This chapter describes how to create and manage workplans and track their progress in Oracle Projects.
This chapter covers the following topics:
The workplan and progress management functionality in Oracle Projects helps your project managers and team members drive towards scheduled completion of project work through efficient collaboration.
This functionality provides project managers with a high degree of visibility and control over their projects. It also enables task managers and team members to manage their tasks and communicate progress to their project managers.
This chapter shows you how to:
create, manage, version, and view workplans
create and maintain tasks and resource assignments.
track progress for projects, tasks, and resource assignments
You use workplan structures to plan project work and collect progress information for projects and tasks.
You must enable the workplan structure for a project before you can create the project's workplan task hierarchy. You can also take advantage of other features such as workplan versioning, workplan approval, workplan publication, and progress tracking for projects and tasks.
Related Topics
Enabling Project Structures, Oracle Projects Fundamentals
Enabling Workplan Structure and Workplan Versioning, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
Project workplans consist of a hierarchy of tasks that you individually create and define with the help of task types. Task types assign default planning and progress collection attributes to tasks.
For information about task types and setting up tasks, see Managing Tasks.
For information about task attributes for workplan structures, see Task Attributes for Workplan Structures, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
Oracle Projects makes it easy for you to set up workplans that meet the needs of your projects or project templates. After you enable a workplan structure, Oracle Projects allows you to efficiently create and manage the tasks within it.
You can set up workplans that utilize specific lifecycles and progress tracking options. If you enable workplan versioning for your workplans, you can also choose options for workplan approval and publication that suit the project requirements.
For more information about lifecycle functionality, see: Project Lifecycles, Oracle Project Fundamentals User Guide.
Once you define a workplan, you can use Oracle Projects to create tasks and manage the workplan's task hierarchy. You can create an entire task hierarchy at once and then fine tune it by moving, copying, and deleting tasks. You can also update task detail information.
You can define workplans that meet the specific requirements of your various projects or project templates. You can:
Set up basic starting information for a work breakdown structure, including the structure name, lifecycle, current phase, and default display outline level.
Enable workplan versioning.
Enable work quantity planning and progress collection for a workplan and each of its tasks
Update the tasks transaction dates automatically.
Automatically update the tasks' transaction dates.
Define approval options for the workplan (if versioning is enabled).
Select a planning resource list for the workplan.
Enable workplan cost tracking.
Enable multiple currency amount planning and define the list of transaction currencies used by your workplan.
Enable reporting of workplan cost amounts against a selected resource breakdown structure.
Determine whether resources assigned to the workplan use actual rates or planning rates for costing of planned quantities. If you use planning rates you can define the planning rate schedules.
Enable resource assignment option.
Select a project for which you want to set up a workplan and navigate to its Workplan Structure Information page. To do this you must first enable your workplan structure. See Workplan Structures, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
Note: You can configure the workplan structure for a template or for a project.
Structure Name: Enter a name for the workplan structure.
Lifecycle: Select a lifecycle for the workplan. A lifecycle is a collection of sequential project phases. Each phase represents a set of logically related project activities. You can use a lifecycle to track the progression of a project and the top tasks within that project through the lifecycle phases.
The system applies the lifecycle you choose to the workplan. You can also assign lifecycle phases to the top tasks in the workplan until you have selected a lifecycle for the workplan.
For a general explanation of how you can use lifecycles in Oracle Projects, see Project Lifecycles, Oracle Projects Fundamentals User Guide.
Current Phase: Select a default current lifecycle phase for the workplan. The current phase is the starting phase for workplans associated with projects.
The Workplan Information page and the Tasks page both enable you to update the current phase of your workplan.
Note: If you update the lifecycle for a workplan after you have assigned phases to top tasks within the workplan, the system removes those task phase assignments.
To update the current phase of your workplan you must be the project manager or have function security equivalent to that role.
Enable Workplan Versioning: You can enable workplan versioning to create multiple versions of the workplan for your project. You must also enable workplan versioning to take advantage of workplan approval, publication, and baselining functionality.
For general information about workplan versioning, see Versioning a Workplan.
Automatically Publish Workplan upon Project Creation from Project Template: If you enable workplan versioning and your workplan is associated with a project template, you can use this option to have the system automatically publish the workplan when a project is created from the template.
Note: This option only appears for workplans that are enabled for a project template.
Enable Work Quantity: Select this box to enable work quantity planning and progress collection for the workplan. For more information, see: Managing Progress.
Schedule using Third Party Software: Select this box if you want to use a third-party software application to perform workplan scheduling operations. You can indicate whether you want the system to schedule forward from the project start or backward from the project finish. For more information, see Managing the Task Schedule.
Allow Dependencies Only for Lowest Tasks: Select this box to enable dependencies only for the lowest tasks in the workplan structure. For more information about dependencies, see Defining Task Dependencies.
Enable Task Execution Workflow: Select this box to enable the Task Execution workflow process for the workplan structure. You must also enable the Task Execution workflow at the task level for the tasks that you want to include in the process. For more information see Using Task Execution Workflow Processes.
Automatically Update Task Transaction Dates and Date Adjustment Buffer: Task transaction dates control the financial aspects of tasks, such as when expenditures can be charged and when budget defaults can be processed. If the workplan structure is shared with a financial structure, Oracle Projects updates the transaction dates of all tasks with their actual start and finish dates (or their scheduled start and finish dates, if actual dates are unavailable). If the Automatically Update check box is not enabled, you can also use the Tools menu for enabling Oracle Projects to update the transaction dates. For a shared workplan structure, if versioning is not enabled, the system adjusts transaction dates whenever you update task actual and scheduled dates.
Use the Date Adjustment Buffer to adjust the transaction dates automatically generated by the system. The system subtracts the buffer value from newly derived transaction start dates and adds it to newly derived transaction finish dates.
For example, say that the adjusted transaction start and finish dates before the buffer is applied are 15 January 2003 and 20 January 2003. If the buffer value is 5, then the system subtracts 5 from the start date and adds 5 to the finish dates. The system saves the resulting transaction dates as 10 January 2003 and 25 January 2003.
Approval Required: You can require that the workplan be approved before it can be published. If you require workplan approval, you must designate an approver. You can also arrange for the system to automatically publish the workplan when it is approved.
For more information on workplan approval functionality, see: Approving and Publishing Workplans.
Enabling Resource Assignment Options: The Assignment Duration Same as Task Duration option enable you to automate the alignment of resource and task duration in Oracle Projects for all new and changed tasks and task assignments.
If you choose not to enable this option at the project template or project level, you must manually define or update each new and each existing task assignment as applicable.
You can define additional workplan settings on the Plan Settings subtab of the Additional Workplan Options page. On this subtab you can determine whether your workplan handles cost amounts, indicate how workplan cost amounts are reported, and define required setup attributes such as the workplan planning resource list, time phase, period profile, and current planning period.
Cost tracking enables you to compute costs for the planned quantity that you define for the resources assigned to your workplan. You can update the Enable Workplan Cost value until progress exists against the workplan or you publish a workplan version (if versioning is enabled).
Warning: All existing resource assignments are deleted if you modify the workplan cost tracking option after you assign resources to a project.
For more information on resource assignments and costs, see Managing Workplan Effort and Cost.
When you enable multicurrency cost amount planning for your workplan, you can plan resource assignment costs in currencies other than the project currency.
If you do not enable multicurrency cost amount planning, the system displays and calculates all resource assignment costs in the project currency. For more information about setting up multicurrency cost amount planning, see Defining Workplan Multicurrency Settings.
In the Amount Reporting section you can associate a resource breakdown structure with the workplan, identify whether reported costs should be raw or burdened, and define a rounding factor for reported costs. For more information about resource breakdown structures, see: Resource Breakdown Structures, Oracle Projects Fundamentals User Guide.
You must select a planning resource list in order to create resource assignments. You cannot create resource assignments if Planning Resource List is set to None. You cannot change the Planning Resource List value if progress exists against the workplan, or if versioning has been enabled and you have published a version of the workplan. For more information about workplan versioning, see: Versioning a Workplan.
Warning: When you change the planning resource list for your workplan, the system deletes all existing resource assignments for the workplan. You have to create new resource assignments from the new planning resource list.
If you want to spread the planned quantities for your resource assignments, select a Time Phase option to determine whether the planned quantity is spread across PA or GL periods. If you retain the default None value, the system does not spread the planned quantity across specific periods. For more information on resource assignments, see: Creating Resource Assignments.
You cannot change the time phasing option if progress exists for your workplan or if versioning is enabled and you have published a version of the workplan.
Warning: When you change the Time Phase value, the system deletes all existing resource assignments for your workplan. Try to ensure you have the correct Time Phase value before you begin creating resource assignments for your workplan.
If you select a time phase method of GL Period or PA Period, you can also select a period profile and identify the current planning period.
If you have enabled multicurrency amount planning for your workplan, you can use the Currency Settings subtab of the Additional Workplan Options page to define its currency conversion attributes and transaction currencies.
You can define cost rate types, cost rate date types, and cost rate dates for the conversion of any transaction currency to the project functional currency and project currency. If you choose a Cost Rate Date type of Fixed, you can specify a cost rate date. When you do this, the system uses the conversion factor defined for that date in the cost rate type to convert transaction currencies to the project currency and project functional currency.
You can define as many transaction currencies as you need for your workplan. If the workplan cost rate type is User, you can define conversion rates to the project currency and project functional currency for each transaction currency. Otherwise, the system uses the conversion rate associated with the cost rate type.
For more information about multicurrency support in Oracle Projects, see:
Multicurrency Support, Oracle Projects Fundamentals User Guide
Currency Models In Oracle Projects, Oracle Projects Fundamentals User Guide
On the Rate Schedules subtab of the Additional Workplan Options page, you can select the type of rate schedule used for your workplan budgeting and forecasting calculations. You have the option of using the same rate schedules that you use in your project to calculate actual costs, or you can use separate rate schedules for planning purposes. If you decide to use the actual cost rate schedules, use the default values on the page. In addition, if you use actual cost rate schedules, you should also specify rate schedules at the resource class level as well.
Note: The system uses rate schedules at the resource class level when it is unable to derive rates for a resource transaction using the standard rate derivation logic.
For more information about defining and using actual rates, planning rates, and rate schedules for workplans, see: Rates, Determining Rates for Workplan and Financial Planning, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
For more information about budgeting and forecasting, see: Overview of Project Budgeting and Forecasting.
For more information about defining rate schedules, see: Rate Schedule Definition, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
You can quickly create individual tasks and complete task hierarchies using the Create Task page.
You can create individual tasks as well as complete task hierarchies and insert these tasks into a specified location in the workplan hierarchy. You can define basic information for each task, including the task's outline level, number, task type, scheduled finish and start dates, planned effort, and task manager.
For more information about task type selection, see Selecting Task Types.
For more information about the task outline level, see Controlling the Task Outline Level for New Tasks.
For more information about the task schedule, see Managing the Task Schedule.
For more information about defining planned effort, see Managing Workplan Effort and Cost.
For more information about task associations, see Creating Task-to-Project and Task-to-Task Associations.
You must associate a task type with each task. The task type contains a variety of default detail information for the task, such as the initial task status, the initial task progress status, and information relating to work quantity planning. The task type also determines how progress is collected for the task.
When you select a task and create new peer or subtasks for that task, the initial task type of the new task is inherited from the selected task.
For more information about task types, see: Task Types, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
You can use the Create Tasks page to set the outline levels for your new tasks. This feature enables you to insert a complete task hierarchy (a set of summary tasks and their subordinate tasks) into the workplan at one time.
The first task entered must always have an Outline Level of 0 or 1 to indicate how it relates to the selected task on the Update Tasks page. If the first task's outline level is 0, it will become a peer of the task that was selected on the Update Tasks page. If the first task's outline level is 1, it will be subordinate to the selected task.
Note: The first task you create for your workplan structure always has an outline level of 1.
To understand how this outline level rule works, consider the following example:
You have a workplan composed of five tasks, numbered one through five: Task 1, Task 2, Task 3, Task 4, and Task 5. Each of these tasks is at the outline level of 1.
Now you must create more tasks and insert them beneath Task 2. Begin by selecting Task 2 on the Update Tasks page and selecting Create Tasks.
Create five more tasks identified by letter, with outline values as follows: Task A, Outline: 0; Task B, Outline: 1; Task C, Outline: 2; Task D, Outline: 1; and Task E, Outline 0.
Because Task A's outline level is 0, the system inserts it into the workplan as a peer of Task 2. The resulting workplan structure looks like this:
Task 1
Task 2
Task A
Task B
Task C
Task D
Task E
Task 3
Task 4
Task 5
If Task A had an outline level of 1, the system would have made the entire task structure subordinate to Task 2.
The Task Details page enables you to define and update task information for both lowest-level and summary tasks. It enables you to:
Define general task information
Manage the task schedule.
Define effort and work quantity.
Track cost and earned value.
Define task dependencies.
Create and manage resource assignments.
Define and maintain task deliverables.
Set up task financial attributes, enable task execution workflow, link tasks to other projects, and create task/project associations.
The work item value, unit of measure, actual work quantity entry method, and additional information page layout for the task are defaulted from its task type.
You can redefine basic task information, including the task status and task type. When you change the task type, the system automatically applies the attributes of the new task type to the task.
Note: You cannot use the Task Details page to change Task Status values for tasks that have progress tracked against them. You have to use the Task Progress page to change task status for such tasks.
Related Topics
Summary of Task Effort, Cost, and Earned Value Information
Managing Workplan Effort and Cost
Project Deliverables Management
Creating Task-to-Project and Task-to-Task Associations
Enabling Task Execution Workflow
The Schedule tab of the Task Details page enables the communication of effort, cost, and earned value information for each task.
The following table summarizes information available for effort.
| Value | Source |
|---|---|
| Planned Effort | Rolled up from resource assignments and lower-level tasks. If a task is a lowest-level task and has no resource assignments, then you can define planned effort at the lowest task level.
