Chapter 18. Consolidating Projects and Resources
Chapter at a Glance
In this chapter, you will learn how to: | |
✓ | Create a resource pool to share resources across multiple projects. |
✓ | Look at resource allocation across multiple projects. |
✓ | Change resource assignments in a sharer plan, and see the effects in a resource pool. |
✓ | Change a resource’s working time in a resource pool, and see the effects in a sharer plan. |
✓ | Make a specific date nonworking time in a resource pool, and see the effects in the sharer plan. |
✓ | Create a project plan, and make it a sharer plan for a resource pool. |
✓ | Update a resource pool manually from a sharer plan. |
✓ | Insert project plans to create a consolidated project. |
✓ | Link tasks between two project plans. |
Practice Files
Before you can complete the exercises in this chapter, you need to copy the book’s practice files to your computer. A complete list of practice files is provided in Using the Practice Files at the beginning of this book. For each exercise that has a practice file, simply browse to where you saved the book’s practice file folder.
Important
If you are running Project Professional, you may need to make a one-time setting change. This helps ensure that the practice files you work with in this chapter do not affect your Project Server data. For more information, see Appendix C.
Creating a Resource Pool
When managing multiple projects, it is common for work resources (people and equipment) to be assigned to more than one project at a time. It might become difficult to coordinate the work resources’ time among the multiple projects, especially if those projects are managed by different people. For example, an editor at a book publishing firm might have task assignments for a new book, a promotional Website, and a press release—three projects proceeding simultaneously. In each project, the editor might be fully allocated or even underallocated. However, if you add all her tasks from these projects together, you might discover that she has been overallocated, or assigned to work on more tasks than she can handle at one time. When working with cost resources in multiple projects, you might want to see not only the cost per project associated with a cost resource, but the cumulative costs across projects as well. Likewise, when working with material resources in multiple projects, you’d see cumulative consumed material resources in whatever unit of consumption you’ve used.
A resource pool can help you see how resources are utilized across multiple projects. The resource pool is a project plan from which other project plans draw their resource information. It contains information about all resources’ task assignments from all project plans linked to the resource pool. You can change resource information—such as maximum units, cost rates, and nonworking time—in the resource pool, and all linked project plans will use the updated information.
The project plans that are linked to the resource pool are called sharer plans. The following is one way of visualizing a resource pool and sharer plans.
If you manage just one project with resources that are not used in other projects, a resource pool provides you no benefit. However, if your organization plans to manage multiple projects, setting up a resource pool enables you to do the following:
Enter resource information, such as nonworking time, in any of the sharer plans or in the resource pool so that it is available in other sharer plans.
View resources’ assignment details from multiple projects in a single location.
View assignment costs per resource across multiple projects.
View cumulative costs for work and cost resources across multiple projects.
View cumulative consumption values for material resources across multiple projects.
Find resources who are overallocated across multiple projects, even if those resources are underallocated in individual projects.
A resource pool is especially beneficial when working with other Microsoft Project 2010 users across a network. In those cases, the resource pool is stored in a central location, such as a network server, and the individual owners of the sharer plans (which might be stored locally or on a network server) share the common resource pool.
In this exercise, you create a project plan that will become a resource pool and link two sharer plans to it.
Set Up
Start Project if it’s not already running.
You need the Consolidating A_Start project plan located in your Chapter18 practice file folder to complete this exercise. Open the Consolidating A_Start project plan, and then follow these steps.
On the File tab, click Save As.
The Save As dialog box appears.
In the File name box, type Consolidating A, and then click Save.
On the File tab, click Open.
The Open dialog box appears.
Double-click the Consolidating B_Start file.
On the File tab, click Save As.
The Save As dialog box appears.
In the File name box, type Consolidating B, and then click Save.
These two project plans were previously created, and both contain resource information. When they were last saved, the Resource Sheet was the active view in both plans.
Next, you will create a new project plan that will become a resource pool.
On the File tab, click New.
Under Available Templates, click Blank project, and then click Create on the right side of the Backstage view.
Project creates a new project plan, with the Gantt with Timeline view displayed.
On the View tab, in the Resource Views group, click Resource Sheet.
The Resource Sheet view replaces the Gantt Chart view.
On the File tab, click Save As.
Navigate to the Chapter18 folder.
