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Prioritization and Scenario Analysis

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Prioritization and Scenario Analysis

The Prioritization and Scenario Analysis capability supports the collection and assessment of all investments before the portfolio plan approval, and the creation and comparison of what-if scenarios. Each capability within the Planview Capability Framework has a distinct set of features and functionality, business processes, best practices, and analytics and reports that deliver value to customers in the form of specific business outcomes.

Definition and Business Value

Definition

Provides a mechanism to collect all potential and existing investments for prioritization and assessment before the overall portfolio plan is approved. As part of this, planners can create and compare various what-if scenarios.

Business Value

We can consistently align and rank potential investments based on our organization’s priorities and drivers.

Business Value

We can analyze an investment portfolio against a time-phased financial budget or target, and understand how trade-off decisions might impact our ability to deliver the portfolio targets within that budget/target.

Business Value

We can identify under-achieving investments (in terms of revenue and costs) and reallocate funds or capacity to other investments.

Business Value

We can create investment what-if scenarios.

Business Value

We can share decisions about potential investments across the organization.

Best Practices

Specify prioritization drivers

Specify your prioritization drivers based on the company’s business goals, and involve knowledgeable stakeholders from other teams and departments who have the expertise to evaluate them. Consider criteria from financials (Expected Cost, ROI, Net Revenue Growth), business objectives (Strategic Alignment, Customer Focus, Innovation, Market Growth) and driving factors (Complexity, Technical Risk or Debt, Efficiencies, Legal or Regulatory Compliance.)

Establish a prioritization framework

Establish a prioritization schedule from the start; the nature of the work and stakeholder involvement will drive this. Assess which scoring frequency best aligns with your organization‘s pace of change: annually or quarterly, monthly or more frequently, or ad hoc /ongoing. Create a systematic prioritization process to support decision-making that is objective and unbiased, transparent, and repeatable and consistent.

Choose a prioritization scoring method

Effective scoring and prioritization requires an established process and just enough governance involving the right people, criteria, timing, and methods. Choose a scoring method – such as rank order or sequential prioritization, calculated or weighted scoring, or scoring with constraint analysis – and when your scoring systems don’t give a clear answer, turn to your teams for their input and expertise and perform Program Increment (PI) planning on a quarterly basis to communicate how the work that needs to be prioritized maps to the strategic plan.

Communicate with stakeholders

Before scoring and prioritizing projects, it’s important to meet with senior stakeholders, relevant experts, and those most responsible for executing project tasks – information about important projects and predicted challenges from these collaborators will help your decision-making process down the line. Share planned portfolios with stakeholders to gain cross-functional feedback, buy-in, and identify dependencies and constraints; this provides an opportunity to clarify and align on key success factors, value-based metrics, and risks. Meet with stakeholders and resources before prioritization.

Adapt with dynamic planning and rapid reprioritization

Perform dynamic planning and rapid reprioritization amid fluctuating priorities, financials, and resources. Reevaluate current and proposed investments and initiatives, and to make the right decisions, generate what-if scenarios to model the impact of potential changes, balance trade-offs, and visualize the reallocation of resources and funding. Based on these insights, the organization can shift funding and resources, ensuring a quick response to reprioritization.

Adapt and evolve continuously

As business drivers change, what and how you prioritize should also evolve. Your process and prioritization drivers should reflect changes in business objectives and goals, market conditions and customer demands, and other external and internal developments. Adapt as you learn, taking advantage of lean and iterative practices that promote continuous improvement.

Align prioritization with resource management

Combining prioritization with resource management enables the highest value work and opportunities to identify dependencies. Resource managers should ensure the right people, teams, and other resources are assigned to the right project work.

Expect and prepare for disruptions

When creating scenarios, the main idea is to challenge your organization’s preconceptions about the future. The more you can challenge subjective biases by creatively predicting where and how pitfalls might occur, the better your scenarios and resulting contingency plans will be if plans don’t go as expected.

