Contents of the Plan Settings Form

Use fields and options on the Plan Settings form to specify a variety of settings related to project plans.

Contents: Global Plan Settings

If you set up multiple companies in Vantagepoint, the settings under this heading apply to all companies. If you did not set up multiple companies, the Global Plan Settings heading does not display.

Field	Description
When No Organization Selected, Plan Settings Default from This Company	If you set up multiple companies in Vantagepoint, select the company whose default plan settings you want to use when a new project has no organization specified. If you set up Vantagepoint initially with multiple companies, this field defaults to the company that you use in the Vantagepoint setup process. If you first set up Vantagepoint with a single company and then switch to multiple companies, this field defaults to your lowest numbered company. When you add a new project, Vantagepoint automatically creates an empty plan for it using the default plan settings for the company it is associated with through its organization. However, you are not required to assign an in pursuit project to an organization, and you are not required to assign a project to an organization if Accounting Users is not selected in Available To on the Overview tab of the Projects form in the Projects hub. If you do not specify an organization for a new project, Vantagepoint uses the default plan settings for the company you select in this field to create the project plan. While most of the default plan settings inherited from this company can be overridden for individual plans, the following settings are set only at the company level: Enable Expense Planning Enable Consultant Planning Enable Unit Planning Allow Expense Planning in Calendar Periods Allow Consultant Planning in Calendar Periods Starting Day of Week To change these settings for a project, you must assign it to an organization that is associated with the company with the correct settings. In addition, plan currencies for projects without organizations are set to the functional currency for the default company you select in this field if the currencies are not specified in the project record. You can override this default currency by assigning different currencies in the project record. (If a project plan has no planning assignments, you can also override the default currency by assigning the project to an organization that is associated with a company with a different functional currency.)
Job-to-Date (JTD) Through	This field displays if you have activated the Resource Planning module with the Accounting/PSA module. Use this field to select the JTD through date that will be used for Resource Planning applications. Resource Planning uses this selection to determine the date for calculating the JTD (posted and unposted) and then uses the next day and beyond to calculate the estimate-to-complete (ETC) date. Other Resource Planning users should log out of the system before you change this date. Doing so assures the most accurate ETC values for all. Select one of the following options to set the date through which to calculate JTD hours and amounts. Option JTD Is Calculated Through... Notes Today's Date Current date JTD includes posted plus unposted through today. ETC starts tomorrow. Yesterday's Date Yesterday's date JTD includes posted plus unposted through yesterday. ETC starts today. Last Week's End Date End date of the prior week (the week prior to the one that contains today) JTD includes posted plus unposted through the last day of last week. ETC starts the first day of this week. The last day of the week is determined based on the day selected in the Starting Day of Week field on this form. If Vantagepoint is set up to have multiple companies, the starting day of the week for the project's company is used to determine the last day of the week. Last Timesheet Period's End Date End date of the prior timesheet period (the timesheet period prior to the one that contains today) JTD includes posted plus unposted through the last day of the last timesheet period. ETC starts the first day of this timesheet period. This date is determined based on the timesheet period date ranges specified on the Time Periods form (Settings > Time > Time Periods). If Vantagepoint is set up to have multiple companies, the time periods set up for the project's company are used. Specific Date Date that you specify When you select this option, a Specific Date field for selecting the date displays next to this field. JTD includes posted plus unposted through the specified date. ETC starts the next day.
Specific Date	This field displays when you set the Job-to-Date (JTD) Through option to Specific Date. Enter or select a date. After you save this value, the JTD and ETC dates remain the same for all projects and do not change until you update the Job-to-Date (JTD) Through value again.
Hour Decimal Places	Select the number of decimal places you want in planned hours: none, one, or two.
Amount Decimal Places	Select an option for decimal places in plan amounts: No Decimal: Enter and display amounts with no decimal places. Currency: Enter and display amounts with the number of decimal places set for the type of currency used.
Quantity Decimal Places	Select the number of decimal places you want in planned quantities for units: none or 1-4. This field is available only if both the Resource Planning module and either the Accounting or PSA module are activated.
In Pursuit Projects in Scheduled and Utilization	Indicate how Vantagepoint should determine whether or not projects that are assigned to an In Pursuit stage should be included in the calculation of scheduled and utilization hours and percentages. (Projects assigned to a Won stage are always included in those calculations. Projects assigned to a Lost or Do Not Pursue stage are always excluded.) Do one of the following: To never include In Pursuit projects, select Never. To always include In Pursuit projects, select Always. To include or exclude based on the Capacity Calculation option selected for individual projects in the Projects hub, select Set by Project. If you select this setting, the default for all new In Pursuit projects is to exclude them from the calculations even if they are created by copying an existing project that is included. To include In Pursuit projects, you must change the Capacity Calculation option for each one individually. To include projects that are assigned to specific In Pursuit stages, select Automatically Set Based on Selected In Pursuit Stages. When you select this option, the In Pursuit Stages field displays. Select the In Pursuit stages that qualify projects to be included in the calculations. (This option is available only if either the CRM module or CRM Plus module is activated.) To include projects that have a probability of being won that is equal to or greater than a specific probability, select Automatically Set Based on Probability. When you select this option, the Probability Greater Than or Equal field displays. Select the probability to use to determine if a project should be included in the calculations. You can change this setting at any time. When you do, all In Pursuit projects are included or excluded from the calculations based on the new setting.

Contents: <Active company>

If you set up multiple companies in Vantagepoint, the name of the active company displays, and the settings under it apply to that company only. To specify settings for another company, select that company from the drop-down list on the Vantagepoint toolbar. If you did not set up multiple companies, the heading containing the company name does not display.

