Program-based planning
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Program-based investment and capacity planning adoption pathway
1. Get started | 2. Design and set up | 3. Capability usage | 4. Reports and outputs |
Audience |
EPMO, Planview administrator, portfolio manager, finance manager |
Objective |
Design, set up, and configure Portfolios to support program-based investment and capacity planning at your organization. |
Enable the Planning menu, options, and role features
The first step for an administrator is to enable the planning menu, options, and role features essential to utilizing investment and capacity planning.
Step | Role | Description | Resources |
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Enable the planning menu |
Planview administrator | Enable the planning menu by checking the Display option. | Enabling or Disabling Option on the Main Menu |
Enable the use of investment and capacity planning | Planview administrator |
From the Strategic Management Options page, enable Use Investment and Capacity Planning.
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Enabling the Use of Investment and Capacity Planning |
Enable the sub-menus for planning | Planview administrator |
From the Menu Actions tab, select the planning tab on the left, then select the checkbox to display all the available options. Feature controls may also be added from this page. |
Enabling or Disabling Action Options |
Enable required features for roles | Planview administrator |
From the Configure Roles screen, enable the following features for each role that will use planning. Strategic management:
Investment decisions:
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Review Role Screen Basics for a User Role |
Set up the financial planning models
In top-down strategy investment and capacity planning, you compare capacity from the strategies or programs to demand entities from work/projects, all within the Enterprise Financial Model. Capacity is based on the Strategy structure and the data is taken from the Investment Planning Target financial plan version. Demand data is taken from the work/projects associated to the Programs, and is captured in the Investment Planning Demand financial plan version. For more information on Planview’s recommended financial plan versions and naming conventions, see the recommended financial plan versions table.
To carry out the required analysis, there must be commonality between capacity and demand. This is accomplished when the line attributes between the Strategy/capacity and Work/demand financial plans match.
Step | Role | Description | Resources |
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Ensure Use Providing Organization (Cbs1) is selected for the work (demand) financial model (optional) | Planview administrator |
It is recommended that Use Providing Organization (Cbs1) be selected on the enterprise or work financial model. To confirm this is configured correctly, go to the Administer Financial Planning Models screen, find the model used for Work Financial planning, select Edit Financial Planning Model, and confirm that the option Use Providing Organization (Cbs1) is checked. |
Adding Financial Planning Models |
Ensure the Enterprise Financial Model is configured for Strategy and Work financial planning | Planview administrator |
To confirm this is configured correctly, go to the Administer Financial Planning Models screen, and confirm that Work and Strategy are listed as a financial model Type for Enterprise Financial Model.
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Adding Financial Planning Models |
Enable accounts for on the Enterprise Financial Model for Investment and Capacity Planning | Planview administrator |
On the Configure Accounts for Enterprise Financial Model screen, select Use in Investment and Capacity Planning for each account that will be used for planning. Planview recommendation: As you consider which accounts to include for investment and capacity planning, only include those accounts that you need to make investment decisions. The accounts you select will make up the content and depth of the pivot table that compares the capacity and demand financial plans. |
Configuring Financial-Planning Accounts |
Add two new versions for the Enterprise Financial Model | Planview administrator |
Go to Configure Versions, and add two new financial versions. It is recommended to name one version Investment Planning Target, and the other version Investment Planning. Planview recommendation: Review the financial plan versions chart below to understand the recommended financial plan versions and naming conventions to be used and created in the investment planning process. |
Adding Versions of Financial-Planning Models Configure Versions for Financial Planning Models Screen Basics Business Rules of Financial Management and Financial Planning |
Review and add financial data for demand (work) |
Planview administrator Portfolio manager Finance manager |
This is a two-step process. First, populate or edit the Actual/Forecast version:
Data can be added to work (demand) financial plans in two ways:
Note that in-flight projects will probably be loaded from resource assignments and timesheets, while new projects added as part of planning may need financial lines and data to be entered manually. The second step is completed by the Planview administrator. They will copy all the financial data from the Actual/Forecast version into the Investment Planning version just before the planning cycle starts. It is imperative that all projects that will be part of the planning process have financial data. If the financial plan for a potential project is blank, or contains lines with no financial data within the horizon dates, the project will not pull into the investment and capacity planning portfolio. |
Configuring Financial Plan Load Job Parameters How to Load Data into a Work Financial Plan |
Review and add financial data for capacity (strategies/programs) |
Portfolio manager Finance manager EPMO |
From the Strategy Portfolio, edit Financials for the capacity entities to be used in investment planning. Data for the program financial plans (capacity targets) must be manually entered in the Investment Planning Target version. See Editing a Financial Plan for more information on manually entering financial data. Data is often defined by Finance and maintained manually by a Portfolio manager, but these roles vary by company. There is also an option to use Excel Importer to load data. |
Exporting Financial Planning Data to Work with It in Excel Importing Data from Excel Back to Financial Planning
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Define and use financial versions
Defining and using specific financial management versions is critical to the success of investment planning. Financial versions are used to manage different sets of data for the investment demand and portfolio targets. When working with versions, it’s essential to define ownership of each version and the process associated with it.
