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Cross Project Predecessors

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Level 10
Hi Having some trouble figuring out how to best use cross project predecessors, I could use some help 1. Is there an easy way to see the link from the parent task to the linked project and vice versa? When I'm in the primary project, I can't find anywhere that the task has a sub-task that is linked to another project. When I'm in the sub-project I do see the predecessor way deep down in the Predecessor/Cross Project Predecessors tab, but who would know to look there? Is there a way to make this more obvious. Basically I'm looking for how to link back and forth between the 2 projects. 2. I can't figure out how to build the sub-project into a template so that both projects launch at the same time and are linked via the same task/predecessor set up. Any clues? Thanks, Jill Ackerman Jill Ackerman
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Level 10
Hi - I only have one team that really uses cross-project predecessors because it turned out that other PMs didn't like when their schedule got changed because another PM was late on their project (which doesn't really make sense because if it is late, your project will be late, but that is another conversation.) The team that does still use it asked me for a "successors" column so they could see which tasks on which projects depended on the that task. Now they only cared about the task number, but if you need the task name, you could manipulate the code. listdelimiter=
listmethod=nested(successors).lists name=Successors textmode=true type=iterate valueexpression=CONCAT({successor}.{project}.{name}," - ",{successor}.{taskNumber}) valueformat=HTML As for number 2, that is very difficult. A template is just for one project not for a "collection" of projects. Maybe you could put something in the task name that says [Make the predecessor the Send to Vendor task on the Print Production sub project] and then the PM can remove that from the task name once they do that. Anthony Imgrund FCB

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Level 1
Hi Anthony, I'm not clear about how to add the Successor field. Can you elaborate more about it? @Jill Ackerman You might use Requests for subprojects, and PM can convert them to projects and choose the required template. This way, all of the main projects and subs are starting at the same time. Thanks Mohab Amer Spinrite

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Level 10
I tried the Successor column but it shows all Successors,not just the cross-project, so they are hard to spot. It seems like we won't be able to easily use this feature :( Thanks for your help! Jill Ackerman

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Level 10
Hi Jill, This is a little on the advanced side, but to focus on only the Cross Project predecessors, perhaps you could add an IF statement to the iteration so that only those predecessors whose Project is different from the current Project are shown. Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore Got Skills? Lend a hand! https://community.workfront.com/participate/unanswered-threads

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Community Advisor
I played with this a bit and got the IF statement to work. I used the project reference number to compare predecessors whose Project is different from the current Project listdelimiter=
listmethod=nested(successors).lists name=Cross-Project Successors textmode=true type=iterate valueexpression=IF({predecessor}.{project}.{referenceNumber}={successor}.{project}.{referenceNumber}," ",CONCAT({successor}.{project}.{name}," - ",{successor}.{taskNumber})) valueformat=HTML Heather Slater Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

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Level 10
Well done, Heather - thanks for sharing! Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore Got Skills? Lend a hand! https://community.workfront.com/participate/unanswered-threads

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Level 2

Hi Doug

 

I have been using different configurations of above IF statement to suit my team needs. Is it possible to make the successor or predecessor active so that it takes you to the referenced object?

 

Kind regards,

Lukasz