LiquidPlanner’s predictive scheduling engine answers some of the toughest Project Management questions teams face:

• When will my project finish?
• Can I meet the deadlines in front of me?
• When can my team take on more work?
• Can we accept new projects with our existing priorities?

The scheduling engine is the core driver of LiquidPlanner’s Planning Intelligence, which answers these questions, and more. It was designed for teams that need to understand what projects they can deliver and when with their available resources and the existing priorities in their project portfolio. The scheduling engine not only helps teams forecast project delivery with accuracy, but also provides insights along to way to help teams navigate project risk and adapt to change.

Are you managing complex projects or balancing a multi-project portfolio? If so, you know it is impossible to calculate realistic start and finish dates for all that project work in your head. Luckily, LiquidPlanner’s scheduling engine does the math for you. Even when scope changes, priorities shift or new work comes in, the scheduling engine automatically calculates these impacts (good or bad!) across the project portfolio. This ensures teams always know when project deliverables can realistically finish based on current conditions, and provides real-time insight into project risk before it is too late.

If you are looking to focus people on the right priorities, manage uncertainty and quickly adapt to change to hit your project deadlines… this video is for you!

Here’s how the scheduling engine works:

Liquidplanner’s scheduling engine calculates start and finish dates by using a sophisticated algorithm that runs Monte Carlo simulations on the whole portfolio, all while respecting your important project constraints like prioritization, dependencies, target dates and team member availability. The scheduling algorithm uses three inputs to determine when you will start and finish your work, and it all begins with your planning process:

1. First, prioritize your work. LiquidPlanner looks at the priority order of every item to determine what should start first.
2. Then, assign your team. Assign team members to your tasks and LiquidPlanner will look at their availability to determine when they can take on that work.
3. Finally, add an estimate to your work. Add a best case, worst case estimate to capture the uncertainty that comes with every project.

The result: a schedule that updates dynamically as work starts and finishes, warning you when there are risks and helping you optimize workload while never overloading anyone.

The scheduling engine displays your calculated date so you know when projects will finish with 90% confidence. Want to learn more? Check out our Academy for additional lessons and content.

See you next time!