Cumulative Work fields

The Cumulative Work fields contain the amount of time scheduled for all resources assigned to tasks, accumulated over time.

There are three categories of Cumulative Work fields.

Data Type    Duration

Cumulative Work (task-timephased field)

Entry Type    Calculated

How Calculated    The Cumulative Work field for tasks is based on work already performed on the task, combined with scheduled remaining work on the task. These values are based on the task Work field and added to the previous time period for the cumulative value. For each time period, cumulative work equals cumulative work for the previous period, plus scheduled work for this period.

Best Uses    Add the Cumulative Work field to the timephased portion of the Task Usage view when you want to review the cumulative work scheduled for tasks to date.

Example    For the "Write proposal task," Sean is assigned to 8 hours of work, Chris is assigned to 10 hours of work, and Jamie is assigned to 12 hours of work, for a total of 30 hours of work for the task. The task has a duration of 3 days. You add the Cumulative Work field to the timephased portion of the Task Usage view. For the 3 days of this task's duration, the cumulative work values for the task are 10, 20, and 30. You can see how these hours are distributed into the different assignments by reviewing the information in the corresponding assignment rows below the task information.

Cumulative Work (resource-timephased field)

Entry Type    Calculated

How Calculated    The Cumulative Work field for resources is based on work already performed by the resource, combined with scheduled remaining work assigned to the resource. These values are based on the resource Work field and added to the previous time period for the cumulative value. For each time period, cumulative work equals cumulative work for the previous period plus scheduled work for this period.

Best Uses    Add the Cumulative Work field to the timephased portion of the Resource Usage view when you want to review the cumulative work scheduled for the resource to date.

Example    Sean is assigned to several different tasks. You add the Cumulative Work field to the timephased portion of the Resource Usage view. For the first 5 days of the project, the cumulative work values for Sean are 8, 16, 24, 32, and 40. You can see how these hours are distributed into the different assignments by reviewing the information in the corresponding assignment rows below the resource information.

Cumulative Work (assignment-timephased field)

Entry Type    Calculated

How Calculated    The Cumulative Work field for assignments is based on work already performed on the assignment, combined with scheduled remaining work on the assignment. These values are based on the assignment Work field and added to the previous time period for the cumulative value. Cumulative work equals cumulative work for the previous period plus scheduled work for this period.

Best Uses    Add the Cumulative Work field to the timephased portion of the Task Usage or Resource Usage view when you want to review the cumulative work scheduled for the assignment to date.

Example    Sean is assigned to 20 hours of work for the "Develop estimate" task with a duration of 4 days. The scheduled work for the 4 days is 4, 4, 8, and 4 hours. You add the Cumulative Work field to the timephased portion of the Task Usage view. For the 4 days of this task's duration, the cumulative work values for Sean are 4, 8, 16, and 20.