Work Execution: Understanding the Progressing Engine

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What is the Progressing Engine?

Understanding the Progressing Engine.gif The Progressing Engine is an automated system process within Planview Portfolios that captures data on the progress of work to determine:

When work started
How much work was done
How much work remains

It is crucial to run the progressing engine regularly to ensure that all data remains up-to-date and accurate, leading to more effective project management across your organization.

Why is the Progressing Engine important?

The Progressing Engine is a fundamental part of the project (work) planning and execution process and an important function in Planview Portfolios.

The Progressing Engine helps project and resource managers gain an understanding of the progress of projects (work) in Planview Portfolios and assists in the maintenance of the future schedule of the work that remains to be done to deliver the project. It also provides managers with details of their projects, such as the project’s performance, baseline variances, and exceptions and issues impacting project progress. Additionally, the progressing options offer project and resource managers flexibility in controlling how the Progressing Engine processes data, enabling them to achieve their desired business outcomes regardless of their organization’s maturity level.

The Progressing Engine also supports PMOs and portfolio planners by updating work plans based on user input to keep tasks and resource assignments current, meaning PMOs and portfolio planners always have access to the most up-to-date information.

The Work Planning and Execution Cycle

Progressing Engine weekly execution cycle.gif

Before learning more about the Progressing Engine, it’s important to understand Work Planning and Execution cycle – a recurring process that allows project managers to gather the information needed to manage and track the progress of a project.

Process step	Description
Do work	Resources do the work assigned to them.
Capture data on the progress of work	As work progresses, resources' actual time spent on work is tracked, project managers update milestones and other dates as needed, and the Progressing Engine integrates actual time reported records with all the planning records in the database. After the data has been captured on the progress of work, the Progressing Engine will run. As a result, the Progressing Engine will progress projects and update details based on your organization's configuration, users' choices, and the data captured.
Review progress of work	Track and monitor work progress, review progressed work, close completed work items, and review baseline variances and the financial performance of each project.
Plan/re-plan remaining scheduled work	Manage the schedule for the remaining scheduled work, adjusting as necessary. For example, tasks and milestones may need to be modified, and adjustments to the duration and dates or effort and resource assignments may be required.
Manage exceptions and report on project status and progress	Ensure the project status and work details are correct and current, evaluating and re-prioritizing any items that aren't going to plan.

Key Progressing Engine concepts

Progressing Engine terminology

Time Now

Time Now is an important concept that identifies the break point between history, or what has been done, and what remains to be done in the form of planned (future) activities and work.

Time Now represents the first working date of the current week from when work can be scheduled. This means that no work can be scheduled to begin prior to the Time Now date. When the Progressing Engine is in use, this date is automatically advanced forward to the following week after projects are progressed. So, with each new week, the first workday represents Time Now. Time Now is not updated daily.

Schedule vs. Actual Dates and Durations

Schedule Dates and Durations represent the remaining amount of work to be done, while Actual Dates and Durations represent the work that has been done. Time Now is the break point between Actual Dates and Durations and Schedule Dates and Durations.

Work (hours and dates) prior to Time Now are Actual Dates
Work (hours and dates) equal to Time Now or in the future are Schedule Dates

It is recommended to include both Schedule and Actual Dates/Durations in your column sets, providing a comprehensive view of project timelines and progress.

Duration vs. Effort

Duration is how long it will take to complete the work, or the length of time planned to complete the work. For example, a work item can have a duration of 40 hours over 5 calendar days.

Effort is the amount of effort resources will spend on the work item. For example, three resources can be scheduled to a total of 70 hours of work that is planned to be completed across the duration of 40 hours.

How does work progress?

Work progress is captured as data inputs by the Progressing Engine in three ways:

The Progressing Engine uses these data inputs along with your organization's configuration and progressing options to determine what work has been completed on activities and tasks and what work is remaining. These data inputs can be captured individually or combined to achieve specific business outcomes to support your organizational use case.

What does the Progressing Engine do?

