2 questions from a Project newbee

I've input a ton of tasks/milestones and their dependencies in the Network
Diagram view and now want to do 2 key things ...

1) Select a task/milestone and show all transitive predecessors which affect
it (i.e. "Show me all the items which affect this item")
2) Select all the tasks/milestones owned by a resource and show all the
immediate predecessors for each of those tasks/milestones which are not
owned by that resource (i.e. "Show me all the people I need to talk to to
ensure my dependencies are satisfied")

How do I get Project to provide me this information? I know I can create
summary tasks, but we're at a point in the program where the
tasks/milestones are changing frequently, so I want to do all the processing
from the Network Diagram.

Thanks,
Jeff Wilson.

In article <cppka6$iqb$1@zcars0v6.ca.nortel.com>,
"Wilson, Jeff [CAR:3M30:EXCH]" <jtw@americasm01.nt.com> wrote:

> I've input a ton of tasks/milestones and their dependencies in the Network
> Diagram view and now want to do 2 key things ...
>
> 1) Select a task/milestone and show all transitive predecessors which affect
> it (i.e. "Show me all the items which affect this item")
> 2) Select all the tasks/milestones owned by a resource and show all the
> immediate predecessors for each of those tasks/milestones which are not
> owned by that resource (i.e. "Show me all the people I need to talk to to
> ensure my dependencies are satisfied")
>
> How do I get Project to provide me this information? I know I can create
> summary tasks, but we're at a point in the program where the
> tasks/milestones are changing frequently, so I want to do all the processing
> from the Network Diagram.
>
> Thanks,
> Jeff Wilson.

Jeff,
The first question is relatively easy but the second requires a little
more effort.

For the first part, set up a split screen (Window/Split). You can either
show the Network Diagram in the upper pane or the Gantt Chart. In my
opinion it is easier to select tasks from the Gantt Chart since the
Network Diagram takes up too much of the screen. In the lower pane show
the Relationship Diagram. For each task selected in the upper pane you
will see both predecessor and successor tasks so you will get a little
more than you requested.

Although there may be an alternate method for doing part two, I didn't
spend a lot of time researching it. For that kind of specialized format,
I generally go directly to a VBA approach. For the VBA approach here is
what I would do:
1. Set up a loop to tag all predecessor tasks that are performed by
resources other than the desired resource. In the loop, set a flag field
(e.g. Flag1) for all such predecessors
2. Set up a filter to show all tasks performed by the desired resource
AND all tasks with the flag field set. Do not display related summary
lines.
3. Apply the filter
You don't need a split view since the filter can be applied directly to
the Network Diagram. Just remember to clear the flag field for each new
resource. I recommend the flag be cleared before it is set in the code.

If you don't have experience with VBA, we can help with that.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP