Need clarification on project priority verses task priority

S

Skip Wick

Can someone clarify the function of the project priority
setting which appears in the Project Information dialog
box? I have several administrative projects whose tasks
need their priorities set at 1000. Can I just set the
project priority to 1000 and leave the tasks at 500?

Secondly, let's' say I have two projects I want to level.
Project A has a project priority of 800 and its tasks at
priority 500. Project B has a project priority of 200 and
its tasks have a priority 600. If I hit the level button
what will Project do? Will all tasks in Project A
(priority 800) have priority over all tasks in Project B
(priotity 200) even though the tasks in Project B have a
higher priority than the tasks in Project A?

Thanks,
Skip
 
L

lon swain

Per the documentation...

Indicates how readily tasks in the current project are
delayed when resources are leveled across multiple
projects. Type or select a number between 0 and 1,000,
with the higher number indicating a higher priority
project. Microsoft Project takes into account project-
level priorities before task-level priorities when
leveling.
 
D

Dale Howard

Skip --

The Priority number for the project indicates the project's relative
importance when compared to other projects in the portfolio. Each task also
carries a Priority number, which indicates the task's relative importance
against other tasks in the project. The higher the Priority number, the
more important the task or the project. When you set a Priority number for
the project, that number does not "trickle down" to the individual tasks in
the project.

The Priority number for projects and tasks is primarily used for leveling
resource overallocations. Projects and/or tasks with lower Priority numbers
will be delayed before tasks with higher Priority numbers. The minimum
Priority number is 0 and the maximum number is 1000, which also means "Do
Not Level." On the project level, I recommend that no two projects in your
portfolio have the same Priority number. Thus, every project must be more
important or less important than every other project.

If you want to quickly set the Priority number for all tasks, first click
the "Select All" button in the upper left corner of the task sheet (like in
Excel). Then click the Task Information button on the Standard toolbar.
Click the General tab and set the Priority number for all of the selected
tasks in a single operation. Hope this helps.
 
M

Mike Glen

Hi Dale,

As a personal point, I don't like using the word "important" in a Project
priority context. It can imply that by attaching priorities to
tasks/projects it gives those tasks/projects a higher profile for any
reason - often irrespective of logic linkages. All tasks are important or
they shouldn't be there! And are critical tasks more important than
non-critical tasks and thus have higher priorities? In this context I think
not. The ONLY use for priorities is during levelling, as you quite
correctly say: ie if there are 2 tasks vying for the same resource at the
same time, which does Project delay? - the one with the lowest priority,
which, in some people's minds, may or may not be more or less important in
their scheme of things. I advocate using priorities as a means to achieving
an acceptable outcome to levelling: no other purpose. I don't think
priorities should be overplayed more that they deserve - no, not really
"important".


Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
 
D

Dale Howard

Mike --

Thanks for the clarification. I was trying to explain the use of the
Priority field without reusing the word "priority" again. Yes, I agree that
the word "important" is probably flawed in my explanation. Thanks for
mentioning it. Your message was very "important" to me! :)
 
Top