Build a Portfolio Budget Plan

The portfolio-level Costs and Funds app focuses on portfolio budget planning. A portfolio budget plan is created by allocating proposed budgets to each project in a portfolio that you decide to include in the budget plan scenario. Budget planning can only be done on projects in the portfolio. If a portfolio includes another portfolio, that portfolio and its projects are not available on the Budget Planning page.

To perform top-down budgeting, you can directly allocate proposed budgets for each project. To perform bottom-up budgeting, you can link to the values provided by project managers. The total of the proposed budget allocations for each project comprises the scenario and then ultimately the approved plan budget.

Budget planners create scenarios using the Budget Planning and Selection Analysis pages during the planning and selection process to determine the best combination of projects for a budget plan. The Budget Planning page enables budget planners to view and modify time-phased budget data for the entire planning horizon set for the portfolio. You can also allocate funds to the projects in your portfolio. The Selection Analysis page displays an analysis view opened from the Published Views page. Analysis views are customized layouts of the Budget Planning page that budget planners can use to analyze project attributes besides budget, such as Return on Investment, Net Present Value, and Profitability Index.

The instructions below follow the budget planning process from the Budget Planning page. See Selection Analysis Overview for the same set of steps from the Selection Analysis page. The same processes can be performed on both pages.

The Scenario Comparison page is also available to enable planners to review the project selection and data at the summary-level for all scenarios created.

Scenarios that are ready for execution can be sent through workflows for review, modification, and approval. You can use built-in or custom workflows for each stage of the process and designate different groups of users to each workflow role. At the end of the process, a single scenario will be approved and ready for use. After it is approved, the scenario serves as a guide for a budget planner to budget the selected projects in accordance with the plan.

Before you can begin portfolio budget planning, ensure that the projects in your portfolio contain appropriate cost data and that you configure the settings for a portfolio budget plan.

To build a budget plan:

1. Add a Budget Planning Scenario
2. Set the Target Budget for a Budget Planning Scenario
3. (Optional) Create Budget Scenario Data by Import
4. Configure the Budget Planning Page
5. Select projects for inclusion in the budget plan:
   • Manually select your projects.
   • Use the Optimization tool for automatic selection.
6. Determine the budget and dates for each project in the scenario:
   • Link a Project's Proposed Budget with a Forecast or Planned Budget Value
   • Directly Allocate a Proposed Budget and Dates for a Project Within Budget Plan Scenarios
7. (Optional) Add and allocate funds to your portfolio.
8. Compare your scenarios by reviewing financial data and other key performance indicators.
9. Send one or more scenarios through the budget plan approval process.