Explore what-if scenarios

Every project has questions a single schedule can't answer. Can we still finish on time if the approvals run in parallel? What if the boiler permit slips a month? Is the derisked plan worth it? A scenario lets you try the change on a copy of the schedule, see what it does, and compare it with your real plan, without touching the plan until you decide to.

Note: A scenario is a copy of your schedule that you edit in its own tab. Your schedule doesn't change while you work in a scenario. When the scenario answers its question, you can merge its changes into the schedule, or keep it as a draft for later.

Step 1 — Make a scenario

There are three ways to start one:

  • On the schedule toolbar, open ⋯ (More) and choose New scenario.
  • Click the + next to Scenarios in the project tree.
  • Press ⌘K and run New scenario.

The schedule toolbar's More menu open, showing New scenario and Keyboard shortcuts.The schedule toolbar's More menu open, showing New scenario and Keyboard shortcuts.

Owl copies the current schedule into a new scenario and opens it in its own tab. A new scenario is called "Scenario 1", "Scenario 2" and so on: double-click the name in the scenario's header (or use ⋯ → Rename) and name it after the question it answers. In the example project the scenarios read as a list of experiments: Full Governance Parallelization, Conservative Governance Overlap, Derisked Schedule, Fix Boiler Training Sequencing.

Ask Owl
Make a scenario called 'Parallel approvals' where the permit, design-review and procurement approvals run in parallel instead of one after another.
Make a scenario where the boiler permit comes a month later, and tell me what moves.

Step 2 — Make the change

A scenario tab is a full schedule: the same grid and Gantt, the same editing, the same filters and columns. Change durations, move links, add or delete activities, or ask Owl to make the change. Everything you do stays in the scenario.

"The Derisked Schedule scenario open in its own tab: a draft badge, '+1 added ~2 changed', the Merge into schedule button, and the scenario's Gantt."1231The scenario's name, a draft badge, and a reminder that changes stay here until you merge them.2What the scenario changed against the schedule it was copied from: +1 added ~2 changed.3Merge into schedule applies the changes to your real plan.

The header keeps count of what you changed against the schedule it was copied from — activities added, changed and deleted — so you always know how far the scenario has moved. Deleted activities are listed under the header.

Tip: Keep each scenario to one question. A scenario that parallelizes approvals and adds a second crew and pushes the permit tells you nothing clean: you can't see which change did what. One question per scenario, then compare.

Step 3 — Compare it with the schedule

The point of a scenario is the comparison. Every analytic can be compared with a scenario, and every dashboard can be run on one, so you can answer the question with numbers: the finish date, the peak crew, the cost. Analyze a scenario shows how.

Ask Owl
Compare the Derisked Schedule with the schedule — what's the new finish date and which activities moved?
Does parallelizing the approvals pull the finish in, or does something else become the bottleneck?

Step 4 — Merge it, or leave it as a draft

Once the scenario has answered its question, you decide:

  • Merge into schedule — make the scenario's changes to your real plan. Owl asks you to confirm, then the scenario is marked merged and becomes read-only. If an activity was changed both in the scenario and in the schedule since the copy was made, Owl lists each one under Changed on both sides so you can pick which version to keep.
  • Leave it as a draft — keep it for the record or a later conversation. It stays under Scenarios in the project tree.
  • Delete it — ⋯ → Delete scenario, when the question is answered and you don't need it.

Heads up: Merging changes your schedule. Look at what the scenario changed first, and remember that guardrails re-check the schedule after the merge: a scenario that looked good on its own can still trip a rule once it's in the plan.

What to do next

  • Answer the question with numbers — Analyze a scenario.
  • Check the merged plan — after merging, find issues to confirm nothing broke.
  • Ask a quick what-if without a scenario — a formula can ask CPM "what if this activity took 10 more days?" for every row at once: see What-ifs and other schedules.