The Meisterplan team is very excited to announce the release of Actuals – Time Worked. With this new feature, Meisterplan users are now able to see their projectProjectA project is a time-limited undertaking with defined objectives and resources that delivers unique results and often includes complex tasks. plans vs. actual project performance. This means you easily see what really happened with your projects, how much work is remaining, and where your project would end up with the current plan. The Actuals – Time Worked feature will add more transparency into projects which allow organizations to make more informed decisions about their project portfolio. While users can start using Actuals – Time Worked to keep projects on track, the Meisterplan team is busy developing additions to the feature. Future additions may include comparing financial spend against budgets, performance against key milestonesMilestoneIn project portfolio management, a milestone marks an important point in a project’s progress that requires monitoring or decision-making. Milestones indicate project phases, marking the completion of objectives or the… and additional analysis and reporting options on plans vs. actuals.
Power Your Project Portfolio with Actuals
Having knowledge of Project Portfolio Management actuals can be a powerful way to ensure the success of your portfolio. At any given point, the actual time worked on a projectProjectA project is a time-limited undertaking with defined objectives and resources that delivers unique results and often includes complex tasks. to date can be compared against the plan. This allows you to identify if a project is deviating from the plan and take action to ensure the project remains on track. When you use Actuals – Time Worked with Meisterplan’s scenarioScenarioIn project portfolio management (PPM), scenarios are potential ways that your portfolio can look, based on a set of well-defined assumptions and portfolio decisions. Scenario planning is used to forecast… planner, you can create plan alternatives to keep your highest priority work on track. Over time, continuously comparing actuals to your project plans will help you plan more accurately for the future.
Getting Started with Actuals – Time Worked
Actuals can be easily added to your Meisterplan system with our Quick Import. Copy and paste data from a spreadsheet directly into Meisterplan. Once imported, you can find the actuals data in the projectProjectA project is a time-limited undertaking with defined objectives and resources that delivers unique results and often includes complex tasks. details view. You can also find actuals data in the project list view to see the actual time worked of more than one project. To get started, you only need the project name, role or resourcesResourceResources are all the people, places and things that you need to complete projects. The most important resource? Employees, of course!, booking date, and the actual time worked in hours. When you import actuals, the data is global so you can see the actual time worked in every scenarioScenarioIn project portfolio management (PPM), scenarios are potential ways that your portfolio can look, based on a set of well-defined assumptions and portfolio decisions. Scenario planning is used to forecast… that contains the respective projects.
Understanding Actuals – Time Worked
- Approved Total Effort – the total amount of effort expressed in days that are approved for a projectProjectA project is a time-limited undertaking with defined objectives and resources that delivers unique results and often includes complex tasks.
- Allocation Total – the sum of all allocationsAllocationAllocating describes the strategic process of identifying the correct resources for projects or individual tasks and assigning them accordingly. for this project in Meisterplan
- Actual Time Worked – the number of hours a resourceResourceResources are all the people, places and things that you need to complete projects. The most important resource? Employees, of course! has worked on a project up until the booking date
- Booking Date – the date to which the Actual Time Worked entry from your time-tracking tool refers
- Planned Allocations until [last booking date] – the sum of allocations in Meisterplan for a project until and including the date mentioned
- Actual Time Worked until [last booking date] – the sum of imported Actual Time Worked for a project until and including the date mentioned
The AllocationAllocationAllocating describes the strategic process of identifying the correct resources for projects or individual tasks and assigning them accordingly. Tracker displays both Estimate at Completion and the Plan vs. Actual information. In the Estimate at Completion tab, users can see the planned allocations, the actual time worked so far and the remaining allocations. Users can also see how much the Estimate at Completion (EAC) deviates from the Approved Total Effort. This easily answers the questions, “how much capacity is remaining and how much capacity will the projectProjectA project is a time-limited undertaking with defined objectives and resources that delivers unique results and often includes complex tasks. end up using at completion?”
- Remaining Allocations from Today – the allocationsAllocationAllocating describes the strategic process of identifying the correct resources for projects or individual tasks and assigning them accordingly. for a projectProjectA project is a time-limited undertaking with defined objectives and resources that delivers unique results and often includes complex tasks. in Meisterplan from today until the end of the project
- Actual Time Worked + Allocations until Today – the sum of Actual Time Worked and planned allocations from the last booking date until today
- Estimate at Completion (EAC) – the sum of Actual Time Worked, Allocations until Today and the Remaining Allocations from Today
- Deviation of EAC from Planned Allocations Total – the difference between the Estimate at Completion and the Planned Allocations Total, with a positive number indicating that the EAC is higher than the Planned Allocations Total
In the Plan vs. Actual tab, Meisterplan displays the planned allocationsAllocationAllocating describes the strategic process of identifying the correct resources for projects or individual tasks and assigning them accordingly. and the actual time worked with the deviation between them. This allows you to quickly determine if a projectProjectA project is a time-limited undertaking with defined objectives and resources that delivers unique results and often includes complex tasks. is off track and how far off track it has become. Knowing the difference between planned and actual work can help you make more accurate plans in the future based on real data.
- Deviation of Actual Time Worked from Plan – the difference between Actual Time Worked and Planned AllocationsAllocationAllocating describes the strategic process of identifying the correct resources for projects or individual tasks and assigning them accordingly., with a positive number indicating that the Actual Time Worked is higher than the Planned Allocations
Questions? We’re Here to Help!
Actuals – Time Worked is an incredibly powerful way to start using real data to keep your projectsProjectA project is a time-limited undertaking with defined objectives and resources that delivers unique results and often includes complex tasks. on track. If you’re ready to start using actuals for Project Portfolio ManagementProject Portfolio ManagementProject portfolio management (PPM) is a process that seeks to select, prioritize, monitor and analyze a company’s projects. in Meisterplan, check out our Help Center to learn how to get started. If you’re new to Meisterplan and you want to see actuals in action, schedule a customized one-on-one demo with one of our experts.
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