Burn rate and forecast

Without a period, the app reports variance only. With one, it adds a simple linear burn model, the same one most teams compute by hand.

Setting the period

Under Burn rate and forecast, choose a Project period:

• Start and end dates: type the dates. The end date is inclusive.
• Timeline column: the period runs from the earliest start to the latest end of that column across the connected items. The picker lists Timeline columns from the first source board. If the board has none, use start and end dates instead.

Turn the section off to hide the burn figures without losing the period.

What is shown

• Plan to date: the share of the budget a straight-line plan would have spent by today.
• Pace: Actual divided by plan to date. Above 1 means spending faster than plan.
• Daily burn: Actual divided by elapsed days, available after the first full day.
• Forecast at completion: Actual projected over the whole period, plus committed amounts. It needs at least 5 percent of the period to have elapsed; earlier than that the projection is not meaningful and stays blank. A forecast above the budget is flagged as trending over.
• Days left and Runway: how long the period still runs, and how many days the remaining money lasts at the current daily burn. Runway shorter than days left is flagged.

Before the period starts, the figures show the period as not started. After it ends, the elapsed share is 100 percent and the forecast equals the totals.

Limits of the model

The model is linear on purpose. It does not know about phases, seasonality, or lumpy invoices, and it does not read the Time Tracking column or hourly rates. Treat the forecast as an early warning, not as a plan of record.