Master Project Plan

[aho200]

I would like to create a master project plan with subprojects inserted. I
understand that I must publish resource assignments only from the subproject
plans, and not the master, in order to avoid duplicate assignments. Other
project managers will manage the subprojects and I will manage the master.
However, our MS Project 2003 server administration said the following:
"Before you go any further with a Master/subproject you should know that
feature is disabled on our server. Microsoft does support Master/subprojects
however they strongly discourage the use of this type of project because it
can cause major issues beyond duplicate assignments. Major project
corruption and synchronization issues can also occur. It was decided, long
ago, to block the use of this feature since the inherent risk to the project
outweighs any functional enhancement you would receive." Is it still true
that using a master project plan will cause many problems?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

aho200 --

I think your Project Server administrator is way off-base on this one. If
your organization needs to use master Projects, it is not up to him/her to
tell you that you cannot do it. He/she can safely enable the permission to
allow you to save a master project in the Project Server database. Can
he/she cite any sources to back up the dire warning from Microsoft? If so,
I would like to see it, since many of us have successfully used master
projects without the problems he/she refers to. Plus, if using master
projects were as dangerous as your Project Server administrator thinks they
are, wouldn't Microsoft simply OMIT this functionality in the first place?
Hope this helps.

 

[RandyK]

I was under the understanding that Master Projects only cause an issue if
actually published. As far as I know, you can "save" a master project out to
project server without duplicating any assignemtns or causing overallocation
of resources. Further, I believe Microsoft has blocked the ability to
publish Master Projects (not sure - but I think this was new to MSPS 2003).

I would like to hear more on this topic as well.

 

[aho200]

I just went to the MS Project 2003 help menu and looked up "master". It
says: "Note Typically, if you create master projects and subprojects, only
the subprojects are saved to the enterprise server. The master projects are
only saved on your local computer, unless your organization has specified
that they can be saved to the server. Saving the master projects to Microsoft
Office Project Server 2003 can result in erroneous reporting data. Microsoft
Office Project Professional 2003 and Project Server 2003 have built-in
reporting and analysis features that replace the need to create master
projects and subprojects." Does this mean that I should create just a local
copy of the master and somehow insert the subprojects from the project server?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

aho200 --

You can save your master project locally as an .mpp file if you wish. The
warning in Help is overblown, in my opinion, but do as you wish. Hope this
helps.

 

[aho200]

From a local master project plan, will saving it still allow it to
automatically update the subprojects on the server and vice versa? Thanks

 

[aho200]

This is exactly what I would like to do if this can work. Has anyone else
had experience with saving a master project plan to Project Server 2003? I
understand this means saving the project plan to the server but not
publishing the resource assignments from the master. Thanks.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

aho200 --

Yes and yes. Hope this helps.

From a local master project plan, will saving it still allow it to
automatically update the subprojects on the server and vice versa? Thanks

 

[pcbak]

Here are my notes on the subject. I compiled these from the Microsoft
Project 2003 / Server Guides, which we all know can be redundant:

1. Using master projects to provide rolled-up reports across multiple
projects is valuable when you are using Project Professional (or
Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003) as a stand-alone application,
but does not work as well when all projects are integrated into a
common repository such as the Project Server database. Because of the
way that projects are stored in the Project Server database and are
added to and displayed in the Project Center, publishing a master
project to the Project Server database results in duplication of
resource assignments and the creation of inaccurate Project Web Access
views. It is therefore recommended that master projects not be
published to the Project Server database if they have resource
assignments in them.
2. Use Enterprise Outline Codes in the Project Center, and published
Administrative Projects to group projects together. This is entirely
dependent upon the EOC codes assigned to the projects.
3. Portfolio Analyzer can be used also to view multiple projects
together
4. Consolidated / Masters can be created by selecting and opening
groups of projects via Web Access and the Project Center
a. To view with summarized information, a top level summary task
should be added
b. Use this to view each project contributing to a single work effort
c. Consolidated, or master, can be saved to the server (according to
permissions set on the server for the group or individual), but not
published (unless the permissions are set to publish on the Admin
screen). The owner of the master can then reopen the consolidated
project, and any updates to the sub-projects will be visible
d. Changes to the sub-projects while the consolidated is opened and
subsequently resaved, SHOULD trigger email alerts to the subs.

 

[aho200]

Thank you pcbak. That was very helpful.

 

[aho200]

Thank you Dale. I appreciate your help.

aho200 --

Yes and yes. Hope this helps.