Need a streamlined process? Please help.

[KimberlyC]

Hi,
I need help in thinking this out and you guys always have the answers.
First of all, I have not used Project much, but thanks to the information
here, I am getting much better. This question is more of a logical type of
question.
Here is the situation:
1. My job is to track all tasks/projects that are due for our manufacturing
company.
2. My boss wants to see everything that is happening with all
projects/tasks he assigns. There are 3 levels of Gantts.
1. there is one Gantt with everyone's projects (I call that the main Gantt),
2. there is one that just my boss wants he and I to see (we call that his
private Gantt),
3. then there are individual Gantts for everyone, who are on the main Gantt
and sometimes on my bosses private Gantt.
These Gantts all have most of or all of the same information on it. It's
just that the Main Gantt is NOT available for everyone to see--just top
management, the Private Gantt is just for my boss and me as I said, then we
have all of the individual Gantts for all of the other managers to see items
associated with their team. My pain is having to update all of these Gantts
basically with the same information. Right now, I have been just copying and
pasting, but this is cumbersome and will get worse as our company grows. I
am wondering if there is any way to streamline this process?

TIA,

 

[Jack Dahlgren]

Insert all the low level gantts into a master project (insert menu / project
, check the "link to project" option). Then when you open the master project
it will open all the subprojects as well. People can continue to use their
subprojects in the normal way, but when you need the big picture use the
master project.

You might still keep the private schedule private, since you haven't told us
what it is used for or what data is in it I can't make a suggestion about
it.

-Jack Dahlgren

 

[John]

Hi,
I need help in thinking this out and you guys always have the answers.
First of all, I have not used Project much, but thanks to the information
here, I am getting much better. This question is more of a logical type of
question.
Here is the situation:
1. My job is to track all tasks/projects that are due for our manufacturing
company.
2. My boss wants to see everything that is happening with all
projects/tasks he assigns. There are 3 levels of Gantts.
1. there is one Gantt with everyone's projects (I call that the main Gantt),
2. there is one that just my boss wants he and I to see (we call that his
private Gantt),
3. then there are individual Gantts for everyone, who are on the main Gantt
and sometimes on my bosses private Gantt.
These Gantts all have most of or all of the same information on it. It's
just that the Main Gantt is NOT available for everyone to see--just top
management, the Private Gantt is just for my boss and me as I said, then we
have all of the individual Gantts for all of the other managers to see items
associated with their team. My pain is having to update all of these Gantts
basically with the same information. Right now, I have been just copying and
pasting, but this is cumbersome and will get worse as our company grows. I
am wondering if there is any way to streamline this process?

TIA,

Kimberly,
Private Gantt, ooooo, that sounds pretty interesting

I can understand why you are going nuts trying to maintain and update
three "sets of books", and it is totally unnecessary. It sounds like the
individual projects contain all the basic information but it isn't clear
what type of information is on the private project. Is there something
additional on the private project that isn't included in the individual
projects?

Basically this is what I suggest. Create a master project which is
nothing more than all the individual projects inserted into a blank
master. Do this by creating a new blank project and then going to
Insert/Project and selecting all the individual projects. This will
create a dynamic master and any updates to the individual projects or to
the master will automatically be reflected in the others.

Now, depending on what information is on the private project, you may
also be able to create another separate master for that by including the
additional tasks on the new file before you insert the other projects.
Or, it might be more desirable to use external links from the individual
projects to the private project. It depends on the content and intent of
the private project.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Jim Aksel]

The only thing I can add to the above suggestions is to keep tight
configuration control on the subprojects. You need to insist that they
always live in the same shared network folder and the names do not change.

This way, when you create the master project (which is stored someplace more
private) you can be assured that you are pulling the data from the correct
place.

 

[KimberlyC]

Thanks Guys. I will give your suggestions a try. I really do appreciate
your help. Right now, it is not too bad, but we are growing so, I can see
this getting out of hand.

Thanks again.

 

[KimberlyC]

You guys are awesome! This works exactly like I need it to work. I am so
excited now. My boss' private Gantt has some of his personal "to dos" on it.
But not many. I will still have to do his separately, but that was not a
major concern--the concern was more of when we get more mangers.

This is great. Thank you and Thank you!

 

[John]

Insert all the low level gantts into a master project (insert menu / project
, check the "link to project" option). Then when you open the master project
it will open all the subprojects as well. People can continue to use their
subprojects in the normal way, but when you need the big picture use the
master project.

You might still keep the private schedule private, since you haven't told us
what it is used for or what data is in it I can't make a suggestion about
it.

-Jack Dahlgren

Jack,
Just for reference, the "link to project" option is the default so it is
already checked.

John

 

[John]

You guys are awesome! This works exactly like I need it to work. I am so
excited now. My boss' private Gantt has some of his personal "to dos" on it.
But not many. I will still have to do his separately, but that was not a
major concern--the concern was more of when we get more mangers.

This is great. Thank you and Thank you!

Kimberly,
Whether or not we are "awesome" is debatable, however thanks for the
kudos anyway

John
Project MVP

 

[Jack Dahlgren]

Jack,
Just for reference, the "link to project" option is the default so it is
already checked.

John

You are correct. It Should... be already checked...

-Jack