Setting the Target Metric and Constraint

Project Managers can use the Accolade Portfolio Planner to create plans that align with key business goals. When configuring a new planner, enter the following information:

Target Metric – A specific business goal
Constraint – A restricting factor
Filter Metric - Projects to exclude from consideration

Portfolio planners can set metric rules to eliminate projects from being factored into waterline calculations. The filtering feature allows you to exclude projects that do not meet particular requirements from being considered during the planning process. Filtering provides you with a quick way to test different scenarios without committing.

Calculating the Waterline

The waterline is a visual representation of your constraint limit. When calculating the waterline, you can choose Enhanced or Priority.

Enhanced – The Enhanced waterline calculates each project in the list and then divides the target metric by the constraint. When the Enhanced option is selected, Accolade will dynamically arrange the projects based on the target metric and constraint calculation. Accolade places the projects with the highest return on investment (ROI) at the top of the list, and then draws a waterline based on the entered constraint limit.

Priority – When the Priority option is selected, Accolade will calculate which projects fit within the limits of the assigned constraint based on the set order of priority. As a Project Manager, you can rank each project from the brand portfolio in an order of your choosing. By default, the waterline is set to priority.

After you click the Go button, a red waterline will display. All the projects that appear above the waterline will be within the set constraint limit. The constraint total displays the actual total for all projects above the waterline. The constraint total may be less than the assigned constraint limit, but it will not exceed that limit.

Project Managers can drag and drop projects to rearrange which projects appear above the waterline. This rearrangement can also establish the order of priority.

To add a target metric, constraint, and/or filter metric to your planner:

From the Planning menu, go to Portfolio Planner.
Open the desired planner.
Click the type of metric you wish to add (target, constraint, or filter).
Click Add a metric.
Search for and click on the desired metric.
Click Select, if you wish to proceed; Clear, if you wish to search for different metrics; Cancel, if you wish to exit without saving.
1. For Target Metrics, after selecting a metric, you will be prompted to add a goal and a total. Enter data and Save to continue.
2. For Constraint Metrics, after selecting a metric, you will be prompted to add a limit and a total. Enter data and Save to continue. You may add additional Constraint Metrics.
3. For Filter Metrics, after selecting a metric, you will be prompted to add a filtering option and a value. Filter options will vary based on what type of data is included in the metric. For example, a date metric will offer different filtering options than a list or multi-select metric. Enter data and Save to continue. You may add additional Filter Metrics.
Choose your waterline calculation (toggle between enhanced and priority).
Select Go.

After setting your metrics, you can collapse the Metric Settings menu by clicking on the arrow to the right of the "Go" button.

Notes:

The Target Metric Total is calculated automatically based on the values of the projects added to the Portfolio Planner. This total represents projects above the waterline.
You can add up to 2 constraints and up to 3 filters.
Adding a second constraint allows you to set an additional restricting metric. Use the second constraint to identify bottlenecks and plan accordingly.
If the metric required for the process model is missing or the project itself is empty, the project will not be excluded in the filtering process.

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