Portfolios, funnels and gates
A portfolio is a group of projects steered together, with one way of measuring their progress. Every project belongs to exactly one portfolio. Administrators create portfolios under Organization settings › Portfolios.
Each portfolio fixes three things for its projects.
Maturity model
Section titled “Maturity model”The grid of categories and levels that projects are scored on. It is chosen when the portfolio is created and cannot be changed afterwards, because every score in the portfolio is expressed in its terms. Scale Platform ships two:
- Scale Maturity Model (GROW): ten levels from Exploration Formation to Profitable & Growing, for new products, services and business ideas.
- Scale Maturity Model (OPS): nine levels from Opportunity Discovery to Full impact achieved, for operational development and transformation.
See Projects and maturity models for how a score is computed.
Funnel
Section titled “Funnel”The stages a project moves through, each spanning a range of maturity levels. The default GROW funnel is Idea to Concept, Concept to Product, Product to Market, Scale. A project’s stage follows from its maturity score, so the funnel is never set by hand.
The portfolio Dashboard shows the Projects funnel: every project placed in its stage. Administrators edit stages under the portfolio’s Funnel tab: a name and a duration in maturity levels per stage.
Key milestones, each at a maturity level, for example MVP at level 5. Gates appear as the Next gate column in the project list, as the Forecast to next gate metric on a project’s overview, and as markers on its timeline. Administrators define them under the portfolio’s Gates tab: a short name, a name and a level.
The forecast to the next gate is a Monte Carlo estimate from the project’s own history of score changes. It needs evidence recorded on at least three separate days before it shows a range.
Access
Section titled “Access”Portfolios are public by default: everyone in the organization sees the portfolio and its projects. An administrator can make a portfolio private, so that only the people added under its Access tab see it. See Portfolio access.
Dashboard
Section titled “Dashboard”Each portfolio has a dashboard with a month scrubber and four metrics:
| Metric | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Total Potential | The sum of the business potential of all active projects. |
| Validated Potential | The same sum, weighted by each project’s maturity score. How much of the potential is backed by validated work. |
| Active Projects | The count of projects with status Active. |
| Cumulative Maturity | The sum of all project maturity scores. |
Below them, a bubble chart places every project by maturity and potential, and the funnel card shows the stages. Filter by Org. unit or theme to narrow the view.
Organization units
Section titled “Organization units”Units are orthogonal to portfolios. A unit is a department, team or business unit; every project names one. Administrators define units under Organization settings › Organization units. The unit filter in the sidebar, All units by default, narrows the whole app to one unit’s projects.