Processes and Reports

conceptual image_prioritization and scenario analysis.gif 

Prioritization and scenario analysis is a powerful capability that supports portfolio investment decision-making by leveraging what-if scenario planning. By allowing you to create and compare hypothetical scenarios on all potential and active investments, you can view the impact of trade-off decisions and decide which investments to prioritize based on your financial and capacity targets. The iterative planning process ensures that your portfolio has the agility to reprioritize and take in new unplanned work as priorities shift and circumstances change. In Planview Portfolios, Prioritization and Scenario Analysis is typically performed in tandem with the Capacity Planning capability, which provides the mechanism to set resource capacity time-phased targets at the relevant organizational level. These targets can be used to analyze demand and make assessments on the organization's ability to continue with or adopt new investments.

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Video: Prioritization and Scenario Analysis Demo

 

Prioritization and Scenario Analysis Process Steps

            

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Capacity planning process flow

           

Process Step Description
Create/update the portfolio to include all investments that are ready for analysis/approval

A Planning portfolio defines the capacity and demand entities to be used in investment analysis, such as where and which targets and demand you wish to analyze in a specified time range (Planning Horizon).

Demand requirements for analysis of investments:

  • Demand must not be in the Investment Approval Status of Pending.
  • Demand must match the selected capacity.
  • Demand must be within the defined Planning Horizon.
  • Demand must be part of the additional portfolio definition.

For more information:
Create a scenario

Creating investment and capacity planning scenarios allows you to model different investment decisions and various approaches to balancing investment demand with capacity.

Creating a shared scenario allows you and others who have access to the relevant portfolio to work in a what-if environment until a particular scenario is ready to be published and shared as your organization's investment plan. 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.

A Planning portfolio can also include user-defined scenarios created to model and evaluate different investment decisions and approaches to balancing capacity with demand in a what-if environment. Data in those scenarios can be modified without affecting the corresponding data in the portfolio's relevant financial plan as changes are made.

For more information:
Set and maintain portfolio targets/budget and capacity

Analysis of investments is achieved by comparing what’s available – capacity (which can be in the form of resource capacity or a financial budget) – versus demand (derived by the forecast of work in the portfolio).

To carry out and understand portfolio investment planning, it's essential that an accurate recording of your target budget and resource capacity is captured. The detail of the summarized capacity totals can be drilled into via the Financial Planning Detail screens associated with each capacity entity.

Capacity budgets and targets can also be managed from within a Planning portfolio. The Capacity Portfolio Manager shows a summarized capacity total broken down by the capacity slicer in the portfolio definition.

For more information:
Rank and prioritize investments

Investment and Capacity Planning provides a mechanism to compile all investments (accepted, in-flight, and potential investments) 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 prioritize investments within the portfolio. This ranking is then used in subsequent screens in Investment and 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 ranked order within a scenario. If no ranking has been applied, 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.

           

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Planning Manager tile – ranking investments

           

           

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Planning Manager tile's Rank view – rank investments automatically

           

 

For more information:
Analyze against portfolio target

The objective of this step is to confirm the approval of investments within the portfolio targets/constraints of costs and resource capacity.

​The Analyze view provides the ability to approve investments by moving them above the line (accepted) and seeing the impact on overall budgetary constraints and capacity. Any changes to the Investment Approval Status and Internal Priority in the Investment and Capacity screens are "what-if" changes and are not confirmed until the scenario is published to execution.

To analyze investments "above and below the line":

  • Investments in this view are displayed in two trays:
    • The upper tray represents above-the-line investments with Accept or Conditionally Accept statuses.
    • Investments in the lower tray represent below-the-line investments with Refuse or Analyze statuses.
  • If the investments exceeding targets are in the below-the-line investments, it means that while the total of the portfolio will exceed the targets, the current above-the-line investments will not exceed the target.
  • Depending on the selected column set, you can also view different summarized financial information.
  • To make investment decisions (to approve or refuse an investment), open the action menu next to each investment to select the desired status. Here 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.

           

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Planning Manager tile – analyzing investments

           

 

For more information:
Shift investment dates and durations

The Shift view provides visibility of where demand exceeds capacity by period, as well as the ability to shift investments to fit within available capacity.

