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Group projects into initiatives
An initiative groups the projects that deliver one body of work, so you can see its forecast, actual cost and budget in one place. Use it when leadership or finance asks "what is this piece of work costing us?" The cost sits on the projects; the initiative adds them up.
You need access to edit initiatives to change them, and access to financial figures to see budgets and costs — ask your Flowstate admin.
Tip
If your organisation uses its own names for initiatives or projects, the app shows those names. Everything here works the same way.
Find an initiative
Go to Delivery → Roadmap → Initiatives. Each row shows the initiative's Status, Owner, Projects, Budget, Variance and Dates.
- Select a row to open the initiative's side panel. Double-click it to open its full page.
- Choose the period in the top right. The list shows initiatives whose dates overlap it, and Variance covers that period. It starts on the current quarter.
- Sort by Name (the default), Start date, Target date, Project count or Last updated.
- Group by Status, Owner or None (the default).
- Search by typing a name in Find in view... at the top. Search looks across all dates.
Create an initiative
There's no button on the Initiatives tab. Create an initiative in one of these ways:
- In Portfolio. Select New Initiative, enter a Name, optionally choose an Objective, Driver and Finance mode, and select Create. The initiative's page opens. See Plan with objectives and key results.
- From projects. On Projects, select Select, tick the projects, then select Create Initiative from projects. See Select projects to group or claim together.
- From your project tool. If your Jira or Linear connection suggests initiatives, accept one in Portfolio. See Review initiatives suggested by your project tool.
Add a project to an initiative
From the initiative's page:
- Under Projects, select Link or create a project.
- Search for the project and select it.
- If it doesn't exist yet, select Create "…" to create a project with the name you typed and add it. This only appears if your organisation allows creating projects in Flowstate.
You can also add a project from the Projects tab or from Portfolio. See Add a project to an initiative, or remove it.
A project can only be in one initiative. To move it, remove it from the first one on the Projects tab. Adding or removing a project never changes its cost centre, so it never changes whether the project is capitalised.
Status and progress
An initiative's status follows its projects. You don't set it.
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Draft | It has no projects |
| Planned | None of its projects is in progress or in review, and they aren't all done |
| In progress | At least one of its projects is in progress |
| In review | None of its projects is in progress, and at least one is in review |
| Done | All its projects are done |
Progress, on the initiative's page, shows how many of its projects are done.
The side panel
| Tab | What's on it |
|---|---|
| Overview (the first icon) | Finance mode, Driver, Budget · FY…, SOW budget and Target margin (customer-billed initiatives only), AI budget and Objective |
| Delivery | Forecast vs actual for the period, and the initiative's Projects with their status. Select a project to open it |
| Attributes | Your organisation's custom attributes for initiatives. Fill them in the same way as on projects |
| Comments (the speech-bubble icon) | Discussion about the initiative |
- Driver says what kind of work the initiative is. Select it to choose one. Portfolio can group initiatives by it.
- AI budget shows the initiative's AI budget, when one is set.
- Objective links to the objective the initiative sits under.
The initiative page
Double-click an initiative on the list to open its page.
| At the top | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Status | See Status and progress |
| Progress | How many of its projects are done |
| Dates | Select them to change the start and target dates |
| Owner | Select it to choose the owner |
| Billed as | Internal or Customer billed. Select it to change it |
- Rename the initiative: select the title, type the new name and press Enter.
- Write a description: under Description, select the text and type. Press Enter or click away to save. Shift+Enter starts a new line.
The rest of the page shows:
- Projects — each project's Status, how complete it is, its Actual cost and Variance, with Link or create a project underneath.
- Burndown — forecast against actual over time.
- Client billing — for a customer-billed initiative, its Target margin and Excess / waste. Select Configure → to set the SOW budget and target margin.
- Actuals — days and cost for Employees, Contractors and AI Agents.
- Capitalisation — links to the initiative in Finance → Capitalisation, or says the initiative can't be capitalised.
Set the budget and driver in the side panel; they aren't on the full page.
Choose a finance mode
Every initiative has a Finance mode. It only decides billing.
| Finance mode | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Internal | The work isn't billed to a customer. |
| Customer billed | The work is billed to a customer. Set the SOW budget and Target margin, and track margin against the SOW budget. |
To change it, choose Finance mode in the side panel, or Billed as at the top of the initiative's page.
For a customer-billed initiative, set its figures in the side panel:
- Next to SOW budget, select the pencil, enter the amount and select Save.
- Next to Target margin, select the pencil, enter a percentage and select Save.
Or, on the initiative's page, select Configure → under Client billing.
Whether the work can be capitalised or claimed for R&D follows each project's cost centre, in either mode.
How the figures add up
Every figure on an initiative is added up from its projects. You never enter anything twice.
| Figure | Comes from |
|---|---|
| Forecast | Who is planned on the initiative's projects, and for how much of their time. See Allocations. |
| Actual | The effort people have logged on those projects, costed at each person's day rate. |
| Variance | Forecast against actual, in Forecast vs actual. |
| AI spend | AI usage attributed to the initiative. See Agent insights. |
The actual includes weeks team leads haven't submitted yet, so it can move day to day until they do. See Which numbers finance uses. How day rates are worked out is in How costs are calculated.
Set a budget
The Budget · FY… in an initiative's side panel comes from one of two places:
Your budget. When the initiative is in a budget snapshot, the figure shows a Snapshot v… chip that links to it. Change it in Budgets.
A desired budget. With no snapshot, the owner can ask for an amount:
- Open the initiative's side panel.
- Next to Budget · FY…, select Set desired budget.
- Enter the amount, in your reporting currency, and select Save.
It then shows with a Desired chip. To change it, select the pencil.
With neither, the initiative says No budget yet. A customer-billed initiative's SOW budget is separate from this budget.
Plan who works on it
You plan people, teams and agents on each project, not on the initiative. The initiative's forecast and headcount add up from its projects. See Plan who works on a project.
Capitalise an initiative
You can claim a whole initiative as one CapEx claim, with each of its projects as evidence. Use the CapEx tab in Portfolio, or see Capitalise a whole initiative.
See effort by initiative
Team leads can see their weekly effort report grouped by initiative. Projects with no initiative are grouped together at the end. Effort is still recorded against projects. An admin turns this on — see Reporting Dimension.
Not available yet
You can't change an initiative's objective or AI budget in the app after it's created. Ask your Flowstate contact.
If something's not right
I can't see the budget or costs. You don't have access to financial figures. Ask your Flowstate admin.
The actual changed, but nobody touched the initiative. It includes weeks that haven't been submitted, which Flowstate re-estimates every day.
I can't change the budget. It comes from a budget snapshot. Change it in Budgets.
A project won't join the initiative. It's already in another initiative. Remove it from that one on the Projects tab first.
The status is wrong. It follows the initiative's projects. Update the projects' statuses.