You can easily adjust your project plan by extending, shortening, splitting or stopping projects in the Gantt chart of the Portfolio Designer.

• General
• Project Allocation Unit
• Snapping by Zoom Level
• Project Extension Modes
• Stretching and Shrinking
• Extending with Zero Allocation
• Extending the Allocation
• Splitting a Project
• Conditions for Splitting
• Merging Project Segments
• Stopping a Project

General

To move a project or program you need at least the access level User as well as the Change Project Schedule editing right. Administrators can select editing rights under Manage > Users. 

Project Allocation Unit

The unit used to display allocations in addition to FTE depends on the selected project allocation unit.

See the Project Allocation Unit section of the Portfolio Designer Settings article for details.

Snapping by Zoom Level

All three extension modes use the same grid as for moving projects and programs, depending on your zoom level. When extending or shortening by month or week, the end date will snap to the start of each month or week as well as to the original end date.

Project Extension Modes

There are three methods available for extending a project or project segment, of which the Stretch mode can also be used to shorten a project or project segment.

The other two extension modes, Zero Allocation and Extend Allocation, are only for extending projects and project segments.

If you want to extend a project to a date not shown in the Gantt chart, select a wider Date Range before extending.

• To extend or shorten a project or a project segment, select it in the Gantt chart. An arrow icon at the right border of its Gantt chart bar will display the active extension mode.
  
• Hover over the arrow icon to open a menu offering the three available extension modes for selection.
  
• The selected extension mode will also be displayed via the arrow icon next to the project or project segment bar.
• The selected extension mode will stay selected when you next log in to Meisterplan.

Extending with Zero Allocation

Extending a project or project segment with zero allocation will increase the duration but not the allocation.

Please note that financial events with fixed dates will be shifted, just as when stretching a project:

• Financial events with fixed dates between the start and finish will be shifted such that their relative distance to the start and finish stays the same. Financial events at or after the finish will be shifted such that their distance to the finish stays exactly the same. Therefore, extending a project will postpone financial events after the start.
• Milestones and associated financial events will remain unchanged.
• Allocations will remain unchanged.

Once you have extended a project or project segment, you cannot decrease its duration with this operation. You may, however, stop a project at a selected point via the context menu, deleting any associated data after this point.

Project segments may be extended, but not stopped, individually:

• By extending the first of two project segments, you can merge these segments again.
• Stopping always applies to the whole project. You cannot stop project segments individually.

Proceed as follows to extend a project or a project segment with zero allocation:

• Select the desired project or project segment in the Gantt view.
• Hover over the arrow icon at the right border of the project or project segment bar to open the project extension menu.
• Select Zero Allocation in the project extension menu.
  
• Click the arrow icon at the right border of the project or project segment bar and hold the mouse button to start extending the project or project segment.

• Holding the mouse button, drag the Gantt bar border to the right to extend the project or project segment as desired.
  While you drag, Meisterplan shows you the new project duration and the new overall allocation, as well as the difference between the new and the old values:
  
• Release the mouse button.

Extending the Allocation

Extending the allocation of a project or project segment will increase the duration and at the same time, assign the same level of allocation to each allocated role or resource as in the previous segment. For example, if two resources were last allocated for 1 FTE each, those two resources will remain allocated to the project for 1 FTE each in the extended time-span.

Please note that financial events with fixed dates will be shifted, just as when stretching a project:

• Financial events with fixed dates between the start and finish will be shifted such that their relative distance to the start and finish stays the same. Financial events at or after the finish will be shifted such that their distance to the finish stays exactly the same. Therefore, extending a project will postpone financial events after the start.
• Milestones and associated financial events will remain unchanged.
• Allocations will be extended.

Once you have extended a project or project segment, you cannot decrease its duration with this operation. You may, however, stop a project at a selected point via the context menu, deleting any associated data after this point.

Project segments may be extended, but not stopped, individually:

• By extending the first of two project segments, you can merge these segments again.
• Stopping always applies to the whole project. You cannot stop project segments individually.

Proceed as follows to extend the allocation of a project or a project segment:

• Select the desired project or project segment in the Gantt view.
• Hover over the arrow icon at the right border of the project or project segment bar to open the project extension menu.
• Select Extend Allocation in the project extension menu.
  
• Click the arrow icon at the right border of the project or project segment bar and hold the mouse button to start extending the project or project segment.
• Holding the mouse button, drag the Gantt bar border to the right to extend the project or project segment as desired.
  While you drag, Meisterplan shows you the new project duration and the new overall allocation, as well as the difference between the new and the old values:
  
• Release the mouse button.

