Why are some future period buckets gray/uneditable?
When a future period bucket is not eligible for editing, the spreadsheet cell is gray.
Spreadsheet cells are gray/uneditable when any of the following are true:
- The activity associated with the assignment has a duration type of Fixed Units or Fixed Units/Time. You can only manually enter future period values for activities with a duration type of Fixed Duration & Units and Fixed Duration & Units/Time.
- The resource or role assigned to the activity does not have any valid worktime for the time period. For resource assignments to task-dependent activities, and for all role assignments to activities, the module determines if there is valid worktime based on the activity calendar. For resource assignments to resource-dependent activities, the module determines if there is valid worktime based on the resource calendar.
- The displayed timescale intervals in the spreadsheet are smaller than the minimum timescale interval used for time-distributed resource calculations. You can change this setting in the 'Interval for time-distributed resource calculations' field (User Preferences, Resource Analysis tab). For example, if this option is set to Week, you can only enter or edit data in weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly future period buckets.
- For activities that have not started yet, the date of the timescale interval is prior to the Project Planned Start date (for the Budgeted or Planned Units field) or the Remaining Early Start date (for the Remaining Units field) of the activity.
- The activity associated with the assignment has an Actual Finish date (for Remaining Early Unit buckets only).
- For activities that are in progress, the date of the timescale interval is prior to the Data Date (for Remaining Early Unit buckets only).
- The activity associated with the assignment is a milestone activity.
- The timescale is set to Day/Shift or Day/Hour.
- The timescale is set to display only ordinal dates. You must display primary dates (with or without ordinal dates) to edit data in future period buckets.
- When the timescale is set to display financial period intervals, no financial period is defined for the timeperiod or the first timeperiod is not within the range of defined financial period dates.
- You choose to display time-distributed Remaining Early units and costs according to forecast dates rather than remaining early dates in the User Preferences, Resource Analysis tab. This only applies to the Remaining Units field.
- You choose to calculate average values for the spreadsheet in the Spreadsheet Options dialog box.
- You have not been assigned the Edit Future Periods project privilege.
- In the Resource Usage Spreadsheet of the Activities window, you display assignment data for all projects rather than for open projects. If you display data for all projects, the title of the Display Options bar in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet is "Display: All Projects." To display data for open projects only, click the Display Options bar, then choose Show All Projects to remove the checkmark; the title of the Display Options bar changes to "Display: Open Projects Only."
Why can't I enter different values for the Budgeted or Planned and Remaining Units fields?
For activities that have not started, if the project-level setting 'Link Budgeted or Planned and At Completion for not started activities' is marked (Project Details, Calculations tab), the total planned values of the Budgeted or Planned Units and Remaining (Early) Units for the assignment will always be equal. For example, when you enter a value for a future period in the Budgeted or Planned Units field, the Remaining (Early) Units field is automatically populated with the same value; the reverse is also true. If this setting is not marked, you can enter different values for the same future period in the Budgeted or Planned Units and Remaining (Early) Units fields; in this case, the total values for each field are calculated independently for the assignment.
For activities that are in progress, you can always enter different future period values in the Budgeted or Planned Units and Remaining (Early) Units fields.
Why did the manual future period values I entered change?
There are many reasons why the future period values you entered for an assignment might change to different values or be placed in a different timeperiod. For example, remaining unit data for an assignment might change when you apply actuals, or if you entered values in daily increments and changed the timescale to a larger increment (for example, days to weeks), the data you see is a roll-up of the daily values you entered.
More specifically, changes to some activity or assignment data can cause the manual future period values to be respread and, in some cases, recalculated. When you manually enter data in future period buckets, the bucket values are stored in the database. When you modify activity or assignment information that causes the values to respread across future period buckets, the values stored in the database do not change; only the spread of those values across future period buckets changes. When you modify activity or assignment data that causes the values to be recalculated, the values you originally entered are recalculated according to the manual distribution and stored in the database; the original values are lost.
The sections below detail the activity and assignment fields that may cause manual future period values to be respread or recalculated.
Changing values in the following ASSIGNMENT-related fields may respread manual future period values across buckets:
- Project Planned Start or Finish (Fixed Duration & Units activities only)
- Remaining Early Start or Finish (Fixed Duration & Units activities only)
- Original or Planned Remaining Duration (Fixed Duration & Units activities only)
- Actual, Budgeted or Planned, or Remaining Units
- Budgeted or Planned Units/Time
- Planned or Remaining Lag
- Budgeted or Planned Remaining Cost (see note below)
- Drive Activity Dates - You change the driving resource on the assignment.
- Rate Source (see note below)
- Rate Type (see note below)
- Price/Unit (see note below)
- Curve - You assign a resource curve to an assignment with manual future period values.
