Cross project dependencies

[JennyK]

Sorry to ask what might be a really basic question.

My team is responsible for managing project dependencies between separate
projects.

What is the best way to do this in Project 2003 Enterprise Server? If we put
physical links between plans and one plan is updated, will this cause
confusion and automatic rescheduling in the other plan? Are there any other
ways of doing this?

Many thanks

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jenny K --

Refer to the following FAQ for the steps need to set cross-project
dependencies:

http://www.projectserverexperts.com/Shared Documents/interprojectlinks.htm

When a manager updates the schedule in a prececessor project, then the
manager of the successor project will not see the changes until he/she opens
the successor project. At that time, he/she will be warned that the project
schedule has changed because of a predecessor task in an external project.
Hope this helps.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

JennyK --

Why is the PM of the second project not accepting the updates from the first
project? This makes no sense and this is certainly not a good practice.
He/she should study the changes in the Links Between Projects dialog and
then accept the update. I don't believe there is anything in the software
that will allow you to determine if the PM has accepted updates or not,
short of opening each project to see if you get the dialog. Other than
that, I think you need to make this a training and performance issue. Hope
this helps.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

JennyK --

In an environment such as this, you might be better off opening each master
project, expanding each subproject, saving the master project and the
subprojects as well. This will take the matter out of the hands of your
PM's who don't want to play by the rules. Hope this helps.