Finding project information can be like sifting for gold—lots of project sediment can obscure the nuggets you're looking for. In Project, filters screen out information you don't care about, so you can easily see the information you do want. Project comes with several built-in filters to get you started. For example, the Using Resource filter shows tasks that use specific resources, and the Tasks with Estimated Durations filter shows tasks with question marks in their Duration fields, so you can fill in duration values, shown in Figure 23-21. The box on Creating and Editing Filters talks about a few options in the Project Options dialog box that act like filters.
Built-in filters can act as a tutorial when you want to create your own filters. They provide examples of combining several tests in one filter, comparing the value of one field to another, or asking for input. You could create a filter to find critical tasks whose dates are slipping by starting with the built-in Slipping Tasks filter and adding a test on the Critical field. Here are some ideas for helpful filters:
Critical tasks with overallocated resources. Filter for tasks whose Critical and Overallocated fields are both equal to Yes, to find tasks that are at risk.
Incomplete tasks using a resource. If a resource gets reassigned to another project, you can find all the tasks that person was asssigned to that are in progress or haven't started. Then, you can work on finding replacements.
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