Versions are used to manage:
- The current/latest view on spend to-date and forecast to complete for in-flight (in-delivery) projects
- Data that is pulled into investment planning for manipulation as part of the planning and approval process
- Data that is published after investment decisions are made
- Baseline data to track project and work delivery cost management and compliance
Recommended financial plan versions
The table below details the recommended financial plan versions and names to be created and used in the investment planning process.
Version name | How is it used? | Purpose |
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Actual/Forecast version |
Data from this version is copied into the Investment Planning version for demand planning in Investment and Capacity Planning. Holds the current view of spend to date (if any) and forecast to complete. Can be top-down or bottom-up. |
Holds the current view of spend to date (if any) and forecast to complete. This data can be derived two ways:
This version is marked as "Forecast" in the financial model configuration. It is used in project delivery portfolio views and reports. It is standard practice to run a Financial Management version load daily to summarize the delivery data. The project manager or work manager owns this data (version). |
Baseline version |
Used for variance reporting for project/work delivery. Not typically used as part of Investment and Capacity Planning. |
Holds a snapshot of financial data that represents the approved baseline budget. This version is marked "Baseline" in the financial model configuration. Used in project delivery portfolio views and reports. |
Investment Planning version |
Holds the data taken into Investment and Capacity Planning for planning and publishing. Often used as the Demand version in Investment and Capacity Planning. |
Used to hold the financial plan data that is pulled into a planning portfolio for investment analysis, scenario modeling, and approval. When investment management decisions are published, this version is used to communicate the approved investment budget to the work manager or project manager.
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Investment Planning Target version |
Holds the budget/capacity for the business unit which will be used as planning portfolio target/budget. Often used as the Capacity version in Investment and Capacity Planning. |
Holds the budget/capacity for the business unit which will be used as planning portfolio target/budget. |
Set up planning column sets and optional features
Step | Role | Description | Resources |
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Create a column set for investment and capacity planning |
Planview administrator EPMO |
Columns included in the investment and capacity planning column set will drive how you rank potential and in-flight investments. Create New column sets for Strategy and Work that includes all decision making criteria for ranking and prioritization such as category, regulatory, scoring attributes, and risk. This will require financial subtotals and other attribute columns. Key actions:
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Creating and Editing Column Sets
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Create column sets to share published decisions |
Planview administrator Portfolio manager Finance manager |
To communicate published plan to project and resource managers, configure Portfolios to support viewing details about a scenario's investment ranking values.
