Archiving and 'displaced items'
When data is archived from a baseline, it is possible for charts and summary groups to be archived without all of their contents being archived. A situation like this can arise if the hierarchy of tasks in a baseline differs substantially from the hierarchy of tasks in the corresponding project. If this happens, the tasks and allocations that are left behind in the baseline become 'displaced items', in other words items that no longer have a place within the project hierarchy as the chart or summary group in which they were located has been archived. If tasks and allocations in a baseline become displaced as a result of an archive being performed, but their parent chart or summary group is restored at a later date, the 'displaced items' are moved back into their original owning chart or summary group.
The following illustration shows how a task could become displaced. Consider the simple project and baseline illustrated below:
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Project |
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In the baseline, task ST1 contains tasks T1 and T2. However, in the live project, task T2 has since been moved into a different summary task: ST2.
If the summary task ST1 (which contains task T1) is archived from the live project, the corresponding summary task, ST1, and the corresponding task, T1, are archived from the baseline. However, task T2 is not archived from the baseline, because it still exists in the live project. As summary task ST1 is archived from the baseline, task T2 is left without a parent task in the baseline. Task T2 therefore becomes a 'displaced item' in the baseline.
Although 'displaced items' will normally occur only in baselines - and then, only rarely - it is possible for items to become displaced in live projects in some circumstances. For example, if you archive data from a project and its baselines, and the archive results in items in a baseline becoming displaced, then you revert to the baseline, the 'displaced items' will then appear in the project itself.
When a project or baseline contains 'displaced items', a 'Displaced items' folder is displayed in the project view. This folder acts as a repository for the 'displaced items'. You can view 'displaced items' in the same way as you can view any other items in the project hierarchy.
Note that 'displaced items' are included in filters, provided that the scope of the filter allows for this. As 'displaced items' appear outside the programme, a filter with a scope that includes only items within the programme would exclude 'displaced items', but a filter with a scope that refers to a chart that has been displaced would include 'displaced items' from within the displaced chart.