Note: You can define task-level effort only for lowest-level tasks. |
| Baseline Effort | Planned effort for the task from the baseline version of the workplan. |
| Actual Effort to Date | Rolled up from resource assignments and lower-level tasks. If the task has no resource assignments and the project has partially shared or non-shared structures, then you can enter actual quantities at the workplan task level when you enter progress updates. If a project has shared structures, then you use the financial transaction system to enter actual quantities. |
| Percent Complete Effort | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Percent Complete Effort = Actual Effort to Date / (Actual Effort to Date + ETC Effort) * 100 |
| Percent Spent Effort | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Percent Spent Effort = (Actual Effort to Date / Planned Effort) * 100 |
| ETC Effort | Working workplan version: Calculated for the task using the following formula: ETC Effort = Planned Effort - Actual Effort to Date Published workplan version: ETC effort for the task is from the latest progress information. If you do not enter a value during progress collection, then Oracle Projects uses the same formula as for the working workplan version to determine the ETC. See: Collecting Progress for Resource Assignments and Collecting Progress for Tasks. |
| Estimate at Completion Effort | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Estimate at Completion Effort = Actual Effort to Date + ETC Effort |
The following table summarizes information available for cost (partially shared and non-shared structures only).
| Value | Source |
|---|---|
| Planned Cost | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Planned Cost = Planned Quantity x Planning Rate |
| Baseline Cost | Planned cost for the task from the baseline version of the workplan. |
| Actual Cost to Date | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Actual Cost to Date = Actual Quantity x Actual Cost Rate |
| Percent Complete Cost | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Percent Complete Cost = Actual Cost to Date / (Actual Cost to Date + ETC Cost) * 100 |
| Percent Spent Cost | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Percent Spent Cost = (Actual Cost to Date / Planned Cost) * 100 |
| ETC Cost | Working workplan version: Calculated for the task using the following formula: ETC Cost = Planned Cost - Actual Cost to Date Published workplan version: ETC is from the latest progress information. This value is based on either a manually entered ETC value or, if no value is entered during progress collection, then Oracle Projects uses the same formula as for the working workplan version. For more information, see: Collecting Progress for Resource Assignments and Collecting Progress for Tasks. |
| Estimate at Completion Cost | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Estimate at Completion Cost = Actual Cost to Date + ETC Cost |
The following table summarizes information available for earned value.
| Value | Source |
|---|---|
| Planned Value | The total budgeted cost up to the analysis date. |
| Earned Value | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Earned Value = Current Budget x Physical Percent Complete Note: If the physical percent complete rollup method for the workplan is Effort, then earned value is based on effort. Otherwise, earned value is based on cost. Depending on the physical percent complete rollup method, Oracle Projects uses either the baseline planned effort or cost for the task to determine the Current Budget. See: Rolling Up Physical Percent Complete. |
| Schedule Variance | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Earned Value Schedule Variance = Earned Value - Planned Value |
| Cost Variance | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Earned Value Cost Variance = Earned Value - Actual Cost |
| Schedule Performance Index | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Schedule Performance Index = Earned Value / Planned Value |
| Cost Performance Index | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Cost Performance Index = Earned Value / Actual Cost |
| Schedule at Completion | Calculated for the task using the following formula: Schedule at Completion = Scheduled Start Date + (Duration of Task / Schedule Performance Index) Note: Duration of Task = Scheduled End Date - Scheduled Start Date |
| To Complete Performance Index | Calculated for the task using the following formula: To Complete Performance Index = (Current Budget - Earned Value) / (Current Budget - Actual Cost) |
| Rollup Physical Percent Complete | Calculated for the task based on the physical percent complete rollup method for the workplan. See: Rolling Up Physical Percent Complete. |
| Physical Percent Complete | Calculated for the task based on its physical percent complete derivation method. See: Deriving Physical Percent Complete. Alternatively, you can override physical percent complete for the task when you collect task progress. |
If work quantity is enabled for the task, then you can view the planned and actual work quantity in the Schedule tab. For information about collecting work quantity, see: Selecting Progress Options for Tasks.
Related Topics
Managing Workplan Effort and Cost
Deriving Physical Percent Complete for Financial Structures
Using Progress to Replan Workplans
Using Rates for Workplan and Financial Planning, Oracle Projects Fundamentals
The Schedule tab of the Task Details and Update Task pages enable the communication of important date information for each task:
Transaction Dates: Indicate start and finish dates for financial transaction purposes. Transaction dates only appear on workplans that share their structure with a financial structure.
Transaction dates are entered manually and can be updated at any time for all tasks.
Scheduled Dates: Indicates when work on the task is scheduled to start and finish. Scheduled dates can be updated for lowest-level tasks.
Baseline Dates: The dates against which the current schedule can be measured. Baseline dates reflect the scheduled dates within the designated baseline workplan version. For more information about designating a baseline workplan version for your project, see: Versioning a Workplan.
Actual Dates: Indicate when work on the task actually started and finished. Actual dates are typically updated by task managers when they enter progress.
Estimated Dates: Indicate when work on the task is likely to start and finish. Estimated dates are typically updated by task managers when they enter progress.
Early Dates: Indicate the earliest possible dates that the uncompleted portions of a task activity can start based on the logic of its activity sequence and any schedule constraints. Early dates can apply to projects as well. Early dates can change as the project progresses and you make changes to the project plan.
Late Dates: Indicate the latest possible dates that uncompleted portions of an activity can finish based on the activity sequence and any schedule constraints.
With the exception of transaction dates, early dates, and late dates, all date information automatically rolls up from lowest level tasks to summary tasks.
You can also set up external task scheduling attributes for use by third party project scheduling software such as Microsoft Project. Third party scheduling applications can use attributes such as Task Type, Constraint Type, Constraint Date, Free Slack, and Total Slack to determine how tasks are scheduled in relation to each other on an externally generated project plan. The third party attributes are computed in the external scheduling system and displayed in Oracle Projects.
Note: The Task Type external task scheduling attribute is different from the Task Type attribute used for tasks in Oracle Projects. This Task Type attribute is a scheduling attribute that is stored for external scheduling software. When you change the Task Type external scheduling attribute for a task, it only impacts the way that the external scheduling software schedules the task or tasks involved.
For more information about using Microsoft Project as a third party tool, see: Microsoft Project Integration, Overview of Microsoft Project Integration.
As you define your project workplan, you assign resources to tasks. You can select these resources from the planning resource list associated with your workplan.
When you want to assign a planning resource to a task, you go to the Resources subtab of the Task Details page. You start by choosing the class of the resource that you would like to assign. You can assign planning resources from any of the four resource classes to a task. These resource classes are:
People: The system tracks assignments belonging to this resource class in hours. You use team roles to give project-level assignments to people class resources.
Equipment: Assignments belonging to this resource class enable you to track cost expenditures related to the use of equipment.
Material Items: Assignments of this resource class enable you to track usage of material items on tasks.
Financial Elements: Assignments of this resource class enable you to track miscellaneous task expenditures.
After you choose the resource class of the planning resource that you want to add, you go to the Assign Planning Resources page, where you can select one or more planning resources of the resource class you specified from the planning resource list.
Each planning resource can only be assigned once to a task. If you need to assign the planning resource for two distinct time periods, you must create a single assignment that encompasses both assignment periods.
For more information about planning resources and planning resource lists, see: Resources, Oracle Projects Fundamentals User Guide.
After you assign your resources you can use the Resources tab of the Task Details page to maintain those assignments. You can define assignment schedule dates, planned quantities, and override the rates that the system uses to cost the planned quantity. For more information, see Managing Workplan Effort and Cost.
You can use the Update Resource Assignment Details page to define or update additional attributes for your resource assignments. Resource assignment attributes enable the system to accurately derive costs for the resource. This page enables you to change the planning resource associated with the resource assignment and enter or update scheduling information, planned quantity, the spread curve, and the forecast ETC method. You can also use this page to review a summary of the raw and burdened cost for the assignment, and to override the cost rates that the system uses to calculate costs.
For more information about defining and managing quantity, effort, and cost for task assignments, see Managing Workplan Effort and Cost.
For more information about planning resources and resource attributes, see Resources, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
Oracle Projects makes it easy to integrate your task-level workplan staffing efforts with the creation and maintenance of an overall project team. It enables you to create project-level team role requirements and assignments from rolled-up task assignments through a staffing process called bottom-up resource planning. And it enables you to create roles on the project team for resources and then assign those resources to tasks through a staffing process called top-down resource planning.
This section covers bottom-up and top-down resource planning. It also discusses the Resource Usage page, which enables you to review scheduled usage of planning resources. You use this page when you perform bottom-up resource planning, but it can also be used simply to track how particular project resources are being used on a project and identify resources that are in danger of becoming overextended.
You can use the Resource Usage page to review the overall usage capacity of all planning resources associated to your projects. This helps you to determine how well resources are being used on the project and can highlight situations where specific resources are being under- or overutilized.
When you access the Resource Usage page, you choose the workplan version for which you want to view resources and the class of resource that you want to see. You can view all planning resources at once, or only the resources that belong to one of the four resource classes.
The Resource Usage Page is view-only when you are reviewing planning resource usage information for resources of the equipment, material item, and financial element resource classes. The Resource Usage page is also view only when you view planning resource usage information for all resource classes at once.
When you use it to review information for people class planning resources, the Resource Usage page enables you to update team roles for people class planning resources with scheduled team roles on the project and create team roles for people class planning resources that have not been scheduled on the project. The act of creating team roles for unscheduled planning resources is part of bottom-up resource planning.
For more information about bottom-up resource planning, see Planning Resources from the Bottom Up.
When you use the Resource Usage page to view usage for people class planning resources only, you can see how each people resource is being utilized on each task to which they are assigned. The resource usage page also tells you whether their current usage is above or below their overall project capacity. It does this by subtracting the overall planned quantity for a people resource from its project capacity. The planned quantity is the planned effort for the task assignments with which the people resource is associated. The project capacity is the team role effort for the people resource.
Note: When the planned effort is distributed over the working days, a discrepancy in the total can occur due to rounding. The discrepancy is corrected in the effort calculated for the last day of the schedule.
When a people class resource does not have a scheduled team role on the project, the system lists its Team Role as None and does not display a value for it in the Project Capacity column. Because their project capacity is effectively zero, people class planning resources without project team roles are always under capacity according to the Resource Usage page.
When you plan your resources from the bottom up, you create project-level team role requirements and assignments for people class planning resources that have already been given task assignments on your project.
After you create your workplan, assign planning resources to its tasks.
For more information about assigning planning resources to tasks, see Creating Resource Assignments.
Go to the Resource Usage page to review the overall usage of the planning resources on your project. Use the Create Team Roles button to create new team roles for your project.
If you have planning resources with team role schedules that are out of sync with the overall project, you can select them and use the Update Team Roles button to update them.
For more information about the Resource Usage page, see Reviewing Resource Usage.
On the Create Team Roles page, you can further define the team roles that you are creating for your project and apply your changes to have the planning resources show up at the project level on the Scheduled People page. For more information, see Creating Team Roles.
When all your team roles are created, the system associates the planning resources to open project requirements or assignments. For more information about project requirements and assignments, see Defining Scheduled Team Members, Oracle Projects Fundamentals User Guide.
You can also use the Update Team Roles page to update team role start and end dates in reaction to changes to the workplan.
The manner in which you carry out bottom-up resource planning differs depending upon whether or not you use a centralized or decentralized planning resource list for your project.
If you use a centralized planning resource list (a planning resource list that covers more than one project in your organization), the tasks of planning resource creation and team role creation are divided between two team members with different project roles. For example, when a centralized planning resource list is being used, you typically would have the project manager create the task assignments while a staffing manager that oversees all the projects that use the planning resource list would review resource usage and create team roles.
If you use a non-centralized planning resource list that is specific to the project you're working with, then the same team member can create planning resources and team roles for the project.
You use the Create Team Role page to create roles on the project team for planning resources that have been assigned to workplan tasks.
The Team Role and Role fields are populated with the team roles and project roles of the selected planning resources, if they have already been defined for those resources. If the planning resource has multiple roles on various task-level resource assignments, the Role field is blank. You can only update the Team Role field for planning resources without defined team roles.
If a planning resource has a person defined for it, the name of the person appears in the Person column, and it is view-only. If the planning resource does not have a defined person, the Person column is blank.
Note: If you have a generic task-level planning resource assignment that is linked to a project requirement, that generic planning resource is by replaced by the specific planning resource you use to fill the project requirement. For example, say you have a task with a generic "DBA" planning resource assignment, and that this resource assignment is linked to a specific project requirement. You decide to fill the project requirement with Mary Smith, a specific person-class planning resource. When you do this, the system replaces the generic "DBA" planning resource on the task with Mary Smith. For more information about project requirements, see Defining Scheduled Team Members, Oracle Projects Fundamentals User Guide.
On the Create Team Roles page, you cannot edit the Team Role value if it is part of the planning resource format. You can always update the Role value, which is a required attribute for team role creation.
You can base the resource schedule on the project calendar, the resource calendar, or the task assignment schedule. When you select the task assignment schedule and create the team role, the system sums the effort hours from all of the resource assignments for the planning resource and spreads them evenly across the working days between the team role start and end dates.
When you apply your changes, the system creates the team roles and updates the Resource Usage page with the new usage information.
With Oracle Projects Management, when you plan your resources from the top down, you can create roles on the project team for resources and then assign those resources to tasks.
You start by determining the staffing needs of the project by creating project requirements or assignments and associating team roles to them. The system then either matches those project requirements with existing planning resources or, if no matching planning resources exist, generates planning resources that fit the requirements using a predefined resource format. You can then assign these scheduled planning resource to tasks.
The manner in which you carry out top down resource planning differs depending upon whether or not you use a centralized or decentralized planning resource list for your project.
If the planning resource list for your organization is not centrally controlled (specific to your project), one person can perform this process.
If your planning resource list is centrally controlled (used across multiple projects), then typically a person in a staffing manager or similar role defines the project requirements and assignments and oversees the matching of planning resources to them. When the system has made all possible matches it can make, the project manager reviews the updated planning resource list and assigns the scheduled planning resources to tasks.