You can add the columns to column sets relevant to the Investment and Capacity Planning screen, Resource Management and Assignments screen, or Work Portfolio View screen. The investment ranking details a user will be able to view after selecting one of the column sets you configure is dependent on which investment ranking columns you add to that column set. |
Allowing Users to View Published Investment Ranking Details |
Edit financial subtotals and calculated columns |
Planview administrator Portfolio manager Finance manager |
In Manage Attributes, identify and configure Financial Subtotals you want to make investment decisions against. Make sure they are configured for the correct level of capacity and demand. Key actions:
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Adding Subtotal Financial Planning Columns |
Enable required features for roles | Planview administrator |
From the Configure Roles screen, enable the following features for each role that will use planning. Strategic management:
Investment decisions:
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Review Role Screen Basics for a User Role |
Set up planning alerts (optional) |
Planview administrator Portfolio manager Finance manager |
Alerts are dynamic calculations that an administrator can configure to help users resolve issues as they make investment decisions. For example, you can configure the % Over Target alert to be displayed when the financial planning column total for investments with a status of Accept or Conditional reaches 100% or more of the target amount in the planning portfolio. As an administrator, alerts are configured by enabling one or more alerts on the Investment and Capacity Planning Alerts screen within System Configuration, and then entering information that defines the alert using the grid. If no alerts are enabled by the administrator, the alerts pane will not show within investment and capacity planning. |
Why Use Alerts in Investment and Capacity Planning? Configuring Investment and Capacity Planning Alerts Understand Thresholds and Time Periods of Investment and Capacity Planning Alert |
Create Impact Analysis visual tiles (optional) |
Planview administrator Portfolio manager Finance manager EPMO |
Impact Analysis tiles provide portfolio managers with the ability to visualize and compare investment scenario impacts across portfolios. Impact Analysis tiles are a unique type of output that are created on the Planning menu, using the Analyze button. They can only be viewed on the Planning Portfolio View ribbon. Users with access to the Planning menu can create as many tiles of this type as needed to analyze data in different ways. As an administrator, the Analyze tile can be enabled or hidden from the Ribbon Options screen within Global Options. |
Enabling or Disabling the Analyze Tile Understanding Impact Analysis Report Tiles |
Create investment dependencies (optional) |
Planview administrator Portfolio manager |
An investment dependency is a connection between two entities that describes how those entities influence one another from an investment perspective. For example, if project A is dependent on project B, you must commit to project B if you are going to pursue project A. If project C is codependent with project D, both must be pursued, or neither pursued. Work and project dependencies are often created on the Work View screen, but the decisions on which investments to approve are done within Investment and Capacity Planning. The system uses both investment approval status and dependency type to help determine whether an dependency between investment entities is valid or results in a conflict. As an administrator, Use Investment Dependencies can be enabled within Global Options. Then you can configure alerts for dependencies, add information about them to Planning Column Sets, and use them on both Work and Planning menus |
How to use Investment Dependencies in Investment and Capacity Planning |
Understand the investment approval status values
Investment approval status is an alternate structure used within investment and capacity planning. It is used to show or exclude potential project investments within specific sections on the planning pages, or trigger successive lifecycle workflows for the relevant projects based on the selected value.
The table below describes when each investment status should be used, and where they're displayed on the Investment and Capacity Planning screen.
Investment Approval Status | Description | Visibility |
---|---|---|
Pending |
Indicates the investment opportunity has been identified, however, the business case has not been completed and the opportunity is not ready to be considered. Investments with this status are not displayed on the Investment and Capacity Planning screen. |
Will not appear on Investment and Capacity Planning screen |
Analyze |
Indicates the investment opportunity has been identified and the business case prepared. The opportunity can be considered, however, no final investment decision has been made. |
Below the line – Analyze view
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Accept |
Indicates the investment opportunity has gone through the investment and capacity planning process and that your organization has chosen to proceed with the investment. Anything approved in the previous planning cycle will already appear above the line (in-flight). |
Above the line – Analyze view Included in Shift and Balance Views |
Conditional |
Indicates the investment has gone through the investment and capacity planning process and has been accepted under certain conditions. |
Above the line – Analyze View Included in Shift and Balance views |
Refuse |
Indicates the investment opportunity has gone through the investment and capacity planning process and your organization has chosen not to accept it. |
Below the line – Analyze View |
Resubmit |
Indicates the investment opportunity has gone through the investment and capacity planning process via a lifecycle, and your organization initially refused to accept it. The opportunity has been revised and should be reconsidered. This status is used in investment and capacity planning if your system is configured for lifecycles. |
Below the line – Analyze View |
Set up the investment approval status alternate structure
Step | Role | Description | Resources |
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Understand and enable the investment approval status (OpCapAppr) | Planview administrator |
Investments (or projects) must have an investment status (OpCapAppr alternate structure) of Analyze, Accept, Conditional, or Refuse to be included in a planning portfolio. As an administrator, you must edit the investment demand structure, then the status must be added to all potential and in-flight projects. Things to consider:
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Create a new planning portfolio and confirm configuration and data
Step | Role | Description | Resources |
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Create a new planning portfolio | Planview administrator |
Create a new planning portfolio. |
About Creating Planning Portfolios as a User
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Confirm configuration and data |
Planview administrator Portfolio manager Finance manager EPMO |
From the planning menu, navigate to the Investment and Capacity Planning tab. Use the View dropdown to select each view option, and make sure the portfolio displays rows for each option. If no data displays, review this criteria:
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Understand Where Investment and Capacity Planning Obtains Its Information |