Prioritisation allows initiative owners and decision-makers to compare Projects, Proposals, and Ideas using a consistent set of Evaluation Criteria.

Each Initiative is evaluated against the criteria included in a Prioritisation Model. The selected Evaluation values contribute points that determine the Initiative’s overall Score and Rank.

Use a Prioritisation exercise to:

• Compare Initiatives consistently
• Identify missing evaluation information
• Understand relative strategic value
• Support investment and governance discussions
• Provide evidence for prioritisation decisions

Important:
Prioritisation Models, Evaluation Criteria, Categories, impact values, and scoring points must first be configured by an authorised administrator.

Your organisation’s criteria, scoring approach, and decision-making process may differ from the standard Altus configuration. Always follow your organisation’s internal prioritisation and governance rules.

a { text-decoration: none; color: #464feb; } tr th, tr td { border: 1px solid #e6e6e6; } tr th { background-color: #f5f5f5; }

Before Starting the Prioritisation

Before adding Initiatives to a Prioritisation, Initiative owners should complete the relevant evaluation information.

Active Evaluation Criteria and their Categories appear on the Initiative’s Evaluation tab.

To evaluate an Initiative:

1. Open the required Project, Proposal, or Idea.
2. Select the Evaluation tab.
   
3. Review each available Evaluation Criterion.
4. Select the appropriate value from each dropdown list.
5. Save the Initiative.

Each selected value has associated Evaluation Impact Points that contribute to the Initiative’s Score when it is included in a Prioritisation Model.

Tip:
Complete Initiative evaluations before beginning the prioritisation exercise. Missing values prevent the affected Initiative from receiving a complete Score.

Access the Prioritisations List

1. Navigate to Strategy.
2. Select Prioritisations.
   

The Prioritisations page lists the prioritisation exercises created for your organisation.

The default view is typically All Prioritisations.

From this page, you can:

• Switch between available views
• Edit visible columns
• Edit filters
• Search for a Prioritisation by Name
• Open an existing Prioritisation
• Create a new Prioritisation

The default columns include:

• Name: The name of this plan
• Created By: Who created the prioritisation
• Created On: When the prioritisation was created
• Status: The status of this prioritisation (Active / Inactive).

Create a Prioritisation

1. From the Prioritisations list, select New.
   
2. On the Details tab, complete:
   
   • Name, using a short and specific title
   • Description, explaining the purpose or scope
   • Status, which is Active when the Prioritisation is created
3. Select Save.
4. Open the Prioritisation tab.
   

The Prioritisation tab is where you select a Prioritisation Model, add Initiatives, and compare their Scores and Ranks.

Important:
The Initiatives displayed in the Prioritisation workspace should not be confused with the Initiatives area available from the area switcher at the bottom of Altus.

When using the AI assistant or search, provide enough context to distinguish between an Initiative in a Prioritisation exercise and the broader Initiatives area.

Select a Prioritisation Model

1. Open the Prioritisation Model dropdown.
2. Select the required model.

Only Active Prioritisation Models appear in the dropdown.

After selecting a model, the right side of the grid displays:

• The Evaluation Criteria included in the model
• The order in which the criteria are applied
• The evaluation values recorded for each Initiative
• The resulting Score and Rank

Important:
Confirm that the selected model is appropriate for the purpose of the exercise. Different models may use different Evaluation Criteria, points, and weighting arrangements.

Select Initiatives

1. Select Select Initiatives.
   
2. In the selection form, choose the applicable Initiative Type:
   • Projects
   • Proposals
   • Ideas
     
3. Use Search to find an Initiative by Name.
4. Optionally use Group By to organise Initiatives into meaningful groups.
5. Select the required Initiatives.
6. Select Apply Initiatives.

The default selection view shows Active Initiatives.

The fields and columns displayed in the selection window are centrally configured by an administrator.

Tip:
Use Group By to select related Initiatives more efficiently. For example, group Proposals by Department and select the relevant departmental Proposals together.

Your grouping preference is retained when you close and reopen the selection form.

You can use Select Initiatives more than once to add or remove Initiatives during the exercise.

a { text-decoration: none; color: #464feb; } tr th, tr td { border: 1px solid #e6e6e6; } tr th { background-color: #f5f5f5; }

Review Scores and Ranks

After selecting a Prioritisation Model and Initiatives, Altus calculates each Initiative’s Score using:

• The Evaluation Criteria included in the model
• The Initiative’s selected Evaluation values
• The Evaluation Impact Points assigned to those values

Initiatives are ranked from the highest Score to the lowest Score.

