Understanding Services Forecasting

This topic lists prerequisites and provides an overview of:

  • Business units in Services Forecasting.

  • Forecasting roles and security.

  • Forecast configuration options.

  • Project forecast options.

  • TRCs and task categories.

  • Forecast control.

  • Forecast prepopulation.

Note: The forecasts in this topic refer to only the Services Forecasting feature, not the Estimate at Completion forecast.

Prerequisites

Ensure that you have met these prerequisites before you use the Services Forecasting feature:

  • You must implement PeopleSoft Expenses if you want to capture actual time to compare actual utilization to forecast utilization.

  • You must implement PeopleSoft Resource Management to prepopulate forecasts with resource schedule information.

The Services Forecasting feature uses these business units:

  • General ledger (GL) business units.

    Forecast frequency, horizon, and horizon periods are defined and generated by the GL business unit.

  • Project business units.

    The projects and activities to which a resource can enter forecast or actual time are controlled by project business units.

  • Human resource (HR) business units.

    Each resource belongs to an HR business unit. You can analyze resource utilization based on HR business units.

The relationship between GL business units and HR business units is defined in the HR Business Unit record (BUS_UNIT_TBL_HR), which is keyed by the Business Unit field (BUSINESS_UNIT). HR business units that are associated with employees are maintained in the Job record (JOB).

To provide the Services Forecasting feature users with access to application functions that are essential to performing their job tasks, you create roles and assign them to individual user profiles. Inherent in each role is access to the application pages and processes that are required to perform the job tasks. Setting up user access requires that you understand shared data and access to PeopleSoft applications.

This topic discusses:

  • Permission lists.

  • Row-level security.

  • Other security features.

  • User profiles and roles.

Permission Lists

The Services Forecasting feature comes with preconfigured permission lists that grant access to various pages. These permission lists support the functional roles that are delivered with the application. You can modify the permission lists to grant or revoke access to certain pages, web libraries, components, and other objects as necessary to support an organization's unique roles. To modify the access for a user's role, you modify a permission list that is linked to the role.

Important! If you modify a permission list, you change the access for all users who are assigned to roles that are assigned to the permission list.

The permission lists that begin with EPEX, EPRS, EPPC, and EPPG are associated with PeopleSoft Expenses, Resource Management, Project Costing, and Program Management, respectively. Because users of these applications are likely to use the Services Forecasting feature, PeopleSoft updated the appropriate existing permission lists to include Services Forecasting pages instead of creating new permission lists.

The following table lists the delivered permission lists that provide access to the Services Forecasting feature, the purpose of each permission list in Services Forecasting, and the roles that are associated with each permission list:

Permission List

Description

Purpose

Roles

EPCO9000

Setup Financials/Supply Chain

Enables administrators to establish business rules for the Services Forecasting feature.

Application Administrator

EPEX1000

Travel and Expense Employee

Provides employees access to enter forecast hours and actual hours.

Employees who log time

EPEX4000

Manager - Time

Provides managers access to approve forecast time and actual time that is entered by an employee.

Expense Manager

EPEX4100

Project Manager - Time

Provides access to approve and modify forecast hours and actual hours against specific projects.

Project Manager, Time Report Project Mgr Appr.

EPEX5000

Travel & Expense Auditor

Enables auditors and administrators to enter, review, update, and submit forecasts on behalf of any employee or manager.

Expenses Auditors, Time and Expense Administrator

EPPC2100

Project/Activity Team

Provides access to update and approve forecast hours for project team members.

Resource Manager, Project Manager, Practice Manager

EPRS5100

RS Worker

Enables resources to enter, review, update, and submit forecasts.

Resource

EPRS5200

RS Worker Manager

Enables managers to enter, review, update, and submit forecasts for their resources.

Resource Manager, Practice Manager

Row-Level Security

PeopleSoft provides row-level security to enable individual users or permission lists to have access to a table without having access to all rows on that table. This type of security is typically applied to tables that hold sensitive data. The Services Forecasting feature uses row-level security in three ways:

  • It controls the HR business units that users can access when they are analyzing utilization.

  • It limits managers who are using the Review Forecasted Time page to only the GL business units to which they have been granted row-level access.

  • It limits the entry of forecast time on the Forecast Time page to only the project business units that the employee is allowed to access.

Note: Row-level security does not restrict the data that is selected by batch processes.

Other Security Features

Other security mechanisms in the Services Forecasting feature include:

  • The Review Forecasted Time page, which is used by managers to review employee forecasts, limits managers to the forecasts of their own employees, unless an administrator grants a manager access to another manager's resources using the Authorize Users page.

