Can I enter different values for Budgeted or Planned Units and Remaining (Early) Units?
Yes. For not started activities, 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
Can I enter data in financial period buckets?
Yes, you can enter data in financial period buckets for the range of financial period dates defined in the Financial Period Calendar. For example, if you are working in a project which uses a financial period calendar with weekly financial periods from January 1st, 2007, through December 31st, 2007, you can enter data in weekly financial period buckets beginning on or after January 1st, 2007, and ending on or before December 31st, 2007.
Note:
- The setting for 'Interval for time-distributed resource calculations' (User Preferences, Resource Analysis tab) should not be larger than your defined financial periods. For example, if you are working in a project which uses a financial period calendar with weekly financial periods, the setting for 'Interval for time-distributed resource calculations' should be Hour, Day, or Week, but not Month. If this setting is larger than the financial period calendar's defined financial periods, you will not be able to edit most financial period buckets. For example, if the user preference is set to Month but you are working in a project which uses a financial period calendar with weekly financial periods, you will only be able to edit data for financial period buckets that contain the first day of the month.
Can I overallocate a resource or role when I manually enter future period values?
Yes. If the resource or role on the assignment has valid worktime for a timeperiod, you can enter an unlimited number of units for the timeperiod, even if the value you enter overallocates the resource or role.
If no work is planned to be performed on an activity for a timeperiod, do I have to enter a value?
No. Assume, for example, that you plan your work in weekly planning periods. You have a four-week task in which work is planned to be performed during weeks 1, 2, and 4, but no work will be performed during week 3. Given this example, when you enter future period values, simply do not enter a value for the period in which work will not be performed, such as:
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
20 | 15 |
| 30 |
The module treats a blank value the same as a zero value; therefore, you could also enter a 0 (zero) as the Week 3 value.
Can I manually enter future period values for an assignment that already has an assigned resource curve?
Yes. In fact, to simplify the process of manually planning future period assignments, you can apply a resource curve to the assignment that has a similar resource distribution to the distribution you intend to manually plan, then manually make any necessary modifications to the future period values.
Note
- When you apply a resource curve to an assignment and then manually modify future period values for that assignment, the resource curve is removed from the assignment and the assignment is designated as a 'Manual' curve.
Can I enter a zero in a future period bucket?
Yes; however, the module considers the zero value differently depending on where the value lies in the planned resource distribution.
When you replace an assignment's first future period bucket value with a zero:
When an assignment's first future period bucket contains a non-zero value and you replace it with a zero (or you delete the value), the duration of the assignment is shortened and the zero value is converted to start date lag.
For example, assume you've manually planned a five-day assignment with the following daily bucket values: 8|4|2|6|2. If you change the 8 to a zero (or delete the value), the planned duration of the assignment is changed to four days with a start date lag of one day.
Notes
- When you enter a leading zero for an assignment and then refresh the window, the leading zero disappears.
- For assignments to not started activities, if the 'Link Budgeted or Planned and At Completion for not started activities' project option (Project Details, Calculations tab) is NOT selected and you enter a leading zero for an assignment, one day of lag is added to both the Project Planned Start and Remaining Start dates. This occurs regardless of the field in which you enter the leading zero ( budgeted or planned Units or Remaining Units) because the Project Planned Start and Remaining Start dates must be the same for activities that are not started.
When you enter a zero value in between non-zero values:
If you enter a zero value in between non-zero values for an assignment, the module considers the zero bucket part of the planned resource distribution. In the following examples of five-day tasks, the zeros are included in the resource distribution:
2|8|0|4|4
2|0|8|0|4
8|0|0|8|4
When you enter a zero as the last future period bucket value for an assignment:
When you enter a zero after an assignment's last future period bucket value (that is, there are no subsequent non-zero values), the module ignores the zero. In the following example, the zero is ignored:
2|8|4|8|0
Note
- When you enter a trailing zero for an assignment and then refresh the window, the trailing zero disappears.
Can I enter a negative value in a future period bucket?
Yes, if the total units ( budgeted or planned or remaining, exclusive) value for the assignment is negative. For example, if the total Budgeted or Planned Units for an assignment is negative, you can enter a negative value in a Budgeted or Planned Units future period bucket for that assignment.
If the total units ( budgeted or planned or remaining) value for an assignment is negative and you enter a positive value, the value is automatically converted to a negative value. Likewise, if the total units (budgeted or planned or remaining) value for an assignment is positive and you enter a negative value, the value is automatically converted to a positive value.
If an activity's progress is planned to be suspended, can I enter or edit values for the activity's assignments in future periods during which progress on the activity will be suspended?
Yes, you can enter or edit values in future period buckets that are planned to be suspended, as long as the suspend time has not been scheduled (in other words, the project has not been scheduled since the suspend and resume dates were added to the activity).
When the project is scheduled, the suspend and resume dates for the activity are scheduled accordingly and you can no longer enter or edit data in buckets which are scheduled to be suspended.
If you enter future period data in a bucket that is planned to be suspended, when you schedule the project, any work that is planned to occur during the suspend time is pushed out to the resume date.