| Applies to |
| Microsoft Office Project 2003 |
Projects can get of hand quickly. Before you know it, a project to build a building becomes numerous smaller projects, such as excavation, foundation work, and marketing. You may find it useful to create smaller projects in Project and then link them into a single file to show the overall structure of your master project, and to give you greater control over the smaller projects.
Note If you are using Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003, do not save master projects to Microsoft Office Project Server 2003. Erroneous reporting data could result. Project Professional 2003 and Project Server 2003 have built-in reporting and analysis features that replace the need to create master projects and subprojects.
How can I work with multiple projects in Project?
Why should I consolidate projects?
What's the difference between a consolidated file and a master project?
How do I work with subprojects?
How do I save changes to a master project and subprojects?
What happens to resources from different files when I consolidate those files?
How do I format subprojects' summary tasks or task bars?
Why should I save a workspace for my projects?
How can I work with multiple projects in Project?
You may want to combine and view information in multiple projects for a variety of reasons. For example, you may have a large project that you need to break up, but you need to access and maintain control over its parts. Or you may just need to view or print reports on multiple, unrelated projects.
You can combine projects in the following ways:
- Consolidate project files: If you work on multiple projects, you may find it useful to insert the individual projects (called subprojects (subproject: A project that is inserted into another project. Use subprojects as a way to break complex projects into more manageable parts. Also known as an inserted project.)) into a single, consolidated project file (called a master project (master project: A project containing other projects [known as inserted projects or subprojects]. Also called a consolidated project.)) to make it easier to organize, view, and work with project data. If you just need to consolidate files to create a report or print a view of combined project information, you can consolidate them temporarily in a view.
- Save project files as a workspace: If you work with the same project files frequently and don't want to consolidate them into one big project, you can save that collection of files as a workspace (workspace: Files and settings you can save and reopen by opening a single workspace file. Workspace files have the .mpw extension. When you create a workspace file, Project creates lists of the current settings, open projects, views, and so on.). Then when you open that workspace, Project opens all the files at one time.
Why should I consolidate projects?
If you work on multiple projects, you may find it useful to insert the individual projects into a single, consolidated project file to make it easier to organize, view, and work with project data. Consolidated projects are an extension of outlining in Project, with subprojects appearing as summary tasks. You can view the entire subproject by expanding the outline (outline: A hierarchical structure for a project that shows how some tasks fit within broader groupings. In Project, subtasks are indented under summary tasks.).
A consolidated project may contain individual tasks as well as subprojects, or it may simply be a repository for multiple files. It isn't necessary for projects to be related in order to be consolidated within a single file, but you can use the outline structure to your advantage with related project files.
When a consolidated project is used to show a hierarchy among multiple related projects, it is called a master project. Projects inserted into a master project are called subprojects if they are subordinate to the master project or other subprojects in the overall structure of the project.
When you insert a subproject, an indicator distinguishes it from summary tasks that are part of the master project.
In the master project, subprojects appear as summary tasks that can be easily arranged in an outline.
Clicking the plus sign next to a subproject expands that subproject's tasks for viewing.
Each subproject represents a different phase or other functional group within the main project.
When you insert a project into the consolidated project, the two projects are linked and you can view all the information in the project from within the consolidated project.
When you update a subproject from within the consolidated project, it is updated in its source file as well. If you just need to combine files to create a report or print a view of combined project information, you can also consolidate them temporarily in a view.
Creating a master project and subprojects allows you to break down a large project and delegate its parts to the appropriate people. In project management terms, assigning subprojects in this way gives responsibility to those who do the work and matches authority with accountability. In Project terms, creating subprojects within a master project helps individual project managers gain access to and control over their parts of the schedule.
To determine if you should break up a large project into a master project and subprojects, consider the following:
- The project is very large and detailed. If your project contains more than a few hundred tasks, breaking it into subprojects can make it easier to manage. If some parts of the project contain work that is broken down into more detail than others, it may make sense to make those parts into separate subprojects so that most users see only a rolled-up description of the subproject, but interested parties can view it in more detail if they choose. A single file is almost always the faster alternative, but the ability to focus on just a part of the project may be worth the trade-off.
- Your organization is not centralized. In a decentralized or distributed environment, a master project and subprojects give workers greater control over their own work than one centralized project file does.
- You want to increase the effectiveness of your organization's planning methods. If lower-level managers are responsible for and know which tasks are needed on the project, it may make more sense to allow them to plan their work and then consolidate their project files into a master project. If top-down planning is the norm, you may want to reorganize the initial plan into subprojects when it is implemented so that individual project managers or teams have access to and control over their own schedules.
- You work on multiple projects. Project managers may have a set of projects they work with all the time, whether the projects are interrelated or not. Instead of opening them one by one, all the subprojects are opened at once when the master project is opened. This approach also makes it easy to generate reports on multiple projects quickly. If the projects are interrelated, the project manager can create task dependencies between tasks in different projects. Creating dependencies between projects makes it easier for different project managers to see how work by other project managers affects their schedules.