    The Authorize Users page is also used to grant a time and expense administrator access to a manager's employee forecasts on the Review Forecasted Time page to work on behalf of the manager.

  • The Review Forecast by Project page, which is used by project managers to approve hours forecasted against a project, limits project managers to the projects on which they are designated as project manager.

    The designation of an individual as project manager occurs on the Resource Detail page of the Project Resource Plan component (PGM_RESOURCE_LIST). The Authorize Users page is used to grant a time and expense administrator access to a project manager's employee forecasts on the Review Forecast by Project page to work on behalf of the manager.

  • The Forecast Time pages that are used for entering and submitting project and personal time can limit the projects and activities to which a user can forecast time (either the employee or the employee's manager) .

    The projects and activities that are available for selection depend on whether a project or activity team is enforced on the project. If no team enforcement is specified for the project, then any employee with access to the project's business unit can access the project. If a project team is enforced, the employee must be on the project team to have access to the project. If an activity team is enforced, the employee must be on the activity team to have access to the project and the specific activity. The level of team enforcement is applied to a project on the Project Costing Definition page of the Project General component.

User Profiles and Roles

The user must meet these requirements to access pages in the Services Forecasting feature:

  • The user must have a PeopleSoft user ID.

  • The employee's user ID must be associated with the employee on the Authorize Users page.

    Any user ID can be associated with any employee ID using this page. On the Authorize Users page, you enable users to act on behalf of other users when entering forecasts.

  • The user's profile must be assigned at least one role.

  • The role must be assigned at least one permission list that authorizes access to the desired Services Forecasting feature pages.

The Services Forecasting feature comes with several preconfigured roles based on functional tasks that are typically performed by an individual assigned to that role. Each preconfigured role comes with access to the set of pages within the application that corresponds to the functional tasks of that role. For example, employees can enter and submit their own forecasts and project managers can modify and approve forecasted hours only for projects for which they are designated as the project manager.

User profiles define individual PeopleSoft users. After you create user roles, create user IDs and link them to roles. The values for a user's page access and authorized actions, such as add, update, or review, are inherited from the associated roles.

This table lists the sample security roles that the Services Forecasting feature provides, the role descriptions, and the permission lists that must be associated with each role to use the full functionality of the Services Forecasting feature:

Role

Description

Purpose

Related Services Forecasting Permission Lists

ADMINISTRATOR

Administrator

Manages system security; specifies installation and business unit options; administers batch processes; grants authorized user access.

ALLPAGES

Application Administrator

Sample - App Administrator

Establishes and maintains business rules for various PeopleSoft Financials and PeopleSoft Supply Chain Management applications.

EPCO9000

Employee

Sample - Employee

Enters own forecast of project hours and personal hours.

EPEX1000

Expense Manager

Sample - Expense Manager

Ensures the submission of forecast time by employees who are direct reports. Approves actual time, expense, and travel authorizations for these employees.

EPEX4000

Resource

Resource

Enters own forecast of project hours and personal hours.

EPRS5100

Resource Manager or Practice Manager

Resource Manager or Practice Manager

Ensures that resources submit forecasts by deadlines. Manages resource utilization; views and modifies resource schedules and profiles; approves assignments; submits recommendations for resources.

EPPC2100

EPRS5200

Project Manager

Project Manager

Ensures accurate project forecasts and has the authority to modify and approve all hours forecasted for a project.

EPEX4100

EPPC2100

Time and Expense Administrator, EX_AUDITOR

Sample - Time/Expense Admin, Expenses Auditors

Enters, monitors, and approves forecast time and actual time and expense for employees, supervisors, and project managers who either have not complied with the process or need assistance. Ensures that processes of submitting forecast and actual data proceed smoothly.

EPEX5000

EX_TS_PROJMGR

Time Report Project Mgr Appr.

Approves and manages time and expense that are charged to a project against budget targets. Updates and approves forecasts of hours against a project.

EPEX4100

See Also: PeopleTools: Security Administration

Before using the forecast collection tool you must configure certain forecast-related settings. You can establish different forecast configurations for each SetID. Consider the following points:

  • Forecast frequency determines how frequently you estimate and collect forecasts, such as weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly, or quarterly.

    For users of PeopleSoft Expenses, this table is a guide for setting up the forecast frequency. Schedule the time reporting frequency and forecast collection frequency to coincide, as indicated in this table, so that users can report actual time and forecast time at the same time. Otherwise, users must access the system at different intervals to report actual time and forecast time.

