Separate Critical Paths for Linked Projects

Question

I work within a Joint Venture where we have an overall project schedule.  In addition one of the JV partners has their own schedule that links (via dependencies, etc) to the JV schedule.  These 2 schedules are separate .mpp files.

The links are "one way only", ie the partners schedule has precedessors in the JV schedule, but no successors.

I had hoped that the JV schedule critical path would "ignore" the links to the partners schedule, ie only show critical path for the JV activities.  However this is not the case - some critical path items in the JV schedule are due to the partner schedule.

Because of the politics of the JV: partner relationship I only want the JV schedule CP to show items that are critical for the JV activites, not ones that are critical because of the partner schedule.

How can I achieve this? Note I use MSProject 2007.

The partner schedule is more complete and I am happy for this one to have a full critical path.

Answer 1

Thanks John

The idea works - but how is this any different from me taking a copy of the JV schedule then going through a deleting all the external links?  Both methods effectively involve making a copy & deleting the links.

If I do go this route and make some changes to the JV portion, I am still going to have to open the "live" / linked JV schedule and ensure I make the same changes.

Am I missing something?

By the way - I am hoping to make lemonade!

Answer 2

pom15595,

Okay, let's try a variation on that. In the master schedule select the insertion point summary line for the JV sub-project. Go to Project/Task Information/Advanced tab. Uncheck the option to "Link to project". Be sure to select "No" when the alert message asks if you want to save changes to the JV file. Repeat this process for the partner sub-project. Now you have a static master which is a new separate independent file. This process will automatically break the links between tasks in the two files. Now edit the new file as necessary to remove partner information. What you will end up with is a duplicate of the JV schedule only without external links.

Note that you may need to add a "start-no-earlier-than" constraint to some tasks if they were driven by the JV Project Start Date and the Project Start Date of the dynamic master is different.

Is this approach impractical? You be the judge. But just remember, if they give you lemons . . .

John

Answer 3

Hi,

I tried some tricks, but I'm afraid your solution is the only one.

Greetings,

Answer 4

John

Thanks for your idea.

I have tried this - however some of the items in the JV schedule (now as a subproject) are still showing up as critical path due to successors in the partners schedule.

Another issue (if this had worked) is that now I have a schedule that shows both JV & partner information - I cannot show this to the JV.

An obvious but impractical solution to the problem is to take a copy of the JV schedule then remove all the external links - then see what the CP is.  However as stated - this is not very practical for a live schedule.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

Answer 5

pom15595,

Here's something that might work for you. Create a master file (Insert/Project) and insert both the JV schedule and partner schedule as sub-projects. Then go to Tools/Options/Calculation and select the option to "Calculate multiple critical paths".

See if that gives you what you need.

John