In the File name box, type Lucerne Resource Pool, and then click Save.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click Arrange All.
Project arranges the three project plan windows within the Project window.
Note
You do not need to arrange the project windows in this way to create a resource pool, but it is helpful to see the results as they occur in this chapter.
Looking at the resource names in the two project plans (Consolidating A and Consolidating B), you can see that several of the same resources appear in both project plans. These include Carole Poland, Copyeditors, John Evans, and others. None of these resources are overallocated in either project.
On the Resource tab, in the Assignments group, click Resource Pool, and then click Share Resources.
The Share Resources dialog box appears.
Under Resources for ‘Consolidating B’, select the Use resources option.
The Use Resources From list contains the open project plans that can be used as a resource pool.
In the From box, click Lucerne Resource Pool.
Click OK to close the Share Resources dialog box.
You see the resource information from the Consolidating B project plan appear in the Lucerne Resource Pool plan. Next, you will set up the Consolidating A project plan as a sharer plan with the same resource pool.
Click the title bar of the Consolidating A window.
On the Resource tab, in the Assignments group, click Resource Pool, and then click Share Resources.
Under Resources for ‘Consolidating A’, click the Use resources option.
In the From list, make sure that Lucerne Resource Pool is selected.
Lucerne Resource Pool is selected by default. The Consolidating A project plan is already a sharer plan, and Project won’t allow a sharer plan to be a resource pool for another project plan.
Under On conflict with calendar or resource information, make sure that the Pool takes precedence option is selected.
Selecting this option causes Project to use resource information (such as cost rates) in the resource pool rather than in the sharer plan, should it find any differences between the two project plans.
Click OK to close the Share Resources dialog box.
You see the resource information from the Consolidating A project plan appear in the resource pool.
The resource pool contains the resource information from both sharer plans. Project will consolidate resource information from the sharer plans based on the name of the resource. John Evans, for example, is listed only once in the resource pool, no matter how many sharer plans list him as a resource.
Important
Project cannot match variations of a resource’s name—for example, John Evans from one sharer plan and J. Evans from another. For this reason, it is a good idea to develop a convention for naming resources in your organization and then stick with it.
Again, you do not have to arrange the project windows as you did in this exercise to link the sharer plans to the resource pool. However, it is helpful in this chapter to see the results as they occur.
Viewing Assignment Details in a Resource Pool
One of the most important benefits of using a resource pool is that it allows you to see how resources are allocated across projects. For example, you can identify resources that are overallocated across the multiple projects to which they are assigned.
Let’s look at a specific example. As you might have noticed in the previous section, the resource Carole Poland, who was not overallocated in either of the individual project plans, did appear overallocated after Project accounted for all her assignments across the two project plans. When Carole’s assignments from the two sharer plans were combined, they exceeded her capacity to work on at least one day. Although Carole most likely was aware of this problem, the project manager may not have known about it without setting up a resource pool (or hearing about the problem directly from Carole).
In this exercise, you view assignments across project plans in the resource pool.
Double-click the title bar of the Lucerne Resource Pool window.
The resource pool window is maximized to fill the Project window. In the resource pool, you can see all the resources from the two sharer plans. To get a better view of resource usage, you will change views.
On the View tab, in the Resource Views group, click Resource Usage.
The Resource Usage view appears.
In the Resource Name column, click the name of resource 1, Carole Poland.
On the Task tab, in the Editing group, click Scroll to Task.
The timephased details on the right side of the Project window scroll horizontally to show Carole Poland’s earliest task assignments. The red numbers (for example, 16 hours on July 16) indicate a day on which Carole is overallocated. Next, you will display the Resource Form to get more detail about Carole’s assignments.
On the View tab, in the Split View group, click Details.
The Resource Form appears below the Resource Usage view.
In this combination view, you can see all resources in the resource pool and their assignments (in the upper pane), as well as the selected resource’s details (in the lower pane) from all sharer plans. You can see, for example, that the Content edit task to which Carole is assigned is from the Consolidating B project, and the Assign launch team members task is from the Consolidating A project. Carole was not overallocated in either project, but she is overallocated when you see her assignments across projects in this way.
If you want, click different resource names in the Resource Usage view to see their assignment details in the Resource Form.
On the View tab, in the Split View group, clear the Details check box.
