would be to
sort the project file (Project/Sort/Sort By... by name). Now you should have
all the "Painting" tasks together, then all the "Electrical" tasks together.
You can then change the duration of Electrical from 3 hours to 4 hours and
then copy/paste (drag or highlight and hit control+D, etc) that will get you
then. Then resort the file by ID.

If you want, you can also explore using customize grouping (also under the
Project menu) which essentially gets you to the same place.


--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim Aksel, MVP

Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com

 

[whstewart1]

Jim-Thanks for the help. This looks like it will work. Unfortunatel
there does is not a sort by "name" option that I was able to find bu
the custom grouping can be grouped by name. This will make it a lo
easier as long as I get all of my tasks in order before I start. I a
still presented with an issue if I add something to the list. Thank
again.

Trevor- Actually I am pretty sure it will work. I think you ar
thinking of DAY1 incorrectly. I am treating DAY1 as a task and as a wa
of grouping the 50 or so things that have to be done to each unit. I
you do not understand the way I am trying to explain it, Imagine I wa
planning for a week long music festival tour. Seven days spread out wit
uncertain dates. The only thing I know is that in order for the secon
day to happen the first day has to already have happened. Or anothe
example would be if I was planning for a hiking trip and want to grou
my meals and activities under the day itself which is a task. In orde
for DAY2 to happen, DAY1 will have to be done. In my project i
particular, we are going to go through most of the units doing thei
DAY1 tasks before I even Start back going through the units with thei
DAY2 tasks. If you know of a better way of doing this or why exactly i
will not work, please let me know

 

[whstewart1]

Jim-Thanks for the help. This looks like it will work. Unfortunately
there does is not a sort by "name" option that I was able to find but
the custom grouping can be grouped by name. This will make it a lot
easier as long as I get all of my tasks in order before I start. I am
still presented with an issue if I add something to the list. Thanks
again.

Trevor- Actually I am pretty sure it will work. I think you are
thinking of DAY1 incorrectly. I am treating DAY1 as a task and as a way
of grouping the 50 or so things that have to be done to each unit. If
you do not understand the way I am trying to explain it, Imagine I was
planning for a week long music festival tour. Seven days spread out with
uncertain dates. The only thing I know is that in order for the second
day to happen the first day has to already have happened. Or another
example would be if I was planning for a hiking trip and want to group
my meals and activities under the day itself which is a task. In order
for DAY2 to happen, DAY1 will have to be done. In my project in
particular, we are going to go through most of the units doing their
DAY1 tasks before I even Start back going through the units with their
DAY2 tasks. If you know of a better way of doing this or why exactly it
will not work, please let me know.

 

[Steve House]

The task list should be a deliverables breakdown - starting with the overall
project deliverable it should be decomposed into smaller and smaller
compnent units until you get to the level where a task describes the
physical activity done by a single skill set in producing a single
deliverable. In your concert tour, one deliverable might be a performance
in Houston while another, coming later in the tour, is a performance in St
Louis. An activity might be "inspect/test FOH sound system," occuring once
for each venue. The deliverable for the Houston venue is "Houston sound,
good to go" while St Louis has a completely separate deliverable, "St Louis
sound, good to go." You have to do that in both venues but you don't have
to have actually played the Houston date before you send an engineer to
inspect the St Louis FOH system. In your breakdown the activities are
organized by time, not by what they actually DO or what deliverable they
contribute to. If you need a listing of tasks by date for some reason, you
can always do that by sorting or in a report (Who Does What When). Imagine,
in your plan, what happens if St Louis cancels. Your St Louis related tasks
are scattered helter skelter under summaries based on time - finding all the
tasks related to St Louis's performance is going to be a nightmare. Or even
if you just need to verify that everything you need to do to be ready to
roll in St Louis has been done. But if the plan is arranged with the
summaries representing deliverables, ie, each venue, it's a no-brainer to
locate everything St Louis related.

 

[whstewart1]

I guess I am still being a little bit unclear but I think this wil
help. Maybe my concert example was not the best. I am thinking of eac
day as a mini phase. For each particular apartment phase 1 (day1) ha
to be done before phase2 (day2). The start date of phase2 for a unit i
dependant only on being done with phase 2 on the previous unit. Also
phase 1 has to have been completed. Phase 2 does not start on a uni
the day after phase 1 is done it starts the day after phase2 is done fo
the previous unit. If someone knows of a better way of doing this than
would love to hear it but I don't need anymore "that wont work" or why
hypothetical that I came up with is not exactly like what I am talkin
about. Thanks

 

[Steve House]

Instead of "Day 1," "Day2," etc then why not name each main summary
"Apartment 1" "Apartment 2" and so forth? That makes it a LOT clearer that
the summary tasks represent represent phases with a deliverable at the end
of each and allows for the possibility that Apartment X is in such shape
that it might take more than 2 days to complete. Instead of the phases
being Day 1 and Day 2, the phases are whatever the objective is that the
work needs to accomplish, ie "Apartment Painted" "Appliances Installed" etc.
(You haven't said what you're doing with these apartments - building,
maintaining, fumigating, or whatever - so look to the principle, not the
specific example.) Note that summary tasks are NOT really tasks at all -
they are rollups - in a sense they're sort of reports, of the work -
durations, etc of the actual physical tasks contained under them. The real
work of the project is in the detailed subtasks. You should be able to hide
all the summaries, leaving only their subtasks, and still see all the work
required to complete the project. Remember that a Project plan is not a
just to-do list, listing the activities planned or due on a certain date,
but instead is a detailed roadmap of the entire process and workflow itself.
The phases, represented by all the various level summary tasks, represent
the physical objectives that need to be accomplished for the project itself
to be completed and not the dates on which the work will take place.

 

[whstewart1]

Steve- I think you are trying to tell me to do what I have already done
What was done before I asked the original question which has nothing t
do with any of this
Here is an example of a particular task.

Unit1-Day1-Replace Hot Water Heater-Remove Hot Water Heate

o

Unit1-Day2-Replace Carpet-Remove Old Carpe

I am fixing these apartments up. Rehabbing them for those in th
business. A "phase" in the construction industry as it is every wher
else that I know about consists of a variety of tasks not jus
"Apartments Painted"

I have milestones for the end of tasks and for the end of the day o
phase depending on how you like to look at it.

I don't think that I ever said that DAY1 was my main summary

 

[Steve House]

The problem as I see it is grouping by day the work is done rather than by
deliverable created. "Day 1" is not s deliverable. "Water Heater Replaced"
is.