Create Portfolio (Tutorial) From DB 39.5.10

Please note

• The following description applies to the database versions DB 39.5.10 to DB 39.5.12.
• For links to the descriptions of other versions, please refer to the following table:

DB 39.5.15	go to the tutorial
DB 39.5.14	go to the tutorial
DB 39.5.13	go to the tutorial
DB 39.5.10 - DB 39.5.12	go to the tutorial
< DB 39.5.10	go to the tutorial
	go to further tutorials

Introduction

Objective

• To learn how to use PLANTA portfolio and its functions on the basis of typical use cases.
• With the following workflow, users like portfolio managers can learn how to employ and use PLANTA portfolio optimally.
• All exercises are based on the PLANTA demo data. This demo data must be installed beforehand.
• Master data, such as calendar, resources, users, hourly rates, etc. is already set up in the demo data. This tutorial does not cover the definition of master data (for this, see Master Data Entry). It is merely about how to plan a new project in addition to already existing ones and shows the impact this has.
• The screenshots used are merely examples of functions. The screenshot layout may deviate from the program.
• Blue arrows and frames are supposed to draw the user's attention to important details and illustrate processes.

Portfolio Definition

Information

• Planning Objects of the following type can be part of a portfolio:
  • Ideas
  • Proposals
  • Projects
  • Programs

Details

• Ideas are coarse project suggestions
• Proposals are selected and substantiated ideas.
• Ideas and proposals are the precursor of projects and therefore the planning phases for projects.
• Projects are selected and approved proposals that are already running and are usually not changed.
• Programs are bundled projects (packets).

Idea and Proposal Management

Information

• From the abundance of the developed project ideas and proposals you have to single out those that are most promising for the company.
• This is achieved by filtering the ideas and proposals.
• Two models are distinguished:
  • Three-layered model: Ideas Projects
    • In the three-layered model, coarse project ideas are collected that are then substantiated to proposals which are eventually converted to promising projects.
  • Two-layered model: Proposal Projects
    • The procedure of the two-layered model is basically the same as that of the three-layered model. In contrast to the three-layered model, however, it starts with the collection of proposals. The proposals are analyzed and those that are not promising are discarded. The remaining proposals become projects.
• In practice, the two-layered model is mainly employed. For this reason, this tutorial is also based on the two-layered model.

Example

Portfolio Master Data

Information

• Portfolio Master Data form the basis for the creation and administration of portfolios.
• Evaluation criteria and risk checklists are some of the most important portfolio master data.
• The evaluation of criteria and risks is of fundamental importance for the planning of ideas, proposals, and projects.
• Project applicants that want to get a project on the way, check upfront whether the ideas and proposals are consistent with the strategic objectives of the company.

Objective Evaluation Criteria

Information

• With the help of objective evaluation criteria, project applicants estimate the expected gross profit of ideas, proposals, and projects in the company.
  • Every employee can request projects, however, this is often done by the project managers.

Create and Weight Objective Evaluation Criteria

Information

• Objective evaluation criteria are created for each company area.
• Queries can be categorized within areas.

Procedure

• Log on to the system with the user of the portfolio manager, here R70.
• Open Portfolio Data in the user menu under Portfolio Management Portfolio Administration Portfolio Data
• Activate the Objective Evaluation Criteria module.
• Select an area
  • Insert a new record by clicking on the Insert area button or by using the insert functions.
  • Select the required area from the listbox in the Area field and save.
• Select a group
  • Insert an empty line by clicking on the Insert group button on area level or by using the insert functions.
  • Select the required group from the listbox in the Group field and save.
• Insert evaluation criteria
  • Insert an empty line by clicking on the Insert evaluation criterion button on area level or by using the insert functions.
  • He/she enters a criterion name and saves.
    • The ID is generated automatically.
  • Weight the criterion in the Weighting field.
  • You can release the evaluation criterion by activating the checkbox in the Approval field.
    • Only the released objectives are considered when the objective contribution is evaluated.