Tip
In a resource pool, the Resource Form is just one way to see the details of specific assignments from sharer plans. You can also add the Project or Task Summary Name column to the table portion of the Resource Usage view. Doing so will show you which project each task assignment is from and that assignment’s summary task name.
Updating Assignments in a Sharer Plan
You might recall that an assignment is the matching of a resource to a task. Because a resource’s assignment details originate in sharer plans, Project updates the resource pool with assignment details as you make them in the sharer plan.
In this exercise, you change resource assignments in a sharer plan, and you see the changes posted to the resource pool.
In the Resource Name column heading in the Lucerne Resource Pool plan, select Resource 13, Luis Sousa.
You can see that Luis has no task assignments in either sharer plan. (The value of his Work field is zero.) Next, you will assign Luis to a task in one of the sharer plans, and you will see the result in the resource pool as well as in the project.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click Switch Windows and then click Consolidating A.
Project displays the Consolidating A project plan. Currently, it has the Resource Sheet view displayed.
On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click Gantt Chart.
The Gantt Chart view appears.
On the Resource tab, in the Assignments group, click Assign Resources.
The Assign Resources dialog box appears.
In the Task Name column, click the name of task 5, Design and order marketing material.
On the Task tab, in the Editing group, click Scroll to Task.
In the Resource Name column in the Assign Resources dialog box, click Luis Sousa, and then click Assign.
Project assigns Luis to the task.
Click Close to close the Assign Resources dialog box.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click Switch Windows, and then click Lucerne Resource Pool.
Make sure that resource 13, Luis Sousa, is selected, and then, on the Task tab, in the Editing group, click Scroll to Task.
As expected, Luis Sousa’s new task assignment appears in the resource pool.
When the resource pool is open in Project, any changes you make to resource assignments or other resource information in any sharer plans immediately show up in all other open sharer plans and the resource pool. You don’t need to switch between sharer plans and the resource pool, as you did in this chapter, to verify the updated resource assignments.
Updating a Resource’s Information in a Resource Pool
Another important benefit of using a resource pool is that it gives you a central location in which to enter resource details, such as cost rates and working time. When a resource’s information is updated in the resource pool, the new information is available in all the sharer plans. This can be especially useful in organizations with a large number of resources working on multiple projects. In larger organizations, people such as line managers, resource managers, or staff in a program office are often responsible for keeping general resource information up to date.
William Flash has told you that he will be unavailable to work on August 30 and 31.
In this exercise, you update a resource’s working time in the resource pool, and you see changes in the sharer plans.
In the Lucerne Resource Pool plan, select the name of resource 8, William Flash.
Scroll the timephased portion of the view horizontally to the right until William’s assignments for the week of August 26 appear.
On the Project tab, in the Properties group, click Change Working Time.
The Change Working Time dialog box appears.
In the For calendar box, make sure that William Flash is selected.
William’s resource calendar appears in the Change Working Time dialog box. William has told you that he will not be available to work on Thursday and Friday, August 30 and 31, because he plans to attend a workshop.
On the Exceptions tab in the Change Working Time dialog box, click in the first row under Name and type William at workshop.
The description for the calendar exception is a handy reminder for you and others who may view the project plan later.
Click in the Finish field and type or select 8/31/12, and then press the Enter key.
Click OK to close the Change Working Time dialog box.
Now William has no work scheduled (he did previously).
To verify that William’s nonworking time setting was updated in the sharer plans, you will look at his working time in one of those project plans.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click Switch Windows, and then click Consolidating A.
On the Project tab, in the Properties group, click Change Working Time.
The Change Working Time dialog box appears.
In the For calendar box, click William Flash.
On the Exceptions tab, you can see that August 30 and 31 are flagged as nonworking days for William; the change to this resource’s working time in the resource pool has been updated in the sharer plans.
Click Cancel to close the Change Working Time dialog box.
Updating All Plans’ Working Times in a Resource Pool
In the previous exercise, you changed an individual resource’s working time in the resource pool, and you saw the change posted to a sharer plan. Another powerful capability of a resource pool enables you to change working times for a base calendar and see the changes updated to all sharer plans that use that calendar. For example, if you specify that certain days (such as holidays) are to be nonworking days in the resource pool, that change is posted to all sharer plans.
