Project Portfolio Analysis

Within MS Project

MS Project

Creating Master Plans

Features

Easy to create

Insert Enterprise Projects into a “local” Project Plan

Allows for all standard functionality within MS Project, but for the entire Portfolio of projects, including;

· Standard Gantt Chart Views, but for the entire Portfolio

· Linking of Tasks and Projects within the Portfolio

· Resource Use (*note when reviewing the Resource Usage, add “Project” column to view)

Allows for “what if” analysis of portfolio without impacting the schedules

Set Up

Creating a Blank Project Plan

· All Portfolio Project Plans must be first loaded to the enterprise

· Open MS Project using the “connect” option

· Click on “File” and then “New” Options (located @ upper left of the screen)

· Click on “General Template” option under the “New from Template” Section

· Click on “Blank Project”

Inserting Enterprise Projects into the Master Plan

On the first line of the project plan enter Portfolio Name

On the second line begin inserting project plans by:

Clicking on “Insert” Tab at the top

Click on “Project” option

The application will display project list to choose from

Double click on project plan to be loaded into Portfolio

The application will load the Enterprise project plan into your “Master” project

Continue to insert all the project plans by repeating the above process

Saving Your Master Plan to the Local Drive

Note: Saving a “Master Plan” onto the Enterprise Server will adversely impact resource estimation. Don’t do it.

Click on the “File” tab at the upper left hand corner of the screen

Click on the save option

Do not enter any of the information on this page

Click on the “Save on File” button

Click on the “Okay” Button

The system will then bring up your browser

Choose the directory you wish put the project and click the “SAVE” button

Depending if the is the first time you save the master plan or not, the application may ask you if you want to save / publish any changes to the individual plan. It will also ask you this question when exiting the master project plan. Be forewarned, answering “yes” to this question will change the project plans.

A note on loading a Master Plan: When pulling up a Master Plan do not be surprised if it takes a few extra moments to load the information into the project. The project information has to be sent from the server into the project plan.