- Some projects are subordinate to others. You can accurately reflect the hierarchy of multiple projects by inserting various projects into other files. The resulting structure of subprojects should reflect the priorities and responsibilities of your team members, as well as the interrelationships between tasks in different areas and the overall deadline.
- Several people can modify your project. Ideally, one file is owned, managed, and modified by one project manager. But often a project is part of a larger program that upper-level managers may need to manage. Project team members can retain focus on their work by viewing it as a separate file, and the project manager who controls the master project can coordinate each subproject team's schedule. It may even make sense to have the master project's milestones drive each subproject team's milestones in order to keep the schedules coordinated for a deadline. (Coordinating the milestones can be done by creating a dependency between the milestones or by copying and pasting the milestone tasks from the master project to each subproject.)
- Your project has multiple stakeholders who care about different parts of the project. When people want to look at different details, project managers can put all the project files on a server and customize different views for various stakeholders. The same project file can be used as a subproject in different master projects to tailor the information displayed.
- You want your subprojects to be read-only. You can retain additional control over parts of a project by moving tasks to a subproject and restricting access to key people.
- You want to analyze the critical path for each phase as well as the overall project. Each individual project contains a critical path. Consolidating multiple projects into one master project file makes it easy to see the overall picture as multiple critical paths in the master project while retaining separate critical paths for each subproject.
What's the difference between a consolidated file and a master project?
Project doesn't treat consolidated files and master projects and subprojects differently. The difference is in the way that you choose to organize your multiple projects, which can be based on the relationships between the projects.
Use master projects and subprojects if you have projects that are a part of a larger project. The way you insert and organize the subproject files shows a hierarchy among the projects. You can work with existing projects or start new files and then insert the subprojects into the master project. You can insert any project file into another project file, but you can't create a circular relationship by inserting the same projects into each other. For a large, complex project involving many individual projects, such as the construction of an office building, you can insert projects in an outline structure in the master project file to organize the different construction projects into more manageable phases called subprojects.
Use consolidated files if you have multiple files you would just like to combine in one window (whether they are related or not). Combining unrelated files in a consolidated project makes it easier to see information from multiple projects in various views and to print information combined from various files you may want to filter, sort, or group together. It is especially useful for project managers to oversee multiple projects. You might consolidate project files if you need to keep track of many ongoing projects, such as developing different products simultaneously. You can sort and group by product names, project deadlines, managers, and so on to find and evaluate the specific information you need. For example, you can print out a Gantt Chart that includes all your projects.
How do I work with subprojects?
When you insert a subproject into a master project, the subproject is represented as a summary task in the task list, and an indicator 
appears in the Indicators field. The subproject is indented at the outline level of the row where you insert it, but you can indent or outdent it just as you would any other task. Because the subproject is represented as a summary task, you can't edit its summary information, but you can expand the outline to show the subproject's tasks and edit the project information within the master project file. When you save the master project, changes to the subproject are saved within the subproject's source file as well. If you want to work directly within the source file without opening the master project file, changes to the subproject's source file are updated automatically in the master project file.
How do I save changes to a master project and subprojects?
If you are working in a master project and change information in a subproject, the next time you save the master project, the changes are saved in the subproject's source file by default. But if you no longer need to keep the source file and subproject synchronized, you can unlink the subproject from its source file. Then if changes are made to either the subproject or its source file, the other file remains unchanged.
What happens to resources from different files when I consolidate those files?
After you consolidate files into a master project file, the resources in each file remain separate, just as the tasks in a subproject remain within the subproject. You can change resource information in the master project and the changes will be replicated in the subproject's source file. You can view all resources in the master project and subprojects together in the Resource Sheet view, but you can't assign a resource to any project other than the subproject it came from.
Note If the same resources are used in multiple subprojects, you see duplicate resource names because the resources are not combined. However, if you want to assign the resources in different subprojects and resolve duplicate resource names, you can combine them in a resource pool (resource pool: A set of resources that is available for assignment to project tasks. A resource pool can be used exclusively by one project or can be shared by several projects.) and make them available to the other files.
How do I format subprojects' summary tasks or task bars?
Only project information from subprojects is included in a master project, not formatting. Any formatting you have applied to the category of summary tasks or Gantt bars or to individual summary tasks or Gantt bars in a subproject does not appear in the master project. That information is stored within each file and must be applied separately to the master project. Subprojects' task bars and text are formatted in the same way as the project summary task category within the master project.
Why should I save a workspace for my projects?
An alternative to consolidating projects is to create a workspace containing individual project files, each open in its own window. When you open the files and then save them as a workspace, Project saves the files and their current settings in a single workspace file. Then when you open the workspace file, you open all the included files at the same time. Each project has its own button on the taskbar, making it easy to switch from one project to another.
