Availability All Editions
We are excited to introduce the latest addition to our beta program: Allocations by Project Phases. In the new allocation mode Phases, a project's allocations are divided into project phases and linked to the milestone that completes the respective phase. This allows you to edit allocations per phase and extend, shorten, or delete the phases together with the allocations.
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Prerequisites
- Where to Find
- Editing Allocations by Phase
- Difference to Other Views
- Future Development of Allocations by Project Phases
- Questions and Feedback
Prerequisites
To use the new allocation mode in the Project Details, beta access must be enabled both for your system (by administrators) and your user profile. You can find all details in the article Meisterplan's Beta Program.
Required User Rights
- To edit allocations, you either need at least the option Role Allocations under Edit Allocations or the Resource Managers Can Always Edit Allocations of Their Own Resources, Teams, and Roles right.
- If you want to edit allocations in the Plan of Record, you need the Edit Plan of Record right; if you want to edit them in a scenario, you need to have the edit rights for the respective scenario.
Where to Find
Open a project's details and select the Allocations tab. Next, in the toolbar under Allocation Mode, select Phases:
The allocations of all resources, teams, and roles are displayed segmented by phase. A milestone with a project phase always marks the end of the respective phase segment, even if the following milestone has the same phase. A milestone without a phase has no effect on the segmentation.
The allocation values are converted to the duration of the respective phase.
Project breaks that are visible in the Portfolio Designer are not taken into account here. Instead, the allocation value is distributed evenly across the entire phase.
All changes you make in Phases mode are tracked in the project change log.
Learn more about working with project phases in the article Project Phases.
Adding, Editing, and Deleting Milestones
To add a milestone in Phases or Time Grid mode, hover over the project bar and click the blue circle with the plus symbol:
Enter the name, project phase, date, and status for the added milestone.
You can create the same project phase multiple times, and each phase can be linked to only one milestone. If you have selected a project phase when adding a milestone, the selected phase will be added and the milestone will be automatically linked to that phase. The added milestone will then mark the phase's end; the start of the phase is either the project start date or the end date of the last milestone in the previous phase.
To edit or delete a milestone, hover over the corresponding milestone, click the blue circle with the three dots, and select the required action.
Learn more in the article Milestones.
Editing Allocations by Phase
Editing Allocation Values
To edit allocations in the new Phases mode, click the corresponding phase for a resource, team, or role and enter the desired value:
Impact on Other Views
If you adjust a resource's allocation in Phases mode, the change is automatically applied to all other allocation modes and views in Meisterplan. Similarly, changes to allocation values in other views result in changed allocation values in the project details.
Flexible segments in the Portfolio Designer are transformed into phase segments from the changed phase until the end of the project. Project interruptions during this time period are lost.
Importing Allocations by Phases
Find out how to import allocations by phases in this article.
Moving Milestones with Linked Phases
You can extend or shorten project phases by dragging and dropping the corresponding milestone, or by changing the milestone's date. Only the duration of the affected phase and the overall project duration change. The visible effort remains unchanged, as do the durations of all other phases.
Result
When you extend or shorten a phase in Phases mode, the displayed allocation value remains the same, whether it's in FTE, days, or hours. However, because the duration of the phase changes, the actual distribution of the allocation over time also changes.
- Example 1 - Allocation unit in hours: A phase is planned for 20 hours. If you shorten the phase, the visible value of 20 hours remains – even though this effort is now spread over a shorter period of time. If you then change the allocation unit to FTE, the FTE value increases because the same number of hours is spread over a shorter period of time.
- Example 2 - Allocation unit in FTE: A phase is planned for 1 FTE. If you extend the phase, the visible value remains at 1 FTE, even though this effort now applies to a longer period of time. If you then change to hours, the hourly value displayed increases because the same weekly utilization applies to a longer period of time.
Milestones without a linked phase retain their relative position within the phase they are in. If a phase is moved, the milestone is moved accordingly. For example, if it was previously in the middle of the phase, it will remain in the (new) middle even after the move.
Milestones without a linked phase that are later than a postponed phase retain their time distance from the postponed milestone and are postponed accordingly.
Impact on Other Views
Flexible segments in the Portfolio Designer are transformed into phase segments from the changed phase until the end of the project. Project interruptions during this period are lost.
Deleting Project Phases Including Allocations
To delete an entire project phase, hover over the milestone that is linked to and marks the end of the corresponding phase and click the blue circle with the three dots. Then, select Delete Entire Phase:
Result
Deleting a project phase removes the entire phase from the current scenario, along with all associated milestones and allocations. The project is shortened by the deleted duration and the project finish date is moved to an earlier date.
Impact on Other Views
Flexible segments in the Portfolio Designer are transformed into phase segments from the start of the project until the deleted phase. Project breaks during this time period are lost.
Compare Actuals with Plan
When you click Compare Actuals with Plan while in Phases mode, each allocation phase segment will display actual time worked in addition to planned allocations, summed per phase:
Within a cell, the larger value represents the planned allocation, and the smaller value above represents the actual time worked.
Learn more about comparing planned allocations to actual time worked in the article Project Details - Comparing Actuals with Planned Allocations.
Difference to Other Views
The phase-specific functions described here are only available in the Project Details in the allocation mode Phases. The functions in other views do not take allocations by phase into account.
There are significant differences, particularly when moving milestones:
If you move a milestone in the Portfolio Designer or change a milestone date in the milestone list in the Project Details, only the duration of the project phase within the project changes; the project finish date remains unchanged. If you then switch to the Project Details, the values displayed have changed because they have been recalculated for each phase based on the changes made.
Future Development of Allocations by Project Phases
The Phases mode in the Allocations tab of the Project Details is complete. In the next step of the beta, the allocation mode Phases will be added to the Team Planner and the Staff Role mode.
Check out what's to come in our Beta Talk video:
Questions and Feedback
If you have questions or feedback on this beta feature, please leave a comment in our Product Roadmap.
You can also schedule an appointment with Dr. Miriam Reh (product owner for this feature) to discuss your requirements and use cases directly.