Note: If you use a centrally controlled planning list for your project, the system cannot automatically generate planning resources for project requirements and project assignments. It instead sends a message stating that no matching planning resources exist.
Top-down resource planning functionality enables the system to try to match available planning resources to the open project requirements and assignments that you create. If it cannot find any planning resources that match, and you use a decentralized planning resource list for your project, it can automatically generate a planning resource that fits the open requirement or assignment according to resource formats that you predefine.
These formats are defined on the Additional Staffing Information setup page under the Resources tab. You can define separate resource formats for project requirement creation and project assignment creation. For example, if you define a resource format of Job-Org for project requirement creation, the system generates a planning resource with a Job-Org format to fit the project requirements that you create.
Related Topics
Defining Scheduled Team Members, Oracle Projects Fundamentals
You can use task dependencies to relate tasks within or across projects as predecessors and successors.
By default you can create dependencies for any task in a workplan structure. You can limit task dependency creation to lowest-level tasks only by going to the Workplan Structure Information page and selecting Allow Dependencies Only for Lowest Tasks.
You create and maintain task dependencies through the Dependencies subtab of the Task Details page. You can create both intraproject dependencies (dependencies between tasks in the current working version of a workplan) and interproject dependencies (dependencies between tasks in the current working versions of separate project workplans).
When you create an intraproject dependency you must follow these rules:
You cannot create duplicate dependencies.
You cannot create circular dependencies between two or more tasks.
You cannot create tasks that depend upon themselves.
You cannot create a predecessor dependency from a task to a successor task if the task has subtasks that depend on the successor task.
You cannot create a dependency between tasks that are in the same hierarchical "path" from lowest task to highest task
You can create four types of task dependencies:
Finish to Start: Indicates that the predecessor task must finish before the successor task can start.
Start to Start: Indicates that the predecessor task must start before the successor task can start.
Finish to Finish: Indicates the predecessor task must finish before the successor task can finish.
Start to Finish: Indicates that the predecessor task must start before the successor task can finish.
You can also specify a lag value for the predecessor task. This value represents the number or fraction of days by which the successor task start or finish can be delayed with respect to the start or finish of the predecessor task. For example, if you enter three lag days for a finish to start dependency, the successor task starts three days after the predecessor has finished. You can enter a negative lag value.
Important: If you are using Microsoft Office Project or another third party scheduling tool, you can also enter lag time in hours, minutes, or seconds. Note that for calculating and displaying lag time, Oracle Projects assumes that a day comprises eight hours.
The Gantt chart view of your workplan structure provides a comprehensive view of the task dependencies in your workplan and illustrates how they relate to each other. You can also review information about task predecessors using the flat list and hierarchical views of your workplan structure.
For more information about workplan structure views, see Viewing Workplans.
You cannot delete dependency relationships once the workplan version for which they have been created has been published.
You use task mapping to map tasks between non-shared workplan and financial structures in a project. You can map work breakdown structure tasks to lowest level financial structure tasks. For more information about this method of workplan and financial structure integration, see Integrating Workplan and Financial Structures, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
You can create an association between a lowest task and a project or between a lowest task and a task within another project. This association is for informational purposes only.
You create associations for lowest level tasks using the Associated Project Name and Associated Task Name fields on the Setup subtab of the Task Details, Oracle Projects Fundamentals page. Use the Associated Project Name field to create a simple task-to-project association. If you want to create a task-to-task association, you must first enter the name of the project to which the associated task belongs, and then enter the associated task name. The prompt for the Associated Task Name field only shows published tasks for the project name that you have chosen
After you create a task association, users with view access to the task can use the Associated Project Name and Associated Task Name fields to navigate to the associated project or task. If you click on an Associated Name link, the system displays the Project Overview page for the associated project. If you click on an Associated Task Name link, the system displays the Task Overview page for the associated task. There are no links back from the destination project or task to the original task.
When you delete an associated project or task, the system deletes associations with the project or task.
Oracle Projects enables you to define Task Execution Workflow processes and assign them to specific tasks or task types.
Task Execution Workflow processes can automate various task functions. For example, you can create workflows that:
create a purchase order for tasks on the task start dates
notify task managers when specific tasks are about to start
notify task managers when specific tasks are ready to finish
enable remote update of task progress through the workflow notification response
track task completion progress
publish task progress business events
You can associate Task Execution Workflows with specific task types. When you create tasks that use those task types, they are associated with those Task Execution Workflows by default. For more information about task types, see Task Types, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
You can also define flexible lead time for Task Execution Workflows. This enables the workflow to start before the task start dates based on the amount of lead time that you define. For example, a project manager could arrange for a Task Execution Workflow process to start two days before the task it has been associated with starts.
You must enable Task Execution Workflow functionality for an entire project workplan before you can enable it for tasks within the workplan. When you enable Task Execution Workflow for a task, you also choose the Task Execution Workflow item type, Task Execution Workflow process, and number of lead days (if any).
You can change the attributes for a Task Execution Workflow at the individual task level. You can do this whether you assigned the workflow to the task yourself or the system assigned the workflow to the task by default through the task type.
For more information about the Task Execution Workflow process, see: Project and Task Execution Workflow Processes, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
Oracle Projects provides a variety of tools and functionality to aid in the efficient creation and management of tasks for your workplan. This section explains how to use Oracle Projects' web-based pages to:
Copy tasks, both from within the same project and from other projects
Indent, outdent, and move tasks
Update task detail information
You can copy tasks and complete workplan versions into your current working workplan version. These tasks and workplan versions can come from the following sources:
the current working version of your project workplan
other versions of your project workplan
other workplan versions belonging to other projects
When you copy internal or external tasks with dependencies, you can choose whether or not to copy the task dependencies. You can copy both intraproject and interproject dependencies.
Note: To copy intraproject dependencies for a task, you must copy the entire branch to which the task belongs.
For more information about task dependencies, see Defining Task Dependencies.
You can choose whether or not to copy task deliverable associations. However, you cannot copy the deliverable associations of a task with a physical percent complete derivation method of Deliverables. Tasks with deliverable-based progress must have unique deliverables.
For more information about deliverables, see Creating and Managing Project Deliverables.
When you copy a task or set of tasks you can choose not to copy the resource assignments. If you choose to copy the assignments, you can select which resource classes to copy. For example, you could choose to copy a set of tasks in your workplan into another part of your workplan but only copy over their material item and equipment class resources. This would enable you to assign a different set of people class resources to these tasks.
Navigate to the Update Tasks page.
Select the task that you want to copy.
Select the Copy button.
Identify whether you are copying a single subtask or a summary task and all its subtasks.
Identify where and how you want to place the task into your workplan.
Navigate to the Update Tasks page.
Choose the Copy External action from the Action pulldown list.
Identify the project, structure, structure version, and task that you want to copy. You can choose to copy an entire structure version into your workplan instead of a task or set of tasks.
Identify where and how you want the task, set of tasks, or structure version to be copied into your workplan.
You can move tasks within the workplan task hierarchy in a couple of ways. You can move tasks physically within the workplan hierarchy. You can change a task's outline level by indenting or outdenting it.
You can easily move tasks within a workplan using the Update Tasks page. Select the task you want to move and select the Move button. Tell the system where and how you want the task to be moved within your workplan. The system moves the task to the selected location.
Indenting and outdenting helps you to organize your tasks into summary tasks and subtasks. Use the buttons on the Update Tasks page to change a selected task’s outline level in the workplan. You can move one or more contiguous or non-contiguous tasks at a time. When you change the outline level of a lowest task, the task is moved one level in the direction you indicate. When you change the outline level of a summary task, the level of each of the summary task’s subtasks is changed accordingly (relative to the position of the summary task).
Note: The outline level is changed only if all of the selected tasks can be moved.
The Update Tasks page enables you to see all of the tasks in your workplan and update basic information for several tasks at once rather than on a task by task basis.
Note: The Update Tasks page is the only page that enables you to update task weighting values for individual tasks, and you can only change them if you are using the manual percent complete update method. For more information on task weighting functionality, see: Collecting Progress for Workplans, Rolling Up Physical Percent Complete.
The Update Tasks page enables you to select and simultaneously delete multiple unpublished tasks.
If you have enabled workplan versioning and have created multiple versions of your workplan, several versions of the same task may exist. If you select one of these task versions for deletion the system only deletes that task version.
If you have enabled workplan versioning and published workplan versions contain the task you have selected for deletion, the system will not delete the selected task until you publish the task's workplan version. Tasks "waiting for deletion" are marked with a blue circle next to their outline number.
You cannot delete tasks in published workplan versions.
Oracle Projects enables you to plan and track the effort and cost required to complete your project on time and under budget. You do this by carefully planning the quantity and cost required to complete each assignment and then tracking the progress of each assignment over the lifespan of the project. Planned effort, and cost roll up to contribute to the task effort and cost, which in turn roll up further to contribute to the overall effort and cost for the project workplan.
The system uses planned quantity values to calculate the planned cost for resource assignments. You can define planned quantity for each resource assignment in your project workplan structure. This enables you to track progress against planned assignment cost and effort as actual effort and cost is spent over the duration of the project. And it lets you adjust planned quantity and cost values for your quantity assignments.
For more information about adding and defining resource assignments on tasks, see Creating Task Resource Assignments.
Effort for a summary task is summed up from the resource assignments to that task (if any) and rolled up from its lower level tasks. Effort on a lowest level task is summed up from its resource assignments. If the task has no resource assignments, you can define planned effort at the task level, on the Schedule tab of the Task Details page.
When you enter planned effort for a task that does not already have a resource assignment, the system generates a People class resource assignment to store that effort. If you change effort at the task level, the system displays that effort change for the People class resource assigned to the task. If you change effort at the resource assignment level, the new effort is rolled up to the task.
If you create resource assignments for the task, the system disables your ability to edit planned effort at the task level. At this point you have to enter all planned effort for the task at the resource assignment level.
Note: If you have planned for task level effort without adding any assignments, then you can enter progress directly against the task. The system automatically stores this progress in the system-generated People class task resource assignment.
You can use the Resources subtab of the Task Details page or the Update Resource Assignment page to enter and update resource assignment information. You can use these pages to define planned quantities and calculate costs for resource assignments.
Both pages enable you to define planned quantity for all of the resource assignments of a specific task. You can also use these pages to define scheduled dates and override rates for assignments.
For People and Equipment class resource assignments, quantity is equivalent to effort, while for Material Item and Financial Element class resource assignments, quantity refers directly to the number items or elements used or consumed.
The quantity unit of measure for People and Equipment resource assignments is always measured in terms of hours. For example, if on the Resources subtab you define a planned quantity of 25 for a People class resource assignment, that value represents 25 hours of effort.
Each resource assignment has its own cost rate. The system multiplies the quantity value by the cost rate to get the cost incurred by the assignment. You can use the Calculate button to have the system calculate resource assignment cost values, based on the defined quantity. So, to follow the previous example, if you have a resource assignment with a planned quantity of 25, the system determines the planned cost of the assignment by multiplying the rate associated with the assignment by 25. The planned cost of the resource assignment then rolls up to factor into the overall planned cost for the task.
People and Equipment class resource assignments are always rate-based. Material Item and Financial Element class resource assignments, on the other hand, can be rate based or planned in cost. Material Item and Financial Element class resource assignments are only rate-based if the planning transaction contains:
An expenditure type that requires rates
An inventory item that is not measured in terms of cost
The transaction currency for a rate-based assignment is governed by the initial currency of the cost rate. You can override this transaction currency, but when you do so, the system requires you to enter an override rate value.
For a non rate-based assignment, you can define the transaction currency by deciding the planned quantity's currency unit of measure. You cannot change the transaction currency of an assignment after you collect progress against it.
All assignment costs are burdened using a burdened rate that can be derived for all assignments. The Update Resource Assignments page enables you to override the raw and burdened cost rates for the assignment.
If the burden multiplier is overridden indirectly (due to automatic calculation when other components are entered), then Oracle Projects uses the override value in subsequent derivations of burdened cost based on raw cost. Similarly, Oracle Projects derives revenue using the override markup percent, if the markup percent was overridden indirectly during previous updates.
For more information about rates in Oracle Projects see: Rates, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
You can also define planned quantity for individual resource assignments through the Update Resource Assignments page. This page enables you to set a spread curve for the planned quantity. The spread curve distributes the planned quantity across the set of periods that fall within the planned start and finish dates of the resource assignment according to the type of curve that you select. The default spread curve for each assignment comes from the definition of the planning resource.
For more information about spread curves, see: Using Spread Curves and Spread Curves, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
Note: The system only uses spread curves when workplan time phasing is set to a PA or GL period.
You may want to define new period profiles for the distribution of cost and quantity over the assignment duration. For more information about period profiles and how to define them, see Period Profiles, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
You can calculate costs for resource assignments on both the Resources subtab of the Task Details page and the Update Resource Assignment page. On both pages you can use the Calculate button to calculate the assignment costs after you define or update planned quantity. The system calculates the raw and burdened cost of the assignment based on its planned quantity for the scheduled assignment duration using the raw cost rates and burdened rates.
If you have enabled multicurrency functionality for your workplan and have overridden the project currency or project functional currency conversion rates, you can use Refresh Conversion Rates to revert to the conversion rates that you defined on the Currency Settings subtab of the Additional Workplan Options page during workplan setup. For more information, see Defining Workplan Multicurrency Settings.
If you are planning with multiple currencies and you change a transaction currency, you can select Refresh Conversion Rates on the Resources subtab of the Task Details page to refresh the conversion rates for the selected transaction or transactions. It recomputes the conversion of the existing transaction amount in the project currency and project functional currency.
For more information about rates in Oracle Projects see: Overview of Rates, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
For more information about rate derivation, see: Determining Rates for Workplan and Financial Planning, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
Here is an example of effort calculation at the task and task assignment level:
Imagine that you have a lowest-level task that is numbered 1.2 in your task hierarchy. This task has no task resources assigned to it.
