Skip to main content
Documentation
Documentation
Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2024-03-08
Steps: Set Up Resource Forecasts

Steps: Set Up Resource Forecasts

You can:
  • Use resource forecasts to estimate monthly, weekly, or daily estimated hours for the workers on your projects.
  • On the Resource Forecaster, see whether workers are over, under, or fully allocated.
  • Enable project workers to update their own resource forecasts and route changes to a manager for approval.
  • Enter fractional or whole numbers for the forecast hours.
  • Include both individual workers and unnamed resources in your forecasts.
Workday can generate these types of resource forecasts:
  • Project-level forecasts based on the resource assignments in the resource plan.
  • Task-level forecasts based on the assignments of the task resources in the project plan.
You can't delete the resource forecasts that you use to create project budgets or resource forecast snapshots.
The Resource Forecast report will be retired in a future release. Workday recommends that you use the Resource Forecaster for a more streamlined resource forecasting workflow.
  1. If necessary, set up the composite view of the project profile to include the
    Resource Forecast
     and
    Resource Forecaster
     reports on the
    Resources
     tab of the project profile.
    1. Access the
      Configure Profile Group
       task.
    2. From the
      Profile Group
       prompt, select the
      Resources for Project Composite View Profile
       group.
    3. Add the
      Resource Forecast
       and
      Resource Forecaster
       reports, as needed, to the profile group.
  2. Edit Domain Security Policies.
    Edit these domains and security policies:
    • Manage: Project Resource Forecast
       domain in the Projects functional area. Project and resource managers need this security to create resource forecasts.
    • (Optional)
      Self-Service: Resource Forecast
       domain in the Projects functional area. Project workers need this security to access self-service data and tasks.
    • (Optional)
      Worksheets
       and
      Drive
       domains in the System functional area. Project and resource managers need this security to edit resource forecasts using a worksheet.
  3. Edit the security policies for these business processes:
    • Project Resource Plan Line
       in the Project Tracking functional area. Project and resource managers need this security to create resource plans.
    • (Optional)
      Update My Resource Forecast
       in the Projects functional area. Project workers need this security to update their resource forecasts.
  4. (Optional) Edit Business Processes.
    Edit the
    Update My Resource Forecast
     business process in the Projects functional area to enable:
    • Workers to update their own resource forecasts.
    • Managers to approve the forecast change initiated by the workers.
  5. (Optional) To enable users to edit resource forecasts with worksheets:
    1. Set Up Worksheets and enable worksheets for your tenant.
    2. Access the
      Edit Tenant Setup - Financials
       task. In the
      Projects
       section, select the
      Enable Worksheets for Resource Forecast
       check box.
    Security:
    Set Up: Tenant Setup - Financials
     domain in the System functional area.
  6. Create a resource plan for the project, and then add workers to the resource plan lines.
  7. (Optional) Enable resource forecasts to display detailed task information.
  8. Access the
    Create Resource Forecast for Project
     task (to use the Resource Forecast report) or the
    Create Resource Forecast for Project via Resource Forecaster
     task (to use the Resource Forecaster report).
    For the
    Forecast Level View
     , when you select:
    • Project
       , Workday generates a project-level forecast that contains the worker and their forecasted hours.
    • Project Plan Task
      , Workday generates a detailed forecast that includes the worker, their project tasks, and their forecasted hours.
    Security:
    Manage: Project Resource Forecast
     domain in the Projects functional area.
Workday creates the resource forecast and displays a forecast line for each worker that includes the:
  • Task, on the Resource Forecast report only. (Displays only if you created the forecast from the project plan task.)
  • Total forecasted hours.
  • Estimate at Completion (EAC). EAC includes all the hours logged and approved for the project. It also includes the future hours the worker expects to complete.
  • Estimate to Completion (ETC). ETC includes the future hours the worker expects to complete.
  • Forecast hours.
On the Resource Forecaster, Workday also displays an overlay of visual indicators showing whether workers are under, over, or fully allocated. You can toggle the indicators on or off using the gear button on the top-right of the grid, and you can hover or drill down on them to see a detailed view of the calculation.
Workday calculates the initial forecast hours based on the:
  • Start and end dates.
  • Percent allocation or estimated hours.
Create a project budget using the resource forecast.
Project workers can access the
Update My Resource Forecast
 task to modify their own forecasts in these upcoming time periods:
  • Current week + next 3 weeks for weekly forecasts.
  • Today + next 9 days for daily forecasts.