Altus for Project allows organisations to manage detailed schedule and cost information within Microsoft Project while publishing that information into Altus Financials for reporting, governance, portfolio visibility, and financial oversight.

This capability enables organisations to:

• Maintain detailed cost management within Microsoft Project.
• Publish project cost information into Altus Financials.
• Reduce duplicate data entry across systems.
• Improve alignment between project schedules and financial reporting.
• Support portfolio reporting and governance processes using Altus.

Published financial information can include costs derived from:

• Work Resources
• Material Resources
• Cost Resources
• Actual Costs
• Remaining Costs
• Forecast Costs

Important:
Before enabling this capability, determine which system will act as the source of truth for project cost management.

Once enabled, Microsoft Project becomes the authoritative source for Forecast and Actual project costs.

Understand Your Cost Management Approach

Altus supports multiple approaches to managing project financial information.

Before enabling Microsoft Project cost publishing, determine where project costs will be maintained.

Microsoft Project as the Cost Source

Use this approach when:

• Project Managers maintain cost forecasts in Microsoft Project.
• Resource costs are calculated from schedule information.
• Cost management forms part of schedule management activities.
• Altus Financials is being used primarily for governance, reporting, and visibility.

In this model:

• Costs are maintained in Microsoft Project.
• Financial information is published into Altus.
• Altus becomes the reporting and visibility layer.

Altus Financials as the Cost Source

Use this approach when:

• Project budgets and forecasts are maintained directly within Altus.
• Financial ownership sits with PMOs, Finance Teams, or Financial Controllers.
• Project costs are managed independently of the schedule.

In this model:

• Financial information is maintained in Altus.
• Microsoft Project remains focused on schedule management.

Important:
Organisations should avoid maintaining the same financial information independently in both Microsoft Project and Altus Financials as this can lead to reporting inconsistencies.

Before You Begin

Confirm that:

• Altus for Project is installed.
• The MPP file has been linked to an Altus Project.
• The MPP file can successfully connect to Altus.
• Financials are enabled for the Project.
• You have permission to publish schedule information.
• The latest schedule updates have been saved.

Important:
Cost publishing can only be used after the Microsoft Project Plan has been linked to Altus.

Enable Microsoft Project Cost Publishing

Before financial information can be published, the linked Altus Project must be configured to use Microsoft Project as the financial source.

1. Open the linked Project in Altus.
2. Open the Finance App.
3. Select Data.
4. Enable Cost Publishing from Microsoft Project Schedule.
5. Review the information displayed.
6. Select Save.

Important:
Enabling Microsoft Project cost publishing changes how financial information is maintained.

After this setting is enabled:

• Forecast values become read-only in the Finance App.
• Actual values become read-only in the Finance App.
• Forecast updates must be made in Microsoft Project.
• Actual cost updates must be made in Microsoft Project.

Microsoft Project becomes the source of truth for project financial information.

Understand What Cost Information Is Published

Altus publishes cost information calculated from the linked Microsoft Project schedule.

Depending on schedule configuration, published information may include:

• Work Resource costs
• Material Resource costs
• Cost Resource costs
• Actual costs
• Remaining costs
• Forecast costs

The source information remains within Microsoft Project and is published into Altus Financials for governance and reporting purposes.

Important:
Publishing costs does not move cost ownership into Altus.

Financial updates must continue to be maintained in Microsoft Project once cost publishing has been enabled.

Understand How Cost Information Is Displayed

Microsoft Project can contain highly detailed cost information, including daily and weekly tracking of resource and project costs.

When cost information is published:

• Detailed calculations remain within Microsoft Project.
• Altus aggregates financial information to monthly reporting periods.
• Financial values are consolidated for governance and reporting purposes.

For example:

• Daily cost entries remain in Microsoft Project.
• Weekly cost detail remains in Microsoft Project.
• Altus groups the published information into monthly financial periods.

Important:
Altus Financials does not replicate every individual cost transaction from Microsoft Project.

Published financial information is consolidated into monthly reporting values within Altus.

Connect the MPP File to Altus

Before publishing cost information:

1. Locate the linked MPP file.
2. Open the file in Microsoft Project.
3. Select the Altus ribbon.
4. Select Connect to Altus.
5. Wait for the connection process to complete.

