Future Period Planning Overview

When reviewing resource and role spread data for assignments, you may find that you need to make adjustments to more accurately analyze resource allocation over time. Future period planning offers an alternative to standard or linear resource planning by helping to determine where resource shortfalls or additional needs might occur in future periods. This type of planning applies to labor, non-labor, materials, and roles. If work on an activity is not proceeding according to plan, you can manually update the remaining cost and units for an assignment's future periods. This enables you to measure the remaining work for an assignment without changing the original plan. Alternatively, if you choose to re-estimate future work based on changes to the project schedule, you can edit an assignment's future period budgeted or planned units while the activity is in progress. If many assignments require re-estimation, you can establish a new baseline plan based on your changes.

For example, you might have an activity that requires more resources at the beginning and end, rather than at the mid-point. Consider work being done for an apartment complex that requires masonry, followed by a brief waiting period while mortar joints cure. Planning for this effort requires fewer resources after the start of the activity, but significantly more involvement once curing is complete. Linear resource allocation is not useful for this type of activity. By editing spread data for future periods, the resource manager can allocate one resource during the waiting period, and in a few more days, they can assign five more to proceed with the next steps when more work can begin.

You must have the following project-level privileges enabled to edit cost and unit spread data: Schedule: Edit Future Periods, Schedule: Edit Activities, and Project: Edit Project Costs/Financials.