Is MSProject suitable for a large amount of projects?

[Wocky]

Dear,



I was wandering if ms project is suitable for planning of a large amount of projects.
I'm looking for some tools for production planning.
I have to plan all kinds of small production-processes for a whole year.
I'm speaking of ±75 processes with duration of ±5 days each and every day some will be finished and some will be new.

I'm trying to master ms project.. but I'm having a hard time of finding the right way to approach it. Is it possible to get simple practical lists out of a global planning?
I must have kind of todo-lists for one week i.e. to give to my fellow workers so they know what to do this week.

Is ms project the right software to do this?
I'm finding it not so user-friendly but this could be because I don't master the software.

I hope my question is not to cryptic.
Thanks in advance.
Wocky.

[JulieS]

I have seen MS Project used to schedule, track, and manage projects with over 2000 tasks. Project is not, however an intuitive product. My best recommendation is get a good 2+ day hands on class with an instructor who uses the products - not just eaches it.

[Wocky]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Do you happen to know a good course (I mean a book or something) for this software?
I took a beginners video-course some time ago..
With the basics.. not to advanced.

I should need a tool to make very practical overviews.
Easy to read and understand for my colleagues.
And also easy to read and make notations on them to follow things up.

I notice already its quite a job to get different colours in the gantt...
(in the summary-bar to be more specific)
(also it would be nice to automatically see different colours in calendar view + the timeline vies).
Maybe you can check this link?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3tLOdyehFU

In the comments of this video I have some questions.
I'm person "Bertje 1".

Maybe you can help me?
Thanks in advance!!!
Wocky.

[Wocky]

Hi JulieS,

By over 2000 tasks... do you mean one project with 2000 tasks?

Because what I mean is for example 15projects at the same time with ... 10 tasks.
and every week there wil be some projects closed and other added in.
All making use of the same resources.


Thanks in advance.
Wocky.

[Guloluseus]

In terms of tasks MSP can cope with, I regularly produce programmes with 600-1200 tasks. The largest was about 5-6000 tasks, with an addition near the end of around 1200 snags (so 6-7000 tasks in all), and it handled it fine. So yes, project can deal with large programmes

For your example, I would suggest that using 1 programme would be simplest. Each individual project can be added under its own summary bar, and would remove the need for task resourcing at a deeper level.

I would also go with Julies suggestion of finding a good course. I was self taught and it was a struggle for the first few years, although it does mean you have a good understanding of what you are doing.
Don't go for a generla planning course- these tend to be for project managers (allegedly) and dont have enough detail to make them worth the effort. Best case is to find a planner that can spare the time, and get a quick run through of the basics, then return when you find yourself out of your depth. there is no substitute for experience; MS Project is not simple, and someone showing you what to do is worth its weight.

[Wocky]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.

I'm sure MSP can handle a large amount of tasks.
But I'm searching for a solution/tool for production planning.
I need to plan production for over 1,5 year timespan.
Actually I need to plan a large amount of "mini-projects" all consisting of the same steps.

And the clue is, to read easilly when a "mini-project" or "order" is going to be late or to soon.

The way I do it now is to plan the bottleneck of the productionproces in an excel.
I've got a capacitiy, and.. lets say I make a large sum of al the orders, and next to the orders I can see dates that ar linked with the sum. (cryptic descryption I know.. sorry for that).
It makes me see very easily when an order is planned and coming in time or not.
Also I can print this table as an understandable and readable view for my colleagues in production.

But now I'm looking for an easy way to bring all of the production-steps in to chart.
I mean the capacity of the different work-posts (resources). Thats my goal.
But It must stay userfriendly...

- I need to see very quickly when an order is planned to late or to early.
- I need to adjust very quickly and user friendly the placement in time for an order.
(it shifts weekly)
- I need to close down very easily orders.
- I need to create very easy-to-understand overviews of dates en orders.
...

And from what I've been reading is that is MSP is good for single-projects..
But I'm thus asking myself (and this forum) if it is suitable for production planning.
(if it does.. then I'm going to use it also for the installation of the produced goods.. I'm in interiour building busyness).

For education.
I've downloaded the book "MS Project 2013 the missing manual".
But its such a large book... so I'm going to spend a lot of time if I want to read it.
And if its not worth it.. then I rather won't read it.
But something in my guts tells me that I can do something with MSP, but I'm not sure.
Do you think "MS Project 2013 the missing manual" is a good book?

For your mentioning of contacting an experienced planner...
I don't know any.. .
Thats why I post this forum.. hoping to find some guidance .
Also.. I do this fully on my own in free time.. because I cannot convince my boss to follow an expensive course of a software even I haven't got fully trust in..

So... you think MSP is suitable for a large amount of "orders" to create very user friendly:
- capacity views over a time span of 1,5 year?
- Is it user friendly to easily add... delete orders?
- Is it user friendly to easily replace orders in time?
- It it user friendly to easily print to-do list-overviews for one week / one month / one year?
- ... I'm having a hard time reading the capacity of the different production-steps.
I know its possible in resource-usage-view.. but I'm finding it such a complex view... Maybe you know it is possible to create your own views where you can compile just what you want to see?
I've tried and experimented with it but... I can't seem to make it work.. and I'm asking myself.. is it worth to keep digging in this program? Or maybe MSP is just not the right software for this kind of "production planning"?

Maybe I just need to expand my excel a little bit.
All I want is to bring the capacity of the allocation of the different resources (production-steps/workposts) in to chart. But this in a timespan of 1,5 year.
And it all must stay easy to adjust-read-input...

Thanks again for your reply.
My apologies for bad English (I'm not English ).
I hope you can give me some replies to my questions.

Thanks in advance!
Wocky

[Guloluseus]

I'll try to answer as many questions as possible, in a general way (seems a better way).

If you have a lot of projects that are all the same (or mostly the same), its easy to create one then copy/paste to produce more.
Timespan is not a problem- I have planned projects over 18months- 3 years regularly.

Project has tools (must end on is a good constraint) that will show if a job is overdue. You can also set a section at the start of the programme for key dates, which will show you the required and projected finish dates (1 milestone for the actual, and one with a "must end on" constraint will do this).

Yes, you can create custom views that will show pretty much anything you want. you can also split the screen to show different things- I often use Gantt and resource graph to see where things can be improved, that are less obvious anywhere else. there are many others that people use, but these do take a bit of time. (More in deciding what you want to see, than anything else).

as far as using MSP for many projects, dont think of it as lots of separate projects, more a collection of similar ones. If you use the key date I mentioned above, this works well for almost anything.

MSP the Missing Manual I have read, and while its not too bad, it relies on you knowing the basics (and often more), so for a beginner its not really an ideal read. It does have some useful info, but its hard to find when you arent sure what you are looking for!

In terms of help, I am not sure we can give much more. If you have specific questions we can probably give an answer, but general ones are usually very hard to answer.

[Wocky]

Hi,

Ok thanks for your feedback.
I will look into it.

For the keydates.
Do you mean I can set some columns that give specific dates?
Or are you talking about a specific function "keydates"?
Is it possible to upload a small example.

Thank you for your advice.
I'm going to take "the missing manual" trough.
I think I can find my way in this book.

Thanks again!
Wocky.