Forum Discussion
Solved
MS Project Professional Master File Duration less than duration of highest Subproject
Hi, Hoping someone can help with this one. Created a Master Project file to track multiple projects and when I insert the first Subproject ("Finance Department Audit Process"), the Master Pro...
- KenPb,
Yeah that gave me just enough info. Indeed if subproject ABC has exceptions which allow Sunday to be working time then you will see an apparent discrepancy in the Duration field. The master file has the Standard calendar so it is measuring duration time per that calendar which means it will not count Sundays.
It's not clear what you are trying to achieve. You can create a custom Text field with the following formula and it will display the same duration as subproject ABC but only for the case where subproject ABC is the dominant subproject (i.e. starts earlier and finishes later than any other subproject). Why? Because the formula simply measures calendar time instead of working time.
Text1=DateDiff("d",[Start],[Finish]) & " days".
If another subproject has an earlier start or a later finish, then the formula will give an invalid duration. So again, I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve.
Is there a way to create a custom duration at master level that will respond to the intent regardless of whether the subproject with the exceptions is dominant or not? Yes, but it would require VBA.
John
Hi and thanks for your patience. My project that I was working on was fairly advanced with a lot of content, so it was a bit difficult to get that info.
I however reproduced the issue in a simpler test project below:
The discrepancy occurred when, for SubProject ABC, I put the start, end completion date on Sunday (non-working day) where I introduced this exception.
The calendars for the Master and subprojects are all Standard (40hrs, M-F).
I hope this is enough info to help diagnose a resolution. Thanks, Ken
| Task Mode | Task Name | % Complete | Duration | Start | Finish | ID |
| Auto Scheduled | Master Project Test | 47% | 62 days? | 2022-09-23 | 2022-12-19 | 0 |
| 1 | ||||||
| Auto Scheduled | SubProject ABC | 69% | 63 days | 2022-09-23 | 2022-12-19 | 2 |
| Auto Scheduled | Define Scope | 100% | 21 days | 2022-09-23 | 2022-10-21 | 1 |
| Auto Scheduled | Development | 100% | 5 days | 2022-10-24 | 2022-10-28 | 2 |
| Auto Scheduled | Test | 100% | 1 day | 2022-10-30 | 2022-10-30 | 3 |
| Auto Scheduled | Implement | 0% | 12 days | 2022-12-02 | 2022-12-19 | 4 |
| 3 | ||||||
| Auto Scheduled | SubProject DEF | 0% | 29 days? | 2022-11-09 | 2022-12-19 | 4 |
| Auto Scheduled | Define Scope | 0% | 8 days | 2022-11-09 | 2022-11-18 | 1 |
| Auto Scheduled | Development | 0% | 15 days | 2022-11-21 | 2022-12-09 | 2 |
| Auto Scheduled | Test | 0% | 1 day? | 2022-12-12 | 2022-12-12 | 3 |
| Auto Scheduled | Implement | 0% | 5 days | 2022-12-13 | 2022-12-19 | 4 |
KenPb,
Yeah that gave me just enough info. Indeed if subproject ABC has exceptions which allow Sunday to be working time then you will see an apparent discrepancy in the Duration field. The master file has the Standard calendar so it is measuring duration time per that calendar which means it will not count Sundays.
It's not clear what you are trying to achieve. You can create a custom Text field with the following formula and it will display the same duration as subproject ABC but only for the case where subproject ABC is the dominant subproject (i.e. starts earlier and finishes later than any other subproject). Why? Because the formula simply measures calendar time instead of working time.
Text1=DateDiff("d",[Start],[Finish]) & " days".
If another subproject has an earlier start or a later finish, then the formula will give an invalid duration. So again, I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve.
Is there a way to create a custom duration at master level that will respond to the intent regardless of whether the subproject with the exceptions is dominant or not? Yes, but it would require VBA.
John
Yeah that gave me just enough info. Indeed if subproject ABC has exceptions which allow Sunday to be working time then you will see an apparent discrepancy in the Duration field. The master file has the Standard calendar so it is measuring duration time per that calendar which means it will not count Sundays.
It's not clear what you are trying to achieve. You can create a custom Text field with the following formula and it will display the same duration as subproject ABC but only for the case where subproject ABC is the dominant subproject (i.e. starts earlier and finishes later than any other subproject). Why? Because the formula simply measures calendar time instead of working time.
Text1=DateDiff("d",[Start],[Finish]) & " days".
If another subproject has an earlier start or a later finish, then the formula will give an invalid duration. So again, I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve.
Is there a way to create a custom duration at master level that will respond to the intent regardless of whether the subproject with the exceptions is dominant or not? Yes, but it would require VBA.
John
John-project Thank you so much for all the help. With the Master Project file summary line, I was hoping to show the Total number of days based on the dominant subproject (longest duration + exceptions) across all subprojects. Since I am not VBA savvy, I think I can manage it "manually" with your suggested custom text field. Once again, thanks for all your help in furthering my understand.
Best regards, Ken
- KenPb,
You're welcome and thanks for the feedback. If I answered your question, please consider marking one of my responses as the answer.
John