You enter 50 hours of planned effort for the task. At this point the system generates a resource assignment for the task and transfers the effort that you entered to this task.
Later in the day you realize that the planned effort for the task ought to be 60 hours. You go to the Schedule subtab of the Task Details page and change the planned effort for the task from 50 to 60. When you do this, system automatically increases the planned effort for the People class assignment from 50 to 60 hours as well.
Then you decide to add another Material class resource assignment to the task. When you do this, you no longer have the ability to edit planned effort at the task level. To change planned effort for the task, you need to edit the planned effort for the People class resources that are assigned to the task.
At this point the planned effort for the task is equivalent to the sum of the planned effort for the People and Equipment class resources that are assigned to that task.
You use the Update Periodic Amounts page to review and adjust planned quantities, planned raw cost rates, and planned burdened rates across a set of periods for individual resource assignments. You can only update amounts for the current period and future periods. Past periods are displayed for informational purposes only.
The system initially spreads planned quantities across the set of periods spanning across the planned duration of the assignment using the assignment spread curve. All periods that occur before the cycle date that progress records were last applied against the current working version of the workplan are considered past periods by the system. You cannot update data for past periods. You can update planned and ETC quantity values as well as raw and burdened cost rates for any current or future period line.
Note: The system derives actual quantity values from progress collection. To see progress data for a working version of the workplan, you must first apply progress. For more information about progress collection, see Managing Progress.
The system does not display periodic ETC data for published workplan versions. ETC is only available for published workplan versions as a cumulative value for any resource assignment or task. For more information about spread curves, see: Using Spread Curves and Spread Curves, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
You can update and recalculate the planned quantities and cost rates for any open period line. When you make a change to a period line, the spread changes, as does the total planned quantity and cost for the resource assignment. If you want to redistribute the present quantity based on the spread curve of the resource assignment, select Distribute.
The system computes costs by multiplying the quantity on each period line with the cost rate present on the line. The summation across period lines generates the net assignment quantity and cost.
Note: If the assignment is not rate-based, you cannot edit its raw cost rates.
If you want to override the project currency or project functional currency conversion attributes for any current or future period line, select the Detail icon to go to the Update Currency Conversion Details page. This page enables you to override or update conversion attributes for the project currency and project functional currency. Any changes you make are only valid for the selected period line.
Note: If time phasing is not enabled for your workplan, you can access this page by selecting the Update Currency Conversion Details button on the Update Resource Assignment page.
You can delete any period line without reported actuals. When you delete a period line, the system updates the total quantity and cost values for the resource assignment to reflect the change.
Note: For an example of updating ETC values for current working and published workplan versions, see: Using Progress to Replan Workplans.
Resource assignments on tasks incur costs over the lifespan of every project. Employees are paid, expenditures are generated by equipment, material items are used, and miscellaneous expenses are incurred such as flight charges, hotel expenses, and client dinners.
Oracle Projects enables you to review and compare planned and actual cost and effort at any level of your workplan task hierarchy. You can also review costs against the resource breakdown structure, enabling you to understand how much cost is incurred for each resource-providing organization.
When you associate a resource breakdown structure to your workplan structure, the system maps the resource assignments to the resource structure. This gives you an easy way to review project costs from a resource perspective.
Oracle Projects provides cost analysis mechanisms that enable you to:
Review planned and actual cost against any level of your workplan or resource breakdown structure.
Adjust cost rates and planned quantity at any level of the workplan or resource breakdown structure.
View quantities and costs for tasks and resources spread across periods.
The system gathers actual cost and effort during the progress collection process. For more information on progress collection see Collecting Actual Quantities and Costs.
You can use the View Workplan Cost page to review the overall cost and effort for the project rolled up against the workplan structure or resource breakdown structure. The following views provide different ways to analyze cost and effort:
Task Summary: Enables you to review planned and actual cost and effort amounts for any node of the workplan structure. You can select and compare data with any other two workplan versions.
Note: When you use this page to compare a workplan version to another workplan version, the system only performs comparisons for the tasks in the context workplan version (the version you begin with). So, for example, when the context version contains tasks that are not present in the compared version, it does not provide data for that task in the comparison results. Similarly, when the compared version has an additional task, the comparison results do not include data for that task.
Resource Summary: Enables you to review cost and effort amounts for any node of the resource breakdown structure.
Task Analysis: Provides an analysis by task of cost and effort for any node in the resource breakdown structure. For example, you can use this page to find all of the tasks with resources that correspond to a specific node in the resource structure and review their associated cost and effort amounts.
Resource Analysis: Provides an analysis by resource breakdown structure node of cost and effort for any task in the workplan structure. For example, you can use this page to find all of the planning resources that map to a specific task in the workplan structure and review their associated cost and effort amounts.
Periodic Amounts: Displays total cost and effort in terms of periodic amounts, such as period, quarter, or year, depending on the suitability of the planned and actual assignment date ranges. You can review periodic cost and effort amounts for any node of the work breakdown structure or resource breakdown structure. You can use the period parameter to specify the range of periods for which you want to view cost and effort amounts. This view also provides trend graphs that display cumulative effort and cumulative cost by the chosen period.
Note: The system derives the Remaining Effort and ETC values for any task from the last submitted progress record. For more information about progress collection, see Managing Progress.
If you are looking at workplan structure information for a working version of a project, you can adjust the quantity, cost rates, and burdened rates for any node in the structure that you are viewing.
For more information about adjusting costs and quantities for resource assignments, see Adjusting Cost and Quantity for Resource Assignments.
Note: The workplan information displayed on these pages is updated by project performance summarization concurrent programs. Please refer to Performance and Exceptions Reporting Programs , Oracle Projects Fundamentalsfor more details.
There are two ways that you can adjust cost rates and quantity for resource assignments:
You can use the Task Summary and Resource Summary pages to make cost rate and quantity adjustments that apply to all resources belonging to a specific task in the work breakdown structure or node of the resource breakdown structure
You can use the Task Details page to make adjustments to specific resource assignments or selectively adjust multiple resource assignments belonging to a specific task.
Note: If you are not tracking workplan costs, or if the assignment is non rate-based, you can only adjust quantity for the resource assignment.
When you adjust cost rates, conversion rates, effort, or quantity for an assignment, the system automatically recalculates cost amounts for that assignment.
You use the Adjust page to adjust quantity, cost rates, or burdened rates for the resource assignments that belong to a specific task or resource node. You can reach the Adjust page from either the Task Details page or the View Workplan Cost page. If you enter it from the View Workplan Cost page, the Adjust page will display information related to the view that you used for that page.
You enter adjustments in the form of a percentage. You can enter negative values to reduce amounts. You cannot decrease quantity or rates below -100%.
When you adjust resource assignment quantity, the associated raw and burdened costs also change in accordance with the rates that are currently in effect at the time.
If you adjust the raw cost and have previously overridden the burdened cost, Oracle Projects recalculates the burdened cost based on the override burden multiplier (the ratio between the existing override burden cost and raw cost).
You can use workplan versioning to create multiple versions of a workplan. Versioning enables you to create successive workplan versions for historical purposes and "what if" analysis. Versioning also enables workplan approval routing, publication, and baselining functionality.
Note: You must enable a workplan before you can take advantage of the versioning functionality. For more information, see: Setting up Workplans and Enabling Workplan Structure and Workplan Versioning, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
When versioning is enabled for a workplan, you use the Maintain Versions page to manage both published and unpublished workplan versions. You can use Maintain Versions to:
create new working workplan versions from existing published and unpublished workplans
access and update workplan and task information for working workplan versions
rework the structures of workplan versions that are submitted, approved, or rejected
access workplan cost information for both published and unpublished workplan versions
designate the current working version of a workplan
designate baseline versions of workplans
delete working workplan versions
delete published workplan versions
For more information about managing workplan effort and cost, see Managing Workplan Effort and Cost.
You can use the Maintain Versions page to designate a published workplan version as the baseline workplan version for your project. When you designate a workplan version as the baseline version, the system updates the baseline start and finish dates for tasks in all versions of the workplan with the scheduled start and finish dates of the baseline workplan's tasks.
Note: The first workplan version you publish for a project is automatically designated as the baseline version by the system.
You can use the Maintain Versions page to delete a published workplan version. You can delete any published version, unless is it any of the following:
The latest published version
The current baseline version
A version that is part of a program
The workplan status indicates the status of the workplan as it goes from being an in-progress "working" workplan to a published workplan. The four statuses for unpublished workplans are:
Working
Submitted
Approved
Rejected
If you have set up workplan approval functionality for your workplan on the Workplan Information page, your workplan must be approved before you can publish it. You can also set up your workplan to be published automatically once it is approved.
If you have not set up workplan approval functionality for your workplan, you can manually publish your workplan.
For more information about setting up workplan approval functionality, see: Setting Up Workplans.
You can submit a workplan through the Update Tasks and Maintain Versions pages. When you do this the Workplan Status changes from Working to Submitted.
When you submit a workplan for approval, Oracle Projects calls the Workplan Workflow Extension, which enables you to customize workflow processes for submitting, approving, and publishing the workplan. For more information, see: Workplan Workflow Extension, Oracle Projects APIs, Client Extensions, and Open Interfaces Reference.
The system then sends a notification to the approver that you have specified for the project on the Workplan Information page. This notification enables the approver to immediately approve or reject the workplan after they complete their review.
When the approver approves the workplan, the workplan's Workplan Status changes to Approved. Approved workplans can be published.
If the approver rejects the workplan, the workplan status changes to Rejected. You can rework the workplan (through the Maintain Versions page) and submit it again for approval. You must rework and resubmit the workplan until it is approved before you can publish it.
Note: When a workplan is in Submitted, Approved, or Rejected status, you can only make changes to it using the rework functionality.
The system sends e-mail notifications to the project manager when workplans are either approved or rejected.
You publish workplans to notify team members of workplan changes.
Note: If you have enabled workplan versioning, the publication process also facilitates the collection of progress information for a project. The system enables you to submit progress records only for the latest published workplan version. For more information about project collection see: Managing Progress.
If you have not required approval for your workplan on the Workplan Information page, you can publish the workplan at any time using the Update Tasks and Maintain Versions pages.
If the workplan requires approval but is not set up to be automatically published upon approval, you can manually publish it when it is approved. When the workplan is approved, you can publish it using the Update Tasks page or Maintain Version page.
You can arrange for the system to automatically publish the workplan after it is approved. For more information, see: Setting Up Workplans.
When a workplan is published, the system sends notifications to task managers and others with security access equivalent to that role. The system can deliver notifications through the Oracle Projects user interface or send them as email.
For more information on this functionality, see: Setting Up Workplans.
Note: : Multiple working versions of the workplan are allowed only for non-shared workplans. When any of the working versions is published, all the other working versions of the workplan are deleted.
You can choose how you want to view your work breakdown structure. Oracle Projects provides three different types of workplan views:
Hierarchy view
List view
Gantt display view
You can change your workplan view at any time using the Update Tasks page.
The hierarchy view is initially the default workplan view. Your implementation team can set the list or Gantt display view to be the default view for workplan information if you wish. For more information, see:
Profile Options: PA: Workplan Tasks Default View, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
When you choose the hierarchy view for your workplan, the system displays your tasks as a hierarchy, enabling you to quickly determine which tasks are subordinate to others and identify groups of tasks that relate to similar activities.
When you use the hierarchy view, you can collapse and expand outline levels or change the display to show only one summary task and each of its subtasks.
The list view displays the tasks in your workplan as a simple list. By default, the system orders the list according to outline level. You can reorder the list according to values such as scheduled start date, scheduled finish date, and task manager name by selecting the column headings for those values.
The list view also enables you to perform searches on workplan information.
The Gantt view provides a graphic display of task information. It enables you to:
Quickly determine the relative duration of your tasks
View and understand task dependency relationships
Identify critical tasks and review their completed progress
See resource assignments
Compare task durations for different versions of the same workplan, such as the current and baseline workplan versions
For more information about task dependencies, see Defining Task Dependencies.
For more information about task progress collection, see Managing Progress.
For more information about task resource assignments, see Creating Task Resource Assignments.
You can use a set of filters to define your Gantt display view. These filters enable you to:
Display a specific type of task, such as tasks at risk, tasks estimated to finish late, or completed tasks.
If you set the Tasks filter to display all tasks, the system displays the tasks in the hierarchical view format.
If you set the Tasks filter to display a specific category of tasks, the system displays the tasks in the list view format.
Graphically compare the scheduled task start and end dates of the current workplan version with those of an earlier workplan version, such as the baseline workplan version or the last published workplan version.
Select the overall time scale of the Gantt display.
If you choose a time scale other than Entire Project, you can also include a start date. If you do not include a start date the system defines a start date based on the current date.
Your implementation team can set up configurable page layouts that display task information using the Gantt display view. For more information, see:
Page Layouts, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
Progress is the collection, processing, and reporting of actual quantities and costs, estimate to complete quantities and costs, dates, and physical percent complete for a project. You can collect progress for deliverables, task resource assignments, tasks, and projects.
You use progress to report on whether workplan execution is on track. This allows you to make adjustments to work planning if progress is ahead of or behind schedule. You can also use progress to forecast the effort and costs at project completion, generate revenue and invoice customers, and perform financial reporting.
When you collect and submit progress, Oracle Projects rolls up progress from resources to a task, from deliverables to a task, from lower level tasks to a summary task, and from summary tasks to a project.
Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete based on the submitted progress and it rolls up the physical percent complete to higher levels of the task hierarchy. Physical percent complete enables you assess the amount of work achieved at each level of a project. Oracle Projects uses physical percent complete to calculate earned value measures for each task. You can review information such as physical percent complete and earned value measures to monitor the health and performance of a project.
This section describes terminology related to progress in Oracle Projects:
Actual Cost: The amount of cost spent to date. Oracle Projects calculates actual costs based on actual quantities. You enter an actual quantity in terms of hours, currency, or any other unit of measure. Oracle Projects uses an actual cost rate to calculate the actual cost.