    Expenses Time Reporting Frequencies

    Recommended Forecast Frequencies

    Daily

    Weekly

    Weekly

    Weekly, Biweekly

    Biweekly

    Biweekly

    Semimonthly

    Semimonthly, Monthly, Quarterly

    Expenses time report frequencies are defined in the Expenses Definition component (BUS_UNIT_TBL_EX). Forecast frequencies are defined in the Forecast Configuration component (BUS_UNIT_OPT_FC).

  • The forecast horizon defines how many periods are included in each forecast.

    For example, if you have a forecast horizon of 10 and the forecast frequency is in weeks, the forecast horizon comprises 10 weeks. The employee must report a detailed forecast for 10 weeks and a single lump number for all remaining planned hours beyond the 10-week period.

  • For weekly and biweekly forecasts, the ending day of the period specifies the day of the week on which the horizon period ends so that the system can determine when to begin the next horizon period.

  • You specify whether employees can create and submit forecasts for past horizon periods and whether employees can change or submit a pending forecast that was never submitted.

You can establish forecast default settings for all new projects at the project business unit level. You can later override the settings at the individual project level. To set the forecast defaults, you can:

  • Select the forecast level that determines whether you forecast hours at the project or activity level.

  • Select a standard rate of employee, job code, or project role to indicate which default rate value to use to forecast costs and revenue.

    For example, you can select the standard rate that is established for the resource's job code as the default value.

  • Indicate whether forecasts require project manager approval before forecasts can be used by PeopleSoft Program Management for inclusion in cost and revenue forecasts.

    Note: Forecast data is available for utilization calculations, with or without approval.

You can map nonassignment task categories in PeopleSoft Resource Management to the TRCs that are used in the Services Forecasting feature. This mapping enables the forecast prepopulation process to load resource forecasts with appointments from their resource schedules in PeopleSoft Resource Management. The forecast prepopulation process does not include nonassignment time for which no task category to TRC mapping exists, and it does not include project assignment time to which no project has been associated.

Time that is associated with a resource's assignment loads to the forecast without having its task category mapped to a TRC, as long as the assignment is associated with a project.

The Establish Control Application Engine process (FC_CTRL_LOAD) creates the current forecast iteration for all, one, or specified GL business units. You create a forecast iteration for each business unit according to the rules identified on the Forecast Configuration page and Program Management Options page. You cannot create more than one current forecast iteration for a single GL business unit.

The Establish Control process closes the previous forecast horizon and creates a new forecast horizon beginning with the next available start date. For example, if you configure biweekly forecasts to begin on a Saturday, the Establish Control process creates a two-week forecast horizon that begins on the first Saturday following the end date of the previous forecast horizon.

This process must be completed for each forecast iteration, or you cannot enter a forecast. You can establish forecast control for the next forecast iteration anytime after the start date of the previous forecast horizon and before the start date of the next forecast horizon.

After you establish forecast control for the current forecast iteration, you can prepopulate the forecast for its forecast horizon and update, review, and submit the forecast.

Note: If you need to change the forecast frequency, such as from weekly to biweekly, you must first delete the current forecast data on the Forecast Horizon Control record (FC_CTRL_TBL) and make sure no resources are associated with the current forecast iteration. Then run the Establish Control process.

This topic discusses:

  • Forecast prepopulation data sources.

  • Forecast prepopulation without PeopleSoft Resource Management.

  • Forecast prepopulation with PeopleSoft Resource Management.

  • Loading company holidays

Forecast Prepopulation Data Sources

The Services Forecasting feature prepopulates a resource forecast from these data sources, if available:

  • The prior forecast.

  • Resource schedules in PeopleSoft Resource Management.

  • Other third-party project management tools.

You can prepopulate forecasts from the prior forecast or resource schedules in PeopleSoft Resource Management using the Populate Time Application Engine process (FC_HRS_LOAD) at the beginning of each iteration for all, one, or selected GL business units for which forecast time is collected. If you select both options, the system loads data from the previous forecast horizon into the current forecast iteration for all horizon periods except for the last one, and it loads project and personal time hours in the last horizon period for resources that are managed by PeopleSoft Resource Management.

If a resource has assignments in the PeopleSoft Resource Management resource schedule that fall within the current forecast horizon, or, if the resource has a forecast in the prior forecast horizon, the batch process creates a forecast for the resource for use in the current iteration of forecast time collection. For resources who either do not submit a forecast or whose last submission did not contain projects, the batch process does not create a forecast.

