Complex project schedule

Question

I have a project that lasts 1.5 years, the project plan has over 400 tasks pulled in from different groups, currently all tasks are not linked, and are not arranged chronologically but sit together in separate groups. For example, the business group will provide their project plan that covers different phases of the project, while the engineering team will provide their plan in coding, building environment for testing, while a data group will have their plan in data cleansing, testing on the environment dev team build, etc...therefore, the time is not arranged chronologically.

There are a few issues in sequencing: 1. if I sequence the tasks with just the predecessors, the Gantt chart will be very hard to read--it's hard to read already as we have so many tasks 2. moving the tasks chronologically and sequence them would be a humongous task and very hard for each team to update later. Any suggestions as to how to better solve the issue?

Thanks

Answer 1

There are a few issues in sequencing: 1. if I sequence the tasks with just the predecessors, the Gantt chart will be very hard to read--it's hard to read already as we have so many tasks

Task links should be based on the reality of the work. Don't be concerned about how the Gantt Chart looks. If there are too many link lines showing, modify the chart to remove them (right-click in the Gantt Chart area, select Layout, select the first option).

2. moving the tasks chronologically and sequence them would be a humongous task and very hard for each team to update later.

Don't do this. Leave related tasks together.

It is common for a schedule to be made up of parts from different groups. In truly complex schedules these tasks sit in their own projects and the projects are connected together in a master project. For a schedule with only a few hundred tasks, it's okay to leave them in a single file and group them together.

Again, the schedule should reflect reality which is that different groups each have their own set of related tasks and those tasks should remain together. There will be cross-group links as one team hands off to another team.

Answer 2

If the gantt chart is looking messy, in addition to Rachel's good advice, make liberal use of differing levels of tasks and subtasks - that way you can collapse down a particular area's tasks to assist in legibility of the chart.