unlinking master task from subproject file

[Sean J. Miller]

Scenerio:
MS Project 2003, SP3
1 Master Project
2 SubProjects
2 people performing scheduling function
Each scheduler edits only their subproject directly.

Problem:
With the Master project file closed, they can readily edit their subprojects
independently.
They can create links to the Master Project from their subproject.
However, if they UNLINK the master tasks from within their subproject, the
link is recreated the next time the project file is opened.

More detail:
After unlinking the master project task from within the subproject, they can
go to Tools-->Links Between Projects. It will immediately show under the
"Differences" column that Project is pending a "Create External"

This is limiting us to doing master task links only from within the Master
file. This is ineffiecient since 2 schedulers can not be in the master
schedule at the same time.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

-Sean J. Miller

 

[Prima V.]

WOW! Sounds like this could be complicated. I know a guy who could probably
help you out. His name is Billy. If you would like his contact info, just
let me know. Thanks!

 

[John]

Scenerio:
MS Project 2003, SP3
1 Master Project
2 SubProjects
2 people performing scheduling function
Each scheduler edits only their subproject directly.

Problem:
With the Master project file closed, they can readily edit their subprojects
independently.
They can create links to the Master Project from their subproject.
However, if they UNLINK the master tasks from within their subproject, the
link is recreated the next time the project file is opened.

More detail:
After unlinking the master project task from within the subproject, they can
go to Tools-->Links Between Projects. It will immediately show under the
"Differences" column that Project is pending a "Create External"

This is limiting us to doing master task links only from within the Master
file. This is ineffiecient since 2 schedulers can not be in the master
schedule at the same time.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

-Sean J. Miller

Sean,
Something isn't quite clear to me. Does the master project have tasks of
its own or is the master simply the consolidation of the two subprojects?

Just for reference, links between files are two-ended. That is, part of
the link resides in the source file and part of the links resides in the
destination file. Whenever I use links between files, whether it is a
master and subprojects, (no links between tasks, just the link between
master and subproject), or external links between two projects, I always
save both files. That captures the link change at both ends. It sounds
like you are only saving one end of the link, so the total link is not
being broken.

John
Project MVP

 

[Sean J. Miller]

Thanks, John. You opened the door for our solution. Others new to
consolidating projects will probably need similar guidance. So, I'll
document in detail what we have found after your post.

For clarity, let me expand our scenario:
MS Project 2003 Pro, SP3
1 Master Project which contains top level milestone tasks to be linked to
subproject tasks
2 SubProjects linked within the Master Project
2 people performing scheduling function
Each person edits only their own subproject file

Issue:
Could not unlink master-to-subproject tasks from within a subproject file.
Project would let you break a link, only to bring it back the next time you
opened the subproject file or made a different link to the master tasks from
within that subproject file.

The confusion:
We could successfully establish links to master tasks from the subproject
file, so we assumed we could readily unlink them, too, from within the
subproject file. (with Master file closed on the schedulers PC). We assumed
any unlinked tasks would sync upon opening the Master File similar to how
creation of links worked.

The reason why we couldn't unlink them:
Someone on another computer was opening the Master and accepting the links
before the scheduler tried to unlink them. We found that if you don't open
the Master on another machine, you can create a link and unlink all you want
with no glitches.

Our strategy going forward while in the "building logic phase":
Since we had two schedulers, we politely asked them to not open the Master
to prevent making unlinking difficult for the other scheduler.

No one opens the Master Project with "write permissions" until the end of
the day-not even the boss. When everyone is done with their linking from
their subproject files to the Master Project's milestone tasks, they save
their sub project files, close them, and then open the Master and accept the
changes.

Tip: We let the boss do this accept the changes. It makes him feel good.

Closure:
I imagine that Project Server addresses multiple users cleanly so that no
administrative work-arounds are required. We have not yet explored it.

See ya',
Sean

 

[John]

Thanks, John. You opened the door for our solution. Others new to
consolidating projects will probably need similar guidance. So, I'll
document in detail what we have found after your post.

For clarity, let me expand our scenario:
MS Project 2003 Pro, SP3
1 Master Project which contains top level milestone tasks to be linked to
subproject tasks
2 SubProjects linked within the Master Project
2 people performing scheduling function
Each person edits only their own subproject file

Issue:
Could not unlink master-to-subproject tasks from within a subproject file.
Project would let you break a link, only to bring it back the next time you
opened the subproject file or made a different link to the master tasks from
within that subproject file.

The confusion:
We could successfully establish links to master tasks from the subproject
file, so we assumed we could readily unlink them, too, from within the
subproject file. (with Master file closed on the schedulers PC). We assumed
any unlinked tasks would sync upon opening the Master File similar to how
creation of links worked.