If you run the Populate Time process at the beginning of the forecast iteration and the forecasts become out of date, you can rerun the batch process to update and override the forecasts later in the forecast time collection iteration for forecasts that are not protected or submitted.

Important! The project end date that is specified in PeopleSoft Program Management does not control the completion date of the project in the Services Forecasting feature. If a resource's project hours load to the forecast beyond the project end date that is specified in PeopleSoft Program Management, the completion date in the forecast is set equal to the last date on which hours load.

Forecast Prepopulation Without PeopleSoft Resource Management

If PeopleSoft Resource Management is not installed, the Populate Time process uses the prior period forecast (if one is available for the resource) to prepopulate the current forecast. A resource's forecast is not prepopulated if no prior period forecast exists for the resource.

The Forecast Time process adheres to these business rules when prepopulating a forecast for resources who are not established as active resources in PeopleSoft Resource Management:

  • If a resource's Employee Status field (EMPL_STATUS) on the Job record (JOB) is active on the date that the forecast time collection iteration begins, the resource is eligible for prepopulation.

    If a resource's Employee Status field on the Job record changes to a status other than Active during the forecast horizon, the Populate Time process does not load data for days beyond the date of the status change.

  • The Populate Time process loads prior forecast horizon data only from the current forecast horizon begin date forward.

  • Depending on the project-level configuration setting, the forecast is prepopulated at the appropriate project or activity level of detail.

    Prior forecast collection data is copied into the current forecast collection down to the daily detail, and hours are distributed at either the project or activity level. It is possible to open the forecast and make no changes at all before submitting it.

  • If a resource did not have forecast hours for a project in the most recent prior forecast horizon for a project, the project is not prepopulated in the resource's next forecast.

  • When populating the last period of the forecast horizon for which there is no detail available, the prepopulation process uses the number of remaining forecast hours from the prior forecast iteration minus the total number of hours in the prior forecast horizon's last horizon period.

    • Scenario A: If the remaining value is greater than zero, that value becomes the remaining forecast hours for the current forecast iteration, and the number of hours that are subtracted from the prior forecast's remaining forecast hours populates the last horizon period of the current forecast.

    • Scenario B: If the remaining value equals zero, the number of remaining forecast hours for the current forecast is set to zero, and the number of hours that are subtracted from the prior forecast's remaining forecast hours populates the last horizon period of the current forecast.

    • Scenario C: If the remaining value is less than zero, the number of remaining forecast hours for the current period is set to zero and all of the remaining forecast hours that are left from the prior period are distributed over the last horizon period in the current forecast horizon.

  • If a resource's most recent prior forecast contains project or personal hours that overlap the current forecast horizon, the overlapping hours from the prior forecast carry forward into the current horizon.

Forecast Prepopulation With PeopleSoft Resource Management

If a forecast for the most recent prior horizon exists for a resource in any status, the Populate Time process loads the current forecast with a combination of data from the prior forecast and the resource schedule in PeopleSoft Resource Management. The prior forecast data loads into the horizon periods that overlap from the last forecast horizon, and the PeopleSoft Resource Management schedule data loads into the newest horizon period.

If a forecast for the most recent prior horizon does not exist for a resource, the entire resource schedule is loaded from PeopleSoft Resource Management for scheduled entries with an end date that is greater than or equal to the forecast beginning date. Historical days of an assignment that occur before the forecast beginning date do not load to the forecast.

If an assignment appeared on a resource schedule during the prior forecast horizon, and the assignment is no longer on the resource schedule in the current forecast horizon, the project that corresponds to the assignment does not automatically load to the current forecast.

The Populate Time process adheres to these additional business rules for PeopleSoft Resource Management resources:

  • If a resource is identified in PeopleSoft Resource Management as eligible for staffing (that is, an active, eligible resource in PeopleSoft Resource Management) at any time between the current forecast horizon begin and end dates, the resource's forecast is prepopulated with a combination of data from the resource's schedule in PeopleSoft Resource Management and the prior forecast.

    If the resource's Employee Status field value on the Job record changes to a status other than Active during the forecast horizon, the Populate Time process does not load data for days beyond the date of that status change.

  • The process loads prior forecast data such as the project (assignment) time and personal time starting with the current forecast horizon begin date.

  • Prior forecast daily detail data is copied into the current forecast and, based on the project-level configuration setting, hours are distributed to either the project or activity level.

    If the data from the prior forecast is still accurate, you might not have to adjust the data that was loaded from the prior forecast before submitting the current forecast.