Actual Dates: The dates when work actually starts and finishes.
Actual Effort: The amount of effort spent to date.
As of Date: The date for which you are collecting progress. The progress cycle for a workplan determines the potential dates that you can use. Oracle Projects populates the list in the As of Date field with five dates, starting with a default As of Date.
If no submitted progress records exist, then the default As of Date is the first future date from the system date as determined by the progress cycle. Oracle Projects populates the list with five dates, beginning with the default date and continuing with future progress cycle dates.
If a submitted progress record exists, Oracle Projects populates the list with five progress cycle dates, beginning with first date following the most recent As of Date that is associated with submitted progress. These dates can all be in the past.
Note: Your implementation team must define PA and GL periods that correspond with the As of Date before you can submit progress for that date. See: Defining GL and PA Periods, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
Deliverable Status: The completion status of a deliverable. You can specify a status such as Not Started, In Progress, or Completed.
Estimate at Completion (EAC): Oracle Projects calculates estimate at completion using the following formula:
Estimate at Completion = Actual to Date + ETC
Estimate to Complete (ETC): The amount of work remaining. You enter an ETC quantity in terms of hours, currency, or any other unit of measure. Oracle Projects uses the rate associated with the resource assignment to calculate the ETC cost.
Estimated Dates: An estimated schedule of when work starts and finishes.
Percent Complete: Oracle Projects calculates percent complete using the following formula:
Percent Complete = Actual to Date / (Actual to Date + ETC) * 100
Percent Spent: Oracle Projects calculates percent spent using the following formula:
Percent Spent = (Actual to Date / Planned) * 100
Note: Percent spent can be greater than 100.
Physical Percent Complete: The amount of physical work achieved. Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete for a task based on its physical percent complete derivation method. See: Deriving Physical Percent Complete.
Note: The number of decimal places that Oracle Projects stores and displays for physical percent complete depends on whether you are viewing the workplan structure or the financial structure.
For workplan structures, Oracle Projects stores and displays physical percent complete to two decimal places. However, Oracle Projects uses the complete physical percent complete figure, not just two decimal places, to calculate earned value. After completing the calculation, it rounds the calculated earned value to two decimal places.
For financial structures, Oracle Projects stores and displays physical percent complete to four decimal places. When you transfer physical percent complete from a workplan structure to a financial structure, Oracle Projects transfers two decimal places to the financial tasks. As physical percent complete rolls up the financial structure, Oracle Projects stores and displays physical percent complete to four decimal places.
Planned Effort and Cost: The projected total cost and effort required to complete the work. Oracle Projects uses planned quantity values to calculate the planned cost for resource assignments. You can define planned quantity for each resource assignment in a project workplan structure. This enables you to track progress against planned assignment cost and effort as actual effort and cost is spent over the duration of the project. For information on planned effort and cost, see: Managing Workplan Effort and Cost.
Progress Status: A qualitative evaluation overall task progress. You can specify a status such as On Track, At Risk, or In Trouble.
Task Status: The completion status of a task. You can specify a status such as Not Started, In Progress, or Completed.
Work Quantity: Any user-defined quantitative measure of work, such as number of tiles laid or number of contracts completed. You can plan for an amount of work quantity for a task and measure progress against the planned work quantity.
For additional information on work quantity, see: Project and Task Attributes, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
Related Topics
Overview of Rates, Oracle Projects Fundamentals
Oracle Projects calculates earned value measures using the progress that you collect. Earned value management is a methodology used to measure and report project performance from initiation to completion.
Oracle Projects automatically calculates the following earned value measures based on the progress collected:
Planned Value: The total budgeted cost up to the analysis date.
Earned Value: For completed work, this value is the cost or effort originally budgeted to accomplish that work.
Schedule Performance Index (SPI): The ratio of work performed to work scheduled.
Cost Performance Index (CPI): The cost efficiency factor representing the relationship between the actual costs expended and the value of physical work performed.
To Complete Performance Index (TCPI): The level of efficiency required to complete the remaining work using the remaining budgeted effort or cost.
Related Topics
Deriving Physical Percent Complete
You select progress options for the workplan structure and tasks to determine how you collect and manage progress. In addition, you select a physical percent complete rollup method for the financial structure.
You can select the following progress options for a workplan structure:
Progress Cycle: Select a cycle for collecting progress. For example, you can select a weekly cycle with Monday set as the progress reporting day.
Note: If you do not specify a progress cycle, Oracle Projects uses a daily progress cycle for the workplan structure.
Physical Percent Complete Rollup Method: Specify how Oracle Projects calculates and rolls up progress for the workplan structure. You can select Cost, Effort, Duration, or Manual as the physical percent complete rollup method. Duration is the default value.
Allow Collaborative Progress Entry: Select this option to enable team members to enter progress.
Allow Actual Effort and Cost Collection: You must select this option for projects with partially shared structures or non-shared structures to enable the collection of actual quantities and costs and estimate to complete (ETC) quantities and costs. If you do not enable this option, you cannot collect actual or ETC quantities and costs for resource assignments or workplan tasks.
Note: This option is named Allow ETC Effort and Cost Collection for projects with shared structures. Select this option to enable the collection of ETC quantities and costs. You can always collect actual quantities and costs.
Allow Physical Percent Complete Collection: Select this option to enable the collection of physical percent complete for tasks and deliverables.
Note: If you do not enable this option, you cannot collect physical percent complete for tasks and deliverables. In this case, Oracle Projects calculates percent complete and percent spent based on planned and actual quantities and costs for a task, but it does not calculate earned value measures.
Allow Physical Percent Complete Overrides: Select this option to enable the override of physical percent complete if you also select the Allow Physical Percent Complete Collection option. For example, the project manager can override physical percent complete values that a task manager has entered.
If you do not select this option, then physical percent complete for a task cannot be overridden.
Related Topics
Choosing an Approach for Collecting Progress
Collecting Actual Quantities and Costs
Rolling Up Physical Percent Complete
The progress options for the task type control how you collect and manage progress for a task. Different tasks within a workplan can have different task types. This provides you with the flexibility to define workplan tasks for which you do not need to track progress. For information on defining progress options for task types, see Task Types, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
You can change the default values for the following task progress options:
Additional Information Page Layout: Select a page layout to display progress information. You can associate a different page layout with each unpublished task in a project. For information on defining page layouts, see: Page Layouts, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
Physical Percent Complete Derivation Method: Select the derivation method that Oracle Projects uses to derive physical percent complete for the task. You can select Deliverable, Work Quantity, Cost, or Effort.
Note: If you change the task type for a task, Oracle Projects does not reapply the physical percent complete derivation method from the new task type as the new default value for the task.
Actual Work Quantity Entry Method: Select Actual to Date if you want to enter the total quantity of work completed to date when you collect progress for a work item. Select Actual Since Last Progress if you want to enter only the quantity of work completed since that last time you collected progress for a work item. A work item is an exact definition of the work being done on a workplan task. See: Defining Work Items, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
You can update the actual work quantity entry method only if the task type enables work quantity for the task.
The following two tables show examples of how you can enter work quantity for a task that requires the installation of 100 square feet of floor tiles. In both cases, the same amount of work quantity is entered for the provided dates.
The table below shows entry of actual work quantity to date:
| Progress Collection Date | Actual To Date |
|---|---|
| January 20 | 10 |
| January 21 | 20 |
| January 22 | 50 |
| January 23 | 100 |
The table below shows entry of actual work quantity completed since the last time progress was recorded:
| Progress Collection Date | Actual Since Last Progress |
|---|---|
| January 20 | 10 |
| January 21 | 10 |
| January 22 | 30 |
| January 23 | 50 |
Related Topics
Deriving Physical Percent Complete
You specify a physical percent complete rollup method for the financial structure. You can select either Effort or Cost. Cost is the default value.
Oracle Projects determines the effort or cost from the current baseline version of the approved cost budget. If a current baseline version does not exist, then Oracle Projects uses the current working version to roll up financial physical percent complete.
Related Topics
Deriving Physical Percent Complete for Financial Structures
Oracle Projects enables you to collect and manage progress for deliverables, task resource assignments, tasks, and projects. You can choose to collect, review, and adjust progress using either a centralized or a collaborative approach. The relationship between the workplan and financial structure determines how you collect and manage progress.
Oracle Projects uses the progress that you collect to calculate physical percent complete. You can also enter an estimate of physical percent complete for tasks. Oracle Projects rolls up physical percent complete to higher levels in the task hierarchy and it uses physical percent complete to calculate earned value measures. You can use these measures to monitor the overall health of you project.
Each time you collect progress on a task, resource assignment, or deliverable, Oracle Projects indicates the availability of the latest progress for the workplan structure task. You can apply progress to the working version to update the planned cost and quantity, and then replan your workplan.
You can use progress information collected for the workplan structure to update physical percent complete for the financial structure.
You can collect progress either centrally or in a collaborative manner. You can utilize both methods during the life of a project. You must enable the Allow Collaborative Progress Entry option for a workplan structure to enable task managers, deliverable owners, and task resources to enter progress.
A user must have the appropriate security privileges to enter, submit, and adjust progress. For information on the security mechanisms that you can use to control function and data access within Oracle Projects, see: Security in Oracle Projects, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
When progress entry is centralized for a project, a single user with the appropriate security privileges to update project progress, such as a project manager, performs all progress collection activities. This person can enter and submit progress for the entire workplan or for individual deliverables, resource assignments, and tasks.
A centralized approach to progress entry is applicable to smaller projects with few team members or resources assigned to tasks. This approach enables a single person to control all aspects of progress entry.
For example, the project manager can enter progress within the context of the latest published workplan version. For each task, the project manager can view the effort, cost, earned value metrics, and date information. The project manager can enter progress for the task and for the resources and deliverables associated with it. The project manager can also enter progress report details for the task. For example, progress report details include the task status, progress status, and comments. Alternatively, the project manager can enter and submit progress for multiple tasks at the same time, rather than entering and submitting progress for each task, one at time.
The project manager can also use the centralized approach to view and correct progress that team members enter in a collaborative manner. For information on correcting progress, see: Correcting and Backdating Progress.
When project progress entry is collaborative, task managers, deliverable owners, and task resources can enter and submit their own progress. Task managers or the project manager can review and adjust the progress as needed.
A collaborative approach applies to larger projects, such as a global project, that have many resources working on the tasks. Team members can use the Team Member Home page to enter and submit their own progress. Task managers can view a list of tasks that they own and enter progress for each task. Team members can view and enter progress for assignments where they are listed as the named resource. Assignments without a named resource belong to the task manager. Deliverable owners can view and enter progress for their deliverables.
The project manager can use the centralized approach to review and correct progress entered in a collaborative manner.
The following table lists three approaches to planning, progress collection, and progress review and adjustment:
| Approach | Planning | Progress Entry | Progress Review and Adjustment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Centralized | Centralized | Centralized |
| 2 | Centralized | Collaborative | Centralized |
| 3 | Centralized | Collaborative | Collaborative |
The first approach is for one person, usually the project manager or another project planner, to perform planning and progress entry, review, and adjustment. The project manager, or other central person, enters and submits progress for all task assignments, deliverables, and tasks. The project manager can review and adjust the progress as necessary. This fully centralized approach enables the project manager to control all aspects of workplan management. You can choose to use this approach for a project where a small number of resources are executing the work in a centralized location.
The second approach is to plan the workplan centrally, while enabling the team members (task managers, task resources, and deliverable owners) to record their own progress. For example, task resources can enter progress for their assignments. The project manager reviews the progress that the team members enter and performs adjustment centrally. For example, the project manager can override the physical percent complete that a task manager has reported. You can choose to use this approach for a project where a large number of resources are executing the work and the project manager needs to retain centralized control over progress execution.
The third approach is similar to the second approach, because the project manager can plan the workplan centrally, while team members record progress. The difference in this approach is that task managers can review and adjust the progress that the resources enter. For example, a task manager can adjust the ETC that a resource has entered for an assignment. This approach minimizes the data entry for the project manager. You can choose to use this approach for a project where a large number of resources are executing the work globally.
Related Topics
Selecting Progress Options for a Workplan Structure
Oracle Projects is the central repository of actual quantities and costs. How you can collect actual quantities and costs depends on the integration between the project structures. For information on integrating workplan structures, see: Integrating Workplan and Financial Structures, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
If a project has shared structures, you collect one set of actual quantities and costs for the project. You use these values for both workplan management and financial management.
You use the financial transaction system to enter actual quantities for resources that are assigned to a particular task. For example, you can collect transactions from timecards, expense reports, purchase orders, and manufacturing costs. You must review and approve the financial transactions and run the appropriate cost distribution program to calculate the actual costs before you can summarize these amounts for the project.
For the workplan structure, summarization picks up the actual amounts through the period end date of the period to which the progress As of Date maps. Oracle Projects summarizes the actual amounts and brings the amounts into the workplan. Each actual value retains its date and Oracle Projects uses this date to associate actual amounts with periods when it displays the amounts in the task assignment periodic view.
Note: You must run project performance summarization concurrent programs to summarize financial actuals. For additional information on the summarization programs, see: Performance and Exceptions Reporting Programs, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
After summarization, Oracle Projects associates actual values with resources in the resource breakdown structure for the workplan. For information on how Oracle Projects associates actual values with resources, see: Collecting Resource Assignment Progress for Shared Structures.
If you enable workplan versioning, and a published version exists, you can view the actual quantities and costs for the latest published version after summarization. If a published version does not exist, you can view the actual quantities and costs only after you publish a workplan version.
You can view the actual quantities and costs for the workplan after summarization if you do not enable workplan versioning.
Note: You cannot override actual quantities or costs for projects with shared structures.
The workplan progress flow helps you to capture further information related to work execution. This information includes estimated and actual dates, progress status, and comments. You must submit progress for it to be effective and roll up the task hierarchy.
After you publish a workplan version and summarize the actual data, Oracle Projects calculates a default ETC value for a task and its assignments using the following formula:
ETC = Planned - Actual
If the result of this calculation is a negative number, then the default value for ETC is 0. The ETC automatically rolls up the task hierarchy.
