Optimisation - User Guide
Create or View an Optimisation Plan
To access Optimisation Plans in Altus, go to the Strategy area of the app and select Optimisation from the left navigation menu.
- If an Optimisation Plan already exists, click its name in the view to open and review it.
- To create a new Optimisation Plan, select New from the ribbon menu and enter the required information:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The name of your Optimisation Plan. |
| Description | (Optional) A description of your Optimisation Plan. |
| Start Date | (Required) The start date of the planning window. This cannot be changed after saving. |
| End Date | (Required) The end date of the planning window. This cannot be changed after saving. |
| Budget | The budget allocated to this Optimisation Plan. |
Create a Scenario
Each Optimisation Plan can include multiple Scenarios. Scenarios allow you to explore different sets of Initiatives within the same planning window and budget.
Note: The parent Optimisation Plan always dictates the horizon planning window (start and end dates) and the Budget allocated to the Plan.
- To create a new Scenario, open your Optimisation Plan and select Create Optimisation.
- Click Save to save your Scenario.
- Click Create Scenario to begin optimising.
Select Initiatives (Add / Remove) in a Scenario
- Use the Select Initiatives button in the ribbon to add or remove Initiatives from your Scenario.
- The Initiative selection dialog will appear, allowing you to choose Initiatives to include or exclude.
- Initiatives are grouped by type, as defined in your configuration settings (shared with the Prioritisation feature).
- Switch between tabs to select multiple Initiatives of different types, then click Apply Initiatives to update your Scenario.
Each Scenario can include a different set of Initiatives.
Save Scenario
- For a new Scenario, click Save and provide a name and description for easy reference.
- For existing Scenarios, click Save after making changes to ensure your updates are stored.
View or Copy a Scenario
- To view a Scenario, open the related Optimisation Plan and select the Scenario name.
- To switch between Scenarios, use the Scenarios dropdown menu.
- To copy an existing Scenario, select Save As… from the Save menu.
In your scenario you can include:
- Projects
- Proposals
- Ideas
- Any other Initiative type you have configured (see how to set up Initiative types).
Delete a Scenario
- To delete a Scenario, open the Optimisation Plan, find the Scenario in the right pane, and click the Delete icon next to it. Confirm the deletion.
Commit a Scenario
- When a Scenario is ready for approval, commit it by clicking the Commit (flag) icon next to the Scenario in the right pane of the Optimisation Plan form.
- Only one Scenario can be committed per Optimisation Plan. Once committed, the plan and all its Scenarios become read-only.
After committing, you can trigger custom business processes (e.g., notifications or workflows) using Power Platform tools. These are not included out of the box but can be configured by your administrator or partner.
Read Only Mode
An Optimisation Plan becomes read-only if:
- The plan is deactivated.
- The current user has read-only access.
- A Scenario within the plan has been committed.
Optimise: Move IN/OUT
- Initiatives under the IN group are included in your Scenario.
- Initiatives under the OUT group are excluded.
- Move Initiatives between IN and OUT to explore different "what if" scenarios.
- Drag Initiatives in the Gantt chart to simulate changes to their start date.
- Any Initiative in the OUT group is not counted in the Initiatives count, the In (Horizon Forecast) widget, the Optimisation Financial Grid or the Optimisation Resource Grid.
The Optimisation Plan displays four summary widgets:
| Widget | Description |
|---|---|
| Planning Horizon | The date range covered by your plan. |
| Budget Constraint | The budget allocated to your plan. |
| Initiatives | The count of ‘IN’ Initiatives. |
| In (Horizon Forecast) | The total forecast for all ‘IN’ Initiatives (green if under budget, red if over). |
Gantt Timeline Changes
- You can simulate changing the start date of an Initiative, but not its duration.
- The grey line shows the original schedule; the blue bar shows the simulated start.
- These changes are for scenario planning only and do not update the actual Initiative dates.
- For non-Project Initiatives, if any part of the Initiative falls within the planning horizon, its full cost is included in the forecast.
