Basic principle
A running project encompasses three types of activities at any given time:
Completed activities: start and end date.
Active activities: have a start date but are not yet completed.
Not yet started activities: no actual data is available yet
The forecasted end date answers the question: When will the project be completed, based on the actual progress to date?
The planning engine calculates this using the Critical Path Method, where completed and active activities are bound to their real dates, while not yet started activities are shifted to maintain all dependencies.
Completed activities
Completed activities are fixed to their actual dates. Original planned targets and incoming dependencies are ignored, as only what actually occurred matters. The fixed end date directly affects dependent successors: if an activity is completed later than planned, all dependent activities shift accordingly according to CPM logic.
The dependencies on completed activities are also given special consideration so that buffer times (Float) and the critical path are calculated correctly.
Active activities
A started but not yet completed activity is fixed to its actual start date. Its forecasted end date is derived from:
forecasted end = Today + (planned cycle time - active days)
If this date is in the past (the activity is behind schedule), the forecasted end is set to at least today's date. This reflects the real constraint that an activity cannot be completed before the current point in time.
Not yet started activities
Activities without actual data are scheduled using the normal CPM forward pass.
Since completed predecessors are firmly anchored, delays are automatically propagated along the dependency chain. As a result, subsequent not yet started activities shift accordingly.
Forecasted project end date
The forecasted end date of the project is the latest end date of all activities in the overall schedule — analogous to the standard CPM calculation.
It shows when the project is expected to be completed, based on current progress.
Critical path
The critical path is calculated from the combined schedule as usual.
It shows which sequence of activities (completed, active, or not yet started) determines the forecasted end date. This makes it visible which future activities are particularly critical and whether delays in already completed activities have lasting effects on the project completion.