Sorting/grouping by WBS code

Once you have set up a work breakdown structure and assigned WBS codes to tasks in a project, you can sort/group the tasks in the project by the WBS codes that have been assigned to them. Sorting/grouping tasks by their WBS codes presents you with an alternative view of the structure of your project: tasks are displayed according to their position in the WBS hierarchy, rather than according to their position in the project hierarchy.

As well as sorting/grouping tasks by WBS code, you can sort/group them by WBS name and WBS path.

To sort/group tasks by a WBS attribute:

  1. On the View tab, in the View Data group, click the Sort/Group dropdown and select New. The Sort/Group Properties dialog appears. The dialog is divided into a number of tabs, each one of which you use to define sort/group criteria for a different type of view. The tab that is displayed initially depends on the type of view that is current when you access the dialog.

    These instructions assume that you are using the Bars/Tasks tab to specify sort/group criteria with which to sort/group bars and tasks in the project hierarchy.
  2. In the Identification group of fields, enter a name for the sort/group in the Name field, specify a category to assign to it if required and select the Display on menu check box if you want the sort/group to appear on the Sort/Group dropdown in the View Data group on the View tab, making it easier to apply the sort/group.
  3. Click the Type column in the first row of the grid and select WBS.
  4. Select the WBS attribute by which to sort/group tasks in the Attribute column. You can choose to sort/group tasks by WBS code, WBS name or WBS path.
  5. Use the fields on the upper right side of the dialog to specify the way in which you want the selected sort/group criterion to be used.
    • Direction - specify whether items should be sorted/grouped according to the sort/group criterion in ascending or descending order.
    • Insert page breaks - select this check box to insert a page break each time the sort/group criterion changes. For example, if you are sorting/grouping on WBS code and you select this check box, printouts start on a new page for each group of tasks that have a different WBS code applied.
    • Retain hierarchy - select this check box to retain the WBS hierarchy; clear this check box to sort/group tasks by the WBS code only, regardless of its position in the work breakdown structure.

      You can specify the number of levels within the work breakdown structure hierarchy that you want to sort/group by specifying a hierarchy limit. For example, if you specify a hierarchy limit of 2, tasks will only be sorted/grouped by the initial two levels of the hierarchy; if you specify a hierarchy limit of 1, items will only be sorted/grouped by the first level of the hierarchy.
  6. Use the Appearance group of fields to specify the way in which you want the breaks in between each group of sorted/grouped tasks to be highlighted.
    • Ruling line - if you want to display a line between each sorted group of tasks, select the style of line to display. You may want to display ruling lines rather than subheadings in order to save space on the bar chart.
    • Sub-heading - specify the type of subheading to display above each sorted group of tasks. You can display no subheadings, subheadings with the name of the sort/group criteria displayed, or subheadings with the name of the sort/group criteria and a 'fake' summary task displayed, which indicates the earliest and latest dates of the items that are contained within each sort/group band. If displayed, the subheadings will display the sort/group criteria in a bar above each sorted group of tasks. For example, if you are sorting/grouping on WBS name, it will display the WBS name that has been assigned to the sorted group of tasks. Note that if you are sorting/grouping by WBS code, you can specify whether the WBS code or the WBS name appears in the subheading using the Display WBS by radio buttons on the View tab of the Options dialog.

      Note that the following appearance fields only appear if you choose to display subheadings for a sort/group criterion.
    • Display banding in the spreadsheet - select this check box if you want to highlight subheadings by continuing their colouring vertically down the far left hand side of the spreadsheet; clear this check box to restrict subheading colouring to the horizontal subheading bars themselves. Displaying banding in the spreadsheet in sorts/groups that comprise multiple sort/group criteria makes it easier to identify the criteria to which sorted/grouped tasks and bars belong.
    • Sub-heading colour - select the colour to apply to the subheading bar, and to its banding, if banding is used.
    • Sub-heading font - click this button to select the font, colour and style to apply to the wording in the subheading.
    • Use hierarchy appearance - select this check box to use the hierarchy appearance settings (which affect the font and background colour that is applied to subheadings) that have been defined for the work breakdown structure when this sort/group is applied; clear this check box to specify sort/group-specific appearance options.
    • Show path - select this check box to display the full path of WBS criteria in subheadings; clear this check box to display the criteria name without the path that indicates their position in the hierarchy.
  7. Click OK to close the dialog and apply the sort/group to the current view.

Related Topics:

Setting up a work breakdown structure (WBS)

Sorting and grouping views