Information

  • Simulations enable you to simulate and compare different planning scenarios with respect to dates and resource utilization in the portfolio.
  • You can make simulate changes to the following data:
    • Dates of planning objects
    • Remaining effort of planning objects
    • Capacity of departments
    • Priorities

Where can I simulate data?

In the Simulation module of the required portfolio.

Open the portfolio by clicking on the Multi-Portfolio Board link in the user menu of the Portfolio manager role and clicking on the link on the ID of the portfolio in the Portfolios module which will be opened. Subsequently, click on the Simulations module tab and open the required simulation by clicking on its ID.

Who is allowed to simulate data?

All users who have access to the Simulations module and have modification rights for portfolios. In PLANTA standard these are managers of the respective portfolio and  multi-portfolio managers. For information on user rights, please click here.

Change Dates

Procedure

  • Change the dates of the planning objects as required
    • either by moving the bars in the Dates area
    • or by clicking on the - or + button in the Simulation: start or Simulation: end in the Planning objects section. This way, project start or project end can be moved forward or backwards in simulation in one-month increments. This will extend or shorten the project duration.
    • Caution: When simulating the dates, the distribution of effort of the planning objects to the corresponding months must also be checked and adjusted manually if necessary, as it is not automatically adjusted to the newly defined simulation dates. See also the "Adjust Effort" chapter.

Change Effort

Information

  • The distribution of the effort of the planning objects can either be simulated separately or they may have to be adjusted if the dates of the planning objects have been changed (simulated).

Procedure

  • Expand the record of a planning object in the Planning objects area to see the departments which are involved in the planning of this planning object.
  • Expand the record of the department to open the monthly effort values which are stored in the planning object for a department.
    • The remaining monthly effort for the runtime of the planning object will be displayed.
  • Click on the fields of the required month and change the number.
  • Save.

When simulating the dates, please note the following:

  • When you extend the runtime, new month fields are created in which you can enter the effort. 
  • When reducing the runtime of a project, the effort values in the month fields which lie outside the new runtime dates are retained and must be distributed manually to the months within the new (simulated) runtime. The month fields which lie outside the simulation period which are thus cleared are deleted after refreshing the view. 
  • When moving a planning object with unchanged duration, both cases apply.

Change Capacities

Procedure

  • Expand the record of the required department in the  Departments area.
    • The capacities of the department available per month will be displayed.
    • Click on the fields of the required month and change the number.
    • Save.

Change Priorities

Procedure

  • Change the priority of the planning object according to your requirements (small number = high priority, high number = low priority).
    • This has an influence on the way in which the loading sequence of planning objects is displayed in the department charts: Low priority projects are displayed at the very top of the chart and are thus the first to cause overload.