Top-down work planning

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Top-down work investment and capacity planning adoption pathway

3. Capability usage

Audience	PMO, project manager, portfolio manager, finance manager, portfolio board
Objective	Understand and use investment and capacity planning to analyze and approve projects.

Planview Professional Services is available to support your deployment of Planview Investment and Capacity Planning capabilities. For more details, refer to the Planview Portfolios Capability Adoption Package: Investment and Capacity Planning.

The five principle steps of investment and capacity planning

These steps represent the full usage of investment and capacity planning. However, not every step is required for it to be meaningful and beneficial. Some customers start with simply determining capacity and demand, then ranking and prioritizing investments without using the more advanced scenario analysis and reporting options.

Each step represented by an icon in a hexagon: Determine capacity (piggy bank); identify demand (funnel); prioritize and rank (three rectangles stacked horizontally; the top rectangle is bold); model alternatives as scenarios (Venn diagram); Choose and publish a plan (target). — The five principle steps of investment and capacity planning are 1) determine capacity, 2) identify demand,
3) prioritize and rank, 4) model alternatives as scenarios, and 5) choose and publish a plan.

Create a new planning portfolio

Step	Role	Description	Resources
Create a planning portfolio	Portfolio manager Finance manager	Create a new planning portfolio or review the planning portfolio that was shared with you. Key actions: Name: Create a name for your planning portfolio. Description: Enter a brief description for your planning portfolio. Planview recommendation: Include the names of the higher-level work entities that are used to define the capacity (target budgets) for the work planning portfolio, such as the department or business unit names. Capacity Structure: Work Capacity Level: Select Department, or a higher-level work entity in the work primary structure Select Capacity: Select the departments you want to include to define the capacity. The budgets for these departments will determine the capacity for the portfolio. Capacity Financial Model and Financial Version: Select the Enterprise Financial Model and the Investment Planning Target version. Define the planning portfolio capacity Demand Structure: Work Demand Level: Work (potential and in-flight projects) Select Demand: Leave the default option to pull in all work and projects based on impact to selected capacity. Selecting Existing Portfolio further limits the demand to work based on impact to selected capacity included in the selected portfolio. Demand Financial Model: Enterprise Financial Model Demand Financial Version: select the Investment Planning Demand version. The version selected here will be the source version, also known as the shared scenario. Planning Horizon Start/Finish: typically 3-5 years, but depends on the organization. Top-down work planning portfolio definition	About Creating Planning Portfolios as a User Creating Planning Portfolios Planning Menu Basics Setting Up Investment and Capacity Planning as a User
Invite portfolio members	Portfolio manager Finance manager	Invite relevant PMO collaborators to the planning portfolio.	Share and Manage Access to a Planning Portfolio
Review and edit capacity financial plans	Portfolio manager Finance manager	From the Work portfolio, edit Financials for the capacity entities to be used in investment planning. Data for the departmental or higher-level work financial plans (capacity targets) must be manually entered in the Investment Planning Target version. The data can be keyed in, or there is an option to use Excel Importer to load data. Budgets and targets are often defined in collaboration with finance and maintained manually by a portfolio manager, but these processes vary by company. See Editing a Financial Plan for more information on manually entering financial data.	Updating Capacity and Demand Data by Accessing the Financial Plan Loading, Scheduling, or Deleting Cost Center-Based Financial Plans Capacity Portfolio manager Screen Basics
Capture work financial demand	Portfolio manager Finance manager	Capturing work financial demand is a two-step process. Define the planning portfolio demand Step 1. Populate or edit the Actual/Forecast version. Data can be added to work (demand) financial plans in two ways: Load – The work financial load can be manually performed or scheduled within job stream management. For information about scheduling a financial plan load by using a job stream, see Configuring Financial Plan Load Job Parameters. Manual entry – See Editing a Financial Plan for more information on manually entering financial data. Note that in-flight project data will likely load from resource assignments and timesheets, while new projects added as part of planning may need financial lines and data to be entered manually. Step 2. The Planview Administrator will copy all the financial data from the Actual/Forecast version into the Investment Planning Demand version just before the planning cycle starts. Note: It is imperative that all projects included in 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.	Demand Portfolio manager Screen Basics How to Load Data into a Work Financial Plan Editing a Financial Plan

Understand the four pivot views: Rank, Analyze, Shift, and Balance

In Portfolios investment and capacity planning, there are four pivot views: Rank, Analyze, Shift, and Balance. The views are designed to be used in that order.

The Rank and Analyze views display all investments, except for those with an investment approval status of Pending.

Some portfolio planners only use the Rank and Analyze views to produce a list of above-the-line investments (those with an investment approval status of Accepted or Conditional), and choose to end their portfolio planning process at that stage.

For planners who want to use the Shift and Balance views for more detailed analysis of investments, keep in mind these views will only display above-the-line investments, or those with an investment approval status of Accepted or Conditional.

Detailed information about investment approval statuses can be found in the investment approval status values table below.

