Sub-projects and an overall view in the project module

A large project often consists of several sub-projects, each with its own manager, budget and invoicing, but management wants to see one overall picture. In BC the project is the top level, and below it sit project tasks and planning lines. The article shows how to use the tasks as a hierarchy, and what you have to build yourself if you want a project under a project. Here are three ways to go.

Two layers in standard

According to Microsoft Learn, a project consists of two layers. The first layer is project tasks. The second layer is project planning lines, which describe the use of resources, items and expenses. There must be at least one task per project, because all posting refers to a task. The division into layers exists so that you can split the project into smaller tasks and follow progress per milestone.

A hierarchy with tasks

You can build a stair of tasks. Use Indent Project Tasks under the Tasks action, so that some tasks become subtasks. The task type can be Posting, Begin-Total, End-Total and Total, among others, and the totals add up figures for a range. The WIP-Total field controls which tasks are included in the calculation of work in progress.

For many people this is enough. Each partial deliverable becomes a group of tasks between Begin-Total and End-Total, and the total gives the overall picture in the project.

Where it runs out

Learn's description of projects does not mention a parent-child relationship between two projects. You can copy a project and copy tasks from another, but that is a copy and not a link. Combined figures across independent projects are therefore not covered by a built-in feature that we have been able to find.

Three possible workarounds

Use tasks as sub-projects. This works if the sub-projects have the same project manager and the same invoicing method. If different customers are to pay for different tasks, you can, according to Learn, specify the customer per task with task invoicing.
Group independent projects with a dimension, for example a programme number, so that reports can total across them. This is our suggestion and not something Learn describes. Test it before you build on it.
Pull the project entries out to Excel or Power BI and combine the sub-projects there. Learn has a Power BI report for project tasks.

Criteria for choosing

If the sub-projects have their own finances, their own responsible people and their own invoicing, they are real projects. If they are only phases, they are tasks. Decide this at the start, because it is awkward to move entries afterwards.

What it means for reporting

The overview rarely comes by itself. Decide which figures management wants to see: budget against consumption, invoiced against not invoiced, and expected final result. Then check whether they can be obtained by totalling at task level, or whether they require a report across projects. If the report is the same every month, it is a good candidate for a fixed Excel export or a Power BI report. If it is only needed once, it is usually cheaper to put the figures together manually.

Example of a task structure

A construction project can have five top-level tasks: preparation, foundation, shell, installation and handover. Each has a Begin-Total and an End-Total with posting tasks in between. The project's overall figures are seen on the totals, and each partial deliverable can be invoiced separately from its planning lines. These are not sub-projects in the technical sense, but for many it gives the same control without extra setup.

The idea on our list

The idea of a project hierarchy with a parent-child relationship has 254 votes at Microsoft. At Addverk we collect ideas for small apps that could close gaps like this. They are ideas we are considering, not something you can download or buy today. The list of 30 ideas is on the Coming up page, and you can see which of them look like what you are missing yourselves.