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From: Walt Hekala on 17 Dec 2009 06:50
I have a five year project but have been requested to break out into one year
increments with a separate Gantt chart for each year. How can I do this?

Thanks!
--
Walt Hekala
From: Jim Aksel on 17 Dec 2009 07:55
Although I don't recommend this approach (I would make one file), here is how
you do it:
Create five files. Let's call them Phase1...Phase5. Create your schedules.
Now, create a MasterPlan. I would do it like this: Open all 5 plans. On
the menu Window/New Window... Select all of your plans and click OK. You
now have a sixth file that is a MasterPlan (it contains all the other
plans). Save the plan to a known location.

Alternative: Make 5 plans in separate files and close them all. Open a new
blank plan. On the menu: Insert/Project... you can go select the projects
one at a time. In the bottom of that Insert Project dialog, there is a box
"Link to Project" that is checked. Leave it checked so that when you update
each subproject (Phase1, Phase2...) it will update the master. If you
uncheck the box, your master becomes just a snapshot in time. Using the
first method I described forces the "Link to Project" option.

What you have to look forward to:

*Links between the files are easily corrupted. Once a master is established,
you will probably need to create predecessor relationships between the tasks
in different files. You do that in the normal way by selecting the two tasks
in the master file and clicking the chain (link) icon. Once you save that
file the links become locked to the location of those two files. So if the
file name or location changes your links are corrupted. Make sure all six
files stay in the same folder and never move the files outside of the folder.
Best advice I can give you is "The folder is your schedule, not the
individual files in it. Always move the folder, never the files" and never
use "Save As..." if you do that, file corruption is as easy as the click of
a mouse.

*File updating can be a mess. Place the folder on a shared network drive
and update to that location. The problem is that other users will drag
copies of the files out to their desktops and change things. File corruption
happens.

*If you are using Earned Value, you are going to have trouble moving forward
and keeping your schedule and cost variances correct unless you use a master
file. That is, Phase 2 will not know what the end result is for Phase 1
regarding the %Complete claimed, etc. Only the MasterProject file will know
that at the end of Phase 1 your project is 20% complete.

*Status dates on the files may become inconsistent. When you status the
schedule, make sure each of the files contains the same status date. If your
Phases are in time, 2010, 2011, 2012... this will not be necessary as you
will not touch four of the files for at least a year. It becomes important
if your "Phases" represent different schedules working simultaneously.

Another approach is just to keep one mpp file. In that file you have Six
summary tasks: Entire Project, then indented under that are Phases 1-5. You
then have your file detail indented to the next level. True, the file gets
big and you drag plenty of history with you. In the end, it too becomes a
head ache.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim Aksel, MVP

Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com



"Walt Hekala" wrote:

> I have a five year project but have been requested to break out into one year
> increments with a separate Gantt chart for each year. How can I do this?
>
> Thanks!
> --
> Walt Hekala
From: JulieS on 17 Dec 2009 08:21
Hello Walt,

Jim has given you some good advice, but let me just drop another
idea. If you need a printed Gantt chart for each year, you can
control the date range you print through the File > Print command.
You can also selectively hide information on the Gantt chart view
through filtering.


I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

"Walt Hekala" <WaltHekala(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:8FB44F82-9B2C-420F-B4F8-8B3D239DAA68(a)microsoft.com...
>I have a five year project but have been requested to break out
>into one year
> increments with a separate Gantt chart for each year. How can I
> do this?
>
> Thanks!
> --
> Walt Hekala


From: Jim Aksel on 17 Dec 2009 10:56
Thanks Julie. Simple=Better. Proving once again that I sometimes think too
hard.

From: JulieS on 17 Dec 2009 14:58
Simplicity is a lovely thing if it suits the needs of the OP.

Julie

"Jim Aksel" <JimAksel(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8FE9A44B-F1A8-42FF-91F4-F0A89E08ECA8(a)microsoft.com...
> Thanks Julie. Simple=Better. Proving once again that I sometimes
> think too
> hard.
>


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