Opportunity Planning

Project managers can begin labor planning for opportunities even before the contract is awarded and a formal project is set up. Once the project is created for a new contract, they can copy all or selected portions of the opportunity plan to the project plan.

This is true if you have activated the Resource Planning application, whether or not you have activated the CRM or Accounting application.

When an opportunity is created, a plan is also automatically created for it. If you want to do resource planning for the opportunity, use the Opportunity Plan Structure application in Resource Management to set up a work breakdown structure for it.

• If you have activated the CRM application, you add and edit opportunities in the Opportunities hub, and only use Opportunity Plan Structure to create the work breakdown structure for the plan.
• If you have not activated the CRM application, you also use the Opportunity Plan Structure application to add opportunity records.

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You have two options for setting up the plan structure for an opportunity:

• Set up each of the levels and each element in the structure, one by one.
• Copy the plan structure from another opportunity or from a project, and then make any needed modifications to that structure.

After you set up and save the opportunity plan structure, use Project View or Resource View to assign resources to it and enter planned hours.

If you are awarded the contract for the opportunity, you can transfer all or part of the opportunity plan to the project plan when you create the project in the Projects hub or, after you set up the project, in Project View.