After portfolio investments have been ranked and analyzed, date ranges of approved and conditionally-approved investments are further evaluated. Constraint limitations on specific resource types may be resolved by shifting investment dates, and investments below the line may be approved.

           

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Planning Manager tile – shifting investments

           

           

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Planning Manager – Shift Highlighting Bottom Tray Details

           

           

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Planning Manager tile – shift-highlighting the bottom tray details

           

 

For more information:
Balance against capacity

The objective of this step is to identify resource capacity and 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.

The Balance view allows you to look at investments that have been accepted in the scenario, and the time-profiled impact of those investments against the capacity and budget targets.

To balance investments:

  • In the Balance Investments view, use the category menu to decide which information to view. In this example, we are viewing Labor Currency. You can also view Labor Effort by selecting Labor and Effort. Depending on your usage model, you can also view Expense, Capitalized Costs, and Benefits.
  • The Focus Control option displays the controls available for you to organize the information when you perform drill-down for analysis. The controls allow you to decide how many attributes to be included in the summarization for drill down. You decide which order they should be presented by moving them to the left of the focus control bar. The control on the far left will be the first level of drill down, following by attributes to its right.
  • Information on the grid at the lowest level is editable when you are viewing a user-created scenario or the Shared Scenario if it is editable.
  • Action menus at the program level provide options to view additional information for the program.
  • Action menus at the lowest level provide options to update attributes of the line or to model changes to the demand.
  • Action menus from the Capacity levels provide the option to view the financial plan of the selected capacity to model changes to defined capacity.
  • Use the Scenario options to change the scenario you are viewing or to create and manage scenarios.

Note: it's important to not accidentally model what-if decisions on the Shared Scenario. What-if modeling should be done on user-created scenarios and published to the shared scenario when you are ready to commit to the plan.

           

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Planning Manager tile – balancing investments

           

For more information:
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 of 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's important to assign the correct Working Version or Comparison Version tags to see their respective values in column sets. See Managing Investment and Capacity Planning Scenarios for more information.

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.

           

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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.

           

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Planning Manager tile – Approval Decisions pivot view

           

 

For more information:
Compare scenarios

By comparing multiple scenarios, you and other users who have access to a relevant portfolio can work in a what-if environment until a particular scenario is ready to be published and shared as your organization's investment plan. Data in those scenarios can be modified without affecting the corresponding data in the portfolio's relevant financial plan as changes are made.

If there are multiple scenarios within a Planning portfolio, designate your Working scenario, then compare Planned Investments or compare Approval Decisions to display information to help you identify differences relevant to the financial data, investment approval status, ranking values of investments, and trade-off of approval decisions.
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.

  • If the investment approvals have been made in the Shared Scenario then the Publish from the Shared Scenario transaction will make the decisions live.
  • If the investment approvals have been made in another (not shared) scenario then the Publish from Scenario can be used to move the investment decisions to just the shared scenario or to the demand as well.

Note: in addition to investment approval decisions, any amendments to demand data of investments or the capacity/budget targets within the (non-shared) scenario will also be published live and update the financial planning detail screens accordingly for the investments and/or capacity in question.

           

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Planning Manager tile – publish from the shared scenario

           

           

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Planning Manager tile – publish from scenarios created by users (non-shared)

           

 

For more information:
Close investment

The purpose of this step is to change the status of refused programs 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 executed as part of a lifecycle process or completed manually.

For more information: 

 

           

Prioritization and Scenario Analysis Reports

How are we able to understand the alignment of investments to organizational priorities and drivers?

Planning Portfolio – Planning Manager – Rank and Analyze Pivot Views Tile

In the Planning Portfolio – Investment and Capacity Planning View, use the Planning Manager Tile to view investments and make decisions based on portfolio financial targets and capacity targets. 

