Scenarios in Productive allow you to explore "what-if" situations without affecting your live budget or deal data.

By creating a scenario, you can test various budget and deal plans, as well as allocate resources to optimize outcomes and improve decision-making.

This guide walks you through the process of building your first scenario, using key features of the Scenario Builder like service setup, bookings, and timeline adjustments.

Watch: Introduction to Scenario Builder

Watch this short tutorial to see how the Scenario Builder works in action. It covers the essential features and steps for creating and comparing financial scenarios.

Creating Your First Scenario: A Step-by-Step Guide

1) Go to the Scenarios Section

Open a budget or deal and navigate to the Scenarios tab. You can access the Scenario Builder even before adding services to your budget or deal.

📌 Note: Scenarios are available for client deals and budgets, but not for internal budgets.

2) Create a New Scenario

Click Add Scenario or + Scenario in the upper-right corner.

Name your scenario (e.g., Scenario A: Initial Plan).
If your deal or budget already includes services, tick Copy services from deal/budget to pull them into your scenario. Otherwise, you’ll add services manually in the next step.
Click Create Scenario to proceed.

3) Define Service Details

In the Scenario Builder, define each service:

Select a billing type.
Assign a service type, unit (e.g., hour, day, piece), and Price per Unit (e.g., $100/hour).

👉 Learn more about deal service details here, and about budget service details here.
Click the coin icon in the Price per Unit field to add a markup or discount.

To organize services:

Add new services with + Add Service
Pull in services from a rate card using + Add From Rate Card
Create service sections with + Add Section

4) Add Teammates and Define Hours

Assign teammates (or placeholders) to services:

Click the + sign next to the service name to expand details.
Use + Add Item to assign team members, existing placeholders, or create temporary placeholders.

📌 Good to Know:

Placeholders set up in Settings > Resourcing > Placeholders are available in all scenarios.
Temporary placeholders created inside a scenario only exist in that scenario but can be assigned to a user later when applying it.
You can easily create temporary placeholders in Scenario Builder by typing their name, defining their hourly cost, and assigning their hours.

Define the hours each person is expected to work:

Example: Alex Taylor is assigned 5 hours for a Design service.
The system calculates the cost, revenue, and profit based on the hours ("Used Quantity") and Alex's cost rates ("Cost per Unit").

As you input data, observe real-time updates on budget usage, revenue, cost, and profit margins.

Once you are all done with the scenario setup, select Save in the upper right.

5) Add Bookings in List View

To input scenario bookings manually:

Click the Expand button next to a teammate.
Select + Add Booking to enter hours and dates directly. This is a quick way to build out the scenario before switching to a visual overview.

📌 Note: You can assign and book team members who aren’t yet part of the deal or budget sharing settings. However, they won’t be able to track time until they are added after the scenario is applied.

Example: In a scenario, Eugene Lewis is assigned and booked for a service. After applying the scenario, the booking appears in the Resource Planner, but Eugene’s time allocation shows "0 days." To fix this, add Eugene to the deal manually so he can track time.

6) Visualize and Edit in Timeline View

Once bookings are added, switch to the Timeline View to visualize and manage scenario data.

Choose a view:

All People
People Assigned to Deal/Budget
People Assigned to This Scenario

Scenario bookings appear in purple. You can add or adjust bookings directly on the timeline.

Hours and dates update in real time, with totals shown dynamically.

In the upper-left corner, review profitability, revenue, and cost figures, or return to the List View for detailed service breakdowns.

The timeline also displays live data, including absences and existing budget bookings, helping you compare scenario plans with current availability.

📌 Tip: The Timeline View clearly differentiates between live and scenario data. Click on a booking to see its label and details.

7) Scenario Start and End Dates

Dates are automatically calculated based on the booking dates. The scenario's start date is the earliest date of all bookings, while the end date is the latest date of all bookings within the scenario.

This means that you immediately see the overall time span your scenario covers, based on the actual bookings. No need to scroll through all the bookings or calculate it manually.

Comparing Scenarios

Once you've created and saved multiple scenarios for your deal or budget, you can compare them side by side in the Scenarios tab. This view provides key details such as:

Scenario name
Creator
Creation date
Expected profit margin (based on the parameters set in each scenario)
Scenario start and end dates (based on the bookings created)

📌 Tip: Make use of the additional fields like Start Date, End Date, Date Applied, Revenue, and Cost to help you quickly see how each scenario performs and which one offers the best outcome for your deal or budget.

Managing Scenarios

To access a scenario and adjust prices, billing, or bookings, click directly on its name.

Use the three-dot menu to the right and select Edit if you need to rename it.
To delete a scenario, open the three-dot menu and select Delete.
You can also duplicate your scenario by selecting Duplicate, which will also copy over any allocated resources and bookings to the new scenario.

Key Tips for Working with Scenarios

Use placeholders for unassigned team members.
Duplicate your scenarios. This way, you can quickly make small adjustments without needing to re-add all team members and their bookings.
Save and rename scenario versions to track changes (e.g., Scenario 1.1).
Compare live and scenario data regularly to make informed decisions.