Creating Cross-Project Links
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From: ks2008 on 30 Apr 2010 19:54 Hi 1). What is the usage of Creating Cross-Project Links ? As I understand, "Cross-project links are useful when two or more projects have only a few tasks that affect one another. For example, a milestone within a development project might trigger a task in an advertising campaign project." 2). How it is implemented in Project 2007 ? When I copied the task from the source project into my project ( target project ) using "Paste Special", the new task I created become another task in my target project. My observation is both task ( ie. task in the source and task in the target ) behaving very independently as if they don't have any link. Here is my questions. a) Obviously they are linked. How the schedule and cost changes in the source projects is getting reflected in target project. vice versa. Like I said, my observation is they are behaving like independent task although they are same task. 3). What is the difference between the "Paste Special" and "Past as Hyperlink" ? thanks KS
From: John on 30 Apr 2010 22:51 In article <9EBC82B1-6B2E-409F-9F6D-336A7CA0C3DD(a)microsoft.com>, ks2008 <ks2008(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > Hi > > 1). What is the usage of Creating Cross-Project Links ? > As I understand, "Cross-project links are useful when two or more projects > have only a few tasks that affect one another. For example, a milestone > within a development project might trigger a task in an advertising campaign > project." > > 2). How it is implemented in Project 2007 ? > When I copied the task from the source project into my project ( target > project ) using "Paste Special", the new task I created become another task > in my target project. My observation is both task ( ie. task in the source > and task in the target ) behaving very independently as if they don't have > any link. > > Here is my questions. > a) Obviously they are linked. > How the schedule and cost changes in the source projects is getting > reflected in target project. vice versa. > Like I said, my observation is they are behaving like independent task > although they are same task. > > 3). What is the difference between the "Paste Special" and "Past as > Hyperlink" ? > > thanks > KS KS, For what you want to do you should NOT be using paste links or hyperlinks. The former will work under very controlled conditions but is generally not recommended because paste links are very prone to corruption. Hyperlinks are intended to transfer the user from one application to another, not to physically tie entities together. What you want to use is external predecessors and successors. There are various ways to set up active links between otherwise independent projects. Perhaps the easiest is to create a master file (Insert/Project) containing the projects whose tasks you wish to link. Within the master project you can drag and drop link points, (e.g. from Gantt bars), between tasks in individual subprojects. You can facilitate this by isolating the desired tasks using filters if the tasks in each project are not close to each other on the displayed view. For more information on cross project task links go to Project Help and look for "create task dependencies (links) across projects" Unfortunately you already created paste links between the files using paste links. I recommend you start over with fresh copies of the original files (i.e. before linking). It may be possible to undo what is already done but the chances of doing so successfully without creating link fragments, (i.e. corruption just waiting to happen), is probably not to good. Sorry. John Project MVP
From: ks2008 on 30 Apr 2010 23:55 Thank you John. Certainly I will follow your advice. Indeed, it is very helpful. At this point I am preparing for the exam 70-632, so I am trying to explore the features in Project 2007. Here I was curious to know, how the "Paste Special" is working ? What hapens, how it impacts the target project, if there is a change in source project? I was looking at the URL ( http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/HA101308651033.aspx), here I could not find answer to my question. I have created task dependencies (links) across projects using "Paste Special". What I found was, no impact on the target project when there is a change in the source project, I am may be wrong. That is why, I am looking for expert input. Many thanks in advance for your help. Thanks KS
From: John on 1 May 2010 11:18
In article <13C7CD7C-28C3-4352-912D-D651D0A03921(a)microsoft.com>, ks2008 <ks2008(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > Thank you John. > Certainly I will follow your advice. Indeed, it is very helpful. > > At this point I am preparing for the exam 70-632, so I am trying to explore > the features in Project 2007. > Here I was curious to know, how the "Paste Special" is working ? > What hapens, how it impacts the target project, if there is a change in > source project? > I was looking at the URL ( > http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/HA101308651033.aspx), > here I could not find answer to my question. > > I have created task dependencies (links) across projects using "Paste > Special". > What I found was, no impact on the target project when there is a change in > the source project, I am may be wrong. > That is why, I am looking for expert input. > > Many thanks in advance for your help. > > Thanks > KS KS, My understanding of paste links versus external dependencies (predecessors/successors) is that the former is based on Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) and the latter is an evolution of that concept using Object Linking and Embedding (OLE). (If my understanding is incorrect, will someone please correct me.). Paste links are less stable and hence more prone to corruption. Links using external dependencies are more stable but nonetheless care must still be exercised to avoid corruption. When you linked the two projects together with paste links it sounds like you copied and pasted (special) the whole task line from one project to another. That is really asking for trouble because that procedure creates multiple DDE links for each task parameter (e.g. Name, duration, start, finish, etc.). You will not see changes until you update the links. Normally an alert note will pop up asking if you want to update links when a file with paste links is first opened, but it's been several years since I worked with paste links, I don't remember all the details. External links will appear as ghost (grey) tasks in both projects. Normally they will automatically update whenever a project is opened (no alert will appear). Hope this helps. John Project MVP |