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MSP 2013 - Filters for 3wk and 12wk lookahead

3 replies [Last post]
Ross Armstrong
User offline. Last seen 8 years 30 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 28 Aug 2015
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Morning All,

 

I am trying to create  layout/filter in MSP 2013 for a 3wk and 12wk lookahead. I dont seem to be able to use the easy logic for creating the same rules that i use in P6 in MSP. Typically I would us CD (Current Day) +/- period of time (in days, weeks, 3months) but its doesnt seem to work in MSP if i try to apply the same logic in the rule creation.

There is the date range function which will do the same job but each time you have to manually apply the dates in which you want to filter. Is there a way of setting up the rules in a filter so its a one click change to enable a client to use within haviung to know how to opertae MSP in any sort of capacity?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Regards

 

Ross

Replies

Tom Boyle
User offline. Last seen 4 days 5 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 304
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@Gregg,

Welcome to PP!

You found one of the two standard ways to address in MSP:

1. In the filter definition, turn summary rows on or off (i.e. regardless of their field value.)

2. In the Custom Field dialog, use the "Calculation for task and group summary rows" to specify how the flag is evaluated for the summary tasks.  There you can evaluate the field independently for the summary task using the formula, or you can have the field value roll-up from its subtasks.  

Greg Young
User offline. Last seen 6 years 21 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 30 Aug 2015
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Hi Tom

 

I am a new addition to planning planet and have been trying to sort out some easy to use templates for my Company.

Your 3 week lookahead flag formula is what I am looking for however when I apply it to a Flag  feild it only returns "yes" in the tasks, not the summary tasks. The way our programs are written I need to have the summary task ncluded in the lookahead as this describes the area that the task applies to. Interstingly the summarys do do work when using the date filter.

 

Any thoughts on how this can be achieved.

PS I am not up to speed on MSP formula's.

 

Cheers 

 

Solved my own problem, I didn't have Show related summary rows ticked. A trap for new players.

 

Cheers

Tom Boyle
User offline. Last seen 4 days 5 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 304
Groups: None

Hi Ross,

That's right; you can't do much calculation in the filter definitions themselves.  The common way to handle this is to do your calculations in a formula for a custom flag field, then filter for the flag.

For example:

1. Open the Custom Fields dialog from the Project ribbon, then create a new Task Flag field called "3wk LA".  Give the field a custom attribute of "Formula" and enter this in the white space - 

[% Complete]<>100 And [Start]<=[Status Date]+21

This formula sets the flag to "Yes" for all tasks that are presently incomplete which already started or are scheduled to start within 3 weeks after the project status date.  You can use [Current Date] instead of [Status Date] if you like - I typically have similar flags for both conditions.

2. Make your new Filter using Field Name "3wk LA" and test "equals" Yes.

There are many other conditions you may want to add for various purposes - e.g. Critical=Yes, Summary=No,Active=Yes, etc.  You can add these conditions either to the filter definition or to the flag formula, but I find the filter definition easier to use in most cases.