In the Project Details, you can compare planned allocations with actual time worked both in the Allocations and in the Actual Time Worked tabs.
General
You can either import or manually enter actual time worked in Meisterplan. Find out more in the article Actuals - Time Worked.
Allocations and actual time worked are calculated based on their raw values, and then rounded to two decimals. This may result in small deviations of the second decimal in the displayed sums.
Required User Rights
- To view a project's actual time worked, your user group must have at least the Read Only option enabled under Access Actual Time Worked in the Detailed Project and Program Rights section.
- To edit a project's actual time worked, you need to have the option Edit enabled.
- To import actual time worked using the quick import, you need to have the Import Data right enabled under Integration Rights.
- To record and edit only their own Actual Time Worked, users must have at least the option Their Assigned Projects enabled under Employees Can Record and Edit Their Own Actual Time Worked in the Project and Program Rights section.
Where to Find
In the Allocations or Actual Time Worked tab, click Compare Actuals with Plan to see the values per cell:
In the additional column Deviation from Plan, you can see the sum of the deviation of actual time worked from planned allocations. In the grid, each cell displays the allocation and the actual time worked value. In the Actual Time Worked tab, the actual values are larger and solid black.
In the Allocations grid, the display size and coloring of the values is reversed.
Basis for Calculation
Deviation from Plan
In this column, you can see the deviation of actual time worked from planned allocations for each resource, team, and role, in absolute terms and as a percentage. A colored dot with an arrow indicates the type of deviation:
- Red: Actual time worked is higher than allocations.
- Green: Actual time worked is lower than allocations.
- Gray: Actual time worked and allocations are identical, or an evaluation is not possible, for example due to missing entries.
Actual Time Worked
The key date for comparing and calculating the deviation is always the last booking date for the project. All actual time worked for a resource, team, or role for a project are added up to this date, even if it is in the future. A zero is considered an entry and affects the booking date.
Allocations
The key date for comparing and calculating the deviation is the last booking date of actual time worked for the project unless the booking date is in the future, in which case the current date is the key date for summing the allocations.
Booking Date
Each actual time worked entry has a booking date that does not have to be identical to the date of entry. The booking date depends on how actual time worked is entered:
- Actual Time Worked Quick Import: The user must specify the booking date.
- My Schedule (View): The day for which actual time worked was entered is the booking date.
- Project Details, Actual Time Worked Tab: The last working day of the time period for which actual time worked was entered is the booking date (depending on the zoom level: the last working day of the week, the month, the quarter, or the year).
- REST API (incl. Power Automate and Zapier): The booking date must be specified in the automation.
Last Booking Date: Key Date for Comparing Allocations and Actual Time Worked
The last booking date of a project is the key date used for comparing allocations and actual time worked. All resources, teams, or roles on a project have the same last booking date. It can also be in the future (not recommended).
This date is the key date for the entire project.
Example: If you have entered actual time worked up to the end of March for one of the resources, and only up to the end of February for all others, the end of March is the date used for calculating the deviation for each resource, team, or role.
Booking Dates in the Future
We do not recommend entering actual time worked for future dates as it distorts evaluations. On the one hand, allocations will only be summed until the current date, even if the last booking date for actual time worked is in the future. On the other hand, the booking date applies to the the entire project, even if only one resource has future actual time worked.
Where Can I Find the Last Booking Date?
To find out the last booking date of a project, see the Plan vs Actuals tab in one of the following sections of the project details:
- Allocation Tracker
- Financial Tracker
- Cost Type Tracker
- Resources, Teams, and Roles - Allocations
- Resources, Teams, and Roles - Costs and Benefits
The date displayed here is the last booking date of the project.