Role-based Capacity Planning
Definition
This capability provides the mechanism to set role-based, time-phased capacity targets.
It supports investment planning by providing the context of role-based capacity targets against which demand can be analyzed and an assessment made on the ability to take on new investments.
Business Outcomes
Capacity Targets
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We can set role-based capacity targets against which in-flight and potential new investments can be balanced.
Program Resource Planning
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We can forecast the effort required to deliver potential programs and their associated projects, expressing this demand against the relevant organizational and resource role.
Capacity and Demand Balancing
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We can assess our ability to successfully deliver potential new investments against resource capacity targets available to the organization.
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We can analyze the impact of new investments on resource capacity within the context of the existing portfolio of approved investments.
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We can schedule investments across time to optimize the use of resources.
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We can quickly identify capacity constraints as investments are approved and reallocate resources to high priority investments.
Process Flow
Role-based Capacity Planning process flow
Capacity Targets Process Steps
Capacity targets will have been set as part of the Strategic Funding process, specifically the budgeting stage (as highlighted below):
Capacity targets are set in the Strategic Funding process flow
| Process Step | Description |
|---|---|
| Create/manage financial targets/budget |
Analysis of investments is achieved by comparing what’s available, Capacity (which can be in the form of resource capacity or financial a budget against what is required) versus Demand (derived by the forecast of programs in the portfolio). To carry out portfolio investment and capacity planning, it is essential that an accurate recording of target budget and resource capacity is captured within Planview Enterprise One – PRM. To do so, planners enter the budget and resource capacity targets into the financial plan for the relevant capacity entities (in this case, strategic initiatives), against which demand financial plans can be balanced (in this case, programs). Analyzing the demand versus the capacity data for the portfolio lets an organization ensure the right resources are available at the right time, and that they stay within available budgets for labor and non-labor costs. Conceptual example of capacity and demand financial plans In terms of resource capacity targets, this will be in the form of high level resource costs (budget) against the relevant labor account lines in the strategic initiative financial plan. This can be done by navigating to the relevant strategic entity directly, or via a strategic portfolio, and accessing the financial plan via the action menu (
NOTE When directly accessing the capacity entity financial plan, ensure that the financial version you are updating matches the capacity financial version used for planning (as defined when Creating Planning Portfolios).
Alternatively, capacity budgets and targets can also be managed from within a planning portfolio. Capacity Portfolio Manager shows a summarized capacity total broken down by the capacity slicer in the portfolio definition and also allows planners to drill into the financial plans for each individual capacity entity. For more information, see the following articles: |
).Program Resource Planning Process Steps
Program Resource Planning takes place in the Strategies menu of Planview Enterprise One – PRM.
Capacity and Demand Balancing Process Steps
Capacity and demand balancing take place from the Strategies and Planning menus of Planview Enterprise One – PRM.
Capacity and demand balancing process flow
| Process Step | Description |
|---|---|
| Create/update planning portfolio to include all programs that are ready for analysis/approval |
Planning portfolios define where and which targets and demand you wish to analyze and for which time range (Planning Horizon). Demand requirements for analysis:
For more information, see the following articles: |
| Create and compare scenarios |
Investment and capacity planning lets you define an investment plan in a shared environment by working in investment and capacity planning scenarios that are portfolio-specific. When working in a shared environment, you and other users review the same proposed investment plan so that each of you can examine and update those portions that affect your respective areas. Investment and capacity planning scenarios let you model different investment decisions and various approaches to balancing investment demand with capacity. By using multiple scenarios, you and other users who have access to a relevant portfolio can work in a what-if environment until it is determined that a particular scenario is ready to be published and thereby shared with others as your organization's investment plan. 
Scenario options – Shared scenario and user-defined scenarios examples 
Scenario options For more information about scenarios, see Managing Investment and Capacity Planning Scenarios. See Using Shared Scenarios within Investment and Capacity Planning for an example of the use of shared scenarios. |
| Rank and prioritize programs |
The purpose of this step is to Rank your organizational investments to determine their priority. Investment and Capacity Planning provides a mechanism to compile all investments (accepted, in-flight, and potential programs) and carry out an assessment and approval in the context of the whole portfolio. The Rank view within Investment and Capacity Planning provides the ability to sort the list of investments based on subjective or qualitative scoring and prioritization criteria to determine a priority between the investments within the portfolio. This ranking is then used in subsequent screens in Investment Capacity Planning as sorting criteria. Investments can be ranked automatically based on criteria and/or manually by the users of each scenario. Investments are displayed in the order that they have been ranked within a scenario. If no ranking has been applied in the scenario, investments are displayed alphabetically. If a scenario includes both ranked and unranked investments, unranked investments will display at the top in alphabetical order, and the ranked investments will display below in ascending order of their ranking. 
