Hod do I insert multiple sub projects?

[GG]

I have a sub project that will be repeating for each phase and I would like
to insert this sub project into my master/consolidated project. But, Project
2003 reports to me that I can only insert only once. The actual message I get
is:

"A project can be inserted only once in a consolidated project"

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,
Copy and save it under different names then insert these copies.
HTH

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Make a copy of the file, change its start date, and insert the copy. That's
not so farfetched as each iteration of the subproject really is a separate
project in its own right with its own dstart, end, resources, budget, etc.

Steve House [MVP]

 

[Greg DePasse]

Actually what is proposed is not a usable solution for me. I am trying to
schedule a master project (install equipment at 45 locations). Each location
has the same set of tasks (perform site survey, order equipment, install site
2 months after ordering equipment,...) and I don't really care when they each
start. I want to set a master start date and then let MS Project do resource
leveling and figure out when I can plan to get to all the sites. I also want
to be able to change a duration or add a task in the "generic" schedule and
have that change reflected in all the site schedules. Is there any way to do
this other than to not bother with a subproject and instead copy and paste my
core set of 6 tasks over and over (and hope I never need to make a change to
those 6 tasks)?

Thanks,
Greg

 

[John]

Actually what is proposed is not a usable solution for me. I am trying to
schedule a master project (install equipment at 45 locations). Each location
has the same set of tasks (perform site survey, order equipment, install site
2 months after ordering equipment,...) and I don't really care when they each
start. I want to set a master start date and then let MS Project do resource
leveling and figure out when I can plan to get to all the sites. I also want
to be able to change a duration or add a task in the "generic" schedule and
have that change reflected in all the site schedules. Is there any way to do
this other than to not bother with a subproject and instead copy and paste my
core set of 6 tasks over and over (and hope I never need to make a change to
those 6 tasks)?

Thanks,
Greg

Greg,
If the basic plan is installing equipment at multiple locations, I'm
guessing there aren't that many individual tasks involved with each
installation. You list 4 but even if there are 10 or more detail tasks
with each installation, why not put all 45 installations in a single
file? Unless you have a need to track each installation in a separate
file, a single file should work fine.

On the other hand, if you really want to use a consolidated master,
first create a template file of a generic installation. Then use that
template to create separate files, (customized if necessary), for each
install and give each file a separate name (e.g. Install 1, Install 2,
etc.). Finally, insert each of the separate files into the master (you
won't get the error message if the file names are different). I would
also create a separate resource pool file (i.e. no tasks) and share the
common pool of resources among the subprojects in the master.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Each individual installation is not a copy of the SAME project, it may be a
replica of a prototype project involving similar work but each one is a
different project. "Install Router" at 1st Street Location will require
resource Bill to be there on Tuesday for 6 hours. "Install Router" at Main
Street location will require resource Fred to be there for 4 hours on
Wednesday. They're two totally different tasks, albeit with the same name
and very similar actions being performed.

You were talking about inserting "projects" into a master file. I usually
think of that as being the master plan with a number of different project's
on their plate. In your example, I'd call your "master project" the
Project and it includes 45 summary tasks describing the installation of the
equipment at each of 45 different locations. But I'd list every location as
its own entitity. You don't link one location to another unless they really
are contingent for some reason - perhaps you're setting up a network in a
star topology and the location(s) chosen as the centre of the star need to
have their equioment installed before the locations that connect to them so
you can properly test the locations on the radials as you set them up. But
other than that sort of thing, the 45 summary tasks describing each
location's installation will initially be in parallel. Then you can set the
Project start, assign your reources, and do resource leveling to generate
the final schedule eazy peazy, just like you want to. And far simpler both
to organize and track than doing master project / inserted subprojects. 45
summary tasks with a dozen or so subtasks in each isn't an especially large
project - I once read a Boeing 747 assembly plan was about 85000 tasks and
Project itself allows up to about 1 million tasks. 500 or so total tasks is
a piece of cake.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[Greg DePasse]

Thanks for the help. I understand what you are proposing, and as I think
about it more, I realize why I wanted to use copies of the same project - so
that I can change the tasks in one spot, it changes it across all of the
sites (whether I add/delete a task or change the duration of a task). Is
there a way to do this? Of course in an ideal world, this wouldn't be
necessary, but in the world of "you can do that in x minus y days, what's
that new schedule look like" this could save me a lot of time re-working
project.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

I can't think of an easy way to have changes "ripple" across similar tasks
at the various locations and if you think about it a bit you might agree
with my feeling that you really wouldn't want them to anyway. Consider my
example below anout installing routers at two locations, Main Street and
First Street. Just because the install at Main Street would take 2 days, is
there any reason to believe that First Street would also take two days?
They might, but it's going to be purely coincidental if they do. Different
places, different circumstances. At Main Street they're going to be shut
down those dates anyway and so we can work undisturbed. But at First Street
it is business as usual - employees and customers coming and going - and we
have to work around the other activities going on there. As a result,
getting exactly the same amount of work accomplished at First Street is
going to take much longer than it did at Main Street.

In the trade-off between convenience and accuracy, you always should go for
accuracy.


--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs