Many vendors supplying products or services for The Weather Channel’s move also used Microsoft Project, which allowed for easy exchange of information files. Choosing Microsoft Project as the common platform for The Weather Channel planners and vendors allowed for a consistent and systematic approach in planning the move.
Multiple subprojects can easily be incorporated into a master project schedule using Microsoft Project. Vendors can create individual schedules for their specific tasks, which are easily added to The Weather Channel’s master file by exchanging files on disks. Because vendors are using Microsoft Project, The Weather Channel planners do not have to translate or recreate this data, which saves both time and labor.
The Weather Channel planners can use Microsoft Project to quickly see how new tasks or changes to existing tasks will impact the overall moving operation. Microsoft Project identifies all tasks that affect the final completion date, known as the critical path. This allows planners to identify what impact changes to critical path tasks will have on The Weather Channel’s master schedule.