Basing Project Schedule Calculation on Bookings for a Project

You can set individual projects to use bookings instead of assignments for project schedule calculation.

If the project schedule calculation is based on bookings instead of assignments:

All calculated Start dates and Finish dates are updated based on bookings
- If the task has no predecessor tasks or phases:
  - The task Start date is the project Start date .
  - The task Finish date is the latest booking end date out of all bookings to the task.
- If the task has one or more Finish-to-Start or Start-to-Start predecessor tasks:
  - The task Start date is calculated based on all dependencies (the latest date to meet all the dependencies).
  - The task Finish date is the latest booking end date out of all bookings to the task, or the Start date +1 day, whichever is the latest.
- If the task has one or more Finish-to-Finish or Start-to-Finish predecessor tasks:
  - The task Finish date is calculated based on all dependencies (the latest date to meet all the dependencies).
  - The task Start date is the earliest booking start date out of all bookings to the task, or the project Start date if it is later than the earliest booking start date.
Note:
All task fixed Start dates and fixed End dates remain unchanged.

The earliest Start date for a task is always the project start date. You cannot set an earlier fixed Start date for a task.
Planned hours are calculated based on bookings, instead of being set at the task level or calculated from task assignments. It is the sum of all hours booked to the task, phase or project. The Planned hours field on the task entity form is read-only when schedule calculation for the associated project is based on bookings.
% Complete is calculated based on bookings. For tasks, % Complete indicates the amount of work completed on the task (from approved time entries) compared to Planned hours (sum of all hours booked to the task).

Important:

Review the following guidelines:

Only the calculated Start dates, calculated Finish dates, Planned hours, and % Complete are calculated based on bookings instead of assignments.
Using bookings instead of assignments for project schedule calculation may impact other functionality that are based on assignments. Test extensively on a sandbox account and consider the impact carefully before you start using this feature on a production account.

Examples of functionality that may have a dependency on assignments:
- Charge projections based on assigned hours.
- Earned value management (EVM) metrics.
- Billing rule rate override at the assignment level.
- Planned/assigned hours adjustment based on approved hours.
- Pending bookings from task assignments.
- Any user scripts or integrations with dependency on assignments.

To base project schedule calculation on bookings for a project:

Create the project_plan_based_on_bookings custom field.
1. Go to Administration > Global Settings > Custom Fields.
2. Click the Create button, then click New Custom field.
  
  A form appears.
3. Select Project from the Add a custom field to dropdown list (under Global).
4. Select Checkbox from the Type of field to add dropdown list.
5. Click Continue.
  
  Another form appears.
6. Enter the Field name — This must be exactly project_plan_based_on_bookings.
7. Check the Active box.
8. Enter a Display name — For example, Calculate project schedule based on bookings.
9. Click Save.
Go to Projects > Projects > [Select a project] > Properties.
Check the Calculate project schedule based on bookings box.
Click Save