- Simulating date changes can affect the Horizon Forecast value.
- If there are dependencies between Initiatives, you can visualise how date changes impact those dependencies.
Note: Financial data for Projects may sometimes be forecast outside the scheduled dates. If an Initiative is ‘IN’, its financials may still be counted in the forecast even if its simulated dates are outside the planning horizon.
Budget Constraint & Financial Impact
- Show or hide the Financial Grid below the Gantt by toggling the Financial Grid button.
- The Financial Grid displays each ‘IN’ Initiative and its financial transaction types.
- For Projects, financial data is aggregated monthly.
- For Initiatives without time-phased data, only totals are shown.
- Simulated date shifts in the Gantt will also shift financial data in the grid, but only for transaction types that allow it.
- No source financial data is changed by using the Optimisation Plan—simulated shifts are for consideration of the impact only.
Resourcing Constraints & Impact
- Show or hide the Resource Grid below the Gantt by toggling the Resource Grid button.
- The Resource Grid displays one row per Resource Role referenced by the selected IN Initiatives. This includes:
- Resource Requests for Generic Resources, and
- Resource Requests for Named Resources.
- Any Named Resources without an identified Primary Role are grouped under the Unclassified Role.
- Resource view options (via the View ribbon menu):
- Data mode: Proposed or Committed
- Metric: FTE, Hours, or Days
Additional views:
- View resourcing by project: select one or more projects to display their resourcing requirements.
- View project assignments by resource: select one or more resource roles to see their assigned projects.
How the Resource Grid is calculated
- The time-phased values represent the net capacity for a resource role: Net capacity = (available capacity for the role) − (requests for the role across all IN Initiatives) − (requests for the role across other organisation projects/proposals not included as OUT).
- Interpretation:
- Positive value: capacity exceeds requests.
- Negative value: requests exceed capacity.
Simulation behaviour
- To simulate not doing an Initiative, move it from IN to OUT. If the last Initiative referencing a Role is moved to OUT, that Role will no longer appear in the Resource Grid.
- Dragging an IN Initiative in the Gantt simulates a new start date: the Initiative's resource requests shift in the Resource Grid to the corresponding periods (this includes requests that fall in the past).
- All Resource Requests for a moved Initiative will simulate the shift.
- Cells are shaded using the same colour scheme as Resource Heatmaps to indicate capacity versus utilisation.
- Cells outside the configured Resource Horizon show an icon indicating no capacity data is available.
Colour / heatmap examples
- Blue (non-zero): Role exists but has no requests for the period (capacity available).
- Blue (0): No resources are associated to that Role for the period.
- Blue-green: Proposed requests exist but capacity remains for the period.
- Green: Requests are close to but do not exceed capacity (e.g., 0.66 FTE remaining).
- Red: Requests exceed capacity (e.g., requests exceed capacity by 0.78 FTE).
- Icon: Period outside Resource Horizon — no capacity calculation possible.
Important: No source resource data is changed by using the Optimisation Plan — simulated shifts are for evaluation only.
Note: The Resource Grid and Financial Grid are mutually exclusive in the UI. Showing one will hide the other.
Comparing Scenarios
You can Compare up to 5 scenarios for any Optimisation that is not committed yet.
You can compare up to five scenarios for any optimisation that has not yet been committed. You may continue adding scenarios even after entering the Comparison screen, provided the total number of scenarios remains below five.
Interacting with Charts
- All charts support hover interactions. Moving your cursor over a chart displays additional details through tooltips.
- Financial Chart: Hover to view the financial forecast for the selected period.
- Forecast vs Impact Chart: Hover to see a holistic summary, including:
- Number of initiatives
- Forecast amounts
- Impact scores associated with the scenario
- Resource Chart: Hover to view the number of roles involved and the degree of overallocation.
Download PDF
A Download PDF option is available, allowing you to export the on screen visuals for reporting or record keeping.