If you update the ETC value when you collect progress, from this point forward Oracle Projects populates ETC from the latest submitted progress.
If you later replan the workplan and publish a new workplan version, Oracle Projects once again calculates the default value for ETC. It does this until you update ETC when you collect progress for the published workplan version.
Note: Oracle Projects always calculates ETC costs from ETC quantities.
You can collect actual quantities and costs for the workplan structure separate from the financial structure if a project has partially shared or non-shared structures. You use this set of actual quantities and costs for workplan management.
If you want to collect actual quantities and costs for a workplan structure, you must enable the Allow Actual Effort and Cost Collection progress option. For information on this option, see: Selecting Progress Options for a Workplan Structure.
Oracle Projects rolls up the progress information that you submit at every workplan structure level, including actual and ETC values. The progress information that you capture for each level in the workplan varies. For example, you can collect progress for deliverables, resources, work quantity, or the task itself. You can use either a centralized or a collaborative approach to collect the progress.
You collect a separate set of actual quantities and costs for the financial structure using the financial transaction system. You can use the actual quantities and costs for the financial structure for activities such as revenue accrual, invoicing, and financial reporting.
Deliverables are the output for a project and can include documents, such as reports and plans, as well as physical products. You can associate deliverables with workplan tasks for informational and progress collection purposes.
Deliverable progress includes:
Physical percent complete
Deliverable status
Completion date
Progress status
As of Date
Progress overview
Note: Progress status associated with a deliverable does not roll up to the task.
You can complete deliverable actions as a part of deliverable progress entry if the deliverable is associated with a progress-enabled deliverable type. Oracle Projects automatically uses the system date as the default Completion Date when you mark a deliverable as complete. You can override this date. If the deliverable has shipping or procurement actions associated with it, you must initiate these actions to complete the deliverable action. For information on deliverable actions, see: Managing Project Deliverable Actions.
The project manager can enter and submit deliverable progress centrally or the deliverable owner can submit the progress in a collaborative manner.
You must manually enter physical percent complete for deliverables. Oracle Projects can roll up deliverable physical percent complete to the task level. You must set the physical percent complete derivation method for the task to Deliverable to roll up physical percent complete.
Oracle Projects uses the deliverable progress weight to roll up the physical percent complete for each deliverable. For information on how Oracle Projects rolls up physical percent complete from deliverables, including an example of how it calculates physical percent complete for the task, see: Deriving Physical Percent Complete.
If you choose Deliverable as the physical percent complete derivation method for a task, then you cannot choose the same derivation method for its child tasks, or for its parent task. Subtasks do not contribute progress to a parent task if the parent has a physical percent complete derivation method of Deliverable.
For example, consider the workplan structure as shown in the following table:
| Level 1 Tasks | Level 2 Tasks | Level 3 Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.1.1 |
| 1.1.2 |
In this example, if you want to collect deliverable-based progress for task 1.1, then you cannot collect deliverable progress for its child tasks (tasks 1.1.1 and 1.1.2) or its hierarchical parent task (task 1.0). Task 1.1 is the only task in that task hierarchy branch that can have a physical percent complete derivation method of Deliverable. In this context, task 1.1.1 and task 1.1.2 do not contribute progress to parent task 1.1.
You can associate a deliverable with only one task that has a physical percent complete rollup method of Deliverable. You can associate the same deliverable with multiple tasks that have a physical percent complete derivation method of Effort, Cost, or Work Quantity. Progress from the deliverable rolls up to only the deliverable-based task.
For example, consider the workplan structure as shown in the following table:
| Tasks | Physical Percent Complete Derivation Method | Deliverables |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Deliverable | Deliverable A |
| 2.0 | Deliverable | None |
| 3.0 | Effort | Deliverable A |
In this example, because task 1.0 and task 2.0 are deliverable-based, you cannot associate deliverable A with both tasks. You can associate deliverable A with both task 1.0 and task 3.0, because the physical percent complete derivation method for task 3.0 is not Deliverable.
Note: A deliverable can contribute to task progress only if the physical percent complete derivation method for the task is Deliverable.
Related Topics
Overview of Project Deliverables Management
You can assign multiple types of resources to tasks and collect progress for these resource assignments. For information on resources, see: Resources, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
Resource assignment progress includes:
Actual quantity
Oracle Projects calculates actual cost from the actual quantity.
ETC quantity
Oracle Projects calculates ETC cost from the ETC quantity.
As of Date
Estimated and actual dates
Oracle Projects automatically calculates percent spent and percent complete based on the planned, actual, and ETC values for the resource assignment. For information on percent spent and percent complete, see: Understanding Progress.
Oracle Projects costs the ETC using the rate associated with the resource assignment. It uses the appropriate rates, depending on the workplan rate schedules setup. For information on how Oracle Projects determines rates, see: Using Rates for Workplan and Financial Planing, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
Note: If you plan a workplan using periodic amounts, Oracle Projects finds a mapped period for each progress cycle As of Date. It uses the resource assignment rate for that period line to cost the ETC. If it does not find a rate or a corresponding period line, then Oracle Projects determines the rate using the rate derivation logic for resource assignments.
If you do not plan a workplan using periodic amounts, Oracle Projects uses the resource assignment rates to cost the ETC during the submission of progress records.
After you submit progress for a resource assignment, Oracle Projects rolls up actual quantities and costs, ETC quantities and costs, estimated dates, and actual dates to the task level. It uses the planned, actual, and estimate at completion values from the resource assignments to calculate the percent complete cost and effort. Then, depending on the physical percent complete derivation method, Oracle Project uses either cost or effort to derive the physical percent complete for the task.
The project manager can enter and submit progress for resources centrally. Alternatively, individual resources or task managers can enter resource progress in a collaborative manner.
For projects with shared structures, you enter actual quantities for resources using the financial transaction system. You run cost distribution concurrent programs to determine the actual cost for each transaction after you approve the transactions. Next, you run the cost summarization program for the project and, after summarization, you can view the actual quantities and costs on the latest published workplan version. You cannot override these actual values. For information on workplan versioning and viewing actual quantities and costs on the workplan, see: Collecting Costs and Quantities for Shared Structures.
Note: You must run project performance summarization concurrent programs to summarize financial actuals. For additional information on the summarization programs, see: Performance and Exceptions Reporting Programs, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
After summarization, Oracle Projects associates the actual values with resource assignments in the resource breakdown structure for the workplan. If Oracle Projects finds an existing resource, it associates the actual quantities and costs with that resource. If it cannot find an existing resource assignment, it creates an unplanned assignment for the expected resource. For information on associating resources with amounts, see Resource Breakdown Structure Mapping, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide.
An unplanned resource assignment is a new resource assignment that Oracle Projects creates to accommodate the actual quantities and costs that an unplanned resource has incurred for a task. You cannot enter progress for unplanned resource assignments. The ETC and planned values are always zero. For additional information on ETC, see: ETC and Shared Structures.
An unplanned resource assignment becomes a planned assignment when you apply progress to a working workplan version to update the planned quantities and costs.
You can use the progress entry flow to enter ETC and actual quantities, as well as estimated and actual dates, for resource assignments for projects with partially shared or non-shared structures. You must enable the Allow Actual Effort and Cost Collection option for the workplan to enter actual and ETC quantities. Oracle Projects automatically calculates the actual costs from the entered quantities using actual cost rates. The default value for ETC quantity is the planned ETC quantity. You can override the default value when you enter progress.
The unit of measure for the quantity varies, depending on the type of resource assignment. For example, the unit of measure can be hours, each, or another measure. For People and Equipment class resource assignments, quantity is equivalent to effort and the unit of measure is always hours.
Related Topics
Using Progress to Replan Workplans
You can collect progress for lowest tasks and summary tasks. The task type and task progress options determine how you collect progress.
Task progress includes:
Actual work quantity
You can enter work quantity only for lowest level tasks. You must enable the entry of work quantity for the task and for the workplan. Work quantity does not roll up the task hierarchy.
Actual effort
Oracle Projects calculates actual cost from the entered effort. You can enter actual effort as part of progress collection only for projects with partially shared and non-shared structures.
ETC effort
Oracle Projects calculates ETC effort from the entered effort.
Estimated and actual dates
You can enter estimated and actual dates only for lowest level tasks.
As of Date
Task status
Progress status
Progress overview
If a summary task is directly associated with a resource assignment, you can enter actual and ETC effort for the resource assignment and this effort rolls up to the summary task.
For projects with partially shared or non-shared structures, you can enter ETC and actual effort directly at the task level as long as the task does not have any resource assignments that were explicitly created by a user.
For projects with shared structures, you enter actual effort using the financial transaction system. You can update ETC effort directly at the task level when you collect progress for the task, as long as the task does not have any resource assignments that were explicitly created by a user. Otherwise, you enter ETC quantities for the resource assignments. For information on ETC effort, see: ETC and Shared Structures.
Note: When you enter planned effort for a task that does not already have a resource assignment, the Oracle Projects generates a People class resource assignment to store that effort. For information on planned effort at the task level, see: Defining Planned Effort at the Task Level.
Oracle Projects automatically calculates percent spent and percent complete based on the planned values for the task and the actual and ETC values.
The physical percent complete derivation method for the task determines how Oracle Projects derives physical percent complete for the task. You can override the derived physical percent complete value at the task level.
Oracle Projects calculates earned value measures for each task using the physical percent complete. For information on earned value, see: Understanding Earned Value Measures.
Oracle Projects rolls up planned effort and costs, ETC effort and costs, actual effort and costs, estimated dates, actual dates, and progress status from resource assignments to the task. In turn, Oracle Projects rolls up these values from a task to the parent task.
Example of Rolling Up Dates from Resource Assignments
This example shows how Oracle Projects rolls up the estimated and actual dates from resource assignments to a task.
Task 1.1 has two resource assignments. You enter estimated and actual dates during progress collection as shown in the following table.
| Resource | Estimated Start Date | Estimated Finish Date | Actual Start Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amy Marlin | 10-SEP-2004 | 20-OCT-2004 | 12-SEP-2004 |
| Pat Stock | 20-SEP-2004 | 31-DEC-2004 | 15-SEP-2004 |
The following table shows how Oracle Projects rolls up the dates to task 1.1.
| Task | Estimated Start Date | Estimated Finish Date | Actual Start Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | 10-SEP-2004 | 31-DEC-2004 | 12-SEP-2004 |
Oracle Projects rolls up the actual finish date to the task if all resource assignments have an actual finish date.
Example of Rolling Up Quantities and Costs from Subtasks and Resource Assignments
This example shows how Oracle Projects rolls up quantities and costs from subtasks and resource assignments to a summary task. For this example, all quantities are in hours and the currency is U.S. Dollars.
Summary task 2.0 has two subtasks, task 2.1 and task 2.2. The following table shows the actual and ETC values for the two subtasks.
| Task | Actual Quantity | Actual Cost | ETC Quantity | ETC Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | 100 | 1000 | 150 | 1500 |
| 2.2 | 250 | 2500 | 200 | 2000 |
Summary task 2.0 has one resource assignment that is directly associated with it. The following table shows the actual and ETC values for the resource assignment.
| Resource Assignment | Actual Quantity | Actual Cost | ETC Quantity | ETC Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amy Marlin | 50 | 500 | 70 | 700 |
The following table shows how Oracle Projects rolls up the actual and ETC values from the subtasks and the resource assignment to summary task 2.0.
| Task | Actual Quantity | Actual Cost | ETC Quantity | ETC Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0 | 400 | 4000 | 420 | 4200 |
Related Topics
Summary of Task Effort, Cost, and Earned Value Information
Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete for tasks based on one of four physical percent complete derivation methods: Cost, Effort, Deliverable, or Work Quantity. The task type provides the default physical percent complete derivation method for the task. You can optionally override the default physical percent complete derivation method. Different tasks for the same workplan structure can use different methods to derive physical percent complete.
Related Topics
Understanding Earned Value Measures
When the physical percent complete derivation method for a task is Cost, Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete using planned and actual costs.
The physical percent complete rollup method determines how Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete for summary tasks. For information on physical percent complete rollup methods, see: Rolling Up Physical Percent Complete.
For lowest-level tasks, Oracle Projects first calculates the estimate at completion for the task using the following formula:
Estimate at Completion = Actual Cost + ETC Cost
It then uses the result of this calculation to calculate percent complete cost using the following formula:
Percent Complete Cost = (Actual Cost / Estimate at Completion) * 100
The default physical percent complete for lowest-level tasks is equal to percent complete cost.
Example of Using a Physical Percent Complete Derivation Method of Cost
This example shows how Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete using a derivation method of Cost. For this example, the currency is U.S. Dollars.
Task 1.1, a lowest-level task, has resource assignments of Amy Marlin and Donald Gray. The following table shows the actual cost and the ETC cost for each resource assignment.
| Resource Assignment | Actual Cost | ETC Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Amy Marlin | 800 | 1100 |
| Donald Gray | 480 | 820 |
Oracle Projects calculates the estimate at completion as 3200. This value is calculated as follows:
(800 + 480) + (1100 + 820) = 3200
Oracle Projects calculates the percent complete cost for the task as 40%. This value is calculated as follows:
[(800 + 480) / 3200] * 100 = 40%
The percent complete cost of 40% is the default physical percent complete for this lowest-level task.
When the physical percent complete derivation method for a task is Effort, Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete using planned and actual quantities.
The physical percent complete rollup method determines how Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete for summary tasks. For information on physical percent complete rollup methods, see: Rolling Up Physical Percent Complete.
For lowest-level tasks, Oracle Projects first calculates the estimate at completion for the task using the following formula:
Estimate at Completion = Actual Effort + ETC Effort
It then uses the result of this calculation to calculate percent complete effort using the following formula:
Percent Complete Effort = (Actual Effort / Estimate at Completion) * 100
The default physical percent complete for lowest-level tasks is equal to percent complete effort.