Note

• In this module, you can only select areas and categories and use them to outline risk queries. They are created in the Portfolio Listbox Values module.

Risk Checklists

Information

• With the help of risk checklists, project managers can evaluate the risks of projects, ideas, or proposals.
  • Individual checklist items are formulated in the form of queries.

Create and Edit Risk Checklist

Information

• Checklists are created for each area.
• Queries can be categorized within areas.

Procedure

• In order to create and edit the risk checklists, proceed in the same way as in Create, Edit, and Weight Evaluation Criteria. The creation is done in the Risk Checklist module.

Note

• In this module, you can only select areas and categories and use them to outline risk queries. The areas are created in the Portfolio Listbox Values module.

Create Quality Gate Templates

Information

• Quality Gates are so called controlling elements which serve as a bridge between portfolio management and project management. Having a similar functionality like gates or master milestones, quality gates serve to make the project implementation phase more transparent by means of date bound “section checks”.
• In the Quality Gate Templates module, templates are created which can be selected in individual portfolios and then apply to all planning objects of the portfolio.

Create a quality gate template for the IT portfolio

• Open Portfolio Data in the user menu under Portfolio Management Portfolio Administration Portfolio Data
• Activate the Quality Gate Templates module.
• Click on the Create template button in the module header.
  • As a result, the ID of the template is generated automatically.
  • Allocate a name.
• Right-click on the template record and select Insert Quality Gate from the context menu. A quality gate record is created.
  • Enter the required date for the quality gate in the Requested end field.
  • Enter a quality gate name in the Name field, here “Report: concept”.
  • Define the position of the quality gate in the template by the value in the Quality gate field.
• Right-click on the quality gate and select Insert Quality Gate from the context menu. As a result, a todo item record is created.
  • Allocate the Todo item name, here "Adjust all remaining effort"
  • Enter the date by which the todo item is to be completed in the Date field.
  • The Priority field is a mandatory field and defines the importance of the todo item for the achievement of the quality gate.
  • A todo item can be assigned to a category.
• Create further quality gates and todo items in the same way.

Example

New Proposal

Information

• Below, the process from proposal creation up to project application is described based on the two-layered model.
  • Project manager Ronja Koch is supposed to implement the PM software in her company.
  • The planning of the proposal is to be done process oriented.

Create New Proposal

Task

• Project manager Ronja Koch wants to turn the core specifications into a proposal first.

Procedure

• Ronja Koch logs-on to the system with her R8 user.
• In the user menu she clicks on Planning New Proposal.
  • The Proposal panel with focused Proposal Core Data module is opened.
  • The ID for the new proposal is generated automatically and is visible in the module header.
  • The newly created proposal is saved automatically.
• Enter the proposal name for the new project in the field next to the ID in the module header, e.g.: “Implement PM software”.
  • Here, the Please enter a name dialog is output by default.
• Ronja Koch makes further entries.
  • Manager: Koch, Ronja (PM) (R8)
  • Group 1: IT projects
  • Requested start: 1/10/2018
  • Requested end: 5/30/2018
• and saves the input.

Example

Process Models

Information

• PLANTA portfolio enables you to plan and control ideas, proposals, and projects in a process-oriented way. For this purpose, PLANTA provides several process model templates.

Task

• Ronja Koch is supposed to select an appropriate process model for her proposal and create the proposal according to this module.

Procedure

• She clicks on the Process Status module tab at the lower left margin of the display in the Panel of the newly created proposal.
• From the listbox, Mrs. Koch selects the From proposal to project process model.
• She clicks on the Activate model button.
  • The process model is copied along with the associated process steps.

Example

Process Steps

Information

• The Process Status module lists all process steps that must be completed upon request of the 000001 Implement PM software proposal.
• You can assign a resource from the listbox to each process step.
• You can select a status from the listbox for each process step.
• For process steps the completion of which is not required for the project, the Not required checkbox must be activated. The status of such a process step automatically changes to "completed".

Procedure

• The Name stakeholder process step is not required, therefore Ronja Koch activates the Not required chekbox for this step.

