Microsoft Project linking help

[ProjectHelp]

I have a question regarding Microsoft Project linking between multiple
project plans. Currently my process is to link each of my workstream project
plan milestones into a "Consolidated Milestone" view. So I've copied certain
tasks (and their start, resource name, duration columns, etc columms) and do
a "paste special" then "paste link" then "text data" into the target
consolidated file. This creates the normal shadded arrow in the corner of
each linked cell.

Now I noticed with 3 of my 7 workstream project plans, that when I opened my
consolidated view project plan and re-established the links, that certain
fields were not represented the way there were in their specific workstream
plan. For instance, one task had 5 days for duration and an finish date of
11/17. However it appears the Consolidated view "reconciled" that new
duration/date and change it to 2.5 days and and moved up the finish date to
11/14.

I'm wondering why the "linked URL tasks" didn't just appear as they were
pulled from the indivudal workplans. Is there anything I can do to just have
the Consolidated Project plan accept whatever the values in from the
workstream plans present? Is there another way to link these plans? Also,
does it matter if the individual workstream filenames contain spaces or
characters such as (- or _) that might break the URL links?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Is there a reason why you're not using standard dependency links to
accomplish this? OLE linking is rather fragile. Further, you need to
understand that the linked tasks in your summary plan are their own animals
and therefore follow their own normal behaviors. I think a standard
predecessor/successor link strategy will deliver better results.

 

[John]

I have a question regarding Microsoft Project linking between multiple
project plans. Currently my process is to link each of my workstream project
plan milestones into a "Consolidated Milestone" view. So I've copied certain
tasks (and their start, resource name, duration columns, etc columms) and do
a "paste special" then "paste link" then "text data" into the target
consolidated file. This creates the normal shadded arrow in the corner of
each linked cell.

Now I noticed with 3 of my 7 workstream project plans, that when I opened my
consolidated view project plan and re-established the links, that certain
fields were not represented the way there were in their specific workstream
plan. For instance, one task had 5 days for duration and an finish date of
11/17. However it appears the Consolidated view "reconciled" that new
duration/date and change it to 2.5 days and and moved up the finish date to
11/14.

I'm wondering why the "linked URL tasks" didn't just appear as they were
pulled from the indivudal workplans. Is there anything I can do to just have
the Consolidated Project plan accept whatever the values in from the
workstream plans present? Is there another way to link these plans? Also,
does it matter if the individual workstream filenames contain spaces or
characters such as (- or _) that might break the URL links?

Thanks in advance.

ProjectHelp,
You're using paste links and that is the downfall. Paste links are very
fragile and prone to corruption. Further, using them for multiple fields
of a given task can create unexpected results, as you have seen.

Let me answer your basic question, is there a better way? Yes. It sounds
like all you really want is an abbreviated file consisting of
"duplicate" tasks from several other files. The best approach may be a
simple master file with inserted subprojects (Insert/Project). It is
very easy to filter for just the tasks you want to see and by default
the consolidation will be linked. In other words, if a change is made to
any of the subproject files, it will be shown in the master because the
master contains a pointer (link) to the actual subproject files.

John
Project MVP