PLN01 – Investment Planning Demand vs. Portfolio Targets 

 Analytic

This analytic summarizes data in an investment planning portfolio scenario by providing a time-phased view of the portfolio demand and targets. Portfolio demand is compared to the capacity of resources or funds required to deliver the portfolio, or to the benefits/revenue the portfolio must deliver. This analytic supports project, strategy, and product-based portfolios.
Configurable Analyze Tiles

Tile

The configurable Analyze tile allows you to create custom chart tiles, table tiles, Power BI tiles, and visual tiles. Administrators can create shared configurable chart and table tiles, and control who has access to the Analyze tile. 
Planning Portfolio – Portfolio Manager – PPM Investment Attributes Column Set Tile

In the Strategy Portfolio – Portfolio Manager Tile, select the PPM – Investment Attributes Column Set to display relevant investment information including work type, work status, investment dependencies, investment priority score, investment risk score, strategic alignment, actual schedule start/end date, published date, published by, and published rank.

 How are we able to balance potential investments within our portfolios across our time?

Planning Portfolio – Planning Manager – Rank and Analyze Pivot Views Tile

In the Planning Portfolio – Investment and Capacity Planning View, use the Planning Manager Tile to view investments and make decisions based on portfolio financial targets and capacity targets. 
Planning Portfolio – Planning Manager – Shift and Balance Pivot Views Tile

In the Planning Portfolio – Investment and Capacity Planning View, use the Planning Manager Tile to view current and pipeline investments and make decisions based on portfolio financial targets and capacity targets. 

  • Use the Shift Pivot View to assess which investments are at risk due insufficient capacity and examine the impact of shifting investment dates and durations. 
  • Use the Balance Pivot View to identify and resolve capacity and demand issues in order to continue with priority investments. 
Configurable Analyze Tiles

Tile

The configurable Analyze tile allows you to create custom chart tiles, table tiles, Power BI tiles, and visual tiles. Administrators can create shared configurable chart and table tiles, and control who has access to the Analyze tile.

PLN01 – Investment Planning Demand vs. Portfolio Targets 

 Analytic

This analytic summarizes data in an investment planning portfolio scenario by providing a time-phased view of the portfolio demand and targets. Portfolio demand is compared to the capacity of resources or funds required to deliver the portfolio, or to the benefits/revenue the portfolio must deliver. This analytic supports project, strategy, and product-based portfolios.
PLN32 – Planning Portfolio Financial Burndown Comparison  Analytic

This planning portfolio report creates a time-phased financial burndown chart of the whole planning portfolio or each individual project, allowing you to track actual burn and forecast burn to ensure that spend, effort, revenue, or benefits are in line with projections. This report compares versions of the financial plan with effort represented as FTEs, days, or hours, and financials as cost, benefits, or revenue.

 How can we understand investment trade-offs across multiple scenarios?

Planning Portfolio – Planning Manager – Rank and Analyze Pivot Views Tile

In the Planning Portfolio – Investment and Capacity Planning View, use the Planning Manager Tile to view investments and make decisions based on portfolio financial targets and capacity targets. 
Planning Portfolio – Planning Manager – Shift and Balance Pivot Views Tile

In the Planning Portfolio – Investment and Capacity Planning View, use the Planning Manager Tile to view current and pipeline investments and make decisions based on portfolio financial targets and capacity targets. 

  • Use the Shift Pivot View to assess which investments are at risk due insufficient capacity and examine the impact of shifting investment dates and durations. 
  • Use the Balance Pivot View to identify and resolve capacity and demand issues in order to continue with priority investments. 

Planning Portfolio – Planning Manager – Compare Planned Investments Pivot View

 Tile

In the Planning Portfolio – Investment and Capacity Planning View, use the Planning Manager Tile to view current and pipeline investments, model scenarios, and make decisions based on portfolio financial targets and capacity targets. 

The Compare Planned Investments Pivot View allows you to compare planned investments from two different scenarios and identify differences relevant to the financial data, investment approval status, and investment ranking values.
Planning Portfolio – Planning Manager – Compare Approval Decisions Pivot View Tile

In the Planning Portfolio – Investment and Capacity Planning View, use the Planning Manager Tile to view current and pipeline investments, model scenarios, and make decisions based on portfolio financial targets and capacity targets. 

The Compare Approval Decisions Pivot View allows you to compare approval decisions from two different scenarios to evaluate the trade-offs of investment decisions.
 

           

Related Capabilities

Supported Solutions

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