Master Project Plan - Changing Dates

[tgreen_etc]

Hello, I currently use a master project plan to manage multiple project plans
in one file. I update the master plan by choosing "Insert > Project". I
un-check the box to "link to project" since I want this file to remain
independent of the source project plans. My problem is this:

It is typical that the overall start date (when viewing at outline level
one) for a project will change at this point (this happens in about 1/3 of
the overall projects I insert). For example, I insert a project that starts
6/1/2009, but once it is inserted it will start 3/10/2009. This is due to
the fact that between 1 and 3 tasks are moved to an earlier date once the
project is inserted; in turn, every week I find myself needing to go through
the plans and manually change the dates for those tasks back. In addition,
all plans that change the start date will change to the same date (in my
case, any plan that changes always goes to 3/10/2009).

I have no idea what is going on here, please help me if you can!

 

[Jim Aksel]

Are the Project Start dates the same in Master and the subproject in
question? You need to look at the individual files to verify.

Are there any constraints holding the tasks in place? Each project task
(other than a get started milestone) should have a FS Predecessor and FS
Successor tied to it.

You have a big hint with your 3/10/2009 date ... perhaps this is the start
date of your master project? I just tried it with a couple of 1 line files.
I placed two files into a master, one with a Sept 20 start, the other with a
December 4th start. They stay put when I insert other project. However, I
changed the start date of my Master Project to 3/10/2009 and everybody moved
left because I had nothing holding the initial dates.

--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim Aksel, MVP

Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com