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Forecast AI: Capabilities and Prompt Examples

Darby Kiernan
  • Updated

This article explains what the Forecast MCP tools support, common use cases, and example prompts to help you get started. 

It also walks through the capabilities of both Forecast's Ask AI agent and your connected AI assistant, showing how each can answer questions and help you take action in Forecast.

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Available MCP Tools

Ask AI (Built into Forecast): Capabilities and Prompt Examples

When Connected to Your AI Assistant: Capabilities and Prompt Examples 

Available MCP Tools

This reference provides an overview of the Forecast MCP server's available tools, organized by category.

The Ask AI agent and any connected LLM currently run on the same MCP server and the same underlying tools, for both reads and writes. That could change in the future.

New tools are continuously being added to the MCP. To view all currently available tools, you can prompt the connected LLM (e.g., Claude) to display the full tool list.

Here are the current tools split into two tables:

Read Capabilities

Tool Description
compare_time_periods Compare hours logged in one date range against another, side by side.
find_person Look up a team member by name.
find_phase Look up a phase within a specific project by name.
find_task Find a task by name, for a specific person and/or project.
get_clients See a list of all your clients.
get_current_datetime Get today's date and time, plus the current month and quarter.
get_current_person Identify who's currently logged in.
get_leave Check for public holidays that might affect a team member's availability in a date range.
get_non_billable_time See un billed hours by project or by person.
get_person Pull up details for a specific team member.
get_person_projects See which projects a team member is assigned to.
get_person_utilization Get a detailed utilization breakdown for one person.
get_portfolio_health See your riskiest projects, ranked.
get_project_billing_breakdown See billable vs. un billed hours for a project, broken down by approval status.
get_project_burn_risk Check whether a project is on track to go over budget.
get_project_columns See the workflow stages (columns) set up for a project.
get_project_status Get a full health summary for a project.
get_rate_cards See your company's rate cards and which roles they apply to.
get_report_taxonomy Look up the correct terms and filters for building reports.
get_project_persons See who's on a project's team.
get_roles See the list of roles available in your company.
get_team_availability See who's available and when, for a date range.
get_team_utilization Get an overall utilization summary for your team.
get_time_analysis Pull logged time for a date range, with filters.
list_baseline_roles See the planned roles (baseline) set up for a project's phases.
list_people See everyone in your company.
list_placeholders See the placeholder roles set up on a project.
list_project_tasks See every task in a project.
list_projects See your projects, filterable by stage, client, or end date.
resolve_report_entities Match names you type to actual records in Forecast.
scan_burn_risk Scan all your projects for budget risk.
search_projects Search for a project by name.

