Scenario tab
Deciding which projects you should work on can be complex and challenging. Even after you have applied Expected Value analysis to evaluate the overall business value of a set of projects, you will typically find that the number of valuable projects worth pursuing still exceeds your IT organization's ability to deliver. To further evaluate projects and refine your organization's decision-making process, use the Scenario capability of the software.
To view or create scenarios for your projects, select the Scenarios tab in the Project Portfolio Details window.
The Scenario tab enables you to specify target values for overall labor, start and end dates, total capital and expense for these projects. For more information about setting the values, see Setting project scenario targets. You can then move projects into one of three investment categories (Invest, Borderline, and Do Not Invest) to see the total labor and costs of projects within each category.
Last Updated Date in the Scenario Details section displays the last date the scenario was changed through any of the following activities:
- Reordering the list of projects
- Moving a project from one of the investment categories into another category
- Changing any of the values for the target fields
- Refreshing project data
Project data in a scenario
Project data listed on the Scenario tab is always a snapshot of the project data as of the moment you added that project to the portfolio. This ensures that when you return to the Scenario tab at a later date, you will see the project information (such as planned project budget information or planned project start and end dates) as it was at the time you were making decisions about categorizing projects into the Invest, Borderline, or Do Not Invest investment categories.
To take a new snapshot of all relevant data for each of the projects in the portfolio, click the Refresh Project Data option. The Refresh Date for each project on the scenario page is updated to that day's date. Just as when you initially created this scenario, this set of information remains constant on the scenario page until the next time you click Refresh Project Data. The Refresh Date in all categories for each project displays the:
- Date that the project was added to the portfolio
Date that the snapshot of that project was taken
To view the details page for a project and to see the most up-to-date information for that project, click the project name from the Scenario tab.Each investment category shows the following information in its subtotal area:
- Total
A subtotal for the investment category. - Available
The amount of the target value available for investment after the preceding investment category subtotal (Total) is subtracted. In the Borderline section, the Available value represents the overall scenario target minus the subtotal from the Investment category. In the Do Not Invest section, the Available value represents the overall scenario target minus the subtotals from the Investment and Borderline categories. - Variance
The difference between the Available value and the sum of the investment category subtotals plus all previous investment category subtotals. In the Borderline section, the Variance value represents the overall scenario targets minus the subtotals from the Investment and Borderline categories. In the Do Not Invest section, the Variance value represents the overall scenario target minus the subtotals from the Investment, Borderline, and Do Not Invest categories.
Ordering projects within a scenario
Each project in a scenario is given a rank order. Projects cannot share rank and are sequential (that is, only one project can be "number 1"). This helps you set relative priority of projects within each investment category. To reorder a project or to move a project from one investment scenario into another, select the project and drag it up or down to the ordering position you want. Project rank order numbers are automatically be renumbered to accommodate the new position of that project, and the totals for the investment category are recalculated if you move the project into a new category.
After you have finished moving projects into the appropriate investment categories and rank ordering the projects within each category, click Save Order to save your order.