Altus provides a connected way to manage delivery initiatives from early ideas through to projects, programs, and portfolios.

This supports a clear progression from identifying an opportunity or organisational challenge, assessing a potential response, and delivering approved work through projects. Related projects can then be grouped into programs and portfolios to provide broader oversight and alignment with organisational strategy.

Important:
Your organisation may use only some of these initiative types or may have configured additional stages, fields, approvals, or terminology. Always refer to your organisation’s internal governance process where it differs from the standard Altus structure.

Accessing Delivery Initiatives

1. Use the area switcher at the bottom of the left navigation.
2. Select Initiatives.
3. Under the Altus area, select the required option:
4. • Portfolios
   • Programs
   • Projects
   • Proposals
   • Ideas
   • Insights

The features available to you may depend on your Altus licence, security role, and your organisation’s configuration.

Understanding the Delivery Structure

Ideas

Ideas capture early responses to an identified opportunity, problem, or objective.

They provide a high-level starting point for considering:

• Potential value
• Indicative cost
• Risk
• Strategic alignment

Where the standard intake process is used, approval of an Idea can generate a Proposal for more detailed evaluation.

Proposals

A Proposal provides the concept or business case information required before delivery begins.

Depending on your organisation’s process, a Proposal may capture:

• The problem or opportunity
• Expected benefits
• Proposed costs
• Return on investment
• Indicative timeframes

Where the standard approval process is used, approval of a Proposal can generate a Project record.

Important:
Proposal assessment and approval workflows may be customised. Follow your organisation’s governance requirements when moving an initiative into delivery.

Projects

Projects are individual delivery initiatives created to produce defined outputs or deliverables.

A Project can be used to manage information such as:

• Project details and ownership
• Tasks and schedules
• Resource requirements
• Financials
• Risks and issues
• Deliverables and decisions
• Status updates and reporting
• Benefits and strategic alignment

Projects can operate independently or be associated with a Program or Portfolio for consolidated oversight.

Programs

Programs group related projects that work together toward a common organisational outcome.

Unlike projects, which typically focus on delivering specific outputs, programs provide coordination across multiple connected projects to support combined outcomes and benefits.

Use a Program to:

• Group related projects
• Coordinate delivery across initiatives
• Monitor shared outcomes
• Manage program-level risks, issues, decisions, and changes
• Track consolidated status and performance

Portfolios

Portfolios provide the highest-level grouping of delivery initiatives in Altus.

Portfolio management focuses on the strategic oversight of projects and programs rather than managing their detailed day-to-day delivery.

Use a Portfolio to:

• Group related projects and programs
• Connect delivery investments with organisational strategy
• Monitor performance across multiple initiatives
• Support prioritisation and governance
• Review consolidated financial, delivery, and status information

How the Initiative Types Work Together

A typical progression may be represented as:

Opportunity or challenge → Idea → Proposal → Project → Program or Portfolio

However, this progression is not mandatory for every organisation.

Depending on governance and configuration:

• Projects may be created directly
• Ideas or Proposals may not be used
• Approval workflows may introduce additional stages
• Projects may be associated directly with a Portfolio
• Projects may be grouped under a Program that is associated with a Portfolio

Tip:
Think of Projects as the delivery level, Programs as the coordination level, and Portfolios as the strategic oversight level.

Managing Relationships Between Initiatives

Projects can be associated with Programs and Portfolios to create a connected delivery structure.

When maintaining these relationships:

• Confirm that the Project is associated with the correct Program or Portfolio
• Avoid duplicating the same initiative across inappropriate groupings
• Review associations when organisational priorities or delivery structures change
• Follow internal rules for who can create or modify these relationships

The available relationship fields and controls may vary according to your organisation’s Altus configuration.

Monitoring Delivery Through Insights

Select Insights from the Altus area to access embedded Power BI reports available to you.

Insights can provide consolidated visibility across delivery initiatives, helping authorised users review project, program, and portfolio information at different levels.

The reports and data available depend on:

• Your security access
• Your Power BI workspace access
• Your organisation’s Altus licence
• The reporting content deployed in your environment

Important:
Access to Altus does not automatically guarantee access to embedded Power BI Insights. Power BI workspace access and the appropriate licence may need to be provided separately.

Key Considerations

• Use the appropriate initiative type for the level of management required.
• Projects focus on delivering defined outputs.
• Programs coordinate related projects toward common outcomes.
• Portfolios provide strategic oversight across projects and programs.
• Ideas and Proposals support the intake and assessment of potential initiatives.
• The standard Altus structure may be tailored to reflect your organisation’s governance model.
• Security roles determine which initiative types and records you can access.

Tips

• Start with your organisation’s delivery and governance structure before creating new records.
• Use clear and consistent naming across Projects, Programs, and Portfolios.
• Review initiative relationships regularly to maintain accurate reporting.
• Confirm that approved Proposals have progressed into delivery where appropriate.
• Use Insights to complement record-level management with consolidated reporting.
• Refer to internal guidance if the available fields, workflows, or approval process differ from this article.