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Suppressing Task IDs on Printouts

17 replies [Last post]
Tue, 2005-11-08 06:33
Tony McClennon
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Having been forced down the route of using MSP2000, I am suffering with the problem of the task IDs constantly changing due to tasks being added and/or deleted.

As a result, I have had problems with people referring to task IDs in previous issues of the programme that do not reflect the current issue IDs.

I am proposing to use one of the text fields to give each task a "permanent" ID number (MSP Unique task IDs no good as they tend to be "out of sequence" when new tasks added and/or tasks deleted).

However, to avoid confusion, I want to remove the automatic Task ID field from the printouts, but cannot find a way to do this.

Any suggestions from other MSP2000 users will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tony
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Replies

Thu, 2005-11-10 13:01
#1
Andre Laurensis
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Tony, I fully understand your problem.
My way of solving it : I use one text field to number as I want ( even including kinds of "codes" the same way of Promavera), than a second text for the "descrition" and the third column to "concatenate" columns 1 and 2.
Last step being to copy that last result in the column "name" (coz you can not customize that field.
So, you have YOUR numbering AND it appears in all the normal "forms".
You just have not to forget to refresh the "name" if you modify or add some activities. (to be sure, a very simple macro can do it, or you just copy/paste the whole columns.
As with Primavera, have your own codification in the numbering can easily allow you to filter or sort on it !
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Thu, 2005-11-10 09:38
#2
Larry Blankenship
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Methinks you which to have your cake and eat it too. The Unique ID is just that, a primary key for the Task entity. Forcing it to be in sequence would defeat the purpose, as it is strictly a sequence number to identify the row the task is stored in, not the task itself. It is a handy way to identify that row (task) in the database and no other, but if you want tasks to be in order, you pretty much have to accept the fact that the task numbers are going to get out of synch periodically.

Last time I used Primavera, you had to do all the numbering yourself, and renumber everything if you ran out of room, which to me isn’t that much better.

Perhaps if you train people to refer to the deliverable in the WBS and then the actual task under that deliverable, you might have better luck. Or write your own custom WBS structure and use that. (I’ve never used the WBS feature in Project, as it’s fairly new, to my knowledge, but it might be worth a try.)

Larry
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Thu, 2005-11-10 07:54
#3
Tony McClennon
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Sigfredo,

The problem I would have with using the unique ID numbers is that they will still be out of sequence. I would want to see tasks being numbered essentially in the order they appear on the schedule e.g. ADD0010, ADD0020, ADD0030 etc. New tasks could then be inserted between to give ADD0010, ADD0015, ADD0020, ADD0022, ADD0024, ADD0030 etc.

However, I have extracted from my MSP schedule the Unique IDs for tasks for which I would want to have some form of logical sequence to the numbering:

50
1631
1657
1630
1629
1659
1658
1700
1699
1698
54
1697
1731
1704
1703
1702
1708
1656
1655
1707
55
1711
1710
1717
1718
1719
1720
1706
56

Those tasks numbered between 50 and 60 date from the inception of the schedule when all we had was a fairly "high-level" content. Since then, the schedule has expanded, hence the numbers above appearing between 1629 and 1707.

Hope that this explains the situation a little more clearly.

I think that I will probably customise a text field and manually input the task IDs based on the top levels of the WBS.

Tony
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Wed, 2005-11-09 22:18
#4
Zhang Haixiang
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Andre,
It’s possible to make custom form acting as standard form.
you need a good programmer. I’ve tried using custom events (checking the current selected task every 0.3 second, if it changes, then raise a event, the custom form catches the event and update the form accordingly. I hope there’s other way to do it, as i know this is not a effecitve way),anyway it work. I made a custom form to show preds of a selected task with a * in front of the pred ID to show it’s a driving pred. as in P3. and no need to call task by task.

BTW the custom form i mentioned is not the custom form in the menu "tools->Customize->forms" but the form build in VBA
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Wed, 2005-11-09 22:08
#5
Se de Leon
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Hi andre, tony,

Maybe I have not explained myself clearly. I was proposing to use the Unique ID with conjunction with the addition of text using the customize field formula. In other words, it’s the same as using a custom text field but using the Unique ID for easy referencing.

Ex. Unique ID - 34
Added text using formula lets say ADD
/: Activity ID(Text1) = ADD34

Just a matter of curiosity guys.

I’m not sure about what Tony said if you add/delete activity it becomes out of sequence. Is there a use for this? Tony, could you explain further.

For andre, could you explain what’s the use of putting the Unique ID in the standard forms. I’m completely lost on this.

Cheers,

Se
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Thu, 2005-11-10 12:25
#6
Tony McClennon
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Alexandre/Larry,

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I will probably resort to using a Text field with the numbering based on the project WBS to enable a cross-reference to be made to the relevant Work Packages.

Hopefully this will resolve the issue I had initially regarding the problems caused by the task IDs changing from issue to issue of the schedule.

Thanks everyone for your inputs and suggestions.

Tony
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Wed, 2005-11-09 08:56
#7
Larry Blankenship
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Andre,
At that point, you pretty much have to hide the column and live with it, I’m afraid, unless someone else has another idea.

Larry
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Wed, 2005-11-09 07:04
#8
Andre Laurensis
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1. Remember, we (Tony and myself) don’t like to use this "unique ID"
2. The "custom forms" are also a pain in the neck, as you have to "call" them task by task
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Wed, 2005-11-09 05:34
#9
Se de Leon
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[All posting must be in English - the Moderator.]

Pardon my french and some of my spelling alexandre. I’m trying to learn it but I find it quite difficult specially the pronounciation part and listening to it.

Au revoir,

Se
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Wed, 2005-11-09 04:59
#10
Se de Leon
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Hi Andre,

Just a matter of curiosity, why do you need to put it standard forms? BTW, you can insert the Unique ID field to a customize form using the customize form feature.

Cheers,

Se
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Wed, 2005-11-09 03:47
#11
Andre Laurensis
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The problem is that this "unique ID" is a complete mess, and do not appear in the standard "forms" (predecessors, successors, ....
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Tue, 2005-11-08 22:51
#12
Se de Leon
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I also use the unique ID then use the customize field formula option to add text to the unique ID.

Cheers,

Se
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Tue, 2005-11-08 11:06
#13
Andre Laurensis
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As a result, I have had problems with people referring to task IDs
YES, THAT’S A [Deleted by Moderator] SYSTEM IN MSP;

I am proposing to use one of the text fields to give each task a "permanent" ID number
SHOULD BE EVEN BETTER IF YOU INCLUDE IT IN "NAME" OF TASK.

to remove the automatic Task ID field from the printouts, but cannot find a way to do this.
JUST REDUCE THE COLUMN WIDTH TO "0", NO ?

Any suggestions from other MSP2000 users will be appreciated
USE 2003 !
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Tue, 2005-11-08 11:15
#14
Tony McClennon
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Andre,

Why didn’t I think of reducing the column width - simple!!

Many thanks - I will now try and re-engage my brain!!

Regards,

Tony

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Tue, 2005-11-08 13:59
#15
Larry Blankenship
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There is also a Unique Task ID field that never changes. I ran into this also during planning sessions.

Larry
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