Manually enter future period assignment values
You can enter or edit future period assignment values manually per bucket for labor, non-labor, and material resource assignments, as well as for role assignments.
- In the Resource Assignments or Activities window, display the Resource Usage Spreadsheet.
- Create a future period bucket planning layout.
In the Activities window, you are required to display resource assignment data for open projects only. Showing data for all projects, causes the title of the Display Options bar in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet to change to "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." - For each resource assignment you want to plan manually, enter or edit the Planned or Budgeted Units and/or the Remaining (Early) Units for each assignment bucket for the original or planned duration of the activity.
Tip:
- If the total budgeted or planned units or remaining units have not been defined for an assignment, you can display the Budgeted or Planned Units and Remaining (Early) Units columns, then enter the total budgeted or planned or remaining units for the assignment. When you enter the total budgeted or planned or remaining units for an assignment, the values are spread evenly over the budgeted or planned duration of the activity. Then, you can modify the values manually to define the planned resource distribution. If the total budgeted or planned or remaining units have already been defined for an assignment, you can edit the future period distribution as necessary.
- You can apply a resource curve to an assignment before you enter/edit future period values for the assignment. For example, if the assignment you want to plan has a planned resource distribution that is similar to a defined resource curve's distribution, you can apply the resource curve to the assignment. When you apply the resource curve, future period values are spread across the planned duration of the activity according to the resource curve distribution; you can then modify the future period values as necessary. Once you modify a resource curve's distribution, the curve is removed from the assignment.
- Assignment buckets that are available for editing display with a white background; buckets you can not edit display with a gray background.
- You can paste data directly into future periods from Excel using Range Paste. See: Copy and paste data from Microsoft Excel into P6 Professional
The values you should enter in the future period buckets are dependent on the duration of your planning periods (buckets), the timescale you choose, and user preference settings. See below for examples of manually-planned future period assignments.
Note:
- If the project option 'Link Budgeted or Planned and At Completion for not started activities' is selected (Project Details, Calculations tab) and you enter a value in the Planned or Budgeted Units field for a not started activity, the module automatically populates the Remaining Units field 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 Planned or Budgeted Units and Remaining Units fields; in this case, the total values for each field are calculated independently for the assignment. The examples below assume that this project option is selected and the activities have not started.
- You must have the 'Edit Future Periods' project privilege to enter or edit future period data manually.
Example 1: Daily planning periods, Week/Day timescale, and Unit/Time set to Hour
| Week 1 | |||||||
Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | ||
Paul Kim's assignment | Planned or Budgeted Units | 0h | 8h | 4h | 0h | 2h | 6h | 0h |
Remaining Units | 0h | 8h | 4h | 0h | 2h | 6h | 0h | |
Example 2: Weekly planning periods, Month/Week timescale, and Unit/Time set to Hour
| January 2007 | ||||
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | ||
Paul Kim's assignment | Planned or Budgeted Units | 10h | 30h | 15h | 25h |
Remaining Units | 10h | 30h | 15h | 25h | |
Example 3: Weekly planning periods, Month/Week timescale, and Unit/Time set to Day
| January 2007 | ||||
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | ||
Paul Kim's assignment | Planned or Budgeted Units | 2d | 3d | 1d | 4d |
Remaining Units | 2d | 3d | 1d | 4d | |
Example 4: Monthly planning periods, Quarter/Month timescale, and Unit/Time set to Day
| Q1 2007 | |||
Jan | Feb | Mar | ||
Paul Kim's assignment | Planned or Budgeted Units | 15d | 20d | 10d |
Remaining Units | 15d | 20d | 10d | |
Example 5: Monthly planning periods, Quarter/Month timescale, and Unit/Time set to Week
| Q1 2007 | |||
Jan | Feb | Mar | ||
Paul Kim's assignment | Planned or Budgeted Units | 2w | 3w | 1w |
Remaining Units | 2w | 3w | 1w | |
Related Topics
Future period bucket planning FAQ
Display the Resource Usage Spreadsheet
Create a future period bucket planning layout
Why are some spreadsheet cells gray?
How do user preference settings affect manual future period planning?
Last Published Thursday, April 3, 2025