Stretching and Shrinking

Stretching and shrinking have the following effects on financial events, milestones and allocations:

• Financial events occurring between the start and finish will be shifted such that their relative distance to the start and finish stays the same. Financial events at or after the finish will be shifted such that their distance to the finish stays exactly the same. Therefore, stretching will postpone financial events after the start while shrinking will move them to earlier dates.
• Milestones will be shifted such that their relative distance to the start and finish stays the same. Therefore, stretching will postpone milestones after the start while shrinking will move them to earlier dates.
• Allocations will stay the same with respect to the total hours assigned to the project. Therefore, stretching a project will reduce the allocation per period, expressed by the FTE value. Likewise, shrinking a project will increase the allocation per period.

Project segments may be stretched and shrunk individually:

• Stretching or shrinking a project segment will only affect that segment and its financial events, milestones and allocations.
• By stretching the first of two project segments, you can merge them again.

Proceed as follows to stretch or shrink a project or project segment:

• Select the desired project or project segment in the Gantt view.
• Hover over the arrow icon at the right border of the project or project segment bar to open the project extension menu.
• Select Stretch in the project extension menu.
  
• Click the arrow icon at the right border of the project or project segment bar and hold the mouse button to start stretching or shrinking.
• Holding the mouse button, drag the Gantt bar border right or left to stretch or shrink the project or project segment as desired.
  While you drag, Meisterplan shows you the new project duration and the new overall allocation, as well as the difference between the new and old values:
  
• Release the mouse button.

Splitting a Project

If there is a project break and you wish to interrupt a project, you can split it. Splitting a project will create two project segments, one before and one after the split. The two project segments created this way will be treated as independent projects when moving, extending or shortening them.

You can merge project segments again by either moving one of the segments such that it touches the other one or by extending the first segment such that it touches the second segment.

Please note that stopping always applies to the whole project. You cannot stop project segments individually.

Proceed as follows to split a project:

• In the Gantt view, right-click the desired splitting point to open the context menu.
• Select Split at [date].
  
• The project will be split into two segments.
  
• You may move, extend and shorten both segments independently. To select a single segment, first select the project and then select the desired segment.
• To select the whole project again when a single segment is selected, deselect the project by clicking anywhere else in the Gantt chart and then select it again.
• You can also split a project directly at a milestone. To do so, right-click the milestone to open the associated context menu and select Split at Milestone. The milestone will stay in the segment before the split.
  

Conditions for Splitting

To be able to split a project or project segment, two conditions must hold true:

1. The duration of each project segment, before and after the split, must at least be one week. Please note that, because segments snap to calendar weeks when splitting, splitting of a project or segment may still not be possible although its duration is one week or longer if its start doesn't coincide with the start of a calendar week. In such a case, you can enable splitting by first moving your project or project segment, such that its start coincides with the start of a calendar week.
2. When a project is split, the second project segment will be moved a week ahead on the timeline. When a project is split at a milestone, the second project segment will be moved to the following Monday. Because of this, you can only split at positions where this is possible, i.e., where there is enough space at the right of the second project segment to create, such that it can be moved ahead on the timeline.

Merging Project Segments

There are three ways to merge (or "unsplit") two project segments into one continuous project again:

1. Move the second segment back, such that it touches the first segment.
2. Move the first segment ahead, such that it touches the second segment.
3. Extend the first segment, such that it touches the second segment.

If you merge two segments by extending the first one, financial events, milestone dates and allocations may change depending on your selected extension mode (Stretch, Zero Allocation or Extend Allocation).

Please also note that associated allocation segments will stay split and will not be merged automatically when merging project segments. 

Stopping a Project

You may stop a project at any given date. This will set the project end to the selected stopping date and delete any milestones and allocations after that date.

Please note that financial events with fixed dates after the start as well as financial events at the finish or at deleted milestones will be moved to earlier dates when stopping a project:

• Financial events with fixed dates between the start and finish will be shifted such that their relative distance to the start and finish stays the same. Financial events after the finish will be shifted such that their distance to the finish stays exactly the same. Financial events at the finish or at deleted milestones will be moved to the new finish. Therefore, stopping a project will move any financial events after the start except for those connected with retained milestones to earlier dates.
• Milestones after the selected point will be deleted.
• Allocations after the selected point will be deleted.

Proceed as follows to stop a project:

• In the project's Gantt view bar, right-click the desired stopping point to open the context menu.
• Select Stop at [date].
  
  
• Confirm the stop.
• The project will be stopped at the selected date. Any financial events, milestones and allocations after that date will be dropped.
• You can also stop a project directly at a milestone. To do so, right-click the milestone to open the associated context menu and select Stop at Milestone.