Important
By default, all sharer plans share the same base calendars, and any changes you make to a base calendar in one sharer plan are reflected in all other sharer plans through the resource pool. If you have a specific sharer plan for which you want to use different base calendar working times, change the base calendar that sharer plan uses.
In this exercise, you set a nonworking time in a base calendar in the resource pool, and you see this change in all sharer plans.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click Switch Windows, and then click Lucerne Resource Pool.
The entire company will be attending a local book fair on August 13, and you want this to be a nonworking day for all sharer plans.
On the Project tab, in the Properties group, click Change Working Time.
The Change Working Time dialog box appears.
In the For calendar box, select Standard (Project Calendar) from the drop-down list.
Tip
Base calendars, such as 24 Hours, Night Shift, and Standard, appear at the top of the list in the For Calendar box. Resource calendar names appear below the base calendars.
Changes in working time to the Standard base calendar in the resource pool affect all project plans that are sharer plans of the resource pool.
On the Exceptions tab in the Change Working Time dialog box, click in the first row under Name and type Local book fair.
Click in the Start field and type or select 8/13/12, and then click the Finish field and type or select 8/13/12.
Note that if the date you’re entering in the Start field is in the future, then the same date will appear in the Finish field.
Click OK to close the Change Working Time dialog box.
To verify that this change to the Standard base calendar in the resource pool was updated in the sharer plans, you will look at working times in one of the sharer plans.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click Switch Windows, and then click Consolidating A.
On the Project tab, in the Properties group, click Change Working Time.
The Change Working Time dialog box appears.
In the For calendar box, make sure that Standard (Project Calendar) is selected in the drop-down list.
Note the Local book fair exception on August 13. All project plans that are sharer plans of the same resource pool will see this change in this base calendar.
Click Cancel to close the Change Working Time dialog box.
If you want, you can switch to the Consolidating B project plan and verify that August 13 is also a nonworking day for that project.
Close and save changes to all open project plans, including the resource pool.
Important
When working with sharer plans and a resource pool, it is important to understand that when you open a sharer plan, you must also open the resource pool if you want the sharer plan to be updated with the most recent changes to the resource pool. For example, assume that you change the project calendar’s working time in the resource pool, save it, and close it. If you later open a sharer plan but do not also open the resource pool, that sharer plan will not reflect the updated project calendar’s working time.
Linking New Project Plans to a Resource Pool
You can make a project plan a sharer plan for a resource pool at any time: when initially entering the project plan’s tasks, after you have assigned resources to tasks, or even after work has begun. After you have set up a resource pool, you might find it helpful to make sharer plans of all new projects, along with the sharer plans of projects already created. In that way, you get used to relying on the resource pool for resource information.
Tip
A definite time-saving advantage of creating new project plans as sharer plans of a resource pool is that your resource information is instantly available. You do not have to reenter any resource data.
In this exercise, you create a project plan and make it a sharer plan for the resource pool.
On the File tab, click Open.
The Open dialog box appears.
Navigate to the Chapter18 folder, and double-click Lucerne Resource Pool.
Project prompts you to select how you want to open the resource pool.
Click the second option to open the resource pool as read-write.
Click OK.
The resource pool opens with the Resource Usage view displayed.
On the View tab, in the Resource Views group, click Resource Sheet.
The Resource Sheet view appears.
On the File tab, click New.
Under Available Templates, make sure that Blank project is selected, and then click the Create button.
Project creates a new project plan.
On the File tab, click Save As.
The Save As dialog box appears.
In the File name box, type Consolidating C, and then click Save.
On the Resource tab, in the Assignments group, click Assign Resources.
The Assign Resources dialog box is initially empty because you have not yet entered any resource information in this project plan.
On the Resource tab, in the Assignments group, click Resource Pool and then click Share Resources.
The Share Resources dialog box appears.
Under Resources for ‘Consolidating C’, select the Use resources option.
Make sure that Lucerne Resource Pool is selected in the From box, and then click OK to close the Share Resources dialog box.
In the Assign Resources dialog box, you see all the resources from the resource pool appear.
Now these resources are ready to be assigned to tasks in this project.
Click Close to close the Assign Resources dialog box.
On the File tab, click Close. When prompted, click Yes to save your changes.
The Consolidating C project plan closes, and the Lucerne Resource Pool remains open.
On the File tab, click Close. When prompted, click Yes to save your changes to the resource pool.