Note

• For a successful proposal application, all process steps must be processed by the end, i.e. no process step can have open as a status.

Process Step 1: Describe Proposal

Task

• Ronja Koch wants to describe her proposal in more detail.

Procedure

• In the Proposal Core Data module, Ronja Koch makes the required entries in the individual input fields in the Descriptive data area.

• After she has made all entries, she manually sets the Describe proposal status in the Process Status module to completed.

Process Step 2: Create Schedule

Task

• Ronja Koch wants to check whether the specified proposal requested dates are realistic. For this purpose, she creates a new schedule by copying the Implementation of PLANTA project plan to her new proposal.

Copy schedule

• Ronja Koch opens the Schedule module in the Proposal panel by clicking on the tab of the same name.
• When opening the Schedule module, the following query is displayed: Is a schedule to be copied in?
• She answers the query with Yes.
  • The Copy Schedule module is opened.
  • Mrs. Koch selects the PM-TOOL Implementation of PLANTA project project from the listbox.

• The project manager starts the copy operation by clicking on the Copy Schedule button.
• Afterwards, the project manager clicks on the Capacity scheduling button in the toolbar.
  • The planning of the tasks is calculated on the basis of the previously defined dates.

Edit process step

• The Create schedule process step is finished and set to completed by Ronja Koch.

Process Step 3: Evaluate Objectives and Risks

Information

• The planned proposal must be consistent with the company goals and make a sufficient contribution to the achievement of these goals.
• The risks should be minimal.

Task

• Ronja Koch first wants to determine the objective contribution.

Procedure

• Switch to the Proposal Core Data module.
• Select a new area from the listbox in the Area field.
  • In PLANTA portfolio, objective evaluation criteria are defined and weighted for each company area.
• In the Evaluation data area of the Proposal Core Data, the project manager clicks on the Evaluate button next to the Objective contribution field.
  • All evaluation criteria and their weighting numbers, which are assigned to the selected area, are displayed by groups.
  • Three criteria groups are now displayed:
    • Cost savings
    • Market orientation
    • Profitability
  • In each group, Ronja Koch can now evaluate single criteria and their contribution.
  • She selects the estimates between 0% and 100% from the respective listbox entries.

• Ronja Koch clicks on the Complete evaluation button in the Objective Evaluation area.
  • The entire objective contribution of this project is calculated from the values in the Criterion contribution field and the weighting specifications of all criteria and is displayed in the Objective contribution in % field.

Task

• Ronja Koch now wants to determine the Risk value.

Procedure

• Next to the Risk value field, the project manager clicks on the Evaluate button.
  • She answers the questions on risks with Yes or No in the following categories:
    • Dates
    • Costs
    • Quality
    • Miscellaneous

• Ronja Koch clicks on the Complete evaluation button.
• The total risk contribution is determined by the yes/no answers of all criteria and is displayed in the Risk value field.
  • In the Portfolio Master Data, every answer option for every question is predefined with a certain score which weights the respective answer.

Edit process step

• The Evaluate objectives and risks process step is finished and set to completed by Ronja Koch.

Example

Process Step 4: Define resource requirements

Task

• Ronja Koch wants to define the resources necessary for her proposal.

Procedure

• Open the Outline Plan module
• Assign the required resources to the individual tasks and allocate the effort.
• Save.
• Carry out the capacity scheduling.

Edit process step

• Ronja Koch finishes the Define resource requirements project step in the Process Status module by selecting the completed entry from the listbox.

Example

Process Step 5: Request budget

Task

• Mrs. Koch wants to request the budget for the Implement PM Software proposal for the year 2018.

Procedure

• Open the Budget module
  • The costs calculated on the basis of the previously allocated effort are displayed both in the yearly tranche of the respective year and summarized upwards to proposal level.
• The project manager requests the budget by copying the costs from the Remaining (without SP) column to the Requested (without SP) on the yearly tranche by clicking on the arrow button above the Requested (without SP).

• Subsequently, she clicks on the Recalculate button. The values are summarized from the yearly tranches to proposal level.