The first thing the Progressing Engine does is move Time Now forward. Time Now identifies the break point between history (what has been done or actual work) and the future (what remains to be done or scheduled work).

A common misconception is that Time Now is today’s date or the date you are logged in. However, it is not updated daily. Rather, Time Now represents the first working date of the current week, from when work can be scheduled. After progression runs, this date value is automatically advanced to the following week after projects are progressed.

The Progressing Engine is best understood by breaking the system job into five steps:

Progressing Engine steps	Progressing Engine activity
1. Converts completed work into Actual Effort	The Progressing Engine processes work effort hours reported on approved timesheets and converts it into Actual Effort. Note: Timesheets are the only mechanism in which Actual Effort can be determined.
2. Establishes Actual Start Dates	Actual Start Dates reflect when work has started, and there are three ways to determine this: If resources report effort in a timesheet, the first date of approved effort is used. A project manager can manually enter the Actual Start Date. Progress as Planned will automatically update the Actual Start Date when used for work items without planned, named resource allocations.
3. Recalculates Remaining Effort	The Progressing Engine recalculates Remaining Effort based on the resource assignment type and your selected progressing options. Requirements, reserves, and allocations will have progressing options for unused or unassigned effort, allowing them to either expire, carry forward, or be rescheduled. If the remaining effort is zero, the work status will change from active to assumed complete. Authorizations to report time, which do not have predefined effort values, will not have remaining effort values.
4. Recalculates Schedule Dates and Durations	The Progressing Engine recalculates the Schedule Start Dates, Schedule Finish Dates, and Schedule Durations based on your organization's configuration and selected progressing options. For working examples of how the Schedule Start Date is determined, see What happens to the Schedule Start Date when the Progressing Engine runs?
5. Establishes Actual Finish Dates	Actual Finish Dates reflect when a work item is complete or assumed complete. The Actual Finish Date can be determined in several ways: If resources are using timesheets, the Actual Finish Date will be the last date effort is reported and integrated. The Actual Finish Date can be manually entered by the project manager. For Progress as Planned work items, the Scheduled Finish Date will become the Actual Finish Date once the Progressing Engine runs after the Scheduled Finish Date.

Viewing Progressing Engine outputs

To successfully track work progress after progression runs, specific columns should be displayed on your Plan screen:

Completed work

Actual Effort
Percent Complete
Actual Start Date
Actual Finish Date

Remaining work

Remaining Effort
Schedule Duration
Schedule Start Date
Schedule Finish Date

What happens to the Schedule Start Date when the Progressing Engine runs?

The Schedule Start Date is the start date for remaining work. Because work is either done or it’s not, work cannot be scheduled in the past. Therefore, the Schedule Start Date is always in the future, because all remaining work on a project must take place in the future.

If…	Then…
No work has started, and the Schedule Start Date is in the past	The Schedule Start Date is moved to the next week’s start date.
No work has started, and the Schedule Start Date is in the future	The Schedule Start Date is the date that work begins.
Work has started	The Schedule Start Date is the date that remaining work begins. The date that work started becomes the Actual Start Date.
Work is completed	The Schedule Start Date is removed.

Example Scenario 1

Time Now is January 5^th. There is a task on a project with a Schedule Start Date two weeks in the future, on January 20^th. Progression runs for the current week. What happens to the Schedule Start Date?

progressing engine example scenario 01 (1).gif

After progression runs, Time Now is January 12^th. The Schedule Start Date remains the same future date, January 20^th.

Example Scenario 2

Time Now is January 12^th. There is a task on a project with a Schedule Start Date on January 13^th, the first working day in the time report period. Work starts, and progression runs for the current week. What happens to the Schedule Start Date?

progressing engine example scenario 02.gif

After progression runs, Time Now is January 19^th. The Schedule Start Date is updated to the first day of the next week for the remaining work to be done, January 20^th. The Actual Start Date is updated to the date work started, January 13^th.

