Home › Forums › Discussion Forum › Cross dependency impact Dashboard in MS Project
Hi,
I have queries regarding MS Project Dashboards. It will be really great if I can contact an Expert. We have set up MS Project based PMO for our client as its a really huge PMO with a lot of cross-dependencies Client leadership will need to look at reports that will quickly provide them how the impact on one of the dependent project affects the other. Network diagram and Tracking Gantt views are not very helpful because the leadership team needs only the overall picture they are not happy with those views. I couldn’t find any proper Dashboard that can serve the purpose.
Can you please help me out here. As this a very urgent scenario.
Looking forward to your response!
I am assuming that for the projects you need to report on, you have made a master project and sub-project structure. From there, you can use the MS project interface to build a dashboard to suit your leadership team needs. Using Report tab, you can create custom views of your data, or use the Visual Reports options to export charts and graphs in Excel or Visio format. Then there are add-ins or apps like this that automate the creation of different data displays: https://kidasa.com. Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Jigs
Thanks for your quick response Jigs. I have multiple queries.
Yes, we created a master project sub project relationship. I know that we can create Dashboards using Report tab in MS Project and we have created few reports for them. But my question is very specific on showing cross-dependency impact in Dashboards. Eg: If there is an initiative with 5 predecessors (direct or indirect) and 5 Successors (Direct or Indirect) is it possible in MS Project Reports to click on a task and it should display only its predecessors and successors (Direct and Indirect). Also, I will need to view the dependency at the initiative level although the actual dependency is made at the task level.If the Dashboard is not an option at all then can I achieve this in views?
Also, can we use indicators or color code in the dashboard for the task status? It seems like indicators can be used only in views that too has a restriction that custom field formula and indicators won’t work for subproject in the master project.Is this a limitation in MS Project?
Well, for problem #1 above, you might find the add-in Pathfinder helpful for identifying (filtering) on predecessors and successors, or you have to write your own macro for that.
For problem # 2 above, yes, status indicators such as a RAG indicator formula can be put into a custom field, and then you add that custom field to the Global.Mpt using the Organizer, and then add that to a column in the master plan, and you will see the indicator in both the master plan and subproject rows when undisclosed.
Hope that helps!
Jigs
Thanks a lot! Jigs,
Got a macro that works perfectly to filter out dependent tasks within a subproject. As I am using this in Master Project dependency will appear as a path to the other file and the macro is not working.
Following is the code used. Is there any solution to this problem
Sub DefinePath()
Dim T As Task
Dim I As Long
‘Clear the existing filter
Application.FilterClear
‘Capture the selected task
I = Application.ActiveCell.Task.UniqueID
‘Flag the Predecessors and Successors
For Each T In ActiveProject.Tasks
T.Text10 = “”
If T.UniqueID = I Then
T.Text10 = “Selected Task”
End If
If T.PathPredecessor = True Then
T.Text10 = “Predecessor”
End If
If T.PathSuccessor = True Then
T.Text10 = “Successor”
End If
Next T
‘Apply a filter on the flagged tasks
SetAutoFilter FieldName:=”Text10″, FilterType:=pjAutoFilterIn, _
Criteria1:=”Predecessor” & Chr$(9) & “Successor” & Chr$(9) & “Selected Task”
End Sub
Sorry Gopika, can’t help ya with that one; hopefully a coder will chime in.
Gopika,
Your macro is based on Task Path. Does the Task Path bar highlighter work across subprojects? If so, then your macro “should” work. (I can’t test because I’m on MSP 2010).
If Task Path isn’t working across subprojects, then you’ll need a logic-tracing add-in. Look for Pathfinder, ProjectProCorp, projectwidgets.com, Opdec, or BPC Logic Filter. (The last is one my company developed for internal use, but we do share it.)
Was there ever a resolution for this?
I *think* I’m looking for something similar. Namely, a network diagram that shows dependencies as the project summary level instead of (or maybe in addition to) the individual tasks.
Thanks.