How to Get Started with the What-if Simulations Feature – Project Insight Help Center

AI Assisted What-If Simulations allow you to explore different scenarios across your projects, resources, budgets, and timelines before committing to any changes. This feature helps you understand the impact of alternative assignments, schedule shifts, or budget adjustments, improving your ability to plan proactively and make informed decisions.

Requirements

Before using AI Assisted What-If Simulations, confirm that the correct features and add-ons are active in your account. This feature is limited to PI Enterprise customers only.

Required Add-Ons

Resource Allocation
What-If Simulations

Additional Add-Ons That Enhance Simulation Detail

• Resource Types (rolls up to skills and roles)
• Departments (rolls up to department groups or teams)
• Project Budgeting
• Expenses and Time Tracking (labor and non-labor)
• Companies (rolls up to organizations or can dictate billing or cost rates)
• Rate Cards (sets rates for forecasted hours)
• CapEx and OpEx (groups hours and costs into capital or operational classifications)

Configurations

Overview: Learning the Basics

Before you begin simulating changes, review how your organization defines resources, departments, budgets, and rates. These settings determine how data appears inside the simulation workspace and how results are calculated. Areas to confirm:

Resource Types
Department groups
Budget fiscal periods
Rate cards and cost structures
CapEx and OpEx classifications

How to Use What-If Simulations for Resource Allocations

Use simulations to test staffing plans, resource leveling, and future availability impacts without affecting your live projects. Once the What-If Simulation Add-On is installed, the "Simulation" option will appear while running Project Resource Allocation Reports.

Resource Allocation can be rolled up by groups such as Department or Resource Type
Specifically, the team above is rolled up to their Accountant Department

What-If Simulations in Action

Step 1: setting up project simulations

Under project Edit, set up this project's What-If Simulation

These project Simulations will drive the Simulations you can run on your Project Resource Allocation Reports

Quick-add Simulations based on Date or Rolling Dates, or Click into the new Simulation
Below, Option E is our new Simulation

Now within Option E Simulation, changes to the schedule will not impact the original schedule (WBS)
Shifting the Start Date of the first task two weeks forward will impact the entire schedule by two weeks
The first two tasks have been reassigned to Christopher Clark

Anything that has been changed by this Simulation from the original schedule will highlight the date box
Select Apply Changes to commit those Simulated changes (after applying the changes, you cannot undo)

Step 2: deploy predefined Simulations in Allocation Reports

In a Project Resource Allocation Report, select the Simulation button to choose which Project and predefined Simulation to run
Run Report to see how that Simulation will effect individual and/or team allocations
- Show Prior Total: includes the original total as a column on the far right
- Show Total Change: includes the difference between Prior Total and Simulated Total

Before

After

With the Simulation Option E in place, Operation Ghost's impact are now displayed for Christopher and the Accountant Department
Select Apply Changes to commit those Simulated changes (after applying the changes, you cannot undo)