Portfolios top-down work ICP: Get started and optimize usage
Top-down work investment and capacity planning adoption pathway
1. Understand the basics | 2. Design and set up | 3. Get started and optimize usage | 4. Gain insights with reports and outputs |
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.
![The ICP planning roles across an organization](https://success.planview.com/@api/deki/files/151084/Five_principle_steps_of_ICP.png?revision=2)
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.
![The ICP planning roles across an organization](https://success.planview.com/@api/deki/files/151096/Planning_happen_across_the_organization.png?revision=1)
Portfolios investment and capacity planning supports different types of planning across an organization and spans multiple functions and roles.
Create a new planning portfolio
Step | Role | Description | Resources |
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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:
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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. ![]()
Data can be added to work (demand) financial plans in two ways:
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 Investment Planning Demand version into the Investment Planning 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, analyze, shift, and balance.](https://success.planview.com/@api/deki/files/151546/Rank%252C_Analyze%252C_Shift%252C_and_Balance_Pivot_Views.png?revision=1)
The Rank, Analyze, Shift, and Balance pivot views are used in investment and capacity planning.
Investment approval status values
Status | Description | Visibility |
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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 |
Prioritize and rank investments
Step | Role | Description | Resources |
Create a user-defined (what-if) scenario |
Portfolio manager Finance manager Portfolio board |
Create a user-defined 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. |
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Rank work/projects from 1 to n |
Portfolio manager Finance manager Portfolio board |
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.
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Automatically Rank Investments Based on Criteria Dragging Investments to Rank Them Defining Threshold Lines for the Rank View
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Analyze to move projects above or below the line and set investment approval status |
Portfolio manager Finance manager Portfolio board |
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.
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Updating Investment Approval Status and Priority Reviewing a Gantt Chart in Investment and Capacity Planning
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Shift work/projects |
Portfolio manager Finance manager Portfolio board |
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.
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Data Display and Layout of the Shift View Shifting Investments to Resolve Capacity Issues
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Balance the details |
Portfolio manager Finance manager Portfolio board |
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. |
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.](https://success.planview.com/@api/deki/files/151721/Key_differences_between_the_shared_scenario_and_user_scenario.png?revision=1)
Key differences between the shared scenario and a user defined what-if scenario.
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 real-time 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 |
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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.
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Adding Investment and Capacity Planning Scenarios Refreshing an Investment and Capacity Planning Scenario Compare Financial Data Across Scenarios for One Investment
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Choose and publish a plan
Step | Role | Description | Resources |
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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 |
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. |
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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 changes. Users can compare the version of the financial plans they are responsible for to the newly approved |