Normally I work with Primavera, but is currently working in a organisation where they are using MS Project.
I have suggested that we link activites in different projects (files), as one development project is split into several areas each having thire own plan.
The other planners in the organisation then told me, that it is not possible due to performance. One of the statements is: "Generally when hard link is used while opening the plan or saving or publishing the master project will try to refresh the child projects with the updated data hence there is a performance issue in this type of linking. More over if the links are with big project the issue becomes more."
and
"while linking projects we are handling a lot of data ( all the tasks and their fields and their values). So it is a bit natural to face a performance issue for sub projects but if we can have more faster network or servers or if we only link small projects to link that can reduce the issue."
Is it correct that MS Project cannot handle links between projects (we have between 30 and 600 activities per project)?
If it is correct how can we then see the dependencies between plans and the consequenses of an delay in one plan?
When linking projects the way you propose, the stability of the network becomes important. There is an increased risk of files becoming corrupted when saving linked projects. Most people open their projects from the server and save to the server. Each time you do this there is a risk that the server transmission could be interupted. This usually isn't an issue with properly supported networks.
The other issue would be if you have multi-users trying to access the same files. In an environment where you have several planners trying to modify the one file, this could cause some disruption.
The performance issues you mention are related to the sever speed. Generally though most modern networks are capable of opening multiple projects with links within a few seconds.
mike
Daniel,
it is possible to link activities between projects in MS Project; the easiest way to do is to open the projects in a new window (this will create a master project) and then to link activities
it is true that, when you open a master project, MS Project will update the sub-projects; it is possible to open sub-projects one by one
I am not sure the number of projects and activities you are mentionning will be a problem
Alexandre