Creating External Predecessors in Project 2003

N

Nate

Hi,

I've searched through the help functions associated with
the product and haven't been able to find information
regarding how to create an external predecessor (a
predecessor in another project file). I have found how
to delete, view and edit them, but not create. Can
someone help me here?

I appreciate your time.

Thanks in advance.
 
S

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

I've searched through the help functions associated with
the product and haven't been able to find information
regarding how to create an external predecessor (a
predecessor in another project file). I have found how
to delete, view and edit them, but not create. Can
someone help me here?

I appreciate your time.

Thanks in advance.
.
Click to expand...
Hi,
I have copied this directly from the help file.

1 Open both projects: the project containing the task
you want to link to and the project containing the task
you want to link from.
2 On the Window menu, click Arrange All.
3 In the Task Name field, click the task for which you
want to create a dependency to an external predecessor.
4 Click Task Information , and then click the
Predecessors tab.
5 In the ID column, type the project name and ID number
of the external predecessor, separated by a backslash,
for example Project1\1 for Task ID 1 in a file named
Project 1.
Note When you link tasks in different projects that are
stored in Microsoft Project Server, the predecessor's
task ID must be formatted correctly. In the Task
Information dialog box, on the Predecessors tab, in the
ID column, the task ID must be formatted as shown in the
following example: <>\projectone.published\42. In this
example, the angle brackets (<>) contain no information,
projectone.published is the name of the project
containing the predecessor, and 42 is the task ID of the
predecessor task.
6 To change the dependency to a type other than finish-
to-start, select a different dependency type in the Type
column.
7 To enter lag time for the dependency, enter a value in
the Lag column.
To enter lead time, enter a negative value in the Lag
column, such as -2 for two days of lead time.


Finally, do you want to be notified of changes that
affect your externally linked tasks when you open the
file?

On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the
View tab.
Under Cross project linking options, clear the Show
Links Between Projects Dialog On Open check box.
To automatically accept changes each time you open the
project, select the Automatically Accept New External
Data check box.
Yes if you want to be notified of changes that affect
externally linked tasks when you open the project. You
can choose which changes to accept, or you can accept all
changes as you review them.

No if you just want to open the project next time without
reviewing updated information.

Thanks,

Stuart
 
D

Dale Howard

Nate --

The method that I normally use is to create a temporary master project.
Here's how to do it:

1. Open a new blank project
2. Click Insert - Project and insert the project with the predecessor
task(s)
3. Select the next blank cell (DO NOT roll out the inserted project yet)
4. Click Insert - Project and insert the project with the successor task(s)
5. Roll out the tasks in the second project, then roll out the tasks in the
first project
6. Select the predecessor task in the first project, hold down the Control
key, and select the successor task in the second project
7. Click the Link Tasks button
8. Edit the task dependency type, if needed
9. Set any other dependencies between these projects, as you need
10. Close this temporary master project
11. When asked about saving changes to the project, click the No button
12. When asked about saving changes to each subproject, click the Yes to
All button

If you open either of the two projects that were temporarily inserted, you
will see a gray "ghost task" for each task from the other project. That's
one way to do it. Hope this helps.
 
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