Cobra 8.3 Help System

Using the Help Search
Using the Help Search
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Calculate Forecast Process

Use the Calculate Forecast API process to automatically calculate forecasts.

Process Settings

Below are the settings you must define for the Calculate Forecast API process:

Setting Description Sample Value
ProcessID This ID informs Cobra to run the Calculate Forecast process. CalculateForecast
Project This setting refers to the project where you want to calculate forecasts.

This setting is required.

Demo Advanced
ClassList This setting contains a comma-separated list of the forecast classes to calculate.

This setting is required.

Forecast,CAM,EAC
CalculatePF If value is set to 1, Cobra recalculates performance factors.

This setting is optional and the default value is 0.

1
CheckForecastDates This setting informs Cobra to check the forecast dates.

Use one of the following values:

  • A — Stop if forecast date is invalid
  • S — Slip if forecast date is invalid
  • P — Process only Control Accounts (CAs) and Work Packages (WP) with valid forecast dates

    This setting is optional and the default value is P.

S
AllowNegativeETC If value is set to 1, Cobra calculates all negative Estimate To Complete (ETC) values. If value is set to 0, Cobra sets all negative ETC values to zero.

This setting is optional and the default value is 0.

If this setting is not included in the API script, Cobra uses the value set in the Allow negative ETC option in the Forecast Preferences.

If this setting is not included in the API script, Cobra uses the value set in the Allow negative ETC option in the Forecast Preferences tab of the Project Properties dialog box.

1
SpreadETCMethodId This setting refers to statistical forecast spreading.
  • E — This value instructs Cobra to base the forecast spread on the existing forecast spread when performing forecast calculations.
  • B — This value instructs Cobra to base the forecast spread on the current budget spread when performing forecast calculations.

    This setting is required and the default value is the value set in the Spread ETC according to option in the Forecast Preferences tab of the Project Properties dialog box.

B
ScaleRetainEACId This setting refers to scaling Estimate At Complete (EAC) values.

Use one of the following values:

  • Blank — If no value is specified, Cobra will not scale the EAC to a particular value. By default, no value is specified for this setting.
  • C — This value instructs Cobra to use the value stored in the EAC field in the Spreadsheet pane of the Project view to calculate forecast.
  • H — This value instructs Cobra to use the value stored in the Hours.EAC field in the Spreadsheet pane of the Project view to calculate forecast.
  • HC — This value instructs Cobra to scale the resource assignments whose first result is Hours so that the total hours match the value stores in the Hours.EAC field in the Spreadsheet pane of the Project view.

    This setting is optional and the default value is the value is the value set in the Scale retain EAC option in the Forecast Preferences tab of the Project Properties dialog box.

H

Sample Script

Below is a sample script file for the Calculate Forecast API process:

[Process015]

ProcessID=CalculateForecast

Project=Demo Advanced

ClassList=Forecast,CAM,EAC

CheckForecastDates=S

CalculatePF=1

AllowNegativeETC=0

SpreadETCMethodId=E

ScaleRetainEACId=C