Planview Blog

Your path to business agility

Product Portfolio Management, Project Portfolio Management, Strategic Planning

Comparing and Contrasting with Waterfall Charts – Enrich Consulting

Published By Dr. Richard Sonnenblick

We’ve mentioned waterfall charts in several blog posts, notably posts that focus on scenario and variance analysis. Because we have a number of different ways to generate waterfall views within Enrich Analytics, creating a video that describes ‘all the waterfalls’ has been on our to-do list for some time.

You can see the video for yourself, below. It’s a good refresher, even for those who have used the Enrich Analytics Platform or Enrich Viewport for years.

In a portfolio of more than a few dozen initiatives, it can be impossible for executives to undertake a detailed review of every change in every initiative since the last portfolio review. Waterfall charts are a great way to visually summarize quantitative changes in a medium-to-large sized R&D or product portfolio.

Waterfall charts are useful for:

  • Comparing two portfolio investment plans and demonstrating how they differ in cost or value by region, technology, or division.
  • Highlighting changes in cost, risk, or value to a portfolio since the last portfolio review
  • Comparing division or regional contributions to revenue or cost growth over time

 

Final waterfall fun fact: Some people call waterfall charts Mario charts because, well…

Super Mario World or waterfall chart?

Related Posts

Written by Dr. Richard Sonnenblick Chief Data Scientist

Dr. Sonnenblick, Planview’s Chief Data Scientist, holds years of experience working with some of the largest pharmaceutical and life sciences companies in the world. Through this in-depth study and application, he has successfully formulated insightful prioritization and portfolio review processes, scoring systems, and financial valuation and forecasting methods for enhancing both product forecasting and portfolio analysis. Dr. Sonnenblick holds a Ph.D. and MS from Carnegie Mellon University in Engineering and Public Policy and a BA in Physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.