Experiencing MS Project Issues

Question

Hello,

I am experiencing many things I cannot understand in terms of the functionality of MS Project

Please see the following Examples (E:) and Questions (Q:) :

1.

**E:**After inserting Project A into a Master Project, the summary task for Project A has its Task Calendar shaded out, and I can only choose calendars that exist in Project A by right clicking and going into the Project Information of the summary task for Project A. Even though I select an existing calendar, the Project A's summary task calendar still reads "None".

Q: This is causing confusion when reading the schedule and I was wondering if there is any way to change the summary task to read the actual calendar that I selected and not "none".

2.

E: For Project B, I inserted an existing column in for "Constraint Type", then a custom column in for "Place Holder" (Text). When I copy the values from the "Constraint Type" column and paste it into the "Place Holder" column, the manually scheduled tasks' activity bars shift on the Gantt chart without changing the start and finish dates or durations.

Q: This doesn't make sense to me as since I updated values for a custom column (Text) and the schedule changed. Is this a bug or am I missing something?

3.

E: Project C was inserted into a Master Project. The Master Project has a custom field "Subcontractor", Project C does not. When inserting Project C into the Master Schedule, the values for "Subcontractor" are populated with the constraint type. This is counterintuitive as Project C does not have a custom column called "Subcontractor" so how could Project know what to populate it?

Thank you for reading and if there is a known article for known issues of MS Project or a good learning link, I would appreciate if anyone could pass that information.

Regards,

Andrew B.

Answer 1

Andrew_1985,

You're welcome and thanks for the feedback. If I answered you question please consider marking one of my responses as the answer.

John

Answer 2

Thanks for your help.

Andrew.

Answer 3

Andrew,

Are you sure you understand it? Let me address your specific items.

1. Remember, when you view the summary line insertion point at master level, you are seeing the data as it relates to the master, not the subproject. So the Task Calendar field for that summary line is that of the master itself and since you are viewing a special case (i.e. linked structure), the user cannot change the Task Calendar field for the summary line insertion point. Oh, but you say I can by right clicking and going to Project Information. No you can't. As soon as you right click and select the Project Information button, you are now pointed to the subproject itself (i.e. you are no longer at master level).

I'm not sure why you would want to mess around with summary line task calendars in a linked structure, it can only lead to a lot of confusion.

2. I don't have an answer for this item because there isn't enough information provided. Are you doing the editing at master level or at subproject level? What are the parameters of the manually scheduled task (i.e. start, finish, duration, task calendar, work, resource names, type, & constraint type)? How exactly does the Gantt bar shift? Is calculation set for automatic? Does the same thing happen if the task is auto-scheduled? A definitive screen shot of the before and after would help.

Just for reference, linked structures are prone to corruption. That may be what you are seeing in this case. Also, manually scheduled tasking is intended for first-cut rough scheduling and not for normal scheduling.

3. This item also lacks a little information. What master level field is "Subcontractor"? In the Project C subproject, what is content of that field? For example, let's say at master level you have renamed Text1 as "Subcontractor". What is Text 1 in Project C? Keep in mind that when viewed at master level the custom "Subcontract" field will only show valid data for tasks that actually belong to the master. For subproject tasks It will show whatever value is in that same field at subproject level. Also, keep in mind that even though that custom field at subproject level may not currently be customized with a formula or lookup, if there was data in that field as the result of a formula or lookup, the data will not disappear simply because the field at subproject level was converted from "formula" or "lookup" to "none". The field itself must be cleared.

You are right in that there are many nuances with linked structures, and for that matter with Project itself. Hopefully I have been able to shed some light on some of those.

John

Answer 4

Thanks for the effort and I am aware of the above. My original post above contains specific examples.

Back up to the original post:

1. Why doesn't Project let me show a task calendar for the summary task for an inserted Project (It always says "None" and is greyed out), even though I can right click and pick a calendar?
2. Why would MS Project shift the activity bars on the Gantt chart when I paste in text into a custom field (Durations and dates stay the same)?
3. How can MS Project populate a custom field for an inserted subproject within a master project when the custom field doesn't exist in the inserted subproject in the first place (This is showing false information)?

Little nuances like this make it really difficult to move forward with my work because I do not know if I am causing them or they are internal and the result is that I lose confidence in the software.

Regards,

Andrew.

Answer 5

Andrew_1985,

I think most of your issues can be addressed by explaining a little bit about how dynamic masters are constructed. In a dynamic master (master with linked subprojects), the subprojects are not actually part of the master, rather, the master only contains pointers to each subproject. This is evidenced by looking at the ID field, you will note that it is not continuous but starts anew for each subproject. You will also note that the summary line insertion points for each subproject DO belong to the master but all subproject tasks belong to the subproject.

When working with views and custom fields, the view you see in the master may or may not have the same characteristics as that same view in the subproject. For example, if you create a custom field with a formula at master level, that custom field (and formula) is not the same as you might see if you open the individual subproject and display that field.

Cogitate on that and then if you still have specific questions, post back and I'll address remaining issues.

John