Microsoft Project provides the ability to integrate individual projects into a single master project. A master project, which is often used to represent a program, provides numerous capabilities to users, including the following:
- View the master project and each of the subprojects it contains in a single schedule
- Perform consolidated project reporting across the master project
- Create interproject dependencies among the tasks in the master project
This article will provide a high-level overview of how to create a master project.
To create a master project, you can insert one or more projects into a blank project file. For example, a software development master project might have subprojects for the development, testing, and training parts of this effort. The following instructions relate to this method.
Before beginning, you will need to identify separate Microsoft Project projects that will become subprojects in the master project.
- Create a new blank project and apply the Gantt Chart view.
- Select the first row in the blank project.
In the Microsoft Project ribbon, select the Projects tab and click Subproject.
- In the Insert Project dialog, select the subproject to be inserted and click Insert.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 to insert additional sub-projects into your master project.
Interested in learning more?
Author Ira Brown will dive deeper into this topic, Mastering Master Projects, as he shows you how to create interproject dependencies and how to configure your master project properly so that you can specify how linked tasks are updated across subprojects during a live MPUG webinar on July 31st at 12pm EST.
Register now for this PMI® PDU eligible session.
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