Important
You save changes to the resource pool because it records the names and locations of its sharer plans.
Troubleshooting
If a sharer plan is deleted, assignment information from that sharer plan is still stored in the resource pool. To clear this assignment information from the resource pool, you must break the link to the sharer plan. To do this, open the resource pool as read-write. On the Resource tab, in the Assignments group, click Resource Pool, and then click Share Resources. In the Share Resources dialog box, click the name of the now-deleted sharer plan and click Break Link. Note that what you see in the Share Resources dialog box for a resource pool differs from what you see for all other types of project plans.
Opening a Sharer Plan and Updating a Resource Pool
If you are sharing a resource pool with other Project users across a network, whoever has the resource pool open as read-write prevents others from updating resource information, such as standard cost rates, or making other project plans sharers of that resource pool. For this reason, it is a good idea to open the resource pool as read-only, and use the Update Resource Pool command only when you need to update the resource pool with assignment information. To do this, on the Resources tab, in the Assignments group, click Resource Pool, and then click Update Resource Pool. This command updates the resource pool with new assignment information; once that is done, anyone else who opens the resource pool will see the latest assignment information.
In this chapter, you are working with the resource pool and sharer plans locally. If you are going to use a resource pool over a network, it is a good idea to understand the updating process. This exercise introduces you to that process.
In this exercise, you change assignments in a sharer plan and then manually send updated assignment information to the resource pool.
On the File tab, click Open.
Navigate to the Chapter18 folder, and double-click the Consolidating A file.
Because this project plan is a sharer plan linked to a resource pool, Project gives you the following options.
Click the Open resource pool to see assignments across all sharer files option, and then click OK.
Choosing the second option, Do Not Open Other Files, allows you to see assignments only in the single sharer project plan.
The resource pool opens as read-only in the background. (If you want to verify this, look at the items in the Switch Windows command on the View tab.) Next, you will change some assignments in the sharer plan.
On the Resource tab, in the Assignments group, click Assign Resources.
The Assign Resources dialog box appears. First, you will assign a resource to a task.
In the Task Name column, click the name of task 3, Complete author questionnaire.
In the Resource Name column in the Assign Resources dialog box, click Hany Morcos, and then click Assign.
Project assigns Hany to the task.
Next, you will remove a resource from a task.
In the Task Name column, click the name of task 5, Design and order marketing material.
In the Resource Name column in the Assign Resources dialog box, click Toby Nixon (located near the top of the Resource Name column), and then click Remove.
Project removes Toby from the task.
You have made two assignment changes in the sharer plan. Because the resource pool is open as read-only, those changes have not been saved permanently in the resource pool. Next, you will update the resource pool.
On the Resource tab, in the Assignments group, click Resource Pool, and then click Update Resource Pool.
Project updates the assignment information in the resource pool with the new details from the sharer plan. Anyone else who opens or refreshes the resource pool now will see the updated assignment information.
Important
Only assignment information is saved to the resource pool from the sharer plan. Any changes that you make to resource details, such as maximum units, in the sharer plan are not saved in the resource pool when you update. When you want to change the resource details, open the resource pool as read-write. After it is open as read-write, you can change resource details in either the resource pool or the sharer plan, and the other project plans will be updated.
Next, you will change an assignment in the sharer plan, close the sharer plan, and then update the resource pool.
In the Task Name column, click the name of task 8, Kickoff book launch meeting.
In the Resource Name column in the Assign Resources dialog box, click Carole Poland, and then click Assign.
Project assigns Carole to the task.
Click Close to close the Assign Resources dialog box.
On the File tab, click Close.
When prompted to save changes to the Consolidating A plan, click Yes.
Project determines that, because the resource pool was open as read-only, the latest assignment changes from the sharer plans have not been updated in the resource pool. You are offered the choices shown in the following illustration.
Click OK.
Project updates the assignment information with the new details from the sharer plan. The resource pool remains open as read-only.
On the File tab, click Close.
Because the resource pool was opened as read-only, Project closes it without prompting you to save the changes.
Consolidating Project Plans
Most projects often involve several people working on tasks at different times, sometimes in different locations, and frequently for different supervisors. Although a resource pool can help you manage resource details across projects, it might not give you the level of control that you want over tasks and relationships between projects.
