Financial What-If Scenarios Overview

This page displays a stacked area chart showing the spending profile for each project.

The table below the chart (pictured above) shows cost by period, total cost, and provides three spending manipulation columns to the left of the numbers (closeup view below):

Exclude   If checked, the cost for this project is omitted in the chart.

Delay       If a positive or negative integer is present, move all spending forward or backward by the specified number of periods.

Scale       If a positive or negative percent value is present, multiply every period value by that percent.

Showing and Planning to a Target

To set a reference target spending line, select the Target Type option of “Target” the entry box at the bottom left of the chart.

If Targets have been defined in Financials, the target line will appear on the chart at the top and the target amount will appear on the Gross Total $ line. In the example below, the black target line is set at $4.000,000. The Gross Total $ line at the top of the table shows that target as well. Then the underlying projects can be manipulated (via exclude, delay, or scaling up or down) to accomodate the target.

Managing the Scenario

To the right of the Target toggle (at the top of the table), there is a series of controls that can help filter the data further and manage your scenario.

• The Project Rollup allows you to assess the list at any level of the project parent hierarchy (e.g. only programs, only level 2 projects, etc.).
• The Category Value Filter allows you to select any project categories you’ve defined in Administration and filter on those categories. Simply click the dropdown and click a category to select or deselect it.
• The By Period toggle can be clicked if you wish to switch to “Cumulative” mode.
• The “All” dropdown allows you to select a variety of data types as follows:

• The Recalculate button can be clicked to see the results of any changes you make in the table at the bottom.
• The Load What-If button  can be used to load a saved What-If scenario (See “Save” button below)
• The Save button  is used to save a What-If scenario. If you click the Save button, you’ll be presented with the following dialog to name the scenario:

• The Export button  allows you to export the scenario to a CSV file.
• The Apply option allows you to apply the scenario to the financials. This updates the financial assignments. However, you still must go to the Financial Assignments page and click “Save” to save the changes. If you wish to NOT keep the changes, you can refresh your browser or reload the database and the changes will not be applied. If you do hit the Apply button, the following dialog will issue the warning:

Entering Project Changes in the Scenario

The spending profile on any project can be excluded, moved earlier or later, and increased or decreased by specifications in the three scenario columns (Exclude, Delay, Scale).

After making all changes of interest for the scenario, click the Recalculate button  at the upper right of the table. If there are any periods where the total exceeds the target, cells that are above target from the bottom of the priority list up are highlighted to show violations (see data cells highlighted in pink below).