Plan Types in OnePlan - Overview

Direct Answer: What Are Plan Types in OnePlan?

Plan types in OnePlan define the kinds of work your organization plans, such as portfolios, programs, projects, or ideas. Each plan type has its own plan details form, its own enabled planning tools, and its own settings for conversions, security, and voting. You can arrange plan types as a flat, hierarchical, or blended structure, and you add them to Areas so users can find and work with plans of that type.

What This Article Covers: Plan Types

This article explains what plan types are, how they can be structured, how plan types and areas relate, and where to find the articles for creating and configuring them.

What you will understand After reading this article, you will understand what a plan type controls, the three common ways to structure plan types, and where plan types are managed.

Who This Article Is For: Plan Types

This article is intended for:

OnePlan administrators who design and maintain the plan type structure for their group.
Customer Success and support contacts who guide administrators through plan type setup.

This article explains concepts. For step-by-step instructions, see the articles listed in What to Do Next: Plan Types.

Why This Matters: Plan Types

Plan types shape what users see and do in OnePlan. They decide which form a plan uses and which planning tools are available at each level. Plan type names are also tied to reporting items, so a name change later requires report updates. Planning the structure before you add a plan type avoids rework.

Understanding Plan Types in OnePlan

Context: What a Plan Type Controls

Each plan type has its own plan details form, and each form can have different sections, fields, stages and steps, and planning modules, such as the Financial Planner, Resource Planner, or Scheduler. When a user creates a plan, they first select the plan type, and the form and available features follow from that choice. If your plan types form a hierarchy, users start from the parent plan and select a child plan type.

A plan type also has settings in the Edit Plan Type form:

General — The name, Auto Number Prefix, and Auto Number Start.
Conversions — Whether plans can convert into other plan types. See How to Set Up Plan Type Conversions in OnePlan.
Security — Which Enterprise Security Groups can create plans of the type, and whether plans can be made private. See How to Set Up Plan Type Security and How to Enable Private Plans for a Plan Type in OnePlan.
Voting — Whether users can vote on plans of the type. See How to Set Up Voting for a Plan Type in OnePlan.

Context: Example Plan Type Structures

Your organization may follow the examples below, or your plan types may be completely unique.

Flat hierarchy

In a flat structure, the plan types are not related to each other. For example, Enterprise Project (perhaps for budgets over 1 million dollars) and Small Project (for budgets under 1 million).

Hierarchical structure

In a hierarchical structure, plan types have a parent-to-child lookup relationship. This is useful for tree grid visibility and data rollup. For example, Accounts have Engagements as children.

Blended structure

A blended structure combines the two. You might have a hierarchy such as Portfolios and Programs, and then several plan types at the same child level, such as Project for traditional scheduling and Epic for teams that follow an agile or lean process.

Context: Example Plan Details Forms

Each plan type can have a different Plan Details form, different planning modules, different process steps, and more. These examples show forms for a Project plan type and a Key Result plan type.

Project: The Project form Process Steps are robust and cover all stages of the project lifecycle including Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring, and Closure. And in this current step you can see the Details, Financials, Resource Plan, Work Plan, Files, and Reporting modules.

Key Result: The form here is specialized for Key Results, and contains several different fields and sections from the Project form. The Process Steps are much shorter and include Proposed, Active, and Closed. And in this current step you can see the Details, Financials, Files, and Reporting modules.

Context: How Plan Types and Areas Relate

An Area is a page in the left navigation, such as Enterprise Portfolio. A plan type is a kind of work, and the hierarchy is how plan types nest. An area shows only the plan types you add to it, so the same plan type can appear in more than one area.

The Plan Types tab at Configuration > General lists every plan type in your group as a hierarchy. Areas are configured from the global navigation: select Setup in the left navigation, select the Edit icon for an area, and use its Plan Types tab to build the hierarchy. Building plan types in the Area Editor is the recommended approach. You can add existing plan types to an area, or create new plan types and place them in the area in one step.

Context: Before You Add a Plan Type

The most common structure mistake is adding a plan type when a field would do. Before you add one, ask:

Is this a different kind of work, or just a different label?
Does it need its own form, its own fields, or its own process?
Will leaders need to see it and report on it on its own?

If the answer to all three is no, a field on an existing plan type is usually a better fit.

Common Scenarios: When to Use Plan Types

You might use plan type settings in OnePlan to:

Create a new plan type for a different kind of work that needs its own form and process, such as a short pilot that ends in a decision.
Build a hierarchy so child plans roll up to a program or portfolio.
Separate plans by delivery method, such as waterfall projects and agile projects, with different forms for each.
Limit who can create plans of a certain type with plan type security.
Let ideas convert into projects when they are approved.

Frequently Asked Questions: Plan Types

Q: What is a plan type in OnePlan? A: In OnePlan, a plan type defines a kind of work, such as a portfolio, program, or project. Each plan type has its own plan details form, planning tools, and settings for conversions, security, and voting.

Q: What is the difference between a plan type and an area in OnePlan? A: In OnePlan, a plan type is a kind of work, and an Area is a page in the left navigation that shows a chosen set of plan types. A plan type can appear in more than one area.

Q: Where do I create plan types in OnePlan? A: In OnePlan, the recommended place is the Plan Types tab of the Area Editor, opened from Setup in the left navigation. You can also add plan types on the Plan Types tab at Configuration > General.

Q: Should I add a plan type or a field in OnePlan? A: In OnePlan, add a plan type when the work is a different kind of work that needs its own form, fields, or process, or that leaders need to report on separately. If it is only a different label, use a field on an existing plan type.

Q: Can I rename a plan type in OnePlan? A: Yes, but in OnePlan, plan type names are tied to reporting items, so a name change requires report updates. Choose plan type names carefully.

What to Do Next: Plan Types

Create and configure plan types:

Work with areas:

For end users:

Plan Types and Plan Type Structures