Table of Contents

Proposals

Overview

The proposal is the ‘concept brief’ that must be approved before a project is created. This is where problem statement, benefits, costs, return on investment, and high-level time-frames are captured. The approval of a proposal generates a project record.

Views

Below is an example of the All Active Proposals view. This is the default view in Altus and has a hard filter to only show Active items:

  • Existing columns can be added to the view by clicking on Edit Columns.
  • View filters can be changed using Edit Filters.

Proposals_View.png

OOTB Views

Altus comes with the following views for proposals:

View Columns Filters
All Active Proposals Proposal Name; Sponsor; Department; ROI; Proposed Start; Proposed Finish; Status Reason Status Reason = Active
All Proposals Proposal Name; Sponsor; Department; ROI; Proposed Start; Proposed Finish; Status Reason None
All Proposals Pending Approval Proposal Name; Sponsor; Department; ROI; Proposed Start; Proposed Finish; Status Reason Status Reason = Submitted

Item Form

Below is the new/edit form for Proposals. It has three tabs within it:

  • Details
  • Resource Plan
  • Override Sell Rates

Details tab

The details tab contains Proposal metadata:

Proposals_Form_Details.png

Resource Plan tab

This tab has the Resource Plan control where a proposal manager can plan out which resources are required to deliver this proposal should it be approved as a project. By default there will be no information in this tab.

Further information on the Resource Plan feature.

Proposals_Form_ResourcePlan.png

Override Sell Rates tab

This tab is used to override the standard sell rates that apply to bookable resources. By default there will be no information in this tab.

Proposals_Form_OverrideSellRates.png

Proposal Process

Process Diagram

The diagram below articulates the proposal process flow.

BPMN_Proposal_Process.jpg

Business Process Flow (BPF)

Proposals have the following approval process which are controlled by a business process flow. The process has two steps:

Proposals_Process_Overview.png

Initiation

This step in the process involves:

  • Completing the high-level business case.
  • Assigning a potential project manager.
  • Gaining department approval (completed outside of Altus).

Once done the proposal can progress to the Selection stage.

Proposals_Process_Initiation.png

Selection

Once the proposal is in the selection stage it can be submitted to the project sponsor for approval.

Proposals_Process_Selection.png

This part of the process is controlled by a Power Automate flow. The steps are:

  1. Select the workflow from the ribbon.
  2. Confirm submission.
  3. Sponsor to review.
  4. Once approved, a project will be created.

Select the Workflow

First step is Run the approval workflow. This is done by selecting the Flow button from the ribbon and selecting Launch Proposal Approval

Proposals_Process_ApprovalProcess.png

Confirm Submission

Once done, a dialog box will pop up for you to confirm that you wish to submit. Click on OK to proceed:

Proposal_Process_ConfirmSubmit.png

This will then send a notification to the Sponsor who can review the request.

Proposal_Process_Notification.png

Proposal_Process_ApprovalResponse.png

Once approved, Project is Created

Once approved the project manager will receive a notification that the project has been created:

Proposal_Process_ProjectCreated.png

Columns

Proposal Fields

The following columns exists in Altus.

Columns prefixed with sensei_ are those that form part of the Altus solution.

The remaining are default dataverse fields created automatically.

