This feature allows project managers to publish cost data directly from their Microsoft Project (MPP) schedule into Altus Financials as part of the standard publish process.
When enabled, forecast and actual costs maintained in MPP are brought into Altus Financials and displayed alongside any manually entered financial data. Imported values are read-only, while user-created entries remain editable.
Budgets and baseline values are not included in this process and are not modified. Only forecast and actual costs are imported.
The feature is controlled by a project-level setting and respects existing financial controls such as forecast locks, actuals locks, and fiscal period locks. Depending on these controls, or where manual entries are used, differences may occur between MPP and Altus Financials.
For information on how to enable this feature, refer to the Setup Guide.
Key behaviours
Cost data is published from MPP as part of the standard publish process
Forecast and actual costs are imported (no budgets or baselines)
Imported values are read-only
Costs are aggregated monthly
Locks and manual entries may result in differences between MPP and Altus Financials
Required settings (must be enabled first)
Scenario
How it works in MPP
How it behaves in Altus Financials
Feature enabled (project level)
N/A
The project manager must turn this on for their project before financial data will be included in publish.
Core publish behaviour
Scenario
How it works in MPP
How it behaves in Altus Financials
Publish process
User updates schedule, resources, and costs in MPP.
When the PM clicks publish, Altus brings across the latest financial data. If there is no financial data, this step is skipped.
Re-publishing
User updates and republishes MPP.
Each publish replaces the previously imported financial data so Altus always reflects the latest version from MPP. If fiscal periods are locked, data within those periods is not modified.
Time and aggregation
Scenario
How it works in MPP
How it behaves in Altus Financials
Monthly view of costs
Costs can be spread across many days.
In Altus Financials, costs are grouped by month. Each month’s value is stored on a single date within that month - the last day of the month.
Aggregation by cost type
Costs may be entered against resources, materials, or tasks.
Resource and material costs are grouped into one row per resource per month. Fixed costs and cost resources are kept as separate rows per task.
Locks and controls
Scenario
How it works in MPP
How it behaves in Altus Financials
Forecast lock (setting) turned on in Altus
N/A
Forecast values are not imported when this is turned on. Publish continues without warning.
Actuals lock (setting) turned on in Altus
N/A
Actual values are not imported when this is turned on. Publish continues without warning.
Fiscal period locked in Altus
N/A
Any values for locked periods are ignored during publish. No warning is shown, which may result in differences between MPP and Altus Financials.
Financial values
Scenario
How it works in MPP
How it behaves in Altus Financials
Forecast values
Forecast costs are set in MPP across tasks and resources.
Forecasts are brought into Altus Financials and shown as read-only values. Forecasts are skipped if forecast locks are in place, or if the relevant fiscal period is locked. If Transaction Type Locks are in place but a Security Role allows overwriting, users with that role can still update locked values. If they perform a publish from MPP, those values will be updated.
Actual values
Actual costs can be present in MPP.
Actuals are brought into Altus Financials and shown as read-only values. Actuals are skipped if actuals locks are in place, or if the relevant fiscal period is locked.
Financial category
N/A
A default financial category is applied to the imported records using the same logic as the Resource Plan to Finance sync. This field remains editable within Altus Financials, and any changes made by the user are retained after future publishes.
Manual financial entries
Costs are managed within the project plan.
Users can add their own cost rows into Altus Financials directly. These remain editable and sit alongside the imported data without being changed by publish. Note: Adding manual entries will result in differences between MPP and Altus Financials.
Duplicate names (manual vs imported)
N/A
Users can create rows with the same name as imported items. These do not merge and remain separate.
Existing financial data on first publish
Cost exist in the MPP
On first publish after enabling this feature, any cost data previously imported from the Resource Plan or Timesheets is removed and replaced with MPP data. Any cost data entered directly into Altus Financials (budget, forecast, or actual) remains unchanged.
Resource-based costs
Scenario
How it works in MPP
How it behaves in Altus Financials
Task assigned to Altus resource
Task is assigned to a resource from the Altus resource pool.
All work for that resource is combined into a single row per month in Altus Financials.
Task assigned to MPP local resource
Task is assigned to a resource created only within the MPP.
The resource is brought into Altus Financials exactly as named in MPP, with costs grouped into a single row per month.
Mixed resources on a task
Task includes both Altus and local resources.
Each resource is treated separately and shown in its own row.
Resource across multiple tasks
Same resource works on several tasks.
All of their work is combined into one row per month.
Resource naming
Resource names are defined in MPP.
Names are carried across exactly as they are seen in the MPP. No changes are applied.
Resource changed from local to Altus
A local MPP resource is initially assigned, then later replaced with an Altus resource.
After the next publish, financials are updated to reflect the new resource assignment.
Other cost types
Scenario
How it works in MPP
How it behaves in Altus Financials
Material resources
Task is assigned to a material resource.
Each material resource appears in its own row with monthly totals.
Cost resources
Task is assigned to a cost resource.
Each task creates its own row in Altus Financials using the task name.
Fixed cost task
A cost is entered directly on a task.
Each task creates its own row in Altus Financials using the task name.
Fixed Cost Accrual options
Fixed costs can be set to accrue as prorated, at the start, or at the end of the task.
The financial data is distributed across the task in Altus Financials in line with the accrual setting in MPP.
Multiple fixed cost tasks
Several tasks each have fixed costs.
Each task appears as a separate row.
Additional rules and behaviours
Scenario
How it works in MPP
How it behaves in Altus Financials
Scheduling types (manual vs auto)
Tasks can be manually scheduled or automatically scheduled in MPP.
The scheduling type doesn't effect the way the data comes through to Altus Financials.
Summary task (roll-up only)
Summary task shows totals from child tasks.
Summary tasks are ignored and do not create financial entries.
Summary task with resource
Resource assigned to summary task.
Summary tasks are ignored and do not create financial entries.
Summary task with direct cost associated with it
Cost entered directly on summary task. Note: this is poor project hygiene.
This type of task is ignored.
Milestone with a direct cost associated with it
Milestone includes cost values.
The milestone appears in Altus Financials as a task-based row, consistent with fixed cost tasks.
Milestone with resource and a direct cost associated with it
Resource assigned to milestone and includes cost values.
As there is no Work on the task, the resource is ignored and the milestone behaves as if there was no resource attached. The milestone appears in Altus Financials as a task-based row, consistent with fixed cost tasks.
No financial data in project
No costs in the project.
"Publishing Financial Data" step in publish process skipped.
MPP to Altus Financials setting isn't turned on for this project
N/A
"Publishing Financial Data" step in publish process skipped.
Behaviour to confirm (open items)
Scenario
How it works in MPP
How it behaves in Altus Financials
MPP disconnected, tasks retained in Altus
N/A
The Microsoft Project plan is disconnected from the Altus project, but the tasks are kept in Altus. New PBI. Expected behaviour: existing financial data remains in Altus Financials and changes from read-only to editable.
MPP disconnected, tasks deleted in Altus
N/A
The Microsoft Project plan is disconnected and the associated tasks are deleted from the Altus project. New PBI. Expected behaviour: financial data associated with the deleted tasks is removed from Altus Financials.
Error handling
N/A
To be confirmed how failures are shown to users.
Performance
Large or complex projects.
To be tested at scale as part of testing phase.
Note
While fixed costs, local resources, and material resources will have their cost information imported into Altus Financials, they will not be visible in Altus Tasks.
These items are available in Altus Financials only.