Example of Using a Physical Percent Complete Derivation Method of Effort
This example shows how Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete using a derivation method of Effort. For this example, all quantities are in hours.
Task 1.2, a lowest-level task, has resource assignments of Amy Marlin and Donald Gray. The following table shows the actual quantity and the ETC quantity for each resource assignment.
| Resource Assignment | Actual Quantity | ETC Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| Amy Marlin | 78 | 105 |
| Donald Gray | 47 | 20 |
Oracle Projects calculates the estimate at completion as 250. This value is calculated as follows:
(78 + 47) + (105 + 20) = 250
Oracle Projects calculates the percent complete effort for the task as 50%. This value is calculated as follows:
[(78 + 47) / 250] * 100 = 50%
The percent complete effort of 50% is the default physical percent complete for this lowest-level task.
When the physical percent complete derivation method for a task is Deliverable, you manually enter the physical percent complete for the deliverables associated with the task. Oracle Projects calculates the physical percent complete for the task based on the relative deliverable weighting.
Oracle Projects first calculates the weighting for each deliverable using the following formula:
Deliverable Weighting = [Deliverable Progress Weight / Sum (Progress Weight for All Deliverables Associated with the Task)] * 100
Oracle Projects then calculates the physical percent complete for the task using the following formula:
Physical Percent Complete = Sum (Deliverable Weighting for Each Deliverable * Physical Percent Complete for Each Deliverable)
Note: If you choose Deliverable as the physical percent complete derivation method, then you cannot choose the same derivation method for its child tasks, or for its parent task. For information on collecting progress for deliverables, including an example that demonstrates this restriction, see: Collecting Progress for Deliverables.
Example of Using a Physical Percent Complete Derivation Method of Deliverable
This example shows how Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete using a derivation method of Deliverable.
Task 1.3 has Deliverable as the physical percent complete derivation method and it is associated with two deliverables. The following table shows the progress weight and the physical percent complete for each deliverable.
| Deliverable | Progress Weight | Physical Percent Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Functional Design | 75 | 20% |
| Technical Design | 50 | 10% |
The following table shows the weighting calculation for each deliverable.
| Deliverable | Weighting Calculation |
|---|---|
| Functional Design | [75 / (75 + 50)] * 100 = 60 |
| Technical Design | [50 / (75 + 50)] * 100 = 40 |
Oracle Projects calculates the deliverable physical percent complete for the task as 16%. This value is calculated as follows:
(60 x 20%) + (40 x 10%) = 16%
When the physical percent complete derivation method for a task is Work Quantity, Oracle Projects compares the actual work quantity you enter to the planned work quantity to calculate physical percent complete. This derivation method only applies to lowest-level tasks.
Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete for the task using the following formula:
Physical Percent Complete = [Actual Work Quantity to Date / Planned Work Quantity] * 100
Note: If a summary task has Work Quantity as its physical percent complete derivation method, then progress from deliverables and resource assignments that are directly associated with the summary task does not contribute to progress roll up. All progress data from subtasks is rolled up the hierarchy.
Example of Using a Physical Percent Complete Derivation Method of Work Quantity
This example shows how Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete using a derivation method of Work Quantity.
Task 1.4, a lowest-level task, has Work Quantity as its physical percent complete derivation method. The task uses work quantity to track the number of windows installed. The following table shows the actual and planned work quantities for a work item.
| Work Item | Planned Work Quantity | Actual Work Quantity to Date |
|---|---|---|
| Windows Installed | 400 | 80 |
Oracle Projects calculates the physical percent complete for the task as 20%. This value is calculated as follows:
(80 / 400) * 100 = 20%
Related Topics
Defining Work Items, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide
As of Date
Progress status
Progress overview
Physical percent complete
Percent spent
Percent complete
Earned value metrics
Progress rolls up the task hierarchy. You can submit progress at each level of the work breakdown structure. Oracle Projects automatically rolls up progress status, estimated and actual dates, actual quantities and costs, ETC effort and costs, and physical percent complete. Task status automatically rolls up from lower tasks to summary tasks.
Oracle Projects rolls up physical percent complete for the workplan according to the physical percent complete rollup method that you select for the workplan. You can optionally override the rolled up physical percent complete value at any level, depending on the workplan settings.
Note: You must submit progress to enable rollup and display of progress.
For projects with shared structures, Oracle Projects automatically rolls up actual and ETC values. You must explicitly submit progress for tasks to roll up other progress attributes such as dates, progress status, and any user-entered ETC values.
For projects with partially shared or non-shared structures, you must explicitly submit progress for tasks to roll up actual values, ETC values, and all progress attributes.
Oracle Projects automatically calculates percent spent and percent complete based on the planned values and the rolled up actual and ETC values for each level in the workplan. For information on percent spent and percent complete, see: Understanding Progress.
Oracle Projects calculates earned value measures for the workplan based on the rolled up progress. For information on earned value, see: Understanding Earned Value Measures.
Example of Rolling Up Progress Status and Actual Dates for Workplans
This example shows how Oracle Projects rolls up progress status and actual dates.
The workplan has two subtasks, task 1.0 and task 2.0. The following table shows the progress status and date values for the two subtasks.
| Level | Progress Status | Actual Start Date | Actual Finish Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Task 1.0 | In Trouble | 01-JAN-2005 | Null |
| Task 2.0 | On Track | 05-JAN-2005 | 10-JAN-2005 |
Oracle Projects rolls up the progress status and date values to the workplan. The following table shows the rolled up values.
| Level | Progress Status | Actual Start Date | Actual Finish Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workplan | In Trouble | 01-JAN-2005 | Null |
Oracle Projects rolls up the actual finish date to the workplan if all top tasks have an actual finish date.
The rollup method determines how Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete for higher level workplan tasks. The physical percent complete rollup methods for workplan structures are: Duration, Manual, Cost, and Effort.
If a summary task has Deliverable as its percent complete derivation method, Oracle Projects derives percent complete for the summary task based on the deliverables that are associated with the task. Oracle Projects ignores the rolled up physical percent complete value. In this situation, Oracle Projects derives the earned value for the summary task using the deliverable-based physical percent complete and the baseline planned cost for the summary task.
If the rollup method is Duration, Oracle Projects calculates the weighting for each task in the hierarchy based on its scheduled duration. Tasks with a greater duration receive a higher weighting. Oracle Projects automatically changes the task weighting whenever the duration changes.
If the rollup method is Manual, you can update the default progress weighting based on duration for each task. Oracle Projects calculates the default task weighting value based on task duration, but it does not update the weighing if you change the duration.
When Oracle Projects rolls up physical percent complete using either the Duration or Manual rollup method, it first calculates the weighting for each subtask using the following formula:
Weighting for Each Subtask = [Duration for the Subtask / Sum (Duration for All Subtasks)] *100
Next, Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete for the summary task using the following formula:
Physical Percent Complete = Sum (Physical Percent Complete for Each Subtask * Weighting for Each Subtask)
Example of Rollup Using a Physical Percent Complete Rollup Method of Duration or Manual
This example shows how Oracle Projects rolls up physical percent complete using a rollup method of Duration or Manual.
Initially, Oracle Projects calculates the default weighting for each task based on duration. If the physical percent complete derivation method is Manual, you can optionally choose to manually update the weighting for each task.
In this example summary task 1.0 has two subtasks, task 1.1 and task 1.2. The following table shows the task weighting and physical percent complete for each subtask.
| Tasks | Task Weighting | Physical Percent Complete |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | 60% | 20 |
| 1.2 | 40% | 10 |
Oracle Projects rolls up the physical percent complete to the summary task as 16%. This value is calculated as follows:
(60% x 20) + (40% x 10) = 16%
Note: When you use Duration or Manual as the physical percent complete rollup method, resource assignments directly associated with summary tasks do not contribute to physical percent complete. Physical percent compete for summary tasks is solely dependant on the rolled up value. Oracle Projects calculates the earned value for all tasks in terms of planned cost.
When the rollup method is either Cost or Effort, the earned value for all tasks is in the same unit of measure, depending on the rollup method. If the rollup method is Cost, earned value is in terms of cost. If the rollup method is Effort, earned value is in terms of effort.
When Oracle Projects rolls up physical percent complete, it calculates the rolled up physical percent complete for a summary task using the following formula:
Physical Percent Complete = [Sum (Earned Value for Subtasks) / Sum (Baseline Planned Value for Subtasks)] * 100
If no resource assignments exist at the summary task level, Oracle Projects then calculates the earned value for the summary tasks using the following formula:
Earned Value = Physical Percent Complete * Baseline Planned Value
In addition, Oracle Projects checks for the presence of resource assignments at the summary task level. The resource assignments contribute to the physical percent complete for the summary task. If resource assignments exist, Oracle Projects uses the actual and ETC values for the resource assignments to calculate physical percent complete based on the physical percent complete derivation method for the summary task. For example, if the physical percent complete derivation method is Effort, Oracle Projects uses the following formula:
Physical Percent Complete from Resource Assignments = [Actual Effort for Resource Assignments / (Actual Effort for Resource Assignments + ETC Effort for Resource Assignments)] * 100
Oracle Projects then uses this physical percent complete value to calculate the earned value for the summary task based on the physical percent complete rollup method using the following formula:
Earned Value from Resource Assignments = Physical Percent Complete from Resource Assignments * Baseline Planned Value from Resource Assignments
Oracle Projects calculates the total earned value for the summary task using the following formula:
Total Earned Value = Sum (Earned Value for Subtasks) + Earned Value from Direct Resource Assignments on the Summary Task
Oracle Projects calculates the total baseline planned value for the summary task using the following formula:
Total Baseline Planned Value = Sum (Baseline Planned Value for Subtasks) + Sum (Baseline Planned Value for Direct Resource Assignments on the Summary Task)
Next, Oracle Projects calculates physical percent complete for the summary task using the following formula:
Physical Percent Complete = [Total Earned Value / Total Baseline Planned Value] * 100
Finally, Oracle Projects re-derives and displays the earned value for the task using the following formula:
Earned Value = Physical Percent Complete * Total Baseline Planned Value
Note: Oracle Projects displays the final earned value. It does not store the results of the series of calculations it performs to derive the final earned value.
Example of Rollup Using a Physical Percent Complete Rollup Method of Cost
This example shows how Oracle Projects rolls up physical percent complete using a rollup method of Cost. For this example, the currency is U.S. Dollars.
The physical percent complete rollup method for the workplan is Cost. The physical percent complete derivation method for the tasks is Cost. The workplan has one subtask, task 1.0. Task 1.0 has two subtasks, task 1.1 and 1.2. The following table shows the progress values for task 1.1 and task 1.2.
| Task | Baseline Planned Cost | Actual Cost | ETC Cost | Physical Percent Complete | Earned Value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | 1000 | 200 | 1050 | [200 / (200 + 1050)] * 100 = 16% | 16% * 1000 = 160 |
| 1.2 | 800 | 300 | 900 | [300 / (300 + 900)] * 100 = 25% | 25% * 800 = 200 |
Scenario 1: Summary Task with No Direct Resource Assignments
If the summary task has no direct resource assignments, then the progress values from task 1.1 and task 1.2 roll up to task 1.0. The following table shows the rolled up progress values for task 1.0.
| Task | Baseline Planned Cost | Actual Cost | ETC Cost | Earned Value (USD) | Physical Percent Complete | Final Earned Value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 1800 | 500 | 1950 | 160 + 200 = 360 | (360 / 1800) * 100= 20% | 20% * 1800 = 360 |
Note: In this step, Oracle Projects first derives the earned value and uses the earned value to calculate physical percent complete for the summary task. It uses the physical percent complete and baseline planned cost to re-derive the earned value that it then displays for the task.
If no direct resource assignments exist for task 1.0, then 360 USD is the earned value for the task.
Scenario 2: Summary Task with Direct Resource Assignments
In this example, task 1.0 is directly associated with resource assignments. The following table shows the progress values based on the resource assignments that are directly associated with task 1.0.
| Task | Baseline Planned Cost | Actual Cost | ETC Cost | Physical Percent Complete | Earned Value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 500 | 100 | 900 | [100 / (100 + 900)] * 100 = 10% | 10% * 500 = 50 |
The following table shows the total progress values, from both subtasks and resource assignments, for task 1.0.
| Task | Baseline Planned Cost | Actual Cost | ETC Cost | Earned Value (USD) | Physical Percent Complete | Final Earned Value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2300 | 600 | 2850 | 360 + 50 = 410 | (410 / 2300) * 100 = 17.83% | 17.83% * 2300 = 410.09 |
Note: In this step, Oracle Projects first derives the earned value and uses the earned value to calculate physical percent complete for the summary task. It uses the physical percent complete and baseline planned cost to re-derive the earned value that it then displays for the task.
If direct resource assignments exist for task 1.0, then 410.09 USD is the earned value for the task.
Example of Rollup Using a Physical Percent Complete Rollup Method of Effort
This example shows how Oracle Projects rolls up physical percent complete using a rollup method of Effort. For this example, the currency is U.S. Dollars.
The physical percent complete rollup method for the workplan is Effort. The physical percent complete derivation method for the tasks is Cost. The workplan has one subtask, task 1.0. Task 1.0 has two subtasks, task 1.1 and 1.2. The following table shows the progress values for task 1.1 and task 1.2.
| Task | Baseline Planned Cost | Baseline Planned Effort (Hours) | Actual Cost | ETC Cost | Physical Percent Complete | Earned Value (Hours) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | 1000 | 500 | 200 | 1050 | [200 / (200 + 1050)] * 100 = 16% | 16.00% * 500 = 80 |
| 1.2 | 800 | 200 | 300 | 900 | [300 / (300 + 900)] * 100 = 25% | 25% * 200 = 50 |
Scenario 1: Summary Task with No Direct Resource Assignments
If the summary task has no direct resource assignments, then the progress values from task 1.1 and task 1.2 roll up to task 1.0. The following table shows the rolled up progress values for task 1.0.
| Task | Baseline Planned Cost | Baseline Planned Effort (Hours) | Actual Cost | ETC Cost | Earned Value (Hours) | Physical Percent Complete | Final Earned Value (Hours) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 1800 | 700 | 500 | 1950 | 80 + 50 = 130 | (130 / 700) * 100 = 18.57% | 18.57% * 700 = 129.99 |
Note: In this step, Oracle Projects first derives the earned value and uses the earned value to calculate physical percent complete for the summary task. It uses the physical percent complete and baseline planned cost to re-derive the earned value that it then displays for the task.