  • The hours for any assignment in the last horizon period that has a project associated with it and exists on the resource's schedule in PeopleSoft Resource Management load into the forecast for the last horizon period.

  • The hours that are loaded to the forecast each day are based on the hours that appear for the assignment on the PeopleSoft Resource Management resource schedule.

    Projects that forecast hours at the project level have their time loaded and distributed in the last forecast horizon period. However, for projects in which forecasting is at the activity level, the forecasted project hours from PeopleSoft Resource Management are evenly divided across the activities that are used for forecasting in the prior forecast time collection iteration.

  • If a project in a resource's forecast requires activity-level forecasting, the prior forecast data loads to the current forecast at the activity level.

    However, data from the PeopleSoft Resource Management resource schedule loads at the project level, which requires the resource to adjust the prepopulated data across the appropriate activities in the forecast iteration.

  • The forecast prepopulates the Project Time grid on the Forecast Time - Summary page with assignments.

    Any tasks on a resource schedule that are in a nonassignment (appointment) task category load to the appropriate TRC row of the Personal Time grid on the Forecast Time - Summary page. TRC hours load into the grid based on the mapping of PeopleSoft Resource Management task categories to TRCs. Each PeopleSoft Resource Management task category can map to zero or one TRC per SetID. Resource schedule tasks that are in a task category that is not mapped to a TRC are not prepopulated in the forecast.

  • If new assignments are associated with a project that does not already appear in the resource's forecast, the project is automatically added to the forecast for the resource.

  • If a PeopleSoft Resource Management assignment has an end date prior to the begin date of the current forecast iteration, the Populate Time process removes the project from the current forecast and does not populate any remaining hours to that project in the current forecast iteration, even if hours remain in the prior forecast.

  • Pending assignment extensions in PeopleSoft Resource Management are loaded by the prepopulation process regardless of whether the extension has been approved.

  • When a new PeopleSoft Resource Management assignment prepopulates a forecast, the remaining hours are calculated from the hours that are booked on the resource schedule in PeopleSoft Resource Management.

    A resource can modify the calculated remaining hours on the forecast. In the next forecast iteration, however, the Populate Time process does not refresh the remaining hours again from booked hours in PeopleSoft Resource Management. Instead, the remaining hours are carried forward from the prior forecast. Although the PeopleSoft Resource Management schedule ideally reflects the same information that appears in the forecast, the hours that a resource actually works (or has left to work) may differ. The Populate Time process establishes that the resource is adjusting the estimate of remaining hours in the forecast, and it determines that the forecast is more accurate than the resource's schedule in PeopleSoft Resource Management. Therefore, the prior forecast's remaining hours are used instead of the hours in the PeopleSoft Resource Management resource schedule.

  • The Populate Time process removes the project from the current forecast for resources who are managed in PeopleSoft Resource Management (with a current row in the Worker Effective Date record (RS_WRKR_EFFDT) and a value of No in the Ineligible Worker field (WRKR_INELIGIBLE)) and who no longer have assignments in the prior forecast that appeared on their resource schedule.

    If the resource had hours that were booked to the project in the prior forecast horizon but the assignment does not appear in the forecast horizon because it is cancelled or completed, the project is removed from the forecast.

Loading Company Holidays

The system uses this logic to load company holidays into a new forecast:

  • Company holidays from the prior forecast are copied forward into the new forecast for the overlapping horizon periods.

  • The new horizon period that is covered by a forecast obtains company holidays from either the Human Resources (HR) Holiday Date record (HOLIDAY_DATE) or the PeopleSoft Financials Business Calendar record (BUS_CAL_HOLIDAY) that is associated with the resource's GL business unit.

The Populate Time process checks the resource's holiday schedule (HOLIDAY_SCHEDULE) in the Job record, finds the holidays that corresponds to the holiday schedule in the Holiday Date record, and loads company holiday hours to the horizon period. If no holidays for a holiday schedule are found in the Holiday Date record on or after the current date (indicating that the organization did not load company holidays into this HR record), the company holidays are loaded from the PeopleSoft Financials Business Calendar record that is associated with the resource's GL business unit.

Project hours that are allocated with a period that includes a company holiday are distributed to the period evenly on the days that are not company holidays. For example, if a resource normally works a five-day work week and there are 40 project hours to allocate in a week that has only four work days (due to a company holiday), the 40 hours are distributed as four 10-hour days.

Unlike a project, a resource schedule has no specific start and end dates. For this reason, personal time loads only to horizon periods that are included in the current forecast. Personal time does not load to the Remaining Effort field.