Investments

Track investments to unlock clear insight on their return.

What are Investments?

Investments, a feature available for organizations with the Advanced ROI Module, allow you to track the financing, time, and resources dedicated to projects, enabling ROI reporting. When combined with Impact data, they provide a complete view of the return on investment from your improvement efforts.

Pro Tip: Your Customer Success Manager will help you configure your organization's Investments.

Investment Categories

There is no limit to the number of Investments that can be configured for your organization; however, each Investment must belong to one of six Investment Categories:

Cost: Track monetary investments.
Time: Track the time people are investing.
Resource: Track resources invested.
Cycle Time: Track Cycle Time investments.
Lead Time: Track Lead Time investments.
Takt Time: Track Takt Time investments.

An Investment's category affects the type of data a user inputs while logging an investment. For example, you will input a monetary value if logging a Cost Investment and will input hours if logging a Time Investment.

Pro Tip: The values for non-Cost Investments will correspond to the Time Savings People, Resources, Cycle Times, Lead Times, and Takt Times that are configured in the Admin section.

Investment Category also affects reporting. Investments of the same category will be grouped on Reports and Item Lists displaying Investment data. For example, if you have multiple Cost Investments, those Investments will be summated in a Report column displaying Cost.

Logging Investments

When resolving an Item, fill out the Impact section as you normally would, then:

Expand the Investment section, if it is closed.
Check the box next to the Investment Type you want to add, then click + Add Amount.
In the resulting window, record the Investment in the same way that you would record an Impact.
- If the Investment Type supports Investment Locations, this is where you can specify which Network Location made the Investment.
Select Save.

Visualize Investments in Item Lists

Filter by Investment

You can filter an Item List so that only Items with certain Investments are included. To filter a List by Investment, open the Item Filter, and:

Select the Investment criterion.
To complete your rule:
- Investment: Use this drop-down to select Investment Type(s). Only Items with at least one Investment with this Investment Type will be returned by the List.
- Min and Max: Set a range for the magnitude of Investment. Only Items with an Investment in this range will be returned by the List.
- Realized Starting and Realized Ending: Set a date range for your Investment. Only Items with at least one Investment realized in this date range will be returned by the list.
- Currency (only for organizations utilizing multiple currencies): Select a currency in the drop-down. Only Items with at least one Investment logged in this currency will be returned by the List.
- Amount Type: Select Unknown, One Time, Recurring, Range, or Custom Schedule in the drop-down. Only Items with at least one Investment with this amount type will be returned by the list.

In addition to filtering by Investment, you can also filter a List based on an Item's Investment Location. Investment Locations allow you to associate individual Investments with a Location in your Network, indicating that the investment was made by a Location that might be different from the team performing the work.

Warning: Investment Locations must be turned on for you to utilize them. Contact your Customer Success Manager if you want to start using Investment Locations.

To filter an Item List by Investment Location, open the Item Filter, and:

Select the Location criterion:
To complete your rule:
- Location: Select a Network Location.
- Select Investment in the second drop-down to specify that you are interested in Items with the selected Network Location tagged to an Investment.
- Resolution Type: Specify whether the Investment should be recorded in the Actual, Forecast, or Target Resolution to be returned by the List. Leaving this blank will include all three.

Display Investments in columns

When you view a List of Items, you can add columns to help you visualize the Investments logged on each Item.

Ofie Profile Pic Pro Tip: Do you need a reminder on how to edit Item List columns? Visit this support page to learn how to edit columns on a Card and this support page to learn how to configure the view of a custom List.

To do so, add any of the following Investment column options while editing your List's View. Remember that your List must be in List, Tree, or Gantt View.

Financial Investment: Use this column to view the monetary sum of all Cost and Resource Investments logged on an Item.
Time Saved Hours Investment: Use this column to view all Time Investments in hours on an Item.
Time Saved Soft Savings Investment: Use this column to view all Time Investments in currency on an Item.

Reporting on Investments

Impact Reports are the most powerful way to report on Investment and ROI data. The following Reports support Investment reporting:

On Impact Over Time Reports, you can choose which Investments to display using the Report's filters. After you add an Investment to the Report, it will appear as a gray bar behind the Impact bars.

Example of Impact Over Time Report showing Impact compared to Investment.

On "Impact by" Reports, you can choose which Investments to include using the Report's filters, and you can display them by adding columns to your Reports in List view or bars and lines to your Reports in Graph view.

Example of Impact by Location Report in List View that displays the return on Financial Investments.

Here is a description of what Investment data is included in the various columns, bars, and lines you can add to your Reports:

Total Financial Investment: The total monetary value of all Investments will be displayed.
Financial Investment: The total of all Cost and Resource Investments will be displayed.
Cost Investment: The total of all Cost Investments will be displayed.
Resource Investment (Currency or Values): The total of all Resource Investments will be displayed, either as a monetary value or as units.
Time Investment (Currency or Hours): The total of all Time Investments will be displayed, either as a monetary value or as hours.
ROI (% or Currency): The return on Investment will be displayed, either as a percentage of the Financial Investment or as a monetary value. ROI is calculated by taking the difference between the Financial Investment (including Cost and Resource Investments) and the Financial Impact (including Cost Savings, Revenue Generation, Cost Avoidance, Resource, and Product Impacts).