If no resource assignments exist for task 1.0, then 129.99 hours is the earned value for the task.
Scenario 2: Summary Task with Direct Resource Assignments
In this example, task 1.0 is directly associated with resource assignments. The following table shows the progress values based on the resource assignments that are directly associated with task 1.0.
| Task | Baseline Planned Cost | Baseline Planned Effort (Hours) | Actual Cost | ETC Cost | Physical Percent Complete | Earned Value (Hours) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 500 | 100 | 100 | 900 | [100 / (100 + 900)] * 100 = 10% | 10% * 100 = 10 |
The following table shows the total progress values, from both subtasks and resource assignments, for task 1.0.
| Task | Baseline Planned Cost | Baseline Planned Effort (Hours) | Actual Cost | ETC Cost | Earned Value (Hours) | Physical Percent Complete | Final Earned Value (Hours) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2300 | 800 | 600 | 2850 | 130 + 10 = 140 | (140 / 800]) * 100 = 17.5% | 17.5% * 800 = 140 |
Note: In this step, Oracle Projects first derives the earned value and uses the earned value to calculate physical percent complete for the summary task. It uses the physical percent complete and baseline planned cost to re-derive the earned value that it then displays for the task.
If direct resource assignments exist for task 1.0, then 140 hours is the earned value for the task.
Even though this example has the same planned, ETC, and actual values as the previous example, the physical percent complete for the summary task is different because Effort, as opposed to Cost, is the physical percent complete rollup method. This demonstrates how the choice of the physical percent complete rollup method affects the outcome of the rollup calculations.
Note: Tasks without baseline planned cost or effort do not contribute to progress rollup if the physical percent complete rollup method is either cost or effort.
Oracle Projects archives all submitted task and workplan progress. You can correct submitted progress records and create backdated progress records. You can also view historical progress information.
Oracle Projects creates a new progress record for the same As of Date when you correct previously submitted progress. It also retains the previously published progress record.
When you correct progress, you can enter a progress status, a brief overview, comments, physical percent complete, and actual quantity (non-shared structures only) as long as no progress records exits with an As of Date after the As of Date for which you want to correct progress. Otherwise, you can correct only the progress status and physical percent complete. You cannot change the As of Date.
For example, if you previously submitted progress for 08-DEC-2004, you can choose to correct the progress record at a later time. You can correct the progress status, physical percent complete, and actual quantity (non-shared structures only) as long as no progress records exist with an As of Date after 08-DEC-2004. You can correct only the progress status and physical percent complete if progress records exist with an As of Date after 08-DEC-2004.
You can create backdated progress records to fill gaps in the progress history of a task or project. You can select any non-cycle progress date prior to the system date and enter progress for this past date.
For example, you can enter backdated progress for a Friday in the past even if a project has a progress cycle with Monday as the reporting day.
You enter an As of Date, progress status, a brief overview, comments, and physical percent complete when you enter backdated progress.
Backdated progress transactions are for informational purposes only. Backdated progress never rolls up to higher task hierarchy levels.
Oracle Projects enables you to replan a workplan based on the progress collected for the tasks.
For example, during the execution of a workplan, resources and task managers report progress. After reviewing the progress, as a project manager, you observe that the estimate at completion and the schedule based on the actual dates has deviated from the planned values. Estimate at completion is the actual cost and quantity of work completed to date plus the predicted costs and quantities likely to be used in the future. You can choose to replan the workplan so that the plan reflects the latest estimates.
You can apply the submitted progress to a working workplan version. Oracle Projects calculates the new plan amounts using the following formula:
Plan = Actual + ETC
Note: Oracle Projects uses the conversion rate that is effective on the start date of the PA Period or GL Period associated with the actual transaction to convert actual cost from the transaction currency to the planned currency when the currencies are different.
After you apply the progress, you can further modify the ETC on the tasks or resources. If no resource assignments exist for a task, you can directly modify ETC at the task level. Otherwise, you must modify ETC at the resource assignment level. You can modify ETC by period if periodic data is available for the resource assignment.
You can modify the physical percent complete for a task for the working workplan version. Oracle Projects rolls up the revised physical percent complete to higher task levels.
Optionally, you can send the workplan to an external scheduling tool to adjust the schedule by actual dates.
The progress values are available for the latest published version when you publish the working workplan version.
Note: You can publish a working workplan version with or without the latest progress data. If you publish the workplan without applying the latest progress, a new progress record is created.
Example of Using Progress to Replan a Workplan
This example shows how you can apply progress to a working workplan version. In this example, all effort is in hours and the currency is U.S. Dollars.
Initially, you plan the original workplan version.
The following table shows the planned values for task 1.1 for the latest published workplan version.
| Planned Effort | Planned Cost |
|---|---|
| 100 | 1000 |
Next, you collect progress for task 1.1.
The following table shows progress values for the latest published workplan version for task 1.1, as of 01-JAN-2005.
| Planned Effort | Planned Cost | Actual Effort | Actual Cost | ETC Effort | ETC Cost | As of Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 1000 | 25 | 250 | 120 | 1200 | 01-JAN-2005 |
When you review the progress, you observe that the estimate at completion effort is 145 hours (25 hours plus 120 hours), while the planned effort is 100 hours. You also see that the estimate at completion cost is 1450 USD (250 USD plus 1200 USD), while the planned cost is 1000 USD. As a result, you decided to replan the workplan.
Once you submit the progress for the latest published workplan version, you can apply the progress to a selected working workplan version. After you apply the progress, Oracle Projects updates the planned values for task 1.1. The following table shows the updated planned values for the working workplan version for task 1.1.
| Planned Effort | Planned Cost | Actual Effort | Actual Cost | ETC Effort | ETC Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 + 120 = 145 | 250 + 1200 = 1450 | 25 | 250 | 120 | 1200 |
You can choose to publish this workplan version to make all stakeholders aware of the revised planned values. You can make further changes to the ETC before you publish.
While you are replanning the workplan, a team member submits additional progress records before you publish the working workplan version. The following table shows the new progress values for the latest published workplan version for task 1.1, as of 08-JAN-2005.
| Planned Effort | Planned Cost | Actual Effort | Actual Cost | ETC Effort | ETC Cost | As of Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 1000 | 35 | 350 | 90 | 900 | 08-JAN-2005 |
Note: The ETC values for the current working and published workplan versions can be different. In this example, after you submit the additional progress records, the published workplan version has an ETC Effort of 90 hours and an ETC Cost of 900 USD for task 1.1, while the current working workplan version has an ETC Effort of 120 hours and an ETC Cost of 1200 USD for task 1.1.
After you publish the working workplan version, Oracle Projects submits a new progress record with the replanned values from the working version. Oracle Projects assigns the new progress record the next As of Date according to the progress cycle for the workplan. In this example, Oracle Projects assigns 15-JAN-2005 for the As of Date. Oracle Projects then uses the updated planned and actual values from the new progress record to recalculate ETC Cost and Effort.
You review progress values after you publish the working workplan version without applying the latest progress. Oracle Projects always uses the latest Planned Cost and Effort from the working workplan version to update the new published workplan version. In this example, the Planned Cost is 1450 USD and the Planned Effort is 145 hours. For the new published workplan version, you observe that Oracle Projects used an Actual Cost of 350 USD and an Actual Effort of 35 hours to recalculate ETC Cost and Effort (Plan - Actual = ETC). As a result, ETC Cost and Effort for the new published workplan version do not match ETC Cost and Effort for the working workplan version.
For example, the ETC effort for the new published version is 110 hours (145 Planned hours - 35 Actual hours = 110 ETC hours), while the ETC Effort for the working version continues to be 120 hours (145 Planned hours - 25 Actual hours = 120 ETC hours). This difference in ETC is present because you did not apply the latest progress to the working workplan version before you published it and, as a result, the latest Actual Cost and Effort values are not available to the working workplan version.
The following table shows the progress values for the new published workplan version.
| Planned Effort | Planned Cost | Actual Effort | Actual Cost | ETC Effort | ETC Cost | As of Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 145 | 1450 | 35 | 350 | 145 - 35 = 110 | 1450 - 350 = 1100 | 15-JAN-2005 |
Alternatively, you can apply the latest submitted progress to the working workplan version, revise ETC as needed, and then publish the working workplan version to ensure that the ETC values are the same for the working workplan version and the new published workplan version. In this case, Oracle Projects uses the revised ETC values from the working workplan version to update the new published workplan version.
Oracle Projects provides integration with third party scheduling tools. You can send project data to a third party scheduling tool for scheduling a project, and receive the scheduled project back into Oracle Projects.
During the project execution stage, you can collect progress information such as actual effort, actual cost, and estimate to complete at the resource assignment level in Oracle Projects and send these values to a third party scheduling tool for rescheduling the project. You can receive the scheduled project back in Oracle Projects. You can repeat this cycle at each progress collection period.
For more information on using Microsoft Project as a third party scheduling tool, see: Overview of Microsoft Project Integration.
A project can have two sets of physical percent complete values, financial physical percent complete and workplan physical percent complete. While you can enter financial percent complete manually for the financial structure, you also have the option to update financial physical percent complete using workplan physical percent complete.
You use financial physical percent complete to accommodate the needs of financial management. You can base revenue accrual, invoicing, and financial reporting on financial physical percent complete. This financial functionality is distinct from the work management functionality that is related to the workplan structure.
For example, Oracle Projects uses financial physical percent complete values to perform revenue and invoicing calculations using the following predefined billing extensions:
Percent Complete Revenue
Percent Complete Invoicing
Note: The number of decimal places that Oracle Projects stores and displays for physical percent complete depends on whether you are viewing the workplan structure or the financial structure.
For workplan structures, Oracle Projects stores and displays physical percent complete to two decimal places. However, Oracle Projects uses the complete physical percent complete figure, not just two decimal places, to calculate earned value. After completing the calculation, it rounds the calculated earned value to two decimal places.
For financial structures, Oracle Projects stores and displays physical percent complete to four decimal places. When you transfer physical percent complete from a workplan structure to a financial structure, Oracle Projects transfers two decimal places to the financial tasks. As physical percent complete rolls up the financial structure, Oracle Projects stores and displays physical percent complete to four decimal places.
You can always manually enter financial physical percent complete for financial tasks. Oracle Projects can update physical percent complete for the financial structure using workplan physical percent complete depending on the integration between the workplan and financial structures for a project. The relationship between the workplan and financial structures for a project affects the ability to update financial physical percent complete as follows:
Shared and Partially Shared: Oracle Projects can directly transfer workplan physical percent complete to financial physical percent complete for all lowest level financial tasks that are shared with workplan tasks.
Non-Shared: Task Based Mapping: Oracle Projects can transfer workplan physical percent complete from workplan tasks to a mapped financial task. Oracle Projects calculates the financial percent complete for a financial task using the following formula:
Financial Physical Percent Complete = [Sum (Physical Percent Complete for Each Mapped Workplan Task * Baseline Planned Cost for Each Mapped Workplan Task) / Sum (Baseline Planned Cost for All Mapped Workplan Tasks)] * 100
Non-Shared: No Mapping: Oracle Projects cannot update physical percent complete for the financial structure.
For information on integrating project structures, see: Integrating Workplan and Financial Structures, Oracle Projects Fundamentals.
Example of Updating Financial Physical Percent Complete
This example shows how Oracle Projects updates financial physical percent complete when a project has non-shared structures with task based mapping. For this example, the currency is U.S. Dollars.
The task hierarchy for the workplan structure has three levels. Task 1.0 has a single subtask, task 1.1. In turn, task 1.1 has two subtasks, task 1.1.1 and task 1.1.2. The following table shows the planned cost and workplan physical percent complete values for workplan task 1.1.1 and workplan task 1.1.2.
| Workplan Tasks | Baseline Planned Cost | Workplan Physical Percent Complete |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1.1 | 100 | 14% |
| 1.1.2 | 80 | 50% |
The task hierarchy for the financial structure has only two levels. Financial task 1.0 has a single subtask, financial task 1.1. Workplan task 1.1.1 and workplan task 1.1.2 both map to financial task 1.1.
Oracle Projects updates the financial percent complete for financial task 1.1 as 30%. This value is calculated as follows:
{[(100 * 14%) + (80 * 50%)] / (100 + 80)} * 100 = 30%
You can use a financial physical percent complete rollup method of Cost or Effort to rollup financial physical percent complete. You specify the financial physical percent complete rollup method when you define the financial structure setup information.
Oracle Projects calculates the financial percent complete for a summary task in terms of either cost or effort using the following formula:
Financial Physical Percent Complete = [Sum (Financial Physical Percent Complete for Each Subtask * Budgeted Cost or Effort for Each Subtask) / Sum (Budgeted Cost or Effort for All Subtasks)] * 100
Oracle Projects takes the budgeted cost or effort from the current baseline version of the approved cost budget. If a current baseline version does not exist, then Oracle Projects uses the current working version to roll up financial physical percent complete.
Oracle Projects rolls up financial physical percent complete each time you update physical percent complete values for the lowest task.
Important: To enable Oracle Projects to correctly roll up financial physical percent complete information to summary tasks, you must ensure that budget amounts are entered for lowest tasks.
Oracle Projects can derive different physical percent complete values for the financial structure as it rolls up physical percent complete using the budget as the basis for weighting. This can happen even with shared structures. Other financial elements that are not included in the workplan, such as contingency amounts and change orders, can cause the budget for the financial structure to differ from the planned amounts for the workplan structure. This difference causes the workplan and financial structures to have different physical percent complete values.
Related Topics
Accruing Revenue and Generating Invoices Based on Percent Complete, Oracle Project Billing User Guide