Microsoft Project 2013

Lesson 15
Managing Multiple Projects

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 1
Objectives

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Software Orientation
• The Gantt Chart view of a consolidated project allows you to see
multiple projects collected in one project schedule so you can filter,
sort, and group the data as well as see task relation- ships between
projects.
• In the Gantt Chart view of a consolidated project, the inserted
projects appear as summary tasks with gray Gantt bars and an
inserted project icon appears in the Indicators column.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 3
Software Orientation

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 4
Managing Consolidated Projects
• In Microsoft Project 2013, a consolidated project enables a project
manager to link and manage multiple projects within one master
project file.
• This method allows the project manager to see the effects of one
project on another single project or many other projects in the same
file.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 5
Step by Step: Create a Consolidated Project
Schedule
• GET READY. Before you begin these steps, launch Microsoft
Project.
1. OPEN the Don Funk Music Video 15M and Adventure Works
Promo 15M project schedules.
2. SAVE the files, respectively, as Don Funk Music Video 15 and
Adventure Works Promo 15. Make sure the Don Funk Music
Video 15 project schedule is in the active window.
3. On the ribbon, click the View tab, and then click New Window.
The New Window dialog box appears.

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Step by Step: Create a Consolidated Project
Schedule
4. In the Projects list, select the names of both open projects either by
holding down the Ctrl key while clicking or clicking and dragging
to select both names. After you have selected both project
schedules, click the OK button. Microsoft Project opens both files
in a new window with the Timeline view at the top.
5. On the ribbon, click Entire Project in the Zoom group. Microsoft
Project adjusts the timescale in the Gantt Chart so that the full
duration of both projects is visible. Make sure that the Name,
Duration, Start, and Finish columns are visible on your screen. If
necessary, double-click the right edge of any columns that display
pound signs (###). Your screen should look similar to the figure on
the next slide.

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Step by Step: Create a Consolidated Project
Schedule

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Step by Step: Create a Consolidated Project
Schedule
6. Right-click the Task Mode column and select Hide Column.
7. SAVE the consolidated project schedule as Consolidated Project
15. When you are prompted to save changes to the inserted
projects, click the Yes to All button.
8. On the ribbon, click the Format tab. In the Show/Hide group, click
the check box to activate the Project Summary Task. Microsoft
Project displays the Consolidated Project 15 summary task at the
top of your Task Name column as task 0 (zero). Your screen should
look similar to the figure on the next slide.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 9
Step by Step: Create a Consolidated Project
Schedule

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Step by Step: Create a Consolidated Project
Schedule
• The values of the consolidated project summary task, such as
duration and work, represent the rolled-up (or combined) values of
both inserted projects. As Southridge Video acquires contracts for
more projects, inserting them into the consolidated project schedule
in this way provides a single location in which to view all the
activities of the company.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 11
Step by Step: Create a Consolidated Project
Schedule
9. SAVE the consolidated project schedule as well as the individual
project schedules.
• PAUSE. LEAVE Project open to use in the next exercise.
• In real life, it is rare that a project manager would manage only a
single, small project from beginning to end. Usually, there are
several complex projects that involve several people working on
different tasks at different times and locations and often for different
supervisors.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 12
Step by Step: Create a Consolidated Project
Schedule
• Microsoft Project enables you to combine two (or more) projects to form a
consolidated project. A consolidated project is a Microsoft Project file that
contains more than one Microsoft Project file, called inserted projects. An
inserted project is the Microsoft Project file that is inserted into another
Microsoft Project file.
• Consolidated projects are also known as master projects, and inserted
projects are also known as subprojects.
• The inserted projects do not really reside within the consolidated project.
They are linked to it in such a way that they can be viewed and edited from
the consolidated project.
• If an inserted project is edited outside the consolidated project, the updated
information appears in the consolidated project the next time it is opened.
When you save a consolidated project, changes you have made to inserted
projects are alos saved in the source file.
© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 13
Step by Step: Create a Consolidated Project
Schedule
• Using a consolidated project gives you the capability to do such things as:
• see all of your organization’s project schedules in a single view.
• “roll up” project information to higher management levels. For example,
one group’s project may be an inserted project for the department’s
consolidated project, which then may be an inserted project for the
company’s consolidated project.
• divide your project schedule into separate project schedules to match the
nature of your project. For example, you could divide your project
schedule into separate schedules by phase, component, or location. You
can then group the information back together in a consolidated project
schedule for a view of the complete project.
• see all of the information for your projects in one location, so you can
filter, sort, and group the data as needed.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 14
Step by Step: Create a Consolidated Project
Schedule
• Consolidated projects use the standard Microsoft Project outlining
features.
• For a consolidated project, the Gantt bar for an inserted project is gray
and an inserted project icon appears in the Indicators column.
• Also, when you save a consolidated project, any changes you have
made to inserted projects are saved in the source file as well.
• Theoretically, it is possible to add an unlimited number of project
schedules to a consolidated project file.
• However, as a practical matter, and depending on the size of the files,
you will notice performance issues such as slow calculation times as
you add more inserted projects.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 15
Creating Task Relationships Between Projects
• Sometimes, tasks in one project may need to be linked to tasks in
other projects.
• Microsoft Project allows you to show these task relationships by
linking tasks between projects.