• With the calculated effort she proceeds in the same way as she did with the costs.

Edit process step

• The Request budget process step is finished and Ronja Koch sets the status to completed.

Example

Process Step 6: Define Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

Information

• A key performance indicator is a measurement variable that can be used to measure the achievement of an objective.

Task

• Ronja Koch has almost completed the editing of her proposal core data. The KPI specification is still missing.
• The project manager estimates which measures benefit the company economically.
• She thinks about lowering the costs by creating simple status reports in the amounts of 200.000€ for 2018 and 400.000€ for 2019.

Procedure

• Click on the Insert KPI button in the Key Performance Indicator area.
• Name the Key Performance Indicator in the field of the same name.
• Insert a new record for the benefit via the Insert Benefit context menu.
• In the Year field, she enters 2018 and stores the value of 200.000 € in the Planned benefit field.
• Insert the second benefit record via the context menu or by clicking on the green plus symbol next to the Year column heading.
• Enter the year 2019 and the Planned benefit of 400.000 €.
• Save.

• Ronja Koch opens the Budget module.
• She clicks on the Recalculate button. As a result, the previously created user data is copied from the Proposal Core Data module to the Budget module and is applied against the planned costs.
  • These specifications are then incorporated in the calculation of the NPV of the proposal.

Edit process step

• The project manager terminates the process step by setting it to completed.

Process Step 7: Submission

Information

• Ronja Koch estimates his proposal as economically interesting for the company.

Task

• The project manager wants to receive approval for the newly created proposal which is to become a project.

Procedure

• In the Approval process step, Ronja Koch selects portfolio manager Wera Heine in the Resource name field as the person responsible for the approval.
• Subsequently, she clicks on the Submission link.
• The Do you want to write a comment? dialog message is displayed.
• Ronja Koch answers with Yes.
• In the Comment field, she formulates the following remark: The implementation of the PLANTA software seems economically interesting to me and saves it.
• Subsequently, she clicks on the Submission link again.
  • The status of the process step is set from "open" to "completed", additionally the Send Info dialog module which contains the pre-formulated message to the portfolio manager on the completion of the approval step.
  • Mrs. Koch clicks on the Send button.
• Portfolio manager Wera Heine receives the Info.

Portfolio

Task

• The portfolio manager is supposed to check the proposal, possibly approve it and thus release it.
• For this purpose, she wants to include the proposal in an existing portfolio in order to decide whether the implementation of the project will be profitable.

Procedure

• Wera Heine logs-on to the system with her R70 user.
• In the user menu she clicks on Portfolio Managment Planning and Reports Multi-Portfolio Board.
  • The Portfolios module is opened.
  • The portfolio manager clicks on ID "IT00001” to open the portfolio and subsequently clicks on the Planning Objects module tab to open the module of the same name.

Information

• In the Planning Objects module you can see that portfolio IT00001 already contains several planning objects.
• Ronja Koch's Implement PM software proposal is not yet contained.

Assign the Proposal to the Portfolio

Task

• Wera Heine now wants to include Ronja Koch's proposal in the portfolio.

Procedure

• In the Planning Objects tab, the portfolio manager clicks on the Assign planning object(s) button.
  • The Assign Planning Objects to the Portfolio module is opened.
  • In the Planning Objects without portfolio assignment area, Mrs. Heine marks the record with the new proposal and clicks on the Copy marked objects button in the header.

• Proposal 000001 Implement PM software is now assigned to the portfolio and is displayed in the Planning Objects module.

Portfolio Budget

Task

• The portfolio manager wants to check whether the portfolio budget for the newly included planning object is still covered sufficiently.

Procedure

• Wera Heine opens the Budget module by clicking on the tab of the same name, and extends the 2018 period area.

Details

• The budget of proposal 000001 _ Implement PM software_ is now considered in the portfolio automatically.
• At the yellow traffic light on the deviation fields, the portfolio manager realizes that the relevant budget (hence, the budget required for the realization of the planning objects contained in the portfolio) is greater than the portfolio budget.

