Program management

In Fusion Online, program management extends the principles of the ProChain System and critical chain scheduling to large, complex projects made up of multiple interconnected components. These components—called subprojects—are organized in a program, which is treated as a single, integrated network of tasks and dependencies.

This concept article explains how Fusion Online supports program management and how scheduling and analysis work across interconnected projects.

What is a program?

A program in Fusion Online is a high-level project that references one or more subprojects. These subprojects are represented as projects in Fusion Online. They are significant enough to warrant their own plans and often have their own project managers. Together, the program and its subprojects form a single network of tasks across multiple projects.

The key characteristics of a program are:

• The program includes subproject references that connect tasks or entire subprojects together.

• The Project Scheduler in Fusion Online treats the entire network as one schedule.

• Buffers are calculated for true endpoints—deliverables represented by tasks that have not successors.

• A task that appears to have no successors might not be a true endpoint if it is contained in a subproject reference.

Subproject references

A subproject reference is a task that points to another project or to a task in another project. These references form links between program and subprojects and allow the entire program to be scheduled together as a single network.

Subproject references must be created in the Task Details screen of Fusion Desktop or Fusion Pipeline, not directly in Fusion Online. Fusion Online supports the scheduling and analysis of programs once these references are defined.

In Fusion Online, you can:

• Filter for subproject references in any task view.

• See details of subproject references in the Task Details view.

• See cross-project relationships in the Project Details view.

Program project and scheduling

Each program is anchored by a designated program project, which serves as the scheduling hub. You must run Update Schedule or Reschedule from the program project in order to calculate projected times and buffer usage across the entire program network.

• Subprojects cannot be scheduled individually unless they are designated as independent (see below).

• All updates and recalculations must be run from the top-level program project.

Independent subprojects

In some cases, you may want to reference a project from another project or program, even though the first project is scheduled separately. For example, you may have a standalone project that creates a component used in the development of several other products. In that case, the development projects might have tasks that reference the standalone project, in order to make sure tasks that use the component are scheduled after the component is created. This kind of reference is known as an independent subproject.

Fusion Online handles independent subprojects as follows:

• The scheduler pulls current schedule data from the independent subproject.

• The reference task in the program is scheduled using the independent’s latest data.

• The independent subproject is not updated when the program is rescheduled—it must be updated independently.

• A project can be an independent subproject to multiple programs, but can only be scheduled as a dependent piece of one program.

You can disconnect a subproject and make it independent in the Project Details view.

Program information in Fusion Online

To better understand program relationships, go to the Project Details view of any project. You’ll see:

• If this project is a program or a subproject.

• If it references or is referenced by other projects.

• If it’s an independent subproject.

This makes it easier to manage project dependencies and understand scheduling responsibilities across teams.

Resource modeling and analysis in programs

Since a program spans multiple projects, effective resource modeling becomes even more important. Fusion Online allows you to:

• Model different resource limitations in subprojects and the program

• Incorporate resource hierarchies in the program

• Roll up load data from subprojects into the program’s scheduling and analysis

• Use the Resource Views and Load Graphs to monitor and manage capacity across the entire program

Scheduling and buffering

Fusion Online treats the program as a single project network:

• The Project Scheduler schedules all tasks together, across subprojects.

• Buffers are calculated for program-level endpoints (the true deliverables of the entire network).

Use Fusion Pipeline for program planning

Creating and maintaining program structures—including defining subproject references—must be done in Fusion Pipeline.

• Fusion Desktop alone cannot schedule programs.

• You’ll need a Fusion Pipeline license to build and schedule multi-project programs in Microsoft Project.

• For more detailed guidance on setting up and managing programs, refer to the Fusion Pipeline User’s Guide.

Summary

Program management in Fusion Online allows you to scale up from individual project planning to complex, multi-project networks with confidence. By connecting subprojects through references and scheduling them as a unified network, Fusion Online supports accurate, integrated planning and execution—ensuring that critical deliverables across teams and projects remain on track.

See Also

• Fusion Pipeline User’s Guide