Project Tools

The Tools button allows you to choose Shift and Sync options that work with tasks, organizations, resources and budgets on a project. These features are also controlled by the various calendars used within the project system. For more information about calendars, see Calendars Used in Project and Resource Scheduling.

Shift

The shift options allow you to adjust task start and finish dates and bulk adjust resource assignments.

Option Description
Tasks

The Tasks option displays the Shift Tasks dialog box. This process allows you to shift task start and finish dates forward or backward in time.

Assignments

The Assignments option displays the Shift Assignments dialog box. This process allows you to bulk adjust resource assignments across time periods.

Sync

The sync options allow you to update project schedules for calendar changes, synchronize budgets to project control settings, recalculate estimated and scheduled resource cost and effort, and synchronize budgets to resources.

 

Note: An indication that budgets are out of sync is when the Project - Earned Value, Budgets, and Forecasts tabs are disabled. Once budgets are in sync again, Budget Effort will display but Initial Budget Effort and other history will not appear until the project is processed to a Final state and then re-opened.

 

Option Description
Budgets to Resources

The Budgets to Resources option allows you to synchronize the organization budget effort and/or budget cost for selected tasks with previously calculated effort for resources. Selecting this option displays the Sync Budgets to Resources dialog box.

The Budgets to Resources option is disabled in the following conditions:

  • If the project is read-only.
  • If the project's Currency value is blank.
  • If the project was newly created and the control settings Variance Level, Organization Variance Responsibility and / or Budget Category Variance Responsibility are blank.
  • If the project has budgets assigned and at least one of the project control settings: Budget Method, Variance Level, Organization Variance Responsibility, or Budget Category Variance Responsibility, has been changed such that budgets are no longer valid (the Earned Value tab will be disabled in this case).
  • If the project load is in process (i.e., one or more tabs in Extended view are disabled).
  • If the Resource split data on Tasks tab is not loaded (i.e., a custom project screen that never loads resources).
  • If the Budgets split data on Tasks tab is not loaded (i.e., a custom project screen that never loads budgets).
Dates to Work Calendar

The Dates to Work Calendar option allows you to update project schedules for changes to the work calendar. This option must be selected if project tasks exist with start and finish dates and the Work Calendar is assigned or changed.

This process examines all existing task start and finish dates and resource assignments and adjusts them to ensure that all dates fall on working days. The following rules apply.

  • If a task start date becomes a non-working day, it is adjusted forward to the next working day. Task duration will not change as the finish date is also adjusted forward to the next working day.
  • If a non-working day within a task date range becomes a working day, the task finish date is adjusted backward by one working day. There is no effect on the start date or duration.
  • If a task finish date becomes a non-working day, it is adjusted forward to the next working day. There is no effect on the start date or duration.
  • If an assignment is found on a non-working day, it is adjusted forward to the next working day. If an assignment already exists for that day, the values are summed.
  • Note: If a non-working day becomes a working day, there is no effect on assignments.

When you make a Work Calendar change and leave the field, a banner message displays that contains a link to run this option.

Project to Control Settings

The Project to Control Settings option allows you to synchronize the budgets to the variance settings. This process may be run when the Earned Value and Budgets tabs are disabled due to the following actions:

  • Budget Method is changed.
  • Variance Level is changed.
  • Organization Variance Responsibility is changed to One.
  • Budget Category Variance Responsibility is changed to One and budgets exist.

When you make a change and leave the field, a banner message displays that contains a link to run this option. Alternatively, budgets may be manually adjusted using the Project: Tasks tab Budgets split view.

Resources to Pricing Terms

The Resources to Pricing Terms option allows you to invoke a recalculation of estimated and scheduled resource cost and effort at any time for Project and Project Progress. When the option is selected, cost and effort for all estimated and scheduled assignments on the project are recalculated. This recalculation works on the current plan and updates any associated published assignments.

Note: Assignments saved to baselines are not updated.

The Resources to Pricing Terms option is disabled in the following conditions:

  • If Project or Project Progress is read-only, checked out to someone else or submitted but not approved
  • If the Currency value is blank in Project
  • If Project Progress has been created for a role other than Project Manager or Project Director

The Resources to Pricing Terms option can be selected before the project exists in draft. For example, if a new project is created and has never been saved to draft or a project has been opened from final and not saved to draft yet, the warning message "Must save before resources can be synced to pricing terms” displays.

If the Resources to Pricing Terms option is selected and the project exists in the draft tables, regardless of whether other changes have been made to the project since saving to draft or not, the message displays asking the user to confirm the intent to recalculate.

After the Sync Resources to Pricing Terms process completes, the screen is refreshed, and you are returned to your original tab focus.