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How does the app take your historical data and use it to make a forecast?
We look at your data’s Throughput metric (how many items you finish per day) and feed that into our Monte Carlo simulations to generate the probabilistic forecasts used in the app.
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If you have a hundred epics, for instance, is it really valuable to forecast them all right now? How likely is it that your priority will change sooner than you get around to starting them? You also don’t need thousands of historical data points to give a great forecast. Unless there’s a valid reason to use so many, consider trimming it down a bit.
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Portfolio Forecaster vs ActionableAgile: What’s the Difference?
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Seeing double? Or at least it seems that way.
Forecasting can seem daunting, and when two tools offer you a way to forecast your outcomes, you may wonder if they're offering you the same thing wrapped differently.
We're here to fill those knowledge gaps and give you the tools to pick the best weapon for the battle, whether backlog, bottlenecks, or bad data behaviour.
ACTIONABLEAGILE
ActionableAgile is a great tool that offers you lots of features. With twelve different charts to choose from, you're spoilt for choice. The fundamental purpose of this tool is to help facilitate the flow of work through your process as smoothly as possible. Doing this helps you get down into the nitty-gritty details of your data, prompting discourse about what's working and, more importantly, what isn't.
When it comes to forecasting, ActionableAgile allows you to see:
how long it's likely to take to finish a single work item
how long it's likely to take to finish multiple work items
how many work items are likely to finish in a given time period
Forecasting individual work items is done via our Cycle Time Scatterplot, and Monte Carlo simulations are provided via our Monte Carlo When and How Many charts.
PORTFOLIO FORECASTER
Portfolio Forecaster forecasts your entire portfolio of epics or versions for a given project or projects. Like ActionableAgile, it looks at your past data. But, Portfolio Forecaster is able to do higher-level forecasts by taking into account the current number of portfolio items in progress and the amount of remaining work in each. Portfolio Forecaster takes all of these factors, combines them with the level of risk you're comfortable with, and gives you a forecast for each item in your portfolio.
Not only that, you can do scenario planning to see:
when portfolio items in your backlog might be completed
the impact of having more (or less) portfolio items in progress
the impact of reprioritizing some items and putting others on hold.
Your forecasts are updated every time you visit so you can rest easy knowing that all the conditions you’re experiencing are being reflected in your forecast.
MAKING A DECISION
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All forecasts in both ActionableAgile and Portfolio Forecaster are presented with a probability (likelihood) to clearly associate risk. They also both allow you to get an updated forecast with very little effort so you can always be aware of the current situation and stay ahead of surprises.
Portfolio Forecaster is the choice for when work works; you just want to know how and when. When you aren’t satisfied with your forecast, ActionableAgile can provide detailed insights. Using them together is the one-two punch needed to elevate your team, department, or organisation to a higher level of maturity.