Write Capabilities

Tool Description
confirm_allocation_offset Apply a previously previewed shift to allocation dates.
confirm_create_allocation Confirm and create a resource allocation you've previewed.
confirm_create_baseline_role Confirm and add a previewed baseline role to a project.
confirm_create_contact_person Confirm and set a person as a project owner/contact.
confirm_create_deliverable Confirm and create a previewed deliverable.
confirm_create_phase Confirm and create a previewed project phase.
confirm_create_placeholder Confirm and create a previewed role placeholder.
confirm_create_placeholders_from_baseline Confirm and create placeholders for all baseline roles at once.
confirm_create_team_member Confirm and add a previewed team member to a project.
confirm_date_offset Apply a previously previewed date shift to a phase or milestone.
confirm_duplicate_project Confirm and create a duplicate of an existing project.
confirm_project_dates Confirm previewed changes to a project's start/end dates.
confirm_project_stage_update Confirm a previewed change to a project's stage.
confirm_task_assignment Confirm and apply a previewed task assignment.
confirm_task_date_offset Confirm and apply a previewed shift to task dates.
confirm_task_date_set Confirm and set specific task dates you've previewed.
confirm_task_reassignment Confirm and apply a previewed task reassignment.
confirm_task_status_update Confirm and apply a previewed status update across multiple tasks.
confirm_time_registration_create Confirm and log previewed time entries.
confirm_time_registration_edit Confirm and apply previewed edits to existing time entries.
create_project Create a new project in Forecast.
delete_baseline_role Remove a baseline role. 
delete_deliverable Remove a deliverable. 
delete_placeholder Remove a placeholder role. 
delete_project Remove a project. 
plan_allocation_offset Preview shifting an allocation's dates before applying it.
plan_create_allocation Preview a new resource allocation before creating it.
plan_create_baseline_role Preview adding a baseline role to a project before confirming.
plan_create_contact_person Preview setting someone as a project owner/contact before confirming.
plan_create_deliverable Preview a new deliverable before creating it.
plan_create_phase Preview a new project phase before creating it.
plan_create_placeholder Preview a new role placeholder before creating it.
plan_create_placeholders_from_baseline Preview creating placeholders for all baseline roles at once.
plan_create_team_member Preview adding someone to a project's team before confirming.
plan_date_offset Preview shifting a phase or milestone's dates before applying.
plan_duplicate_project Preview duplicating a project before creating the copy.
plan_project_dates Preview changes to a project's start/end dates before confirming.
plan_project_stage_update Preview a change to a project's stage before confirming.
plan_task_assignment Preview assigning someone to tasks before confirming.
plan_task_date_offset Preview shifting task dates before confirming.
plan_task_date_set Preview setting specific task dates before confirming.
plan_task_reassignment Preview reassigning tasks to someone else before confirming.
plan_task_status_update Preview moving tasks to a new workflow stage before confirming.
plan_time_registration_create Preview new time entries before logging them.
plan_time_registration_edit Preview bulk edits to existing time entries before confirming.
record_commit_audit Keep a record of what was created and planned for a new project. 

Ask AI (Built into Forecast): Capabilities and Prompt Examples

If you’re using Ask AI in the application, simply describe what you need in your own words. The assistant understands your request and selects the right function for you. 

Project and portfolio health

Capability Try asking
Get visibility into project status, timelines, and financials. Review a single project or identify areas that need attention across your portfolio.
  • "What is the status of this project?"
  • "Which projects are at risk?"
  • "Show me the projects with the biggest concerns"

Team capacity

Capability Try asking
Understand who has availability, who is over-allocated, and how capacity compares with your People Schedule Dashboard.
  • "Who has availability next month?"
  • "Who is over-allocated this week?"
  • "Show me team capacity for the next 30 days"

Time and billing

Capability Try asking
Review billable and non-billable time, billing details, and comparisons across different time periods.
  • "How much billable time was logged this month?"
  • "Show me non-billable time by project"
  • "Compare billing performance to last quarter"

Leave and holidays

Capability Try asking
Identify public holiday conflicts across any date range.
  • "Are there any public holiday conflicts in July?"
  • "Show me holiday clashes for the (Project Name) project timeline"

Reassign tasks in bulk

Capability Try asking
Move multiple tasks from one person to another in a single request instead of updating each task individually.
  • "Reassign all of (Team Member Name) tasks on the (Project Name) project to (Team Member Name)"
  • "Move these tasks from (Team Member) to (Team Member)" 

Move tasks through your workflow

Capability Try asking
Update task workflow stages (To Do, In Progress, Done) without opening each task individually or navigating to the Task Board.
  • "Move these tasks in the (Project Name) project to Done"
  • "Move all tasks in the (Project Name) project to To Do"

Reschedule tasks, phases, and allocations

Capability Try asking
Adjust dates by moving a task, phase, or allocation forward or backward.
  • "Move this task out by 5 days."
  • "Push the (Phase Name) on this (Project Name) back by 2 weeks"
  • "Extend (Team Member Name) allocation by 10 days on the (Project Name) project"

Update and log time

Capability Try asking
Add new time entries or update existing entries. Time is entered in minutes for simple tracking and calculations.
  • "Log 90 minutes to this task."
  • "I need to update my time entry notes from yesterday"

When Connected to Your AI Assistant: Capabilities and Prompt Examples

Every request uses your signed-in Forecast permissions, so the same access rules and controls from the application always apply, and every change is shown to you before it's applied.