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Step by Step: Link Tasks From Two Different
Project Schedules
• USE the project schedules you created in the previous exercise.
1. On the ribbon, click the View tab. In the Window group, click the
Switch Windows button. Click Adventure Works Promo 15. The
Adventure Works Promo 15 project schedule is now visible in the
active window.
2. In the Task Name column, click the name of Task 7, Split tracks.
3. [Press Ctrl1Shift1F5]. To the right of the task’s Gantt bar, note that
one of the resources assigned to this task is Video Editing Studio.
You want to use this sound editing studio for work on the Don
Funk Music Video 15 project after this task is completed, so you
need to link Task 7 to a task in the Don Funk Music Video 15.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 17
Step by Step: Link Tasks From Two Different
Project Schedules
4. On the ribbon, click the Switch Windows button, and then click
Don Funk Music Video 15.
5. [Press the F5 key.] In the ID box, type 69, and then click OK.
Notice the Sound Editing Studio is a resource on this task.
6. On the ribbon, click the Switch Windows button, and then click
Consolidated Project 15.
7. In the task name column, in the Adventure Works Promo 15
project, click the name of Task 7, Split tracks.
8. Scroll down in the task name column to the Don Funk Music Video
15 project and locate Task 69, Fine audio edit. Hold down the Ctrl
key and select Task 69.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 18
Step by Step: Link Tasks From Two Different
Project Schedules
9. On the ribbon, click the Task tab. In the Schedule group, click the
Link the Selected Tasks button.
10. On the ribbon, click the View tab. In the Window group, click the
Switch Windows button. Click Adventure Works Promo 15. The
Adventure Works Promo 15 project schedule is now visible in the
active window.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 19
Step by Step: Link Tasks From Two Different
Project Schedules
• Microsoft Project inserted a ghost task named Fine audio edit into
the project. The ghost task represents task 69 from the Don Funk
Music Video 15 project. Because task 9 is a successor task with no
other links to this project, it has no effect on other tasks here. Your
screen should look similar to the figure below.

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Step by Step: Link Tasks From Two Different
Project Schedules
• Now you will switch views to look at the ghost task in the Don
Funk Music Video 15 project schedule.
11. On the ribbon, click the Switch Windows button, and then click
Don Funk Music Video 15. You can see that the ghost Task 69,
Split tracks, is a predecessor for Task 70, Fine audio edit. The link
between these two project schedules will remain until you break it.
If this task is delayed it could affect Task 70. When you delete a
task in the source schedule or the ghost task in the destination
schedule, Microsoft Project also deletes the corresponding task or
ghost task in the other schedule.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 21
Step by Step: Link Tasks From Two Different
Project Schedules
12. On the ribbon, click the Switch Windows button, and then click
Consolidated Project 15. You can see the link between the task
Review new master (Task 7) in the first inserted project and the
task Fine audio edit (Task 70) in the second inserted project. The
cross-project link does not appear as a ghost task because you are
looking at the consolidated project file. Your screen should look
similar to the figures on the next two slides (note that you may
need to scroll your screen to see the entire link).

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 22
Step by Step: Link Tasks From Two Different
Project Schedules

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 23
Step by Step: Link Tasks From Two Different
Project Schedules

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 24
Step by Step: Link Tasks From Two Different
Project Schedules
13. SAVE the all of the project schedules, and then CLOSE all files.
• PAUSE. If you are continuing to the next lesson, keep Project open.
If you are not continuing to additional lessons, CLOSE Project.
• In this exercise, you linked a task in one project to a task in another
project to show a relationship between the two tasks and projects.
• Most projects are like this–they do not exist in a vacuum. There are
various reasons you might need to create links between projects.
Some of the more common reasons are:

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 25
Step by Step: Link Tasks From Two Different
Project Schedules
• The completion of a task in one project might have an effect on a task in
another project. For example, one project manager may need to complete a
geological study before a second project manager can begin to construct a
building.
• These two tasks may be managed in separate project files (perhaps because
they are being completed by different departments of the same company, or
even two different companies), but they still have a logical relationship on
each other.
• A person or piece of equipment may 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 only commonality between the two tasks is that the same resource is
required for both.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 26
Step by Step: Link Tasks From Two Different
Project Schedules
• Task relationships between project files are similar to the task links
(relationships) between tasks within a project file, except that
external predecessor and successor tasks have gray task names and
Gantt bars.
• By definition, these are called external tasks and are sometimes
referred to as ghost tasks because they are not linked to tasks within
the project file, only to tasks in other project files.

© 2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft Official Academic Course, Microsoft Project 2013 27
Skill Summary

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