Portfolio Manager Overview
The Portfolio Manager is where the budget forecast planners in your company can gather cost and schedule information on projects (both planned and in execution) and perform analyses on "what if" scenarios. These scenarios are used to propose an optimal mix of projects for a portfolio, based on available budget targets and the strategic goals of the company.
Using the Portfolio Manager, planners can create a portfolio for a specific "planning horizon" (for example, from 2014 through 2020) and then create multiple scenarios in that portfolio. Each scenario can use forecast numbers and actuals, as well as schedule dates, for both planned and active projects in a specific shell type across a hierarchy in the company.
Budget forecast planners create these scenarios on sheets, one for each scenario. Using a query condition set up by the administrator, the scenario sheets can pull in the following data from any shell type in a hierarchy:
- Project information from the shell attribute form or single-record business process
- Project start and end dates from the shell attribute form or single-record business process
- Cash flow data (both forecasted and actual) from each project's Cost Manager
With this data, the planner can forecast costs over a specific time period (called a "period structure"). Planners can then manipulate scenarios by:
- Including or excluding projects
- Pushing start dates for planned projects into the future
- Modify project end dates to change the project's duration
- Proposing different cash flow distribution numbers by manually editing the cash flow columns
- Negotiating proposed budgets with project managers
Note: The numbers the planner proposes in a scenario will NOT affect a project's live data. The proposed numbers are stored only in the Portfolio Manager and will not affect live project data until a scenario has been approved by your company management.
After these scenario analyses have been completed, the best (or several best) scenario(s) can be sent to the executive decision makers for approval.
When a scenario has been approved, Unifier:
- Marks the approved scenario "shared" so that project managers can see the approved dates and numbers. The scenario is set to read-only mode and can no longer be modified or deleted.
- Updates each project's original budget numbers with the proposed numbers on the approved scenario.
- Updates each project's monthly or yearly cash flow numbers with the proposed numbers on the approved scenario.
- Updates the project start date (if it was changed) for any planned projects that will begin during the portfolio's planning period.
- Updates the project/shell data with any project/shell information that was changed on the scenario sheet, and sends you an email notification of the updates.
- Locks the budget and cash flow numbers to prevent any further changes.
In This Section
Design Requirements for the Portfolio Manager
Last Published Monday, June 3, 2024