Scenario Planning

Definitive Pro and Scenario Planning

In situations where portfolio investment decisions are sensitive to uncertainty and changing conditions, Definitive Pro provides the capability to set and test scenarios.

Definitive Pro supports the following planning scenarios:

  • Criteria weighting factors
  • Discount factors (by year)
  • Cost forecast (set % increases/decreases by year)
  • Optimization constraints and dependencies

The creation and use of these scenarios are independent of each other, providing twenty-four different combinations of scenarios that can set and tested. Finally, for ease of use, Definitive Pro provides a “Super Scenario” capability to select a scenario of scenarios in each of the four areas described. Rather than set and run the scenarios individually, they can be organized into super scenarios so that a set of them can be run together. Scenario testing allows the results of the scenarios to be compared side-by-side to help our customers make decisions with foresight into what the future could look like.

What is Scenario Planning?

According to Gartner, scenario planning is a must-use tool for functional leaders to drive immediate actions, decisions and longer-term plans. Know what it is, what it does and how to use it. In short, planning for possible future scenarios has become more complex and more critical. Yet many functional leaders lack experience in this area. First, gain an understanding of what scenarios are and what they achieve, as well as how to cascade enterprise planning down to a functional level. Done right, scenario planning bolsters resilience by helping you specify which actions should take place in a wide range of different situations. Scenarios are compelling descriptions of possible futures — not necessarily the most probable ones, but plausible, coherent and substantially different ones. The pandemic showed how critical it is to prepare for even the most unlikely scenarios, but functional leaders don’t always have first-hand experience with the scenario-planning process.