Command to highlight successor task relationships

[New-PM]

Hello...I'm using MS Project 2007 with a very complex project. I noted that
if I change or update a task date, the succeeding linked task dates are
highlighted in light blue.

This is very useful for finding broken or mis-connected links...however, is
there a way beyond changing a date in a cell to see all the cells that are
affected "downstream" of the one task? I know there is a relationship view
screen, but I really like the blue highlighted cells of affected tasks.

Thanks

 

[JulieS]

Hello New-PM,

See if the Task Drivers pane helps. On the Standard toolbar find
the task drivers button. When clicked it will open the task drivers
pane and you can then select a task to see a list of all items
(predecessors, resources) which is affecting the start of the
selected task.

Project will highlight changed tasks if a task's date changes -- so,
if you change duration manually or add or subtract resource to an
effort driven task, or change work etc -- that will usually change
duration and you'll see the change highlighting.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[New-PM]

Thanks Julie...I tried it and it sort of does what I need but not as easily
or neatly as changing a date or duration...with MS Project being so skittish
at times on what gets changed where, it is not my most favorite thing to
start changing dates or durations to flesh out what successor tasks are
linked and affected by the task I'm curious about.

Thanks for your help! Maybe a word back to Microsoft to develop a couple of
commands:
"highlight all linked tasks" and
"highlight all affected tasks"

Now that would be useful!

Regards,
New-PM

 

[JulieS]

You're welcome. Glad to have helped and thanks for the feedback.

Just as a side note, you really shouldn't be changing dates. As you
note, setting task predecessors/successors is the way to go.

Jack Dahlgren (Project MVP) does have a macro on his website which
will help trace successors. You might find it useful. Jack's
website is:

http://masamiki.com/project/macros.htm

See the "Trace" macro.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[Dominic]

One way to assess the impact of the change you have made is to use on of the
10 Baselines available to you using the "Interim Plan" option in the Set
Baseline dialogue box and to then update this baseline (Baseline N) prior to
making changes and to then make a copy of the slipping tasks filter renaming
it to something memorable such as "Change Impact" and edit the values so
that Baseline Finish N does not equal NA and Finish is greater than Baseline
Finish N. This will then show you all tasks impacted by the change you have
just made with the earliest displayed task being the "Culprit" and all other
tasks being the "Victims" of the change you have made. This does of course
assume that you have a complete network of dependencies through your
schedule.

--
Dominic Moss

Projectability - Helping People achieve more with Microsoft Project

www.projectability.co.uk