Portfolio Optimizer overview

Last update: February 28, 2025

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The Portfolio Optimizer is the tool used for project evaluation and comparison. The process of reviewing and comparing Business Case values for projects assigned to a portfolio is how a portfolio manager can prioritize projects and generate the most value for an organization.

Portfolio optimizer with projects

The purpose of the portfolio optimizer is to provide an interface through which a portfolio manager, steering committee, or product management office can view summary information about the business case of each project. Projects can then be prioritized according to strategic values and goals, or according to their overall score.

The Portfolio Optimizer can only assist you if you have completed the following prerequisites:

The Business Cases have been completed on the projects. For information, see the articles in Define a Business Case: article index.
A portfolio is defined in the Project Overview area of Project Details section for the projects you want to review.
You have indicated the Project Budget and Planned Benefit for the projects you want to review. Fixed Cost and Fixed Revenue are optional but add additional value. For information, see Project finances fields.

For information about locating the Portfolio Optimizer, see Locate the Portfolio Optimizer.

Finances in the Portfolio Optimizer

You can see the financial state of your portfolio at any time during the life of your projects when using the Portfolio Optimizer.

Consider the following when working with finances in the Portfolio Optimizer:

Projects are each given a score when their Business Cases are completed according to what criteria they match in the Portfolio Optimizer. For example, low cost or high alignment projects receive a higher score.

For more information about calculating the portfolio optimizer score of a project, see Overview of the Portfolio Optimizer Score.
The financial calculations for the Portfolio Optimizer use the Budgeted Cost in the Business Case of the project.
You can manually prioritize your projects in the Portfolio Optimizer, taking into account all the information about them. This includes financial data, alignment to their scorecards, and ROI, for example.

The financial areas in the Portfolio Optimizer

You can view financial information in the following areas of the Portfolio Optimizer:

Portfolio Header: This area displays financial information gathered from all the projects in the portfolio. It displays on every tab of the Portfolio object.
Portfolio Finances for Selected Projects: This area displays financial information gathered from the projects that are selected in the Portfolio Optimizer. You can add or remove projects and understand how this will affect the finances of the portfolio by viewing the information in this area.
Projects Finances: This area displays the financial information of each project listed in the Portfolio Optimizer.

The financial fields in the Portfolio Optimizer

The following financial fields display in the Portfolio Optimizer:

Portfolio header
Portfolio finances for selected projects

Portfolio header

Adobe Workfront calculates the financial fields in the portfolio header using information from projects with statuses that equate only with Approved or Current.

Name of Field

Description

On Time

The percentage of projects in the portfolio that are considered to be On Time. This is visible from any tab inside a portfolio.

A project is considered to be On Time when the Project Condition is On Target.
For more information about Project Conditions, see the article Overview of Project Condition and Condition Type.

The On Time percentage is calculated using the following formula:

On Time Portfolio Percentage = Number of On Time Projects/ Total Number of Projects in a Current or Approved status

On Budget

The percentage of projects in the portfolio that are considered to be On Budget. This is visible from any tab inside a portfolio.

Projects are On Budget when they have not exceeded their pre-defined budget.
For more information about the budget of a project, see the article Manage information in the project Finance area.

The On Budget percentage is calculated using the following formula:

On Budget Portfolio Percentage = Number of On Budget Projects/ Total Number of Projects in a Current or Approved status

ROI (for portfolio)

The Return on Investment (ROI) for the portfolio is calculated by taking into account the total Benefit of the Portfolio and the total of the Budgeted Costs of the projects. This is visible from any tab inside a portfolio.

The Portfolio ROI value is calculated using the following formula:

Portfolio ROI = (Total Benefit - Total Budgeted Cost)/ Total Cost * 100

For more information about how the ROI is calculated for a project, see the article Calculate Return On Investment (ROI).

Aligned or Alignment Score

An average of all the Project Alignment Score values, which are calculated after completing the Scorecard in the Business Case of the project. The alignment score of each project is listed in the Alignment column of the Portfolio Optimizer. This is visible from any tab inside a portfolio.

For more information about generating an alignment score for a project, see the article Apply a scorecard to a project and generate an Alignment Score.

Net Value

The sum of all the Net Values of all the projects in the portfolio. This is visible from any tab inside a portfolio.

For more information about how Net Value is calculated for a project, see the article Calculate Net Value.

Portfolio finances for selected projects

Portfolio finances

Name of Field

Description

Number of projects

The total number of active projects in the portfolio. Projects that are considered active in a portfolio can be in any of the following statuses:

Current
Planning
Approved

Budget

You can manually update this field to indicate what is the total budget for the entire portfolio. This budget is used for all the projects inside the portfolio.

Remaining

The remaining budget after the Total Cost on all the projects inside the portfolio has been subtracted from the Budget of the portfolio.

The Remaining Portfolio Budget is calculated using the following formula:

Remaining Portfolio Budget = Total Portfolio Budget - Total Budgeted Cost of All Portfolio Projects

The portfolio Budget is a manual entry in the Portfolio Optimizer's Budget field.

For more information about tracking costs on a project, see Track costs.

Total Cost

The sum of the costs of all the projects displayed in the Portfolio Optimizer. The cost of each project is the same as the Budgeted Cost of the Project as it is displayed in the Business Case Summary.

For more information about the financial fields of projects in the Business Case, see the section "Understanding Financial Fields in the Business Case" in the article Create a Business Case for a project.

Risk

The sum of all the Potential Risk Costs of all the projects in the portfolio. The Potential Risk Cost of each project is listed in the Risk column of the Portfolio Optimizer.

For more information about calculating risks for projects, see the article Calculate Potential Risk Cost.

Benefit

The sum of all the Planned Benefit values of all the projects in the portfolio. The Planned Benefit value of each project is listed in the Benefit column of the Portfolio Optimizer.

For more information about the Planned Benefit of a project, see the article Overview of project Planned Benefit.

Risk to Net Value indicator

Measures the Potential Risk value, taking into account the Net Value provided by all projects in the portfolio. For achieving the most efficiency within the portfolio, you want to see that the Risk indicator is low and the Net Value indicator is high.

For more information about calculating Risk to Net Value, see the article Calculate the Risk to Net Value in a portfolio.

Customize the Portfolio Optimizer

You can customize only the project list area of the Portfolio Optimizer by using settings to change the information in the list.

The following icons and options are available for the Portfolio Optimizer:

Icon in the Portfolio Optimizer

Name

Function

Set project priority

Use this icon when you want to save the project order, based on their priority.

You must have Manage permissions to all the projects in the list to be able to use Set project priority

.

Optimize portfolio

Use this icon to optimize the portfolio based on the following financial values of the projects:

Cost
Alignment
Value
Risk to Benefit
ROI

For more information about optimizing your portfolio, see the article Optimize projects in the Portfolio Optimizer.

Undo/ Redo icons

Use these icons to cancel or redo the changes you made to the Portfolio Optimizer before saving.

Show/Hide unchecked projects

Use these icons to display or hide the projects in the portfolio that you have unchecked.

Export

Use this icon to export the data in the Project Prioritization area of the Portfolio Optimizer. You can export it to the following formats:

PDF
Excel
Tab Delimited

Preferences

Use this icon to modify the project fields displayed in the columns of the Portfolio Optimizer, or to modify what projects you display in the Optimizer, based on their statuses.

Tip:

Not all Workfront standard fields are available to add in the columns.

You can add only the custom fields that have a value other than zero in any of the projects in the portfolio.

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