Note:
- When you modify the budgeted or planned and Remaining Cost, Rate Source, Rate Type, and Price/Unit fields, costs will be recalculated. Manual future period unit values may be respread only if the 'Calculate costs from units' resource/role option (or the equivalent 'Calculate costs from units' assignment option) and the project setting 'Update units when costs change on resource assignments' (Project Details, Calculations tab) are both selected. For more information, see the next question below.
Do application settings for linking costs and units affect manual future period values?.
- Yes. At the project level, the 'Update units when costs change on resource assignments' setting (Project Details, Calculations tab) determines if the application updates units when costs change on assignments to activities throughout the project. At the assignment level, the 'Calculate costs from units' field (Activity Details, Resources tab) determines if costs are updated when you change units for that particular assignment. The 'Update units when costs change on resource assignments' project-level setting only applies when the 'Calculate costs from units' assignment-level option is selected.
Note
- When you add a resource or add a role, you can choose the option to 'Calculate costs from units' for that resource's (Resource Details, Details tab) or role's (Roles dictionary, Prices tab) assignments. The 'Calculate costs from units' assignment-level option is automatically turned on or off based on this resource/role setting when you assign a resource/role to an activity. You can change this setting per assignment by displaying the Calculate Costs From Units column on the Resources tab of Activity Details, then marking or clearing the checkbox.
When you manually edit future period units and costs for an assignment (for example, you change the Remaining Cost of the assignment), the following will occur depending on the values of these settings:
- When 'Calculate costs from units' is selected for an assignment, costs are recalculated when you change the planned or budgeted or remaining units, regardless of the 'Update units when costs change on resource assignments' project-level setting. If the project-level setting is also selected, the planned or budgeted or remaining units are respread when the planned or budgeted or remaining costs change for the assignment.
- When the 'Calculate costs from units' setting is not selected for an assignment, costs and units are handled independently, regardless of the 'Update units when costs change on resource assignments' project-level setting.
Changing values in the following activity-related fields may respread manual future period values across buckets:
- Actual, Budgeted or Planned, or Remaining Units
- Start Date
- Planned or Remaining Lag
- Suspend and Resume Date
- Activity Type - Manual future period values will only be respread if the activity Finish Date changes when you change the activity type from Task Dependent to Resource Dependent, or from Resource Dependent to Task Dependent.
- Activity Calendar (editing or changing)
- Duration % (Fixed Duration & Units activities only. For more information on the impact of modifying the Duration % field, refer below to How are actuals applied when I manually update progress for assignments with manual future period values?)
- 'Update units when costs change on resource assignments' setting (Project Details, Calculations tab. For more information on the impact of modifying this setting, refer below to Do application settings for linking costs and units affect manual future period values?)
- Adding a new assignment - When you add a new assignment to an activity that already has a resource assignment with manual future period values, the module may change values for the existing assignment based on your user preference setting for assignment staffing (User Preferences, Calculations tab). For more information, refer to below to Can I assign a new resource to an activity that already has a resource assignment with manual future period values?.
- How are actuals applied when I manually update progress for assignments with manual future period values?)
Actuals are applied to manually-planned assignments according to the following rules, depending on the way you manually update activity progress: - If you use Progress Spotlight to update activity progress, actuals are applied using the specified manual planned or budgeted unit distribution; the manual remaining unit distribution is not considered, even if no manual planned or budgeted unit data exists for an assignment. When the planned or budgeted and remaining unit values are different for an assignment, the planned or budgeted unit values overwrite the existing remaining unit values when you apply actuals.
- If you update activity progress by modifying Duration % Complete or Remaining Duration on the activity, the activity's actual units are updated when you apply actuals using the manual remaining unit distribution, as long as the project option 'Recalculate Actual Units and Cost when duration percent complete changes' (Project Details, Calculations tab) is marked.
- If you update activity progress by modifying the Remaining Units or Remaining Early Finish on the assignment, the activity's actual units are updated when you apply actuals using the manual planned or budgeted unit distribution as long as the project option 'Recalculate Actual Units and Cost when duration percent complete changes' (Project Details, Calculations tab) is marked.
- If you update activity progress by modifying the Actual Units on the activity or assignment, manual future period planned or budgeted and remaining unit values are not updated when you apply actuals.
- Do application settings for linking costs and units affect manual future period values?)
Yes. At the project level, the 'Update units when costs change on resource assignments' setting (Project Details, Calculations tab) determines if the application updates units when costs change on assignments to activities throughout the project. At the assignment level, the 'Calculate costs from units' field (Activity Details, Resources tab) determines if costs are updated when you change units for that particular assignment. The 'Update units when costs change on resource assignments' project-level setting only applies when the 'Calculate costs from units' assignment-level option is selected.
