Display Cumulative Usage in an S-curve

An S-curve allows for more efficient resource allocation and dynamic scheduling by predicting resource utilization peaks as a project moves through various stages. You can view resource or role distribution for a project in an S-curve style chart by applying view settings to show cumulative usage values.

Resource and role histogram settings are configured on separate tabs in the Project Usage detail window, but you can enable an option to synchronize them so that the same configuration of settings is used for both. Resource and role histogram and spreadsheet settings are configured separately. All configuration settings are saved with the view. The resource and role histograms and spreadsheets can only be viewed from the current schedule. See Configure Resource and Role Usage Settings for all resource and role usage configuration options.

To display cumulative usage in a histogram with an S-curve:

  1. Navigate to the Activities page
  2. On the Activities page, in the Open menu, select Current Schedule.
  3. Select the Layout menu, and then select Project Usage
  4. Select the Resource Usage or Role Usage detail window.
  5. In the list of resources or roles, select the items for which you would like to display cumulative data.
  6. In the Resource Usage or Role Usage detail window, select Settings.
  7. In the Settings panel, on the Histogram tab, configure the following sections:
    • Not Stacked: This section contains settings for the Not Stacked Histogram view.
      • Bars & Curves option: Select Show Units or Show Costs to display unit or cost data in either histogram.
      • In the chart options table, choose graph bars and cumulative curves to display for each unit or cost field. Curves must be selected to include data from a selected option in the S-curve. You can also choose a color for each field's bar and curve, or accept the default color options.
        • Planned: The expected units required to complete the activity.
        • Actual: The actual units spent since the activity start date.
        • Remaining Early: The remaining units required to finish an activity earlier than the expected finish date.
        • Remaining Late: The remaining units that are available to finish an activity before it surpasses the expected finish date.
      • Display actuals using period values: Displays the Period Actual values for the resource assignments. When unselected, the histogram displays the Actuals.
      • Overallocation (Show Units only): Displays overallocated hours as a red bar.
      • Max Availability (Show Units only): Displays a line representing the combined maximum availability of the selected resources or roles.

        Notes:

        • To display data for Actuals, you must navigate to the Actions menu and select Recalculate Costs. Alternatively, you can select Recalculate Costs from the Schedule menu, on the Settings tab when scheduling the project.
        • When FTE is enabled, the Overallocation and Max Availability settings are hidden.
    • Graph: Select display options that apply to the histogram view.
      • Legend: A legend for the histograms' bars and curves.
      • Data date line: A line at the project's data date. For a program, the data date line will be on the earliest data date in the program.
      • Horizontal sight lines: A line for each Y-axis interval.
      • Vertical sight lines: A line for each X-axis interval.
      • Values on bars: The value of each bar is displayed on the bar.
      • Values on curves: The value of each curve is displayed on the curve.
      • Calendar: The calendar being used by the project is displayed next to the graph.

        Note: The cumulative curve display will begin one day prior to the planned start day to ensure that the planned curve starts at a zero point.

    • Stacked: Select Show cumulative curves, and then choose Individual cumulative curves or Total cumulative curve.
  8. Select Apply.

Tips