Initiatives Without a Score

If an Initiative is missing a value for one or more required Evaluation Criteria:

• The Initiative does not receive a complete Score.
• The Initiative appears at the top of the view.
• The missing information can be identified and completed.

Important:
An Initiative appearing at the top without a Score is not necessarily the highest priority. It indicates that information required for scoring is missing.

a { text-decoration: none; color: #464feb; } tr th, tr td { border: 1px solid #e6e6e6; } tr th { background-color: #f5f5f5; }

Open or Remove an Initiative

To manage an Initiative already included in the Prioritisation:

1. Locate the Initiative in the grid.
2. Select the ellipsis (…) beside the row.
3. Select:
   • Open Initiative to review its full record, or
   • Remove Initiative to remove it from the Prioritisation exercise.
     

Removing an Initiative from a Prioritisation does not delete the underlying Project, Proposal, or Idea.

Update an Initiative’s Evaluation

Evaluation values can be updated either:

• Directly from the Prioritisation grid, or
  
• From the Initiative’s Evaluation tab

Update from the Prioritisation

1. Locate the Initiative and Evaluation Criterion.
2. Open the dropdown.
3. Select the appropriate impact value.
4. Hover over the Information icon to review the impact description where available.
5. Review the recalculated Score and Rank.
6. Select Save.

When an Evaluation value changes:

• The Score is recalculated immediately.
• The Rank may change.
• The Initiative may move to a different position in the grid.

Important:
A value changed from the Prioritisation is written back to the Initiative only after you select Save.

Autosave is disabled within the Prioritisation experience.

This prevents Evaluation changes from being written back to Initiatives without an explicit save action.

Warning:
Always select Save after updating Evaluation values. If you close or navigate away before saving, your changes may be lost.

Finalise the Prioritisation

The planning phase is complete when:

• All required Initiatives have been added
• Evaluation information is complete
• Missing Scores have been resolved
• Evaluation values have been reviewed
• Scores and Ranks are considered accurate
• The Prioritisation has been saved

The resulting Rank provides structured decision support, but it should be interpreted alongside your organisation’s governance process, investment constraints, dependencies, risks, and professional judgement.

Important:
A calculated Rank supports decision-making but does not replace formal governance, approval, or investment authority.

Maintain a Prioritisation

Initiatives, Evaluation Criteria, impact points, and Prioritisation Models may change after a Prioritisation has been created.

Changes that can affect Scores include:

• An Initiative owner changing an Evaluation value
• An administrator updating the Prioritisation Model
• An administrator changing Evaluation Impact Points
• An administrator removing an Evaluation Impact used by an Initiative

If an Evaluation Impact is removed, the related Initiative Evaluation may reset to unselected and must be completed again before a Score can be calculated.

When a change affects Scores:

• A banner appears in the Prioritisation.
• Score values are refreshed.
• Save the Prioritisation to remove the notification banner.
  
  

Handle Concurrent Updates

If another user changes an Initiative’s Evaluation while you are editing the same information from the Prioritisation, Altus may display a message indicating that the data has changed elsewhere.

In this situation:

1. Select Refresh.
2. Select Discard when prompted.
3. Review the updated Initiative information.
4. Reapply any required changes.
5. Save the Prioritisation.
   
   

Important:
Changes saved directly from the Initiative’s Evaluation tab take precedence over unsaved changes made in the Prioritisation grid.

This prevents an older version in the Prioritisation from overwriting more recently saved Initiative information.

Understand Active and Inactive Behaviour

Prioritisation elements can be Active or Inactive.

Active Items

Active items are generally:

• Visible
• Available for selection
• Editable by users with the appropriate security access

New Prioritisation records are Active by default.

Inactive Items

Inactive items are generally:

• Read-only
• Excluded from standard active views
• Unavailable for selection in new configurations
• Retained for historical reference

Inactive items can usually be reactivated by an authorised user.