During the connection process, Altus for Project checks for differences and refreshes relevant information, including:

• Resource rates
• Working time definitions
• Resource calendars
• Calendar exceptions
• Other configured resource information

Tip:
Always connect before publishing schedule or financial updates so that the latest resource rates and calendar information are used.

Publish Cost Information

Once the project is connected:

1. Open the linked Microsoft Project Plan.
2. Select the Altus ribbon.
3. Select Connect to Altus if a connection has not already been established.
4. Select Publish Tasks.
5. Wait for the publish process to complete.
6. Monitor the progress window.
7. Confirm that the Financial Data publishing stage completes successfully.
8. Select Close.

Important:
Cost publishing is included as part of the standard publish process.

You do not need to run a separate financial publishing process.

During publishing, Altus processes:

• Schedule information
• Dependencies
• Resource information
• Financial information

Verify the Published Information

After publishing:

1. Return to the linked Project in Altus.
2. Open the Finance App.
3. Refresh the page.
4. Review the published values.

Published information may include:

• Historical Actual costs
• Current Actual costs
• Forecast costs
• Remaining cost values
• Monthly financial breakdowns
• Project financial totals

Tip:
After the first publish, compare the financial totals displayed in Altus against the linked Microsoft Project schedule to confirm that the configuration is working as expected.

Understand Ongoing Cost Updates

Publishing cost information is not a one-time activity.

As the project progresses:

• New Actual costs may be recorded.
• Forecast values may change.
• Remaining costs may reduce.
• Schedules may be updated.

Whenever financial information changes:

1. Update the schedule in Microsoft Project.
2. Save the MPP file.
3. Connect to Altus.
4. Publish the schedule.

Altus Financials will then display the latest cost information.

Important:
Once cost publishing is enabled, future financial changes should be made in Microsoft Project and republished to Altus.

Reporting and Governance Benefits

Publishing Microsoft Project costs into Altus supports:

• Portfolio reporting
• Program reporting
• Executive dashboards
• Financial governance
• Project oversight
• Forecast visibility
• Schedule-to-financial alignment

By maintaining one source of financial information and publishing it into Altus, organisations can reduce manual reconciliation and improve reporting consistency.

Troubleshooting

Cost Information Is Not Appearing in Altus

Check that:

• Cost publishing has been enabled in the Finance App.
• The project is correctly linked.
• The MPP file successfully connected to Altus.
• The publish process completed successfully.
• Financials are enabled for the Project.
• Any validation warnings were reviewed.

Forecasts and Actuals Cannot Be Edited in Altus

This behaviour is expected.

When Microsoft Project cost publishing is enabled:

• Forecasts become read-only.
• Actuals become read-only.

All financial updates must be made within Microsoft Project and republished.

Published Values Do Not Match Expectations

Confirm that:

• The latest MPP file was used.
• Schedule changes were saved before publishing.
• Resource rates are current.
• The correct project is linked.
• The publish process completed successfully.

Key Considerations

• Cost publishing must be enabled in the Finance App before financial information can be published.
• Enabling cost publishing makes Forecast and Actual values read-only in Altus Financials.
• Microsoft Project becomes the source of truth for project cost information.
• Work Resources, Material Resources, and Cost Resources can all contribute to published financial values.
• Detailed cost information remains within Microsoft Project.
• Altus aggregates published financial information into monthly reporting periods.
• Financial publishing forms part of the standard publish process.
• Future schedule and cost changes should be republished to keep Altus current.
• Resource rates, calendars, working time, and calendar exceptions are refreshed during the connection process.

Tips

• Decide where project costs will be managed before enabling cost publishing.
• Connect to Altus before publishing schedule or financial updates.
• Validate the first publish before relying on portfolio reports.
• Include financial publishing in project governance procedures.
• Publish cost information after major forecast updates.
• Ensure schedule owners understand that financial management is now controlled from Microsoft Project.
• Document the location of the linked MPP file so future schedule owners can continue publishing updates.
• Review financial totals periodically to confirm ongoing alignment between Microsoft Project and Altus.

Related Articles

• Integrate a Microsoft Project Plan (MPP) in the Altus app
• Import approved timesheet actuals into the Microsoft Project Plan (MPP)
• How Altus Synchronises Calendars, Working Time and Resource Rates with Microsoft Project
• Track task progress and variance in the schedule