Example

• Comparison: Status of the portfolio budget before the new proposal was included in the portfolio

• The portfolio manager clicks on the link on the Costs heading and opens the Edit period: costs 2018, in which she can check the exact compilation of the budgets of the individual planning objects for the 2018 period.

Example

Problem

• In the momentary constellation, there is a budget overrun.
• How can the portfolio manager prevent overrun?

Problem solution

• Wera Heine wants to compare project ideas and proposals of the portfolio regarding objective contribution, risk value, and capital value.
• On the basis of this information, she wants to decide which proposals and ideas are profitable and can be realized as projects and which ones can possibly be removed from the portfolio or be set to inactive temporarily.

Procedure

• For this purpose, the portfolio manager clicks on the Info Board tab and on the Projects by Objective and Risk Contribution link in the Objective contribution and risk values area.
• The Projects by Objective and Risk Contribution module is opened.
• Projects, proposals, and ideas are displayed in relation.
• Reference values:
  • Objective contribution
  • Risk value
  • Capital value
• The visual comparison option helps the portfolio manager to come to a fast decision on which ideas or proposals to cancel and which ones to project.

Example

Details

• A proposal should possess the following characteristics so that it can be turned into a project.
  • High capital value Big bubble
  • High objective contribution (>50%) placement of the bubble in the right upper quarter of the bubble chart.

Procedure

• Wera Heine analyzes the bubble chart and the number of depicted proposals and ideas.
  • Result:
    • Turning proposal 000001 Implement PM software into a project would be economically interesting for the company.
      • The Risk value of 28% is quite low.
      • The Objective contribution exceeds 50% by far.
      • The Capital value of about 500.000 € is high enough.
    • Idea 0002 Voice over internet is economically uninteresting for the company:
      • The Risk value is too high (55%).
      • The Objective contribution is too small (18%).
      • The Capital value is too low (39.000 €).

Task

• Wera Heine wants to remove idea 0002 Voice over internet from the portfolio. The costs saved by canceling would even out the Portfolio budget.

Procedure

• She switches to the Budget module and from there to the Edit Period: Costs 2018 module.
• In the Ideas area, she deactivates the Active checkbox of idea 0002. As a result, the budget reserved for idea 0002 is no longer considered in the portfolio, i.e. the Relevant budget is reduced
  • The Portfolio budget is hence balanced..

Result

• The measures taken by Wera Heine lead to the desired gross profit. The Relevant budget remains below the Portfolio budget by 3.689 €. You can see this immediately by the green traffic light on the deviation fields.

Example

Resource Simulation and Utilization

Task

• Mrs. Heine wants to check the practicability of her proposal from a resource utilization point of view.

Procedure

• In the Portfolio panel, Wera Heine clicks on the Simulations tab.
  • The module of the same name is opened.
  • Here, Mrs. Heine clicks on the Create simulation button in the header.
  • The Simulation module is opened, in which the status report data of the planning objects are stored as a kind of copy, which enables you to simulate different planning scenarios without having to change the real data.
    • The data here is the data of the status reports which have been selected in the Simulations module for the respective planning objects. If no status reports have been selected for particular planning objects or if planning objects do not yet possess status reports, status reports are automatically created when you click on the Create simulation button, however, these status reports are used for the simulation only and are not visible in regular status report modules.

Graphical display of the dates of all portfolio planning objects

Procedure

• By the red traffic light in the Overload column in the Departments area, Mrs. Heine immediately sees that there is a resource overload in the System Technology department in the current planning situation.
• The portfolio manager now wants to get an idea of the department utilization.
• For this purpose, she clicks on the Display utilization button next to the red traffic light.
  • The Utilization Simulation is opened.
• The gantt chart represents the utilization of the resources of the System Technology department in all planning objects.
• Due to the color display of the planning objects by code, the portfolio manager immediately sees which planning objects cause the Overload. It is the new proposal the code color of which is “orange”.

Example

Task

• The portfolio manager wants to optimize the resource planning.
• For this purpose, she wants to move dates in order to change the load of the resources.