A good way to pull together far-flung project information is to use a consolidated project. This is a project plan that contains other project plans, called inserted projects. The inserted projects do not reside within the consolidated project plan; rather, they are linked to it in such a way that they can be viewed and edited from it. If a project plan is edited outside the consolidated project, the updated information appears in the consolidated project plan the next time it is opened.
Tip
Consolidated project plans are also known as master projects, and inserted project plans are also known as subprojects; however, this chapter uses the terms consolidated and inserted.
Using consolidated project plans enables you to do the following:
See all tasks from your organization’s project plans in a single view.
“Roll up” project information to higher levels of management. For example, you might insert a team’s project plan into the larger department’s consolidated project plan and then insert that plan into the larger organization’s consolidated project plan.
Divide your project data into different project plans to match the nature of your project, such as by phase, component, or location. Then you can pull the information back together into a consolidated project plan for a comprehensive look at the whole.
See all your projects’ information in one location so that you can filter, sort, and group the data.
Consolidated project plans use Project’s outlining features. An inserted project plan appears as a summary task in the consolidated project plan, except that its summary Gantt bar is gray and an inserted project icon appears in the Indicators column. When you save a consolidated project plan, you are also prompted to save any changes you have made to inserted project plans as well.
In this exercise, you create a new consolidated project plan and insert two project plans.
On the File tab, click New.
Under Available Templates, click Blank project, and then click Create.
Project creates a new project plan. This plan will become the consolidated plan into which you insert other projects.
On the Project tab, in the Insert group, click Subproject.
The Insert Project dialog box appears.
Navigate to the Chapter18 folder, and while holding down the Ctrl key, select Consolidating A and Consolidating B.
Click Insert.
Project inserts the two projects into the consolidated project as collapsed summary tasks.
On the Task tab, in the Editing group, click Scroll to Task.
Project displays the Gantt bars of the collapsed summary tasks.
Next, you will save the new consolidated project.
On the File tab, click Save As.
Navigate to the Chapter18 folder.
In the File name box, type Consolidated Projects, and then click Save.
Next, you will display the details of the two inserted projects.
On the View tab, in the Data group, click Outline and then click All Subtasks.
Project asks whether you want to open the resource pool. Project hasn’t actually loaded the content of the inserted project plans yet, and showing the subtasks in the consolidated project is akin to opening them.
Make sure that Open resource pool to see assignment across all sharer files is selected, and then click OK.
Project expands the two project plans. Note that the task IDs within both inserted projects start at 1, and the summary tasks representing the inserted projects are numbered 1 and 2.
Next, you’ll look at the details of the inserted projects.
On the View tab, in the Zoom group, click Entire Project.
Project adjusts the timescale in the Gantt Chart so that the full duration of the two inserted projects is visible.
To conclude this exercise, you will display the project summary task of the consolidated project plan.
On the Format tab, in the Show/Hide group, click Project Summary Task.
Project displays the Consolidated Projects summary task.
The values of this summary task, such as duration and work, represent the rolled-up values of both inserted projects. As Lucerne Publishing develops more project plans, inserting them into the consolidated project plan in this way gives you a single location in which to view all activities of the organization.
Close and save changes to all open files.
Creating Dependencies Between Projects
Most projects do not exist in a vacuum. Tasks or phases in one project might depend on tasks in other projects. You can show such dependencies by linking tasks between projects.
Reasons that you might need to create dependencies between projects include the following:
The completion of one task in a project might enable the start of a task in another project. For example, another project manager might need to complete an environmental impact statement before you can start to construct a building. Even if these two tasks are managed in separate project plans (perhaps because separate departments of a development company are completing them), one project has a logical dependency on the other.
A person or a piece of equipment might be assigned to a task in one project, and you need to delay the start of a task in another project until that resource completes the first task. The two tasks might have nothing in common other than needing that resource.
Task relationships between project plans look similar to links between tasks within a project plan, except that external predecessor and successor tasks have gray task names and Gantt bars. Such tasks are sometimes referred to as ghost tasks because they are not linked to tasks within the project plan, only to tasks in other project plans.
In this exercise, you link tasks in two project plans, and you see the results in the two project plans as well as in a consolidated project plan.
On the File tab, click Open.
The Open dialog box appears.
Navigate to the Chapter18 folder, and double-click the Consolidating B file.
Click Open resource pool to see assignment across all sharer files, and then click OK.
