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Option1-Retain total work estimate and spread future work

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Overview

In AdaptiveWork, many project tasks represent fixed-scope or contractually committed work. While the total effort must remain unchanged, actual effort reported during execution may differ from the original plan.

Update Forecast – Option 1- "Retain total work estimate and spread future work" allows project managers to rebalance future task assignments based on actual effort, while preserving the original total work commitment.

This option ensures that delivery plans stay realistic without impacting contractual scope, budgets, or historical reporting.

Who Uses This Option?

  • Project Managers managing fixed-scope delivery

  • Delivery Managers maintaining forecast accuracy

  • Financial Managers aligning forecasts with actuals

When to Use This Option?

Use Option 1 – Retain total work estimation when:

  • Total task work is fixed and must not change

  • Actual effort differs from the plan

  • Future assignments need to reflect current delivery pace

  • Past periods must remain locked and unchanged

Step-by-Step: Run Update Forecast (Option 1)

Original plan

  • Total planned work: 240 hours

  • Work distributed evenly across future periods

During execution

  • Actual effort reported to date: 50 hours

  • Actuals differ from the original plan

Step 1: Open the Work Plan

  1. Navigate to the relevant Project

  2. Open the Work Plan

  3. Locate the task, milestone, or project you want to update

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You can run Update Forecast at the Project, Milestone, Task, or multiple selected items level.

Step 2: Open Update Forecast

  1. In the Work Plan, open the Resourcing menu

  2. Click Update Forecast

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The Update Forecast dialog opens.

Step 3: Choose Option 1

In the dialog:

  1. Select
    Option 1 – Retain total work estimation, spread future assignments

  2. (Optional) Select Keep manually set effort values to preserve manually entered future allocations

  3. Select the Forecast Date (the cutoff date for applying actuals)

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Step 4: Run Update Forecast

  • Click Ok

AdaptiveWork recalculates the plan immediately.

What AdaptiveWork Does

When Option 1 is applied, AdaptiveWork:

  • Applies all actual effort reported up to the selected Forecast Date

  • Keeps the total task work unchanged

  • Recalculates future task assignments based on the difference between:

    • Total planned work, and

    • Actual work already completed

  • Distributes future work according to:

    • The task’s Work Policy

    • Resource availability

  • Total task work remains 240 hours

  • Future task assignments are recalculated based on the remaining 190 hours

  • Past periods remain unchanged

  • The forecast reflects the updated pace of delivery without changing scope

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Results You Can Expect

  • Contractual effort commitments are preserved

  • Future periods are automatically rebalanced

  • Manual replanning is avoided

  • Forecast accuracy is restored

  • Historical data remains intact for reporting and audits

Where This Can Be Applied

Update Forecast – Option 1 is available at:

  • Project level

  • Milestone level

  • Task level

  • Multiple selected work items

When applied at a higher level, AdaptiveWork updates all underlying tasks and resources.

Best Practice

Use Option 1 regularly for fixed-scope delivery to keep forecasts aligned with actual execution—without changing agreed effort.