Procedure

• Mrs. Heine switches back to the Simulation module.
• By clicking on the bar of planning object 000001 and holding down the mouse button, she drags the bar to the right in order to reduce date overlapping with other projects.
  • As a result, the entire bar is moved.
• She releases the mouse button at the required position.
  • The bar represents the simulated dates of the planning object, the dotted line visualizes the initially calculated dates.

Example

• Graphic display of the dates of all portfolio planning objects after date change.

Result

• After she has moved the dates, the traffic light switches from red to green, implying that the overload of the System Technology department has disappeared.

• In order to check the exact utilization, Mrs. Heine opens the Utilization Simulation module.

Graphic display of the resource utilization throughout all planning objects after date change

Information

• The portfolio manager wants to record the changed schedule and saves the present simulation as a road map by clicking on the Road map button in the header of the module.
• The road map dates are subsequently displayed in the Proposal Core Data and can be copied as new requested dates for the proposal.

Example

Approval of the Budget

Information

• Wera Heine has calculated the objective and risk contribution and optimized the utilization of the proposal.

Task

• She wants to approve the budget of the proposal now.

Procedure

• Since the Panel of proposal 000001 Implement PM software has already been opened, the portfolio manager switches to the Budget module by clicking on the tab of the same name.
  • In the Costs 2018 budget period, Wera Heine copies the costs from the Requested (without SP) column to the Approved (without SP) column.
  • Subsequently she clicks on the Approve costs and effort button next to the Costs 2018 heading.

Example

• A check mark is displayed in the neighboring Approved budget . This confirms the budget approvement.
• Wera Heine clicks on the Recalculate button. The figures from the Costs 2018 yearly tranche are summarized to project total level.

Example

Process Step 8: Approval

Task

• After approval of the proposal, Wera Heine now wants to approve the budget.

Procedure

• In the Process Status module, Wera Heine clicks on the Approval process step.
  • A dialog window containing the What do you want to do? question is displayed.
  • The portfolio manager answers the query by clicking on the Approve button.
  • Analogously to the Submission process step, an info can also be sent during approval.
  • Mrs. Heine sends a message on the approval of the project application to project manager Ronja Koch.

Information

• After completion of the approval, the Proposal phase is moved to the Completed phases area.
• In the course of this, the status of all process steps is changed to “accepted” and in the Approval field, the date of approval by portfolio manager Wera Heine is displayed.

Example

Project

Information

• The approval has turned proposal 000001 Implement PM software into a project. This change is done automatically in line with the rules stored in the process model.
• In the Planning Objects module you can see that
  • the number of projects in portfolio IT0001 has increased from six to seven.
  • the number of proposals has been reduced from five to four.

Example

• In order to check whether it actually is a project, the portfolio manager can click on the link on ID 000001.
• The Project panel of project 00001 is opened and not the Proposal panel as before.

Example

Insert Portfolio Quality Gates in Project

Task

• In order to be able to better track the progress of the new project later, the portfolio manager presets quality gates for the new project.
• To do so, she must insert the quality gate template in the new project which she has already selected for her portfolio in the Active template field in the Portfolio Core Data module for her portfolio.

Procedure

• Mrs. Heine opens the Quality Gates module,
• In the line of project 000001, she clicks on the Copy quality gate templates button.

• The project is automatically moved to the Planning object(s) with quality gates area and the quality gates defined in the template are displayed below the project line.

• The portfolio manager wants to adjust the quality gate dates set in the template by default to project 000001. For this purpose, she wants to check the schedule of project 000001.
  • She clicks on the Open schedule button in the line of the project.
  • The schedule of project 000001 is opened.
  • According to the calculated dates of the project, the portfolio manager sets the dates for the quality gates in the Requested end field and carries out the capacity scheduling in the Schedule module.
    • To adjust the dates, please consider required customizing changes.
  • The portfolio quality gates are inserted in the schedule of the project and are visible in the scale area.
  • At the same time they are displayed below the scale in the Quality Gates module in the portfolio.