The four investment and capacity pivot views are Rank (stack priorities from 1 to n), Analyze (move investments in and out to impact capacity targets and budget), Shift (Model changes to work start, finish, and duration in the context of your capacity), and Balance (evaluate and model more detailed changes to capacity and demand over time). — *The Rank, Analyze, Shift, and Balance pivot views are used in investment and capacity planning.*

Investment approval status values

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
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

Prioritize and rank investments


Step	Role	Description	Resources
Create a user-defined (what-if) scenario	Finance manager Portfolio manager	Create a user-defined (or what-if) scenario to edit and evaluate different investment decisions and approaches to balancing capacity with demand. Creating a user-defined scenario allows you to model different decisions in a what-if environment without changing the shared scenario. For understanding more about scenarios, see Model alternatives as scenarios.	Managing Investment and Capacity Planning Scenarios
Rank work/projects from 1 to n	Finance manager Portfolio manager	Rank investments automatically based on criteria, or manually by the users of each scenario. The Rank view displays investments 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 rank order.	Rank View Ranking Investments Automatically Rank Investments Based on Criteria Dragging Investments to Rank Them Defining Threshold Lines for the Rank View
Analyze to move projects above or below the line and set investment approval status	Finance manager Portfolio manager	Analyze potential work or projects by moving them above or below the line to see the impact to capacity targets and budgets. The Analyze view is divided into two trays. The upper tray incudes projects with the Accept or Conditional status, while the lower tray includes projects in the Refuse or Analyze status. To change the status of the investment decision, you can either use the action menu to select a new status, or drag and drop the project above or below the line.	Analyze View Updating Investment Approval Status and Priority Reviewing a Gantt Chart in Investment and Capacity Planning
Shift work/projects (optional)	Finance manager Portfolio manager	Shift project start dates, finish dates, and duration so they will fit within capacity constraints. The Shift view provides visibility into 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.	Shift View Data Display and Layout of the Shift View Shifting Investments to Resolve Capacity Issues
Balance the details (optional)	Finance manager Portfolio manager	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. 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. Use the category menu to decide which information to view, and the focus control option to organize the way the data is displayed in the hierarchy.	Balance View Updating Capacity and Demand Data in Investment and Capacity Planning Updating Demand Data by Editing Cells Adding an Account Line with Attributes in Investment and Capacity Planning Changing Account Line Attributes in Investment and Capacity Planning

Model alternatives as scenarios

Using scenarios represents a more advanced approach to investment and capacity planning, and allows you to model the impact of changes or different decisions to the portfolio (for example, changes to budgets or staffing).

There are two types of scenarios: the shared scenario, and the what-if (or user-defined) scenario.

Comparison of the shared scenario and the user defined what-if scenario; the key difference is that publishing the shared scenario will update project data in real time. — A key difference between a shared scenario and what-if scenarios is how it impacts project data in real-time.

The key difference is that the shared scenario interacts with current financial data. Any financial plan updates made in the shared scenario will automatically update the relevant financial plan versions for the entities. However, rank and investment status changes will not be updated for the entities until the scenario is published.

What-if or user-defined scenarios are created as a copy of another scenario, and therefore do not interact with current financial data. In these scenarios, financial plan updates and changes to rank and investment status will not be reflected in the entities until published.

Planview recommendation: Create what-if or user-defined scenarios to model changes and different decisions for the portfolio, rather than making changes to the shared scenario.

Step	Role	Description	Resources
Create additional user-defined (what-if) scenarios	Portfolio manager Finance manager	Continue to add user-defined scenarios to model different delivery approaches. For example, flexing the budget, or emphasizing work aligned to different business objectives. Adding a new scenario copies the investment approval status values, priority values, and financial-planning data from the selected scenario to the new scenario. You can then make changes and do what-if planning using the Rank, Analyze, Shift, and Balance views.	Adding Investment and Capacity Planning Scenarios Refreshing an Investment and Capacity Planning Scenario Clearing Investment Decisions Compare Financial Data Across Scenarios for One Investment

Step

Role

Description

Resources

Create additional user-defined (what-if) scenarios

Portfolio manager

Finance manager

Continue to add user-defined scenarios to model different delivery approaches. For example, flexing the budget, or emphasizing work aligned to different business objectives.

Adding a new scenario copies the investment approval status values, priority values, and financial-planning data from the selected scenario to the new scenario. You can then make changes and do what-if planning using the Rank, Analyze, Shift, and Balance views.

Adding Investment and Capacity Planning Scenarios

Refreshing an Investment and Capacity Planning Scenario

Clearing Investment Decisions

Compare Financial Data Across Scenarios for One Investment

Choose and publish a plan


Step	Role	Description	Resources
Evaluate and compare multiple scenarios	Portfolio manager Finance manager	Use analytics and visual impact analysis tiles to evaluate and compare multiple scenarios before deciding on the optimal plan, such as the Cost Impact Analysis tile displayed here.	Understanding Impact Analysis Report Tiles Create an Impact Analysis Report Tile Using Configurable Visualizations
Publish scenario	Portfolio manager Finance manager	Once the plan is agreed to, financial data as well as investment decision status and ranking order can be published back to the demand entities and the shared scenario, or just the shared scenario. 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 a non-shared scenario, the Publish from Scenario transaction can be used to move the investment decisions to only the shared scenario, or to both the shared scenario and demand. In addition to investment approval decisions, any amendments to the investment demand data or capacity budget/targets in the non-shared scenario will also be published live. This updates the financial planning detail screens accordingly for the investments or capacity in question.	Publish in Investment and Capacity Planning Publishing a Scenario in Investment and Capacity Planning Publishing the Current Version of an Investment Plan as the Official Plan
Capture baseline	Portfolio manager Finance manager	Once the plan is published, capture a baseline of the approved plan. This may be completed as part of a lifecycle, or manually captured by making a copy of the demand financial plan and then locking it.
Communicate the published plan	Portfolio manager Finance manager	Communicate the published plan to all relevant stakeholders. Planview recommendation: Use the PLN01 report as a way to communicate the plan changes. Users can compare the version of the financial plans they are responsible for to the newly approved version, and users will have to adjust the resource assignments and other financial lines until the two financial plans are in alignment.	Allowing Users to View Published Investment Ranking Details About Lifecycles and the Publication of the Shared Scenario