Overview
Scenario Modelling lets planners try out changes to the portfolio without touching live data. A scenario is a copy of the initiatives that fall within a date range. Initiatives can be changed on a Gantt, and the cost, resource, and benefit charts update immediately to show the impact. Nothing done in a scenario changes the live portfolio.
Permissions
Strategic Portfolio Member permissions or above are required to use Scenario Modelling. Users with access can create, view, edit, and delete every scenario.
When a scenario is created, it includes only the initiatives and financial information the creating user has permission to see.
Sharing a scenario with a user will share all data in the scenario. This means that sharing a scenario with a restricted user they will see the cost, benefit and resource summaries for initiatives they may not have access to.
Managing scenarios
Scenario Modelling opens on the list of scenarios. Each entry shows the scenario name, key, import range, created date, and creator. When business unit or team filters were applied at creation, they are shown beneath the entry.
Create a scenario
Open Scenario Modelling and press "Create scenario".
Enter a name and, optionally, a description.
Select the import start date and end date.
Optionally, select one or more business units and teams to import only their initiatives.
Press "Create". A progress indicator shows while the scenario is built, and the scenario opens when it is ready.
Any initiative that starts or ends within the date range is imported.
Find and open a scenario
Open Scenario Modelling.
Enter part of the scenario name in the search box.
Select the scenario to open it.
Edit the scenario name and description
Open the scenario.
In the side panel, edit the name or the description.
Delete a scenario
Open Scenario Modelling.
Open the menu on the scenario and select "Delete".
Confirm the deletion. The scenario is removed from the list.
Modelling on the Gantt
The Gantt shows every initiative in the scenario. A line marks today, and "Today" jumps back to it. When an initiative is moved beyond the visible range, the Gantt extends by three months.
Move an initiative
Open the scenario.
Drag the initiative bar left or right. The bar snaps to the period.
Release the bar. The initiative keeps its duration, its cost and resource values move with it, and the charts update.
Resize an initiative
Open the scenario.
Choose the resize type
Drag the start or end edge of the initiative bar. The bar snaps to the period.
Release the bar. The charts update.
Three options control what happens to a project’s financial forecast and resource values when you change its duration in a scenario. Benefits keep their values and stay anchored to the initiative's end date. Actuals always keep their original value and date.
Extend / Trim | Original Distribution | Redistribute | |
|---|---|---|---|
What it does | Existing values stay in place. Lengthening the duration adds periods, and shortening it removes periods from the end. | Stretches or squeezes the existing financial forecast and resource values across the new duration, keeping their shape. | Spreads the total across the new duration in a shape you choose: Flat, Bell, Ramp up or Ramp down. |
Total | May change | Unchanged | Unchanged |
Best used when | The scope is changing. For example, a project overruns and needs extra months of cost, or it’s cut short and the dropped months’ spend should disappear from the forecast. | The budget or effort is fixed and only the timing moves. For example, a project with a slow start and a heavy middle is delivered faster or slower, and you want to keep that profile. | The original shape no longer fits, or there wasn’t one. For example, a lump sum was entered, or the project has been re-planned with a different delivery pattern, such as front-loaded mobilisation or a ramp-up to launch. |
Each move or resize is calculated from the initiative's original values, so successive changes do not build on each other.
Exclude an initiative
Excluding an initiative removes its forecast cost, resource, and benefit from the charts while its actuals remain.
Select the initiative on the Gantt.
Select "Exclude".
Remove an initiative from the scenario
Removing an initiative takes it out of the scenario completely, including its actuals.
Select the initiative on the Gantt.
Select "Remove from scenario".
Cost, resource, and benefit charts
The scenario shows one chart of each type, and each chart updates as initiatives are moved, resized, excluded, or removed.
Chart | What it shows |
|---|---|
Cost | The cost of the initiatives in the scenario over the cost range, with actual cost up to the actuals cut-off and forecast cost after it. A line marks the cut-off. |
Resource | Team capacity against the total demand for each team and skill over the resource range. |
Benefit | The benefit profile of the initiatives in the scenario over the benefit range. |
The cost and resource charts share a date range that starts as the import range. The benefit chart has its own range, which starts as the range of the benefit data.
Change a chart's date range
Open the scenario and find the chart.
Change the start date or end date in the chart's date range fields. Changing the range on the cost chart also changes it on the resource chart.
To return to the default, press "Reset" on the chart.
Filter a chart
Open the scenario and find the chart.
Open the chart's filter and select a dimension and one or more values. The cost and benefit charts filter by business unit. The resource chart filters by team and by the business unit of the team.
Each chart is filtered independently, so a filter on one chart does not affect the Gantt or any other chart.
Compare an initiative with its original
The initiative detail view shows an initiative's scenario values beside its original values: the monthly cost breakdown, the monthly benefit breakdown, and the resource breakdown per skill and period. Changed values are highlighted.
Open the initiative detail view
Open the scenario.
Click on the initiative title on the Gantt.
Select "Financials & resources".
Undo changes
Every initiative that has been changed is recorded in the scenario's change log.
Reset an initiative
Open the change log, or open the initiative detail view.
Select the initiative and press "Reset". The initiative returns to its original data and its ghost disappears.
Reset all initiatives
Open the change log.
Press "Reset all" and confirm. Every initiative returns to its original data.