The reason why we couldn't unlink them:
Someone on another computer was opening the Master and accepting the links
before the scheduler tried to unlink them. We found that if you don't open
the Master on another machine, you can create a link and unlink all you want
with no glitches.

Our strategy going forward while in the "building logic phase":
Since we had two schedulers, we politely asked them to not open the Master
to prevent making unlinking difficult for the other scheduler.

No one opens the Master Project with "write permissions" until the end of
the day-not even the boss. When everyone is done with their linking from
their subproject files to the Master Project's milestone tasks, they save
their sub project files, close them, and then open the Master and accept the
changes.

Tip: We let the boss do this accept the changes. It makes him feel good.

Closure:
I imagine that Project Server addresses multiple users cleanly so that no
administrative work-arounds are required. We have not yet explored it.

See ya',
Sean

Sean,
First of all, you're welcome and thanks for the feedback.

It sounds like you may have one to many schedulers (to many cooks spoil
the soup). In your situation the best thing you can do is to adopt a set
of user guidelines (rules of engagement if you will) and it sounds like
you've done that.

I don't do Project Server so I can't say if it would alleviate your
problem or not although I tend to think it would. If you want to ask
questions about Project Server, post on our sister newsgroup,
microsoft.public.project.server. The MVPs who do do Server will be glad
to help.

John
Project MVP

 

[Michael Morgan]

John,

We are using MS Project 2003 SP3 Standard. We have a master schedule that is
a container for 25 sub schedules. From the master schedule we have external
links between the various schedules. Each schedule has been archived once a
week for several months.

Last week we noticed that external links started showing up attached to some
of the archived files. We broke those links, save the master file, opened up
the master file back up and the deleted links from the archived files
reappear.

Any ideas on how to get these external links to the archived files to break
permanently?

After reading this post, I was wondering if I opened the master schedule,
then the archived files, then broke the link and saved, maybe that would work.

One suggestion was to create a new master, change the names on each of the
files and recreate the external links. I was hoping to find an easier
solution?

Thanks,

 

[John]

John,

We are using MS Project 2003 SP3 Standard. We have a master schedule that is
a container for 25 sub schedules. From the master schedule we have external
links between the various schedules. Each schedule has been archived once a
week for several months.

Last week we noticed that external links started showing up attached to some
of the archived files. We broke those links, save the master file, opened up
the master file back up and the deleted links from the archived files
reappear.

Any ideas on how to get these external links to the archived files to break
permanently?

After reading this post, I was wondering if I opened the master schedule,
then the archived files, then broke the link and saved, maybe that would work.

One suggestion was to create a new master, change the names on each of the
files and recreate the external links. I was hoping to find an easier
solution?

Thanks,

Michael,
Since you addressed this to John, (me), I assume this is a followup to a
previous post which I responded to - but I don't remember.

Trying to archive files with existing external links is pretty much
asking for trouble. Links between master and subproject are made up of
two parts and to be effectively broken, both link halves must be
addressed, or you can end up with link fragments (corruption) or
replicated links (as you are experiencing).

It isn't entirely clear from your post if you have links from tasks that
actually belong to the master and tasks in subprojects or if you simply
have external links between subprojects (i.e. no links to the master
itself).

Probably the most robust and trouble free approach is to create a new
master each week and re-establish links. However if there are a lot of
links, that can be tedious process and prone to operator error.

This approach might work but I haven't tried it. Open the master and all
subprojects. Do a Save As on the master and each of the subprojects to a
new archived name, but, make sure you keep the live files and the
archived files in the same folder - you can try moving the archives
later if desired. Then close the live master and each subproject without
saving.

If it were me, each week I would convert the dynamic master to a static
master - basically creating a snapshot of everything in a single large
file. Unfortunately when external links are involved, simply unlinking
each subproject at the master level will not work, it requires some VBA
to preserve the external linking structure. Fortunately I have such a
macro, but it is not freeware. If you are interested, you can write me
direct at the address below and we'll go from there.

John
Project MVP
jensenljatatfastmaildotdotfm
(remove obvious redundancies)

 

[Michael Morgan]

The external links were all done in the Master Project, but relinking each
week is not an option. I will let them know about your static option and
offer, and get back to you if they want to pursue that route. Thanks again
for the info.
Michael

 

[John]

The external links were all done in the Master Project, but relinking each
week is not an option. I will let them know about your static option and
offer, and get back to you if they want to pursue that route. Thanks again
for the info.
Michael

Michael,
Again it's not entirely clear where the links are. One easy and typical
method for creating external links between subprojects is to do it "in a
master project", since all subproject tasks are visible at once. However
that doesn't mean that there are any links to tasks that actually BELONG
to the master project. Nonetheless if "they" are interested in my static
file approach, you know how to contact me.

John
Project MVP