Initiatives

An initiative is a commitment: a named piece of work, such as “Payments modernisation”, that brings together the portfolio features needed to achieve it. Grouping features this way lets you talk about the work as a whole, put it on a roadmap, link it to the objectives it serves, and hand every finished feature to delivery in one step.

Grouping a feature under an initiative does not change the feature. It keeps its own planning, owner and status in the Portfolio.

Before you start

• Open Product Management → Initiatives in the sidebar.
• Anyone who can open the page can view initiatives. The New initiative, Edit, Add features, Promote to delivery and delete controls only appear if your role lets you make changes.
• If you cannot see this page, your organisation may not use it, or your role may not include it. See Understanding roles.

Understanding the initiatives list

The list shows every initiative in your workspace, one row each. Select a row to open the initiative.

Statuses

When you sort by status, initiatives follow this order rather than the alphabet.

Finding an initiative

• Search by name.
• Status: show All (the default) or one status.
• Owner: choose My initiatives only to see just the initiatives you own.
• Sort by Name, Status, Product area, Theme, Features or Window.

If your filters hide everything, the list shows No initiatives match the current filters.

Create an initiative

1. Select New initiative.

2. Enter a Name, for example “Payments modernisation”. This is the only required field.

3. Optionally fill in the rest:

   Field	What to enter
   Description	What the initiative is for.
   Product area	Type a product area, or choose one of your organisation’s suggestions.
   Status	Starts as Proposed.
   Strategic theme	One of your organisation’s themes, or No theme.
   Strategic alignment	How strongly it supports your strategy, from 1 to 5, or Not scored.
   Starts and Ends	The dates the work is expected to run between.

4. Select Create initiative. The new initiative opens.

The button stays unavailable until you enter a name. If the end date is before the start date, you see The end date is before the start date. and cannot save until you fix it.

Understanding an initiative’s page

The page opens with a summary card showing the initiative’s status, product area, theme and ID, followed by its name, description, window and Owner. Below the summary are two sections.

• Strategic alignment lists the objectives the initiative supports. This section only appears if your organisation uses objectives.
• Features lists every portfolio feature grouped under the initiative.

To change the name, description or any other detail, select Edit. The same form opens as when you created it. Select Save changes when you are done.

Add features to an initiative

1. On the initiative’s page, select Add features. The Add features to this initiative panel opens.
2. Search with Find a feature by name or ID, or scroll the list.
3. Tick each feature you want to add.
4. Select Add N features.

What you see in the list:

• Features already in this initiative are ticked, greyed out and marked already added.
• Withdrawn features are not listed.
• A feature can only belong to one initiative. If a feature is already under another initiative, it shows an amber warning such as moves out of Payments modernisation. Adding it moves it to this initiative.

You can also set a feature’s initiative from the feature itself. On a portfolio item’s page, the header shows a button with the initiative’s name, or No initiative. Select it, then choose an initiative or No initiative.

Reading the features list

Each feature shows its title, its current state and its owner. Select a title to open the portfolio item. Above the list, a summary shows how close the initiative is to delivery, for example 3 ready · 1 in delivery · 2 awaiting review.

Remove a feature

1. Hover over the feature in the Features list.
2. Select × (Remove from this initiative (the feature is kept)).

The feature stays in the Portfolio. It is simply no longer grouped under this initiative.

Align an initiative to an objective

Aligning records what the work is for, and makes the initiative visible from the objective too. Alignment is always set from the initiative.

1. In the Strategic alignment section, select Align to an objective (or Edit alignment if some are already linked).
2. Search with Find an objective… and tick each objective the initiative supports.
3. Select Save.

Objectives that are Achieved or Closed only appear in the list if they are already linked, and are marked no longer active.

Record why it supports the objective

Each linked objective shows its name, theme and ID, and a rationale line.

1. Select the rationale line. If none has been recorded, it reads Add why this initiative supports this objective.
2. Enter the reason, for example “38% of churn occurs during the first month.”
3. Select Save rationale.

The rationale also appears on the objective’s page, next to this initiative.

Promote an initiative to delivery

When the features in an initiative have finished planning, you can send them to delivery together instead of one at a time.

1. On the initiative’s page, select Promote to delivery.
2. Read the confirmation, for example Promote 3 features to delivery?
3. Select Promote to delivery.

Each ready feature is added to the delivery Intake Queue, grouped under this initiative. Features that are already in delivery are skipped. A message confirms how many were sent, with an Open intake queue link.

Promote to delivery stays unavailable until the initiative is ready. Hover over it to see why:

Delete an initiative

1. On the initiative’s page, select the bin icon (Delete initiative).
2. Select Delete initiative to confirm.

Its features are kept. They simply stop being grouped under it. You return to the initiatives list.

What happens next

• Add the initiative to a roadmap to show when it lands. See Roadmaps.
• Promoted features appear in the Intake Queue, where delivery shapes them into work streams.
• Check the objective’s page to see this initiative alongside any other aligned work. See Objectives.

Good to know

• Changing an initiative’s status or dates does not change its features.
• Strategic alignment is managed separately. Depending on your role, you may be able to edit an initiative but not its alignment, or the other way round.
• If an initiative cannot be opened, you see Couldn’t load this initiative. Select Back to initiatives and try again.

Related pages

• Product Management
• Objectives
• Roadmaps
• Portfolio item
• Review step
• Intake Queue
• Strategy (Governance → Planning)