This is the second part to managing Master and Sub Projects (You can find the first part he here). In this part we will look at things we could do in PWA and default PWA options as far as Master and Sub Projects are concerned.
So firstly we will navigate to the Project Center and have a look at the options there. The important things to notice here is that by default "Sub Projects" are NOT visible. There are however a new icon showing in the indicators column that shows that the only the Master Schedule is visible.
By Clicking on the Programme name it will display more detailed information of the master project. The Image below shows the 2 Sub Projects already expanded as well as the Gannt Chart chart showing both Critical and Non Critical tasks. It will almost seem like a "Normal" Schedule with Summery Tasks. The distinguishing factor here is the ID column. Have a look and you will see it "Restarts" the numbering once the 2nd Sub Project starts.
If you would like to see the Sub Projects in Project Center there is new Tick Box that "Un-hides" all Sub Projects, thus making them visible to the user in the Project Center. The Tick Box is located in the far right hand corner, of the Projects tab in Project Server.
Once that has been enabled the user will see the Master Project and then the sub projects below the Master with in Project Center.
Now we will be looking at some other options, but take note these options includes custom fields and Views. What i have done as per part 1 , is i have created a "Programme Manager" custom field that uses a look up table that shows all the "Programme Managers" for my organisation as well as a "Programme Name" field that contains the names of all the Programmes currently registered.
I have then Built a Project Center View that shows all Projects Grouped by "Programme Name" but take note that the "Sub Projects" tick box must be enabled for this to work.
You might ask what the difference between the above and just using the Show Sub Projects tick Box? Not much, it is just displayed in a more distinguishing way, with a proper divide between the Programmes.
Another option would be to Group / Filter by Programme Manager Name. That is once again a way to "Show" Items in a nice and organised way.
So firstly we will navigate to the Project Center and have a look at the options there. The important things to notice here is that by default "Sub Projects" are NOT visible. There are however a new icon showing in the indicators column that shows that the only the Master Schedule is visible.
 |
| Note the Indicator |
If you would like to see the Sub Projects in Project Center there is new Tick Box that "Un-hides" all Sub Projects, thus making them visible to the user in the Project Center. The Tick Box is located in the far right hand corner, of the Projects tab in Project Server.
 |
| Show Sub Projects |
Once that has been enabled the user will see the Master Project and then the sub projects below the Master with in Project Center.
Now we will be looking at some other options, but take note these options includes custom fields and Views. What i have done as per part 1 , is i have created a "Programme Manager" custom field that uses a look up table that shows all the "Programme Managers" for my organisation as well as a "Programme Name" field that contains the names of all the Programmes currently registered.
I have then Built a Project Center View that shows all Projects Grouped by "Programme Name" but take note that the "Sub Projects" tick box must be enabled for this to work.
You might ask what the difference between the above and just using the Show Sub Projects tick Box? Not much, it is just displayed in a more distinguishing way, with a proper divide between the Programmes.
Another option would be to Group / Filter by Programme Manager Name. That is once again a way to "Show" Items in a nice and organised way.
Also not in above image the Show Sub Project tick box has not been ticked hence only Seeing the Master project, the second item there is only a Project and not a Programme yet and that's why it is displaying.
There are also other thing that could be done with Master and Sub Projects and more specifically with the custom fields like "BI Center Reports " That enables us to have reports with charts etc and group / show / build them based on our custom fields for Programme Management.
I hope that this will help someone out there to better manage Programmes using MS Project Server 2010.
A
14 comments:
This blog is very helpful because managing project is difficult especially if when you are managing multiple projects it may involve reviewing files that were created in an earlier version of project.
Hi There,
I'm glad my posts helps you manage your projects. If you any hassles feel free to contact me and i will assist where possible.
Andre
Andre
Thanks for the info.
I created a master file and subprojects in the same way that I did using MS Project Professional so your info gave me some food for thought.
I have a few questions please:
1 Can two users edit the same project at the same time in PWA? If not, then would a way around it be two create a couple of master files with subprojects?
2 How do you see resource usage across multiple projects without using a master/subproject structure?
3 What is the difference between team name and group?
4 How can you change the timescale in resource usage in PWA?
HI there,
1. No you can't unless, it's and administrator and the actual schedule owner. So yes you could create a Master Schedule with sub projects and have the different schedule owners view / edit their sections (Sub Projects) of the master schedule.
2. I would suggest a Custom report to see that. A excel based report could work where you select the relevant projects and display resource usage across the selected projects.
3. Team Name is a Project Server Default field that allows a scheduler to assign a task to a Team as apposed to assigning it to a Work Resource. Team members use the Assign myself to a team task function to allocate a team task to themselves. A group is a SECURITY container and no tasks can be assigned to a group.
4.Not sure where you want to see this? In MS Project or on the Web ?
Let me know if this helped.
Andre
Hi Andre,
It work for me in MSProject Pro but I am not able to edit the master ine PWA. I received this massage "This project uses features that are not supported in PWA....".
Did I missed something?
Thanks
Hi Manuel,
Thanks for you comment. Normally not allot of management of a Master Project can be done in PWA. This is rather managed from within MSP. But, that said, it might be something else you have in the Schedule which might cause an issue, even though I do not think that is the case. If you want you could elaborate a bit more and I can see if I could assist you more. What were you trying to do in PWA when you got the Message ?
Andre
Hi André,
What about sub projects and Project site? Is it possible and easy to report on the same Project home page info related to the Master project (agregated info like total cost or start and end date) and to the subprojects seperatly? Krgs, Isabelle
How can i see the custom field in the project center in EPM?
Hi Andre,
The only way to see the custom fields in Project Center is is to build views, which can be done from the Admin Page in PWA.
You will then be able to build your own custom view that contains all the fields you like to add including custom fields.
If you need more help let me know
Andre Venter
Hi,
This is a very useful conversation. Thanks for your help. I have a question concerning linked sub projects inside a master project. If subproject A has a task which cannot start until task 3 in subproject B is finished. If I make a change to subproject B delaying Task 3, how does subproject A get updated?
Do I have to open the subproject and update it manually?
Hi Andre,
We are a sub-contractor. We want to integrate our sub-project into our client master project. However, we don't want them to see the project details (who is doing what, how long, etc.)
Is there a way to hide the sub-projects details from the master project?
HI All,
Apologies for not replying to this. If you still have issues let me kow
After making changes in the dates of the schedules of the subprojects, you can not see the changes reflected in the master program - even after publishing both. Being the master project only an aggregator of their subprojects can not see the logic. Can anyone give me a hint? thanks a lot.
Moisés,
If you state thatt you made changes to the dates, do you mean there was actual changes to the Start / End dates of the SubProjects, or was the changes made to the tasks in the schedule, that perhaps not affect the start and end of the project ?
Andre
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