The PlanMinder Manual - 10 Scenario Mode
This is one chapter from the manual. Access the full manual here.
Scenario Mode
What is Scenario Mode?
Scenario Mode lets you make changes and see the effects they have, without disturbing the main plan everybody normally sees and follows. The Scenario is stored, and can be viewed and edited by others. If you decide that the changes you have made are good, you can apply the scenario, and will be transferred to the main plan.
What is Scenario Mode used for?
You can use Scenario Mode to test changes and optimize plans. You can for example activate a new project in a scenario to see what effect it would have on other projects it is competing for resources with. You could assign work and priorities to find an optimal plan. You could create several scenarios to test different options, and present them on a meeting to decide which one to implement.
You could use Scenarios to test what happens if … Where if could be failing a discrete risk, simulating by setting the probability to 100 %, or what would happened if you lost or added a team members, changed scope or any other scenario you find interesting.
You can use a Scenario to keep a plan B ready. The Scenario stores only the changes you make, so your plan B would be kept up to date with other changes as the project progresses. You can open it to see if it still is a working solution to a potential problem, and adapt as necessary. If the day comes where you need your plan B, you can activate it with a simple click on the "Use Scenario" button.
Entering scenario mode
You enter Scenario Mode by clicking the button on the Kairos page. You will have the option to either create a new scenario, or open an existing one.
Once in Scenario Mode the application background color will change, the scenario name will be displayed in the application title bar, and the main tabs will change. The Report Time tab will be hidden. You can not report time in a scenario. The Home tab will be replaced with a Scenario Mode tab. Some settings that can not be changed as part of a scenario will be disabled on the settings page, project reports page, and on the Work Schedule page.
Except for that, you can edit plans and run the scheduler just as normal.
Clicking the Scenario Mode button on the Kairos page again gives you the option to leave Scenario Mode.
The Scenario Mode Page
The Scenario Mode Page that replaces the Home page has three sections. On the top left you can see and edit the active scenario name and description. You also have five actions you can take:
- Exit Scenario Mode - leave scenario mode
- Use Scenario - apply the changes in the scenario to the main plan
- Clone Scenario - create a new scenario that is a copy of the active scenario
- New Scenario - create a new scenario
- Delete Scenario - delete the active scenario and leave Scenario Mode
Changes in active scenario
This section lists all elements that have been changed in the active scenario, with some information about the used settings. When changing an element, all settings for that element are stored. If you for example move an activity in the Kairos view, the position is changed. This also means that all other information about the activity at the time of changed is stored, including name, description, time estimate and asigned developer.
You can delete a change to remove the change from the scenario, and instead use the information from the main plan.
There are three different symbols to indicate what kind of change it is:
The not equal sign mean that an existing element has been changed.
The plus symbol indicates that the element has been created in the scenario.
An X symbol mean that the element is removed in the scenario.
All Scenarios list
On the right side you can see a list of all stored scenarios, with descriptions and information about when they were created and by whom. You can select a scenario in the list and choose to load it or delete it.
It is a good idea to delete scenarios when they no longer are useful.
Some considerations
A scenario stores and applies changes to the main plan. If the main plan has changed a lot, your scenario may no longer make much sense. For example, if elements have been moved around in the Kairos view in the main plan, it can be messed up in your scenario as the elements changed in the scenario will be on their old positions.
Priority changes are also tricky. All projects with a changed priority number will be stored as a change. If the priorities of the main plan has changed after that, maybe with new projects or some projects completed, the resulting priority order in your scenario may be different from what you think makes sense.
In most cases you will create a scenario to investigate or test something in order to make a decision. When the decision has been made, the scenario has played its role, and you can delete it. When applying a scenario with the Use Scenario button, you will be asked if you want to delete the scenario afterward.
If you want to keep a plan B scenario ready for a longer period of time, you should actively check in on it to see that it is relevant. Keep the number of changes in it as low as possible. You can use the “Changes in active scenario” to delete changes that causes problems, and then make new relevant ones.
You can change the work schedule for people as part of a scenario, but not the general work schedule. You can not create new users as part of a scenario.
Scenario Mode is not available in the Demo.
