How can I navigate between linked tasks?

[Alexei]

Is there a way to quickly skip to task predecessor(s)/successor(s)? I
couldn't find either.

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Alexei,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Window/Split. Click in the lower screen to make it active. View/More
Views.../ select Relationship Diagram/Apply. Select any task in the Gantt
Chart and its relationship will be shown below.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[Alexei]

Thanks. However I'd like not only to view it but quickly move to appropriate
successor or predecessor task on Gantt view. Is it possible?

Regards

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Alexei,

I'm not sure what you want but 2 possibilities:

1. In a split screen, with network diagram view on top and a task sheet on
the bottom, on the network diagram, select a task. Press and hold the shift
key then select the task again. All successor tasks will be then be selected
and therefore will appear on the Task Sheet. Switch to the bottom half of
the screen to either analyze, or flag for filtering successor tasks. If you
are analyzing, display the Constraint Type field and the Total Slack field.

2. You could try fellow MVP Jack Dahlgren's vba code at this site:
http://masamiki.com/docs/trace-task-dependencies.html.


Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[Alexei]

Mike,

Here is how I'd like it to be. On a Gantt chart I select a task. Then, I can
choose an action which would make my current selection to point to a
successor/predecessor. In case there are alternatives, I am proposed to
choose one from the list. All you proposed are half-solutions because I
cannot navigate to an item from master view from an item in detail view. All
I can is to see a task ID in detail view, switch to master view, press Go
to... and type that ID.

At the moment, I'm editing a project plan with about 1000 tasks which are
grouped by subcomponents, not by scheduled time. So, task dependencies are
often scattered for a dozen of PgUp/PgDn whcich I have to track visually by
following dependency lines. This was rather unproductive, that's why I
applied for your help.

I guess, there are some principal limitations in MSProject architecture
disallowing implementation of such a high-required feature.

OK, thank you anyway.

Regards

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Sounds like you have your task list set up closer to a bill of materials
document. You might try regrouping it into an arrangment closer to a true
work breakdown structure. The task structure is a document describing
deliverables and the work activities that create them - dig the hole, paint
the wall, write the program, etc - not one about tangible items and their
various components. Sometimes a re-think of the structure can help resolve
"spagetti links."

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Alexei,

Here's a macro that will help you:

Sub ForAlexei()
dim T1, T2 as task
set T1=activeselection.tasks(1)
If T1.predecessortasks.count>0 then
set T2=T1.predecessortasts(1)
selectrow row:=T2.ID,rowrelative:=false
end if
end sub

Install:
Alt+F11
Left upper window select global.mpt
Unsert, Module
In the Module window paste the code above
close VB Editor
Tools, customize, Toolbars
Drag ANY icon into the toolbar
Right Click on this icon
In Name write First Predecessor
Click Change Button Image, select an image
Assign Macro
Search for Macro "For Alexei", select
OK.
From now on when you are in a Gantt view, sorted by ID, filtered for all
tasks and with Show All Subtasks, clicking the new button selects the first
predecessor.
You to write a macro for the successor.
Hope this helps

 

[Mike Glen]

You're welcome, Alexei, but I can't think of another way - maybe someone
else can.

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[davegb]

Sounds like you have your task list set up closer to a bill of materials
document. You might try regrouping it into an arrangment closer to a true
work breakdown structure. The task structure is a document describing
deliverables and the work activities that create them - dig the hole, paint
the wall, write the program, etc - not one about tangible items and their
various components. Sometimes a re-think of the structure can help resolve
"spagetti links."

Steve,
I'm curious about what a "true workbreakdown structure" looks like.
I've never heard of this before. Can you elaborate?
And what is a "task structure"? This is also a term I'm unfamiliar
with.
Finally, what are "spagetti links"?
Just trying to keep current with all the jargon.
Thanks.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

"Task Structure" = the logical arrangement of the entries in the task list.
Maybe I'm inventing terms but when I look at the task list in MS Project it
seems logical to start with the biggest work package "Build House" and break
it down into smaller and smaller work packages - Secure Site, Lay
Foundation, Erect Walls .... - until you get to the individual activities
done by individual resources or resource teams. The key is always
maintaining focus on keeping everything in the outline a description of the
observable physical activities being performed by one or more warm bodies.
A Work Breakdown structure always focuses on the work being done - it
focuses on the *actions* producing deliverables that are being performed by
resources . In contrast, a Bill of Materials type of structure focuses on
detailing the physical components of the final deliverable - it focuses on
the *things* the actions produce.

"Spagetti links" would be something similar to the spagetti code one
sometimes encouters in programming with modules calling other modules which
call others ad infinitum. Spagetti links would describe a case where tasks
with dependency links are not in reasonable physical proximity to each other
in the task list and so the link lines have to wind in and out and over and
around intermediate tasks to get from a task to its sucessor laying pages
away in the chart. If all the activities associated with laying the
foundation are subtasks of the Lay Foundation summary they are going to be
reasonably close to each other. But if the breakdown is arranged instead
with summaries for modules such as Structure, Piping, Electrical, HVAC,
Interior, Decorating etc etc you might well find a link from something in
the Structure summary having to find its way to a successor under the HVAC
summary pages and pages away. Not that links from an embedded task in one
summary might not ever find its way to a task in another summary but the
logic behind the way the work is broken down can influence how much of it
occurs.

According to the PMBOK, a WBS is a "deliverable-oriented grouping of project
elements that organize and define the total work scope of the project.
Each descending level represents an increasingly detailed definition of the
project work." It is the document that completely defines the project
scope - everything that must happen to complete the project must be listed
and any action not listed therein lies outside the scope. (As an aside,
this is why I'm not thrilled at the notion of "adminstrative tasks" like
vacations and such - while they certainly influence resource availability,
they lie outside the project scope itself in that they don't in themselves
contribute to the final deliverable and therefore they don't belong in the
WBS.) That is contrasted with an Organization Breakdown Structure (OBS)
which shows which portions of the scope have been assigned to which
organizational units, a Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS) which shows what
portions of the scope have been assigned to which specific individuals, and
a Bill of Materials (BOM) which "presents a heirarchical view of the
physical assemblies, subassemblies, and components needed to fabricate a
manufactured product." People who use a BOM model instead of a WBS model to
organize the task list in MS Project are trying to use the manufacturing
model to assemble a one-off product that is the project deliverable.