Notes
- When you add a resource or add a role, you can choose the option to 'Calculate costs from units' for that resource's (Resource Details, Details tab) or role's (Roles dictionary, Prices tab) assignments.The 'Calculate costs from units' assignment-level option is automatically turned on or off based on this resource/role setting when you assign a resource/role to an activity. You can change this setting per assignment by displaying the Calculate Costs From Units column on the Resources tab of Activity Details, then marking or clearing the checkbox.
- When you manually edit future period units and costs for an assignment (for example, you change the Remaining Cost of the assignment), the following will occur depending on the values of these settings:
- When 'Calculate costs from units' is selected for an assignment, costs are recalculated when you change the planned or budgeted or remaining units, regardless of the 'Update units when costs change on resource assignments' project-level setting. If the project-level setting is also selected, the planned or budgeted or remaining units are respread when the planned or budgeted or remaining costs change for the assignment.
- When the 'Calculate costs from units' setting is not selected for an assignment, costs and units are handled independently, regardless of the 'Update units when costs change on resource assignments' project-level setting.
- Can I assign a new resource to an activity that already has a resource assignment with manual future period values?.
Yes. When you add an assignment to an activity that already has an existing assignment, the module adheres to your User Preference settings for assignment staffing, as described below.
Adding a resource assignment to an activity that has an existing resource assignment
- When you add a resource assignment to an activity that already has an existing resource assignment with manual future period values, the module adheres to your setting in the 'When assigning a resource to an existing activity assignment' field (User Preferences, Calculations tab, Assignment Staffing section). If you choose to 'Always use the new resource's Units/Time and Overtime factor,' the manual future period values of the existing resource assignment may be respread across future period buckets based on the new resource's values. If you choose to 'Always use current assignment's Units/Time and Overtime factor,' unit values for the new resource are spread evenly over future period buckets and the manual future period values for the existing resource assignment are not changed.
Adding a resource assignment to an activity that has an existing role assignment, or vice versa
- When you add a resource assignment to an activity that already has an existing role assignment with manual future period values (or vice versa), the module adheres to your setting in the 'When a resource and role share an activity assignment' field (User Preferences, Calculations tab, Assignment Staffing section). If you choose to 'Always use resource's Price per Unit,' the manual future period values for the existing role assignment may be respread across future period buckets based on the new resource's values. Likewise, if you choose to 'Always use role's Price per Unit,' the manual future period values for the existing resource assignment may be respread across future period buckets based on the new role's values.
Changing values in the following ASSIGNMENT-related fields may RECALCULATE manual future period values:
- Budgeted or Planned or Remaining Finish (Fixed Duration & Units/Time activities only)
- Original or Planned or Remaining Duration (Fixed Duration & Units/Time activities only)
Changing values in the following ACTIVITY-related fields may RECALCULATE manual future period values:
- Budgeted or Planned or Remaining Finish (Fixed Duration & Units/Time activities only)
- Original or Planned or Remaining Duration (Fixed Duration & Units/Time activities only)
- Activity Status
- Duration Type
- Duration % (Fixed Duration & Units/Time activities only. For more information on the impact of modifying the Duration % field, refer below to How are actuals applied when I manually update progress for assignments with manual future period values?)
How are actuals applied when I manually update progress for assignments with manual future period values?)
Actuals are applied to manually-planned assignments according to the following rules, depending on the way you manually update activity progress: - If you use Progress Spotlight to update activity progress, actuals are applied using the specified manual planned or budgeted unit distribution; the manual remaining unit distribution is not considered, even if no manual planned or budgeted unit data exists for an assignment. When the planned or budgeted and remaining unit values are different for an assignment, the planned or budgeted unit values overwrite the existing remaining unit values when you apply actuals.
- If you update activity progress by modifying Duration % Complete or Remaining Duration on the activity, the activity's actual units are updated when you apply actuals using the manual remaining unit distribution, as long as the project option 'Recalculate Actual Units and Cost when duration percent complete changes' (Project Details, Calculations tab) is marked.
- If you update activity progress by modifying the Remaining Units or Remaining Early Finish on the assignment, the activity's actual units are updated when you apply actuals using the manual planned or budgeted unit distribution as long as the project option 'Recalculate Actual Units and Cost when duration percent complete changes' (Project Details, Calculations tab) is marked.
- If you update activity progress by modifying the Actual Units on the activity or assignment, manual future period planned or budgeted and remaining unit values are not updated when you apply actuals.
- Removing an assignment (For more information, refer to below to Can I remove or replace a resource assignment with manual future period values?
Can I remove or replace a resource assignment with manual future period values?
Yes. When you replace the resource or role assigned to an activity, any manual future period values entered for that assignment are preserved with the new assignment. - When you remove a resource or role assignment that has manual future period values, the manual future period values are deleted. If other assignments with manual future period values exist on the same activity, those assignments' manual future period values may change based on the activity type and your user preference settings for assignment staffing (User Preferences, Calculations tab).