MS Project - Best Update Solution

Question

I have an existing project schedule with 4 Phases. Phases 1-3 are complete and Phase 4 just started. I have built a new separate schedule for Phase 4 due to changes, but was not sure of the best way to "Update or Implement" this into the existing 4 Phase Project Schedule schedule. So:

Should I Update Phase 4 by:

1. Pasting new into existing (leaving current Phase 4 in place, making old inactive, for easy reference)?
2. Pasting new Phase 4 into existing - over Phase 4 current items?
3. Or update the dates and make changes to tasks that changed?

I would like to know the best scenario for maintaining the full scope of Existing Project with the new implemented Phase 4.

Answer 1

This is related to Configuration Management Plan (according to the PMBOK), in other words you should know how to versioning changes. For example, if the first version of your schedule is named "ProjectXXX - Schedule - v1.0.mpp" now you can create a copy of that file and named "ProjectXXX - Schedule - v1.1.mpp".

Now, you have a reference schedule and a current schedule, thus you can check your baseline variances for example.

Answer 2

Don't copy paste over the existing tasks. Copy pasting is akin to deleting and recreating the tasks, so any information you might like to keep (like baseline data) will be lost.

The best way to do this is to:

1. Save a baseline for your old phase 4
2. Update the tasks with the correct dates

This way you have your old schedule reference in the baseline, making it much easier to do comparisons between the old and the new schedule. But it's also a lot of work.

Versioning in a separate file like JCM recommended above is also a possibility, as you can use the "compare project" feature to compare both files if needed.

Deactivating the old phase and pasting the new one separately is only an option if you're sure you won't need to do a detailed comparison of the old schedule with the new one (That would be considerably harder with two separate sets of tasks).