The global rule applying to Active/Inactive is the following:

In addition to the basic behaviours described above, there are a few implications in deactivating some of the elements for the prioritisation. A summary on what to expect when you deactivate an item is described in the following table and images added below it:

Inactive Evaluation Categories and Criteria

Changes to Categories and Criteria can affect what Initiative owners can evaluate.

Inactive Evaluation Criteria Category

When a Category is inactive:

• The Category is hidden from the Initiative’s Evaluation tab.
• Its associated Evaluation Criteria are also hidden, including active Criteria.
  
  

Inactive Evaluation Criterion

When a Criterion is inactive:

• The Criterion is hidden from the Initiative’s Evaluation tab.
• It cannot be added to a new Prioritisation Model.
• If already included in a Model, it remains associated and is identified as inactive.
• Its existing impact points continue to contribute to Score calculations.
• It remains visible but cannot be edited in the Prioritisation.
  
  
  

Inactive Prioritisation Models

When a Prioritisation Model becomes inactive:

• It no longer appears in the model dropdown for new selection.
• A Prioritisation already using that model retains the association.
• The model is identified as inactive.
• The Prioritisation becomes read-only until an Active model is selected.
  
  

Important:
Review existing Prioritisations before deactivating a model so that users understand the impact on active exercises.

Deactivate Rather Than Delete

Where a Prioritisation or related configuration is no longer required, deactivation is normally preferable to deletion.

Deactivation:

• Prevents active use
• Retains the record
• Preserves historical information
• Allows past Prioritisation exercises to remain understandable

Deletion permanently removes the record and its history.

Tip:
Use deactivation when the item should no longer be selected but its historical use still needs to be retained.

Understand Deletion Protections

Altus applies relationship protections to several Prioritisation configuration items.

Evaluation Criteria Categories

A Category cannot be deleted while active or inactive Evaluation Criteria remain associated with it.

Evaluation Criteria

An Evaluation Criterion cannot be deleted while it is associated with an active or inactive Prioritisation Model.

Prioritisation Models

A Prioritisation Model cannot be deleted while it is associated with an active or inactive Prioritisation.

Prioritisations

A Prioritisation can be deleted after entering its Name to confirm the deletion.

Warning:
Deleting a Prioritisation is permanent. The exercise will no longer exist and cannot be used for historical review.

Follow your organisation’s retention and governance requirements before deleting any Prioritisation-related record.

 

Create Optimisation directly from Prioritisation

You can now initiate an optimisation directly from Prioritisation.

1. Click on the + Create Optimisation button.
2. 
3. Fill in the name, dates for your planning period, and the budget.
4. Once you Save and Close, you’ll be brought to scenarios.

Note

Some environments have experienced an issue where an unmanaged solution layer on the Optimisation Plan entity is preventing the quick create form from appearing. The symptom of this problem is that instead of seeing the Optimisation Plan quick create form (in the right pane of screen), users will instead be shown the full screen form (which in this instance will not work as desired).
See here for steps on how to resolve this issue: Unmanaged Solution Layer prevents Quick Create Form from being displayed

Key Considerations

• Initiative Evaluations should be completed before comparison.
• Only Active Prioritisation Models can be selected.
• The default Initiative selection view displays Active Initiatives.
• Available Initiative Types and selection columns are centrally configured.
• Missing Evaluation values prevent an Initiative from receiving a complete Score.
• Unscored Initiatives appear at the top to highlight missing data.
• Scores and Ranks can change immediately when Evaluation values change.
• Autosave is disabled.
• Changes made from the Prioritisation must be saved before being written back to the Initiative.
• Direct changes to the Initiative can take precedence during a concurrent update.
• Administrative changes to Models, Criteria, or impact points can alter Scores.
• Inactive elements may remain visible historically but become unavailable or read-only.
• Deactivation usually preserves history more effectively than deletion.
• Calculated Rank should support, not replace, formal governance decisions.

Tips

• Evaluate Initiatives before adding them to the exercise.
• Use a clear Name and Description that explain the scope of the Prioritisation.
• Confirm the model before assessing results.
• Use Search and Group By to select Initiatives efficiently.
• Investigate every Initiative without a Score.
• Review how Score changes affect Rank before saving.
• Save frequently because autosave is disabled.
• Refresh and discard local changes if another user has updated the Initiative.
• Deactivate obsolete Prioritisation elements instead of deleting them where history must be preserved.
• Follow internal governance requirements when using the final Rank to support decisions.