Combining a "base" project with other projects

[Dave]

I have a "base" project in which I have defined all of the standard tasks
that each project must accomplish (QA stuff, approvals, configuration
control, ...).

For each project, I want the lead engineer to create a list of the technical
tasks that he must accomplish (will be different for every project). Then I
want to take his list and combine it with my base project to come up with a
complete MS-Project file.

The catch is, that my "Base" tasks keep changing. Currently I have several
projects on-the-go, and if I have a change to one of the Base tasks, I need a
way to update each of the on-going project files with this change. However,
I also want to allow each user of the project files to update the "Notes"
field of the base tasks, therefore I need the base tasks to be embedded in
each project file (I cannot link multiple projects to a common base project).

What I was thinking is in my "base" project I have forced all the UniqueID's
to above 30,000. Now I am hoping there is some way using VB to copy all of
my base tasks to each project file, and preserve the UniqueID number (above
30,000). Using these numbers, I know that I am using a range of UniqueIDs
that is not already in use, and that the UniqueID number for my Base tasks
will be the same in each project file. This way if I have a change to my
base file, I could use VB to search for the task's UniqueID in each project
file, if it finds it, update it, if it doesn't add the new task.

Is it possible to manipulate the UniqueID in such a way using VB?

If not, does anyone have any ideas how else I can accomplish this?


Dave

 

[Rod Gill]

Unique ID's cannot be manipulated. Add a task and the only option is the
next number. You can however have a custom number field with whatever number
you want.

One option for technical tasks, is that if they're small then have the list
in Excel and have one task in Project to represent the duration of the whole
technical list.

 

[Haris Rashid]

hi Dave,

Your unique_ID will be same across different project files if the same base
file is used to create those projects. You can then using VBA code manipulate
the tasks using uniqueIDs.

Use the fileOpen method to access the tasks in another project and match
compare them with unique IDs using the Task.UniqueID property.

Kind regards,

 

[Dave]

Rod

Thanks for the reponse. The problem with using a custom field is that the
user can copy and paste one of the base tasks in his project, then i will
have a duplicate number in the custom field. Also I don't know how to
guarantee custom number fields don't get changed?

I like the suggestion to use Excel. For small projects this would work well
- most people I work with would prefer to use Eexcel anyway.

Dave

 

[Dave]

Thanks Haris

I will try this.

Dave

hi Dave,

Your unique_ID will be same across different project files if the same base
file is used to create those projects. You can then using VBA code manipulate
the tasks using uniqueIDs.

Use the fileOpen method to access the tasks in another project and match
compare them with unique IDs using the Task.UniqueID property.

Kind regards,