Working with External Subprojects
Review additional information on external subprojects in Open Plan.
Opening External Subprojects
Each time you open a project containing external subprojects, Open Plan displays a hierarchical list of external subprojects (and externals embedded within the top layer of externals). On the Open External Subprojects dialog box, all projects are available and selected to be opened. If you want to open only certain subprojects, deselect the project(s) you do not want to open. You may also use Select All or Deselect All.
All externals opened under a master project must be opened in the same mode (exclusive, shared, read-only) as the master project. If the current user has opened one of the externals independently of the master project, the list will display a red “X” before the name of the external, indicating that it cannot be opened as part of the master. If another user has opened one or more of the externals in a mode that will prevent the current user from opening the external in the same mode as the master, the list will display a warning sign before the name of the external, indicating that it should be deselected unless the other user corrects the conflict before the current user continues. Placing your cursor over a “flagged” external subproject that is open displays the User ID, Machine ID, Open Mode, Opened On, and User Name (Phone) of the person who opened the project.
You can sort each column of the Open External Subprojects dialog box (Name, Owner ID, and Description) in ascending or descending order by clicking the appropriate column heading.
Even if you did not open an external subproject at the time you opened the master project, Open Plan enables you to open the appropriate subproject later by using Expand or Expand All in the spreadsheet, barchart, or network views or by using Go To Subproject in the network view.
When opening an external subproject, Open Plan attempts to use the same access mode as used to open the master project.
If an external subproject is open, you can display and update the information for the activities in the external subproject just as if they belonged to the master project. For example, if you perform time analysis on the master project, Open Plan updates the early and late dates of the external subproject activities as well.
For closed external subprojects, however, Open Plan has access only to the summarized information stored on the subproject record. If you perform time analysis on a master project that includes a closed external subproject, for example, the early and late dates of a subproject can influence the dates calculated for the master project. However, the operation does not result in the dates for the individual activities in the closed subproject being recalculated.
External Projects and Ancillary Data Files
When you open a hierarchical project that contains external subprojects, the program checks that the master project has the same ancillary data files attached to the various external subprojects. For example, the master project must have the same code slots populated as those in the external subprojects, but the code slots can be different as long as the projects have the same structure (for example, fixed format).
- For calendars and resource files in external subprojects opened as part of a master subproject:
If the calendar or resource file is not the same for the master and external, but if either the master project or external subproject has a blank file assigned and the other has a non-blank file, Open Plan assigns the non-blank file to the project with the blank file, provided that the master project has not been opened in Shared mode (in which case an error occurs). If both projects have calendar or resource files assigned, but those files do not match, an error also occurs.
Note: The DEFAULT calendar is considered a blank file for calendars.
- For code files in external subprojects opened as part of a master subproject:
If the code file assigned to the external at a particular code index does not match the code file assigned to the master at the same index, Open Plan merges the two code files, provided that both code files have the same structure (that is, both are punctuated or fixed-significant). In addition, the merged code file is not editable.
Note: This merging does not occur if the code file of the external is already assigned to a different index on the master. In the latter case, an error occurs and Open Plan does not open the external. The master code file at a particular index may be a merge of any number of external code files as long as the aforementioned rules are followed.Furthermore, there cannot be any unsaved changes in the external code file.
Converting External Projects
You can convert an external subproject into an internal subproject by using the Save As command to save the master project. This feature enables you to build large projects quickly out of existing subprojects and applies to all external subprojects that are open at the time you invoke the command.
Displaying Foreign Activities
Because Open Plan enables you to define relationships between activities in different subprojects as well as relationships that cross hierarchical levels, it is possible for a relationship between an activity (or subproject) in the master project and an activity in an external subproject to exist.
To represent such a relationship when opening an external subproject outside of the context of a master project (or when opening an external subproject that has a relationship to an activity in another subproject), Open Plan displays a dimmed “foreign activity” in the network view. Open Plan displays the top-level foreign subproject only; any external subproject beneath the master displays as a foreign activity.
You cannot update the information for a foreign activity or any of its parents. You can delete foreign activities that display in a subproject, but this does not delete the relationship stored in the master project.
For more information about external subprojects, see Characteristics of External Subproject Activities.