Example Scenario 3

Time Now is January 12^th. There is a task on a project with a Schedule Start Date on January 13^th. Work does not start, and progression runs for the current week. What happens to the Schedule Start Date?

progressing engine example scenario 03.gif

After progression runs, Time Now is January 19^th. Because work did not start, the Actual Start Date is not set, and the Schedule Start Date is updated to the first day of the next week for the remaining work to be done, January 20^th.

Scenarios are example standard scenarios, and results may differ depending on your specific Progressing Engine settings and options.

Progressing options and business rules for assignment types

Progressing options control how progression updates the remaining effort and schedule dates when more or less work is completed than planned. After progression runs, the progressing options and the maximum utilization setting determine how the Remaining Effort, Schedule Duration, and Schedule Finish Date are recalculated.

The following progressing options are available for Requirements, Reserves, and Allocations:

Requirements – Maintain Effort; Maintain Pending Effort; Expire Requirement Effort; Maintain Future Profiles
Reserves – Respect Finish Dates; Respect Durations and Profiles; Expire Effort and Respect Finish Dates; Maintain Future Profiles
Allocations – Respect Finish Dates; Respect Durations and Profiles; Expire Effort and Respect Finish Dates; Maintain Future Profiles

Each progressing option applies logic to control how progression determines the remaining effort and schedule dates for work. These business rules offer extensive flexibility for project managers to manage different types of work in different ways while supporting multiple levels of maturity within an organization.

For a list of questions to consider when determining how to reschedule remaining resource assignments, see Concept of Progressing Remaining Resource Assignments.

Business rule	Description	Assignment type(s)
Maintain Effort	This option attempts to maintain the total effort by adjusting remaining effort based on the difference between the planned effort and actual effort.	Requirements
Maintain Pending Effort	This option retains the remaining pending effort from the requirement and does not include unused effort from reserves or allocations, which expire.	Requirements
Expire Requirement Effort	This option expires unused pending effort for the period.	Requirements
Respect Finish Dates	This option attempts to maintain the Schedule Finish Date.	Reserves, Allocations
Respect Durations and Profiles	This option preserves the originally planned allocated effort profile. This could cause a task to slip, especially if someone does not report any hours, as it can move that resource’s entire assignment forward and extend the overall duration for that task.	Reserves, Allocations
Expire Effort and Respect Finish Dates	This option respects the original finish dates. For example, if somebody doesn’t report time or under-reports time, their effort for that particular week will be expired. Conversely, if somebody over-reports, it may take hours from the future.	Reserves, Allocations
Maintain Future Profiles	This option means that however assignments are profiled going forward, whether someone over-reports or under-reports, the future will remain the same. If someone underreports, it’ll expire the effort, but if someone over-reports, we won’t take hours from the future.	Requirements, Reserves, Allocations

Progressing Engine business processes and outcomes

Business process	Business outcomes	Related resources
Your organization uses timesheets to record when work was completed and the amount of effort spent on work. Timesheets can be submitted by resource, manager, portfolio, or automatically created. Zero hour timesheets and Agile Costing timesheets are also supported by progression.	Forward looking resource demand is available to drive capacity planning and work prioritization decisions. Actual resource hours spent on projects are captured and costed to drive capacity planning and financial reporting, including capitalization purposes.	Resource Timesheets Portfolio Timesheet Automatically Generate Timesheets as Planned Automatically Generate Timesheets with Zero Hours for Resources Without Assignments Support Mark as Complete or Contributor Estimate Without Time Entered in Timesheet Concept of progressing remaining resource assignments
Your organization is not using resource management or time tracking, and the project manager manually enters the progress of a work item or milestone in the project schedule.	Key project milestones are tracked and reported on.	Manually Entering the Progress of Work Business Rules for Changing Work Status
The project manager sets work items and milestones to Progress as Planned so that progression automatically updates those items as being on schedule. The project manager uses manual entry to handle exceptions.	The progress of projects can be monitored by planning, baselining, and tracking the dates of key governance points in the project process.	Business rules for Progress as Planned

Related resources

Progressing Engine best practices

Progressing Engine releases

Progressing Engine versions and enhancement