Monthly Distribution
The Monthly Distribution view shows how work is spread across the life of your project, month by month. It compares the number of activities planned to start and finish in the baseline against what actually happened and what’s still planned in the current schedule. This helps you see when work peaked, where it fell behind, and whether the months ahead are realistic.
To view Monthly Distribution:
- Click the name of the project you want to analyze from the Project List.
- Click Analysis from the top navigation bar.
- Click Monthly Distribution from the left navigation bar.
- Use the dropdowns at the top to choose a model and milestone. Select a milestone to see only the activities that drive it.
Reading the chart:
The Monthly Activity Start & Finish Distribution chart shows the number of activities starting and finishing in each month. A vertical line marks the data date. Bars to the left show what actually happened, and bars to the right show what’s still planned.
| Metric | What it Shows |
|---|---|
| Current Starts (Actual) | Activities that actually started each month, based on the current schedule. |
| Current Finishes (Actual) | Activities that actually finished each month, based on the current schedule. |
| Baseline Starts | Activities planned to start each month in the baseline schedule. |
| Baseline Finishes | Activities planned to finish each month in the baseline schedule. |
| Current Starts (Planned) | Activities scheduled to start in future months, based on the current schedule. |
| Current Finishes (Planned) | Activities scheduled to finish in future months, based on the current schedule. |
| Average | The average number of activities per month for the metrics shown, calculated separately on each side of the data date. |
To hide or show a metric, click its name in the legend below the chart.
Note: The average lines include every metric currently shown. To see the average for a single metric, hide the others in the legend. Because each average only includes data on its own side of the data date, the two lines will usually have different values.
Using the distribution table:
Below the chart, the distribution table totals the baseline and current starts and finishes for the Actual months (before the data date) and the Planned months (after the data date).
- Click any number to see the activities behind it.
- Click the arrow next to a row to expand it.
Filtering and exporting:
- Click Filter at the top right to narrow the view by activity code, such as trade, area, or phase.
- Click Export to download the Monthly Distribution data to Excel.
Best Practices for using Monthly Distribution:
- Compare actual to baseline: If actual starts and finishes are consistently lower than the baseline, the project is falling behind its original pace.
- Check whether the plan is realistic: If the average to the right of the data date is much higher than the average to the left, the plan expects the team to complete more work per month than it has so far.
- Spot work bunching up: Months with unusually high bars can strain crews and create risk. Plan ahead for those stretches.
- Filter by trade or area: Narrow the view to see whether a specific trade or part of the project is keeping pace.