Two concurrent projects; link or combine into a single plan?

[mikeh]

I have two projects, and I’m not sure if I need to link them or if I should
combine them into a single project plan. (I don’t have any experience with
linking.) I’ve read a lot of posts, but would like to get everyone’s advice
here. I am using Project 2000; here is the scenario:

I have one large project, let’s call it “MainProj,†with 6 developers and 3
testers.

I also have a second concurrent project, let’s call it “SecondProj,†which
uses two of the above developers and one of the above testers.

Here is additional information:
1. For one of the SecondProj tasks, there is a dependency to a MainProj
task. (More precisely, this is a certain chunk of SecondProj development
that must wait until a certain chunk of MainProj development/testing is
completed.)
2. Since resources are shared, I will need to level resources across both
projects.
3. The project sponsors are different. I don’t want/need to show MainProj
progress to the SecondProj sponsors. I’ll only need to show SecondProj
status.

So for points 1 and 2, this would make me lean toward a single combined
project plan. However, point 3 makes me think I should keep them separate
and try to link.

What do you think? Thanks!

 

[John]

I have two projects, and I’m not sure if I need to link them or if I should
combine them into a single project plan. (I don’t have any experience with
linking.) I’ve read a lot of posts, but would like to get everyone’s advice
here. I am using Project 2000; here is the scenario:

I have one large project, let’s call it “MainProj,†with 6 developers and 3
testers.

I also have a second concurrent project, let’s call it “SecondProj,†which
uses two of the above developers and one of the above testers.

Here is additional information:
1. For one of the SecondProj tasks, there is a dependency to a MainProj
task. (More precisely, this is a certain chunk of SecondProj development
that must wait until a certain chunk of MainProj development/testing is
completed.)
2. Since resources are shared, I will need to level resources across both
projects.
3. The project sponsors are different. I don’t want/need to show MainProj
progress to the SecondProj sponsors. I’ll only need to show SecondProj
status.

So for points 1 and 2, this would make me lean toward a single combined
project plan. However, point 3 makes me think I should keep them separate
and try to link.

What do you think? Thanks!

mikeh,
It may depend somewhat on how big each project is. "Large" can mean
different things to different users. And whether the second sponsor
"sees" progress on the MainProj depends on what information is provided
to them. It they have electronic access to the file, then the choice is
probably pretty clear for two separate project files. If however, they
only receive a hard copy output then a single file might be easier to
maintain. The hard copy output can always be a filtered view.

If you elect to go with two files, you probably want to read about
external predecessors in the Project Help file. You will also want to
use a Resource Pool file since you are working with shared resources.

John
Project MVP

 

[Rob]

Hi Mike, keep the projects separate by using a resource pool, and
cross-link the dependent tasks. To create a resource pool: enter all
your resources into 1 schedule without tasks, this is a socalled
'resource pool'. Give it a smart name like 'resource pool.mpp' for easy
reference. Then create the tasks in other project files, 1 mpp per
project. Link the project schedules to the resource pool by first
opening the resource pool and the schedule which needs to use the pool,
and then selecting tools>resource sharing> share resources...>use
resources from> sellect the resource pool.mpp in the box. Pool takes
precedence. To get an overview of all activities, you can look at the
resource usage view in the resource pool. Also you could create a
master schedule that contains the 2 projects (insert project) to keep
the overview. This one you keep for yourself, the separate ones you
can use in your communications with your sponsors.