wheela said:
John,
The project I am working on has a number of launch dates, so in the master I
have created summary tasks under which I have inserted the relevant project
files for each launch.
When I open one of the inserted files it returns the correct dates,
durations etc. However, when I open another file within the same summary
task, the original file's dates and durations are overwritten by the
corresponding data from the file I have just opened.
All of the individual projects have exactly the same tasks, dependencies etc
and there are, as yet, no links between individual plans.
I created the master from a copy of one of the individual plans for
formatting reasons.
Wheela
Wheela,
I don't understand your last sentence, "I created the master from a copy
of one of the individual plan for formatting reasons". Was that a copy
and paste operation? How does that retain the formatting? Also, why do
all the projects have exactly the same data? If the launch dates are
different then I suspect the location is different and that makes each
task unique to that launch date (just for reference, the name of the
summary line should NOT be the only information that defines essentially
"identical" tasks). Why? Because if all the task names repeat, when
combined in a master file, things will get real confusing when sorting,
filtering, or other specialized file viewing is used.
Basically I still don't quite understand your file structure and that
makes it difficult to provide an answer. My suggestion is that you build
a "normal" master file by inserting each individual subproject into the
master. To do that, follow this process:
1. Create a new blank file (this will be your master)
2. Go to Insert/Project
3. Select each individual project (as a group) from the list in the
Insert Project window. If you want the subprojects linked to the master
(i.e. changes in either will be reflected in the other), just hit
"Insert". If you do NOT want the subprojects linked, uncheck the "link
to project" option at the bottom of the Insert Project window and then
hit "Insert".
4. As long as the formatting is not specific to a task (i.e. formatted
via Format/Font), any formatting in the subprojects can be transferred
to the master by using the Organizer to transfer custom views (see a
post earlier this week in this newsgroup on "MS Project formatting").
Try the above method and then if you still have a problem, post again.
John
Project MVP