Property Value
Display Name Proposal
Name sensei_proposal
Primary Column Name
Description
Display Name Name Data type Field Length Customizable Required Searchable
(Deprecated) Stage Id stageid uniqueidentifier False False False
(Deprecated) Traversed Path traversedpath Single line of text 1250 False False False
Business Benefits sensei_businessbenefits Multiple lines of text 2000 True False False
Business Case completed? sensei_stage1_question1 Yes/No True False False
Created By CreatedBy Lookup True False False
Created By (Delegate) CreatedOnBehalfBy Lookup True False False
Created On CreatedOn Date and Time Date and Time True False False
Department sensei_department picklist True False False
Departmental Approval? sensei_stage1_question2 Yes/No True False False
Description sensei_proposaldescription Multiple lines of text 2000 True False False
Estimated Effort (Hrs) sensei_estimatedeffort Decimal True False False
Financial Benefits sensei_financialbenefits Decimal True False False
Import Sequence Number ImportSequenceNumber Whole number True False False
Investment Category sensei_investmentcategory picklist True False False
Modified By ModifiedBy Lookup True False False
Modified By (Delegate) ModifiedOnBehalfBy Lookup True False False
Modified On ModifiedOn Date and Time Date and Time True False False
Name (Primary name column) sensei_name Single line of text 255 True True True
Outcome sensei_outcome Single line of text 100 True False False
Outcome Comments sensei_outcomecomments Multiple lines of text 2000 True False False
Owner OwnerId Owner True False False
Owning Business Unit OwningBusinessUnit Lookup True False False
Owning Team OwningTeam Lookup True False False
Owning User OwningUser Lookup True False False
Problem Statement sensei_problemstatement Multiple lines of text 2000 True False False
Process Id processid uniqueidentifier False False False
Project Manager sensei_projectmanager Lookup True False False
Proposal sensei_proposalId Primary Key True False False
Proposal Costs sensei_proposalcosts Decimal True False False
Proposed 'Go Live' Date sensei_proposedgolivedate Date and Time Date Only True False False
Proposed Finish sensei_proposedfinish Date and Time Date Only True False False
Proposed Start sensei_proposedstart Date and Time Date Only True False False
Record Created On OverriddenCreatedOn Date and Time Date Only True False False
ROI sensei_roi Decimal True False False
Sensei Project sensei_project Lookup True False False
Sponsor sensei_sponsor Lookup True False False
Status sensei_Status picklist True True False
Status statecode Choice True False False
Status Reason statuscode Choice True False False
Steering Committee Approval? sensei_stage2_question1 Yes/No True False False
Submit Approval sensei_submitapproval Yes/No True False False
Time Zone Rule Version Number TimeZoneRuleVersionNumber Whole number -1 to 2147483647 True False False
UTC Conversion Time Zone Code UTCConversionTimeZoneCode Whole number -1 to 2147483647 True False False

Proposal Department (sensei_proposaldepartment)

Value Label Description
955000000 Finance
955000001 HR
955000002 Marketing
955000003 IT
955000004 Operations
955000005 Sales
955000006 Corporate

Proposal Investment Category (sensei_proposalinvestmentcategory)

Value Label Description
955000000 Run
955000001 Grow
955000002 Transform

Proposal Process Fields

The following columns exists in Altus.

Columns prefixed with sensei_ are those that form part of the Altus solution.

The remaining are default dataverse fields created automatically.

Property Value
Display Name Proposal Process
Name sensei_proposalprocess
Primary Column Name
Description Base entity for process Proposal Process
Display Name Name Data type Field Length Customizable Required Searchable
Active Stage ActiveStageId Lookup True False False
Active Stage Started On ActiveStageStartedOn Date and Time Date Only True False False
Completed On CompletedOn Date and Time Date Only True False False
Created By CreatedBy Lookup True False False
Created By (Delegate) CreatedOnBehalfBy Lookup True False False
Created On CreatedOn Date and Time Date and Time True False False
Duration bpf_Duration Whole number 0 to 2147483647 True False False
Import Sequence Number ImportSequenceNumber Whole number True False False
Modified By ModifiedBy Lookup True False False
Modified By (Delegate) ModifiedOnBehalfBy Lookup True False False
Modified On ModifiedOn Date and Time Date and Time True False False
Name (Primary name column) bpf_name Single line of text 100 True True True
Organization Id OrganizationId Lookup True False False
Process ProcessId Lookup True False False
Proposal Process BusinessProcessFlowInstanceId Primary Key True False False
Record Created On OverriddenCreatedOn Date and Time Date Only True False False
Sensei_Proposal bpf_sensei_proposalid Lookup True False False
Status statecode Choice True False False
Status Reason statuscode Choice True False False
Time Zone Rule Version Number TimeZoneRuleVersionNumber Whole number -1 to 2147483647 True False False
Traversed Path TraversedPath Single line of text 1250 True False False
UTC Conversion Time Zone Code UTCConversionTimeZoneCode Whole number -1 to 2147483647 True False False

Workflow

In addition to the BPF, the workflow below is run when the user submits the proposal for approval. This workflow is orchestrated by Power Automate:

Proposal_Workflow.png

Workflow details

Security Roles

Security Roles for Proposal

Security Role Create Read Write Delete Append Append To Assign Share
Altus - PMO User Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global
Altus - Portfolio Manager None Local None None None None None None
Altus - Program Manager None Local None None None None None None
Altus - Proposal Manager Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local
Altus - Resource Manager None Global None None Global Global None None
Altus - Strategy Executive None Global None None Global Global None None
Altus Admin User Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global
Altus Portfolio User Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local
Altus Strategy User Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local

Legend

  • Global Organisation / Global
  • Local Business Unit / Local
  • Basic User / Basic
  • None None

For details see Application Security.

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