Project 2000 Oddities (Bugs?)

[jsl]

I have an approximately 4400 line MS Project file (Project 2000
Standard). The original "all one file" version suffered from what
appeared to be data corruption (probably caused by the original
maintainers frequently copy/pasting large chunks of the tasks from
smaller Project files maintained by other schedulers).

So, I recreated the behemoth using a master Project file with the
smaller minor schedules (also Project 2000) linked in, using "Insert
Project" with "Link to Project" selected. When I do the link, even if
the file is in the same folder, it shows up as an fully qualified
pathname, not a relative (to the folder in which the linking Project is
in) pathname.

On a weekly basis, the customer copies the folder containing the
Project schedules to another folder, then moves the older folder to an
"obsolete schedules" folder. On a bi-weekly basis, I copy the folder
from the customer's server to my server.

Every so often, and it appears to be totally random as to which file(s)
it will be, the link pointing to a linked project file doesn't get
updated correctly... it will point to a copy of the file in an older
folder or a copy of the file on a different server.

I realize that the constant folder copying is most likely the root
cause of the munged filenames... but given that this is a part of the
customer's maintenance process that cannot be easily changed, can
anyone suggest a better approach.

Project 2000 Project Central is out of the question, because the
customer doesn't own a copy of it. I am working to get them to
purchase and migrate to Project 2003/Project Server, but that is
several months away at a minimum.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

FYI, re your last paragraph. If they own Project 2000 they own Project
Central - it's in a folder on the original Project 2000 CD. Whether they'd
be able to use it and get it working is another story entirely. There may
be some users out there who have successfully used it in a production
environment but I've never personally met any.

 

[jsl]

I will have to research with the customer's network support if they
have Project Central loaded on their intranet, then.

 

[jsl]

Currently, there are no links between sub-projects (i.e. no external
predecessors/successors).

However, that is a task that I am pursuing, as part of enhancing the
usability of their schedule to something more than wallpaper with
dates.

 

[John]

I have an approximately 4400 line MS Project file (Project 2000
Standard). The original "all one file" version suffered from what
appeared to be data corruption (probably caused by the original
maintainers frequently copy/pasting large chunks of the tasks from
smaller Project files maintained by other schedulers).

So, I recreated the behemoth using a master Project file with the
smaller minor schedules (also Project 2000) linked in, using "Insert
Project" with "Link to Project" selected. When I do the link, even if
the file is in the same folder, it shows up as an fully qualified
pathname, not a relative (to the folder in which the linking Project is
in) pathname.

On a weekly basis, the customer copies the folder containing the
Project schedules to another folder, then moves the older folder to an
"obsolete schedules" folder. On a bi-weekly basis, I copy the folder
from the customer's server to my server.

Every so often, and it appears to be totally random as to which file(s)
it will be, the link pointing to a linked project file doesn't get
updated correctly... it will point to a copy of the file in an older
folder or a copy of the file on a different server.

I realize that the constant folder copying is most likely the root
cause of the munged filenames... but given that this is a part of the
customer's maintenance process that cannot be easily changed, can
anyone suggest a better approach.

Project 2000 Project Central is out of the question, because the
customer doesn't own a copy of it. I am working to get them to
purchase and migrate to Project 2003/Project Server, but that is
several months away at a minimum.

Thanks in advance.

jsl,
You didn't mention whether the subprojects have links between their
tasks (i.e. external predessors/successors). If they do not, why not
simply build a static master before it is archived by the customer? To
create a static master, uncheck the "link to project" box on the insert
window. Note that a static master is a snapshot of all the tasks at the
point in time the master was created. Once the static master is created
it can be saved anywhere because it is a separate independent file.

If the master does contain links between subprojects, I have a macro
that will preserve not only the task status as in a static master but
will also preserve all subproject links (they are converted to normal
predecessors/successors). The end result is also a separate independent
file. The macro is not freeware but if you are interested, write me
direct.

John
Project MVP