Planning Manager tile – ranking investments 
Planning Manager tile's Rank view – rank investments automatically For more information see the following articles: |
| Analyze against portfolio targets |
Investment and Capacity Planning provides a mechanism to compile all investments (accepted, in-flight and potential programs) and carry out an assessment and approval in the context of the whole portfolio. The Analyze view provides the ability to approve (that is, to set the Investment Approval Status to Accepted) programs by moving them above the line (accepted) and seeing the impact on overall budgetary constraints and capacity. Any changes made to Investment Approval Status and Internal Priority made in the Investment and Capacity screens are "what-if" changes and are not confirmed until the scenario is published to execution. The objective of this stage is the process is to confirm the approval of investments within the portfolio targets/constraints of costs and resource capacity. To analyze investments "above and below the line":
Planning Manager tile – analyzing investments For more information see Updating Investment Approval Status and Priority or Reviewing a Gantt Chart in Investment and Capacity Planning. |
| Shift investments to fit with available capacity |
The Shift view provides a view of where demand exceeds capacity by period, as well as the ability to shift programs to fit within the available capacity. After all the investments in a portfolio have been ranked and analyzed, the investment scenarios may be further evaluated to review the date ranges of the approved and conditionally approved investments. There may be constraint limitations on specific resource types that may be resolved by shifting dates of the investments. Investments previously below the line may be able to become approved if the dates are shifted. 
Planning Manager tile – shifting investments 
Planning Manager - Shift Highlighting Bottom Tray Details 
Planning Manager tile – shift-highlighting the bottom tray details For more information see the following articles: |
| Balance against capacity |
Investment and Capacity Planning provides a mechanism to compile all investments (accepted, in-flight, and potential programs) and carry out an assessment and approval in the context of the whole portfolio. The Balance view allows you to look at investments that have been accepted in the scenario and to look at the time profiled impact of the investments against the capacity and budget targets. The objective of this stage in the process is to identify resource capacity/demand issues or cost time-phasing issues and to smooth demand across time to plan to deliver the programs within the capacity and time phased budget targets. To balance Investments:
Planning Manager tile – balancing investments For more information see the following articles: |
| Baseline portfolio |
The purpose of this step is to capture a portfolio baseline in order to create a snapshot of the investment decisions and investments as of the end of the investment planning cycle. As the investment portfolio evolves and the program landscape continues to change, new programs arrive, or planned programs fluctuate in risk, forecasted cost or strategic alignment, a continuous reassessment about the investment decisions and priorities will force amendments to the investment planning portfolio. This working version can then be compared against the baseline and variances analyzed. After creating versions, it is important to assign the correct Working Version or Comparison Version tags to see their respective values in column sets. For more information about scenarios, see Managing Investment and Capacity Planning Scenarios. The Planned Investments comparison view highlights financial differences between the working version and the comparison version. The top tray compares financial data differences based on the selected column set. The bottom tray compares investment approval status and rank order. 
Planning Manager tile – Planned Investments pivot view
The Approval Decisions view compares Investment Approval statuses for multiple scenarios. Selection of scenarios is made in the Investment and Capacity Planning screen's preferences. If no scenarios are selected, this screen compares all scenarios. Investments are displayed in the same way as the bottom tray of the Planned Investments comparison view—by Above the Line, Trade-off, and Below the Line. 
Planning Manager tile – Approval Decisions pivot view For more information see the following articles: |
| Publish portfolio decisions and adjustments |
The purpose of this step is to publish the investment approval decisions that were made to the scenario during the ranking, analyzing, shifting, and balancing of investments versus organizational capacity. Based on the above-the-line (accepted) and below-the-line decisions made during this investment planning process, the Investment Approval Status values are updated accordingly—all accepted programs will be changed to an Investment Approval Status of Accepted. Investment Approval decisions made in a scenario are "what-if" and not visible and live until the publishing process is completed.
It is important to note that, as well as the investment approval decisions, any amendments to the demand data of investments or the capacity/budget targets within the (non-shared) scenario will also be published to live and will update the financial planning detail screens accordingly for the investments and/or capacity in question. 
Planning Manager tile – publish from the shared scenario 
Planning Manager tile – publish from scenarios created by users (non-shared) For more information see the following articles: |
| Close initiative/demand entity |
The purpose of this step is to change the status of programs which are refused to closed. If the program was in progress, any projects allocated to the program would need to be closed as well, to prevent accumulation of additional time and costs. This step can be completed as part of a lifecycle process, or can be done manually. For more information see Reviewing or Modifying a Strategic Entity's Details.
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) next to each investment to select the desired status. Using the options in this menu, you can also view other information about the investment. Alternatively, you can use a drag-and-drop operation to move the investments between the above the line and below the line trays.