Ask questions about your work 

Capability Try asking
Find a project by name, even if the name isn't an exact match.
  • "Pull up the (Project Name) project"
  • "Find the project called 'Elastic Business' — I don't remember the exact name"
View a project's status, schedule, and financial details.
  • "What's the status of the (Project Name) project?"
  • "Show me the schedule and budget for project P10"
  • "How's the (Project Name) project tracking against its financials?"

View a list of projects or rank the full portfolio by severity. See how severity is calculated.
  • "Which projects are at risk right now?"
  • "Rank all running projects by risk severity"
Identify who has available capacity across a selected date range.
  • "Who's free next week to pick up a new project?"
  • "Show me team availability for the first two weeks of August"
View utilization for an individual or team, aligned with the People Schedule dashboard.
  • "What's (Team Member Name) utilization this month?"
  • "Show me team utilization for the last 30 days"
Review time rollups and compare performance across different periods.
  • "How many hours did we log on the (Project Name) project last month?"
View non-billable time by project or person.
  • "How much non-billable time has (Team Member Name) logged this quarter?"
  • "Show non-billable hours across all active projects"
Review billing details for a project.
  • "Break down billable vs. un billed hours for the (Project Name) project" 
  • "What's the billing status on project P5"
Identify public holiday conflicts across a date range.
  • "Are there any holiday conflicts for the team between July 20th and August 5th?"
Look up roles by name.
  • "Who's assigned the Project Manager role"
Understand date-based requests using terms like "today," "current quarter," and "next month."
  • "What's on the books for next month?"
  • "Show me projects ending this current quarter"

How risk severity is calculated

Nova calculates a risk score for each project to help flag potential health and timing concerns before they become problems. The score is based on four factors:

Project status: If a status color has been manually set for the project, that's used. Otherwise, Nova uses the system-suggested status.

  • Green: no points added
  • Amber: +30
  • Red: +60

Timing: 

  • Project is past its deadline: +20
  • Project is due to end within the next 14 days: +10

Budget health: If budget health is flagged as Red or Amber: +10

Predicted end date health: If the predicted end date health is flagged as Red or Amber: +10

The points from all applicable factors are added together to produce the overall risk score. A higher score indicates a project that may need closer attention.

Find people and tasks

Capability Try asking
Find a person by name or browse a list of people, with suggested matches when multiple results are available.
  • "Find someone named Simon - I'm not sure of their last name"
See which projects a person is allocated to, and view the tasks a team member is assigned to on a specific project, including their status.
  • "What projects is (Team Member Name) allocated to?"
  • "What tasks is (Team Member Name) assigned to on the (Project Name) project"? 
Find a task by ID or name, and narrow results by project or assignee.
  • "Find task T411"

Reassign and reschedule tasks

Capability Try asking
Reassign multiple tasks from one person to another in a single action.
  • "Reassign all of (Team Member Name) tasks on the (Project Name) project to (Team Member Name)"
Move tasks to a different workflow stage by choosing from the available columns provided.
  • "Move the (Task Name) task to Done"
Adjust task start and end dates by shifting them forward or backward by a set number of days.
  • "Push the tasks on the (Project Name) project back by 3 days"
  • "Pull the tasks on the (Project Name) project forward by a week"

Reschedule phases, milestones, and allocations

Capability Try asking
Find a phase by name within a project.
  • "Find the (Phase Name) on the (Project Name) project"
Adjust phase dates by shifting them forward or backward by a set number of days.
  • "Shift the (Phase Name) phase on the (Project Name) back by 5 days"
Adjust allocation dates by shifting them forward or backward by a set number of days.
  • "Extend (Team Member Name) allocation by 10 days on the (Project Name) project" 

Log and edit time

Capability Try asking
Add new time entries to a task or project, entered in minutes.
  • "Log 3 hours for (Team Member Name) on the (Task Name) task yesterday"
  • "Add 90 minutes to the (Task Name) task for (Team Member Name) on July 14th"
Update existing time entries by adjusting dates or notes.
  • "Update my time entry notes for yesterday."

Keep exploring

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