On the File tab, click Open.
Navigate to the Chapter18 folder, and double-click the Consolidating A file.
In the Task Name column, click the name of task 12, Prepare book sales kit.
You need the book sales kit before you begin a task in the Consolidated B plan, so you will create a dependency between the two plans.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click Switch Windows, and then click Consolidating B.
On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click Gantt Chart.
The Gantt Chart view appears.
Click the name of task 13, Interior illustration design.
On the Task tab, in the Editing group, click Scroll to Task.
Project scrolls the Gantt Chart view to display task 13.
In the Gantt Chart view, drag the vertical divider bar to the right until the Predecessors column is visible.
In the Predecessors field for task 13, click in the field so that the cursor appears directly after the existing predecessor value, 12SS.
Directly after the existing predecessor value 12SS type ,Consolidating A12 (with no space between 12SS and the comma and the subsequent text).
When creating an external predecessor link, Project requires the following format: File NameTask ID.
Press Enter.
Project inserts the external predecessor task named Prepare book sales kit into the project. The external task represents task 12 from the Consolidating A project.
Tip
If you point to the external task’s Gantt bar, Project displays a ScreenTip that contains details about the external task, including the full path to the external project plan where the external predecessor task (the ghost task) resides.
Next, you’ll look at the ghost task in the Consolidating A project plan.
On the View tab, in the Window group, click Switch Windows, and then click Consolidating A.
In the Task Name column, select the names of task 12, Prepare book sales kit, and task 13, Interior illustration design.
On the View tab, in the Zoom group, click Selected Tasks.
Project adjusts the chart portion of the Gantt Chart view to display the selected tasks.
Here, you can see that task 12, Prepare book sales kit, is a predecessor for the external task 13, Interior illustration design. Because task 13 is a successor task with no other links to this project, it has no effect on other tasks here.
The link between these two project plans will remain until you break it. Deleting a task in the source plan or the ghost task in the destination plan deletes the corresponding task or ghost task in the other plan.
Close and save the changes to all open files.
To conclude this exercise, you will display the link between these two projects in the consolidated project plan.
On the File tab, click Open.
Navigate to the Chapter18 folder, and double-click the Consolidated Projects file.
Click Open resource pool to see assignment across all sharer files, and then click OK.
In the Children’s Exercise Book Launch schedule plan (the second inserted project), click the minus sign next to the name of task 1, Planning Phase.
Project collapses this phase. This will allow you to see both the predecessor and successor tasks across the two inserted projects.
On the Task tab, in the Editing group, click Scroll to Task.
You can see the link line between the Prepare book sales kit task in one inserted project and the Interior illustration design task in the other inserted project.
Because you are looking at a consolidated project plan that shows the tasks from both project plans, the cross-project link does not appear as a ghost task.
The following are a few additional tips and suggestions for working with consolidated projects and cross-project links:
You can turn off the display of cross-project links if you wish. To do this, on the File tab, click Options. In the Project Options dialog box, on the Advanced tab, clear the Show External Successors and Show External Predecessors check boxes.
When viewing a consolidated project, you can create cross-project links quickly by clicking the Link Tasks button on the Task tab. Dragging the mouse between two task bars will do the same thing.
Each time you open a project plan with cross-project links, Project will prompt you to update the cross-project links. You can suppress this prompt if you would rather not be reminded, or you can tell Project to accept updated data from the linked project plan automatically. To do this, on the File tab, click Options. In the Project Options dialog box, on the Advanced tab, under Cross Project Linking Options For <File Name>, select the options that you want.
Key Points
If you have resource information duplicated in more than one project plan, a resource pool is an excellent way to collect resource information across project plans and spot problems, such as resource overallocation.
Besides indicating various resources’ nonworking time in a resource pool, you can edit the project calendar in a resource pool (for example, marking holidays as nonworking time) and that information will be propagated to all sharer plans of the resource pool file.
Resource assignment details from all sharer plans are available for viewing (but not editing) in the resource pool file.
Consolidating project plans into a single plan is useful when you want to see all the aggregate details in one place (the consolidated project plan) and yet continue to work with the individual project plans.
When a task in one project plan has a logical dependency on a task in another project plan, you can link the two with a cross-project link. This produces what is sometimes called a ghost task (the predecessor or successor task) in both project plans.