Can I enter future period values in any timescale interval?
No. You can enter values in future period buckets of all timescale intervals except Day/Hour and Day/Shift.
Your user preference setting for 'Interval for time-distributed resource calculations' (User Preferences, Resource Analysis tab) determines the minimum timescale interval in which you can enter or edit data. For example, if this option is set to Week, you can only enter or edit data in weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, or financial period buckets. When you display timescale intervals smaller than the interval specified as your user preference, the buckets are not editable. Using this case as an example, if you display daily timescale intervals, the buckets are not editable.
Does it matter which date format I choose, primary dates or ordinal dates?
Yes. You can enter future period values if you choose to display primary dates or a combination of primary and ordinal dates. You cannot enter future period values when you choose to display only ordinal dates.
To select timescale settings, click the Display Options bar in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet, then choose Timescale.
Can I change timescale settings after I enter values in future period buckets?
Yes. When you select a smaller timescale interval, the values you originally entered in the larger buckets are spread linearly over the smaller buckets. When you enlarge the timescale interval, the values you originally entered in the smaller buckets are rolled up into the larger buckets.
If you subsequently change the timescale back to the setting you used when you manually entered values in future period buckets, the values appear as you originally entered them.
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.