Note: If you select No to disable a planning category in this section, users cannot access that category in the Plan area. Disabling a category does not remove any existing plan or baseline data for the category, and it continues to be visible in Project Review and project reports.

Field	Description
Enable Expense Planning	Select Yes if you want to be able to enter plan data for direct, indirect, and reimbursable expenses. When you enable expense planning and also own the Resource Planning module, use the Allow Expense Planning in Calendar Periods option to determine whether or not you want to plan expense amounts in calendar periods in Hubs > Projects > Plan.
Enable Consultant Planning	Select Yes if you want to be able to enter plan data for direct and reimbursable consultants. When you enable consultant planning and also own the Resource Planning module, use the Allow Consultant Planning in Calendar Periods option to determine whether or not you want to plan consultant amounts in calendar periods in Hubs > Projects > Plan.
Enable Unit Planning	Select Yes if you want to be able to enter plan data for units. This field is available only if both the Resource Planning module and either the Accounting or PSA module are activated.
Allow Expense Planning in Calendar Periods	This option is available if you set the Enable Expense Planning option to Yes and own the Resource Planning module. When you allow expense planning in calendar periods, you can display cost and/or billing sub-rows on the Expenses tab of the Plan form (Hubs > Projects > Plan) to view actual, baseline, and planned expense data in calendar periods and also enter planned amounts in calendar periods. In Settings > Resource Planning > Grids, determine whether all or only a subset of sub-rows will be available for users to select and display in the Expenses Planning grid. If you disable Expense Planning or set this option to No, Vantagepoint does not remove any existing plan or baseline data and will restore previously planned values in calendar periods when you re-enable settings.
Allow Consultant Planning in Calendar Periods	This option is available if you set the Enable Consultant Planning option to Yes and own the Resource Planning module. When you allow consultant planning in calendar periods, you can display cost and/or billing sub-rows on the Consultants tab of the Plan form (Hubs > Projects > Plan) to view actual, baseline, and planned consultant data in calendar periods and also enter planned amounts in calendar periods. In Settings > Resource Planning > Grids, determine whether all or only a subset of sub-rows will be available for users to select and display in the Consultants Planning grid. If you disable Consultant Planning or set this option to No, Vantagepoint does not remove any existing plan or baseline data and will restore previously planned values in calendar periods when you re-enable settings.
Starting Day of Week	Select the first day in your work week. If you set up multiple companies in Vantagepoint, a resource manager working in Resource View or Project View or using a resource management report can display plans for projects from more than one company. Each of those companies could have different starting days for their work weeks. Because of that, the Resource Management applications always use the starting day of the week specified for the user's currently active company.

Contents: Default Plan Settings When Creating a New Project

These settings apply to the active company. These fields are the default plan settings when creating a project. Note that when you copy an existing project and its plan to create a project, the plan settings of the original project are also copied for the new plan.

Field	Description
Target Multiplier	Enter the default target labor cost multiplier. The target multiplier represents how much revenue is anticipated for each labor cost dollar spent on a project. It is commonly used as the basis for evaluating the EAC labor cost multipliers as projects move forward. This target multiplier is assigned automatically to all new plans. However, if you do not use the same target multiplier for all projects, it can be changed for individual plans on the Plan Settings dialog box.
Expense Planning Level	If you selected Yes for Enable Expenses Planning, select the default level of the work breakdown structure (WBS) at which to plan expenses: Project, Phase, Task: Plan expenses at the specific level you select. For example, if you select Phase, you plan expenses at the phase level of the WBS. If the plan structure has branches that do not extend down to the selected WBS level, you can plan expenses at the lowest level in those branches. Lowest Level: Plan expenses at the lowest level of each branch of the plan structure. For example, if the lowest level is phase for one branch and task for another, you enter expense plan data for the first branch at the phase level and for the second branch at the task level. With the necessary security rights, you can select different levels for individual projects.
Consultants Planning Level	If you selected Yes for Enable Consultants Planning, select the default level of the work breakdown structure (WBS) at which to plan consultants: Project, Phase, Task: Plan consultants at the specific level you select. For example, if you select Phase, you plan consultants at the phase level of the WBS. If the plan structure has branches that do not extend down to the selected WBS level, you can plan consultants at the lowest level in those branches. Lowest Level: Plan consultants at the lowest level of each branch of the plan structure. For example, if the lowest level is phase for one branch and task for another, you enter consultant plan data for the first branch at the phase level and for the second branch at the task level. With the necessary security rights, you can select different levels for individual projects.
Overhead %	Enter the default overhead percentage for plans, as a whole number. For example, enter 10 for 10 percent. With the necessary security rights, you can enter different percentages for individual projects. The overhead percentage is used to calculate the ETC portion of overhead, which is, in turn, used to calculate EAC profit for a plan.
Use Calendar Periods for Expense Planning	This option is available if you set the Allow Expense Planning in Calendar Periods option to Yes. Select Yes to automatically enable planning expenses in calendar periods for each new project. In Hubs > Projects > Plan, roles with access rights to modify this default setting for individual plans can use the Plan in Calendar Periods checkbox on the Expenses tab of the Plan Settings dialog box to enable or disable planning expenses in calendar periods.
Use Calendar Periods for Consultant Planning	This option is available if you set the Allow Consultant Planning in Calendar Periods option to Yes. Select Yes to automatically enable planning consultants in calendar periods for each new project. In Hubs > Projects > Plan, roles with access rights to modify this default setting for individual plans can use the Plan in Calendar Periods checkbox on the Consultants tab of the Plan Settings dialog box to enable or disable planning consultants in calendar periods.