Base plan, projects & scenarios
The three layers of a bluprnts model — the base plan you've committed to, projects you're considering adding, and scenarios testing how confident you are.
A bluprnts model has three layers, and every figure you look at is the result of all three. Knowing which layer you're changing is the difference between a model you trust and one that surprises you.
| Layer | What it is | How it behaves |
|---|---|---|
| Base plan | The business as you've committed to running it | Always on |
| Projects | Initiatives you're considering adding | Toggled on or off, any number at once |
| Scenarios | How confident you are in the assumptions | One applied at a time, across everything |
Base is the plan itself#
Your products, sales, employees, costs and financing are the base plan. There is no separate base object to edit — changing anything on those pages changes base.
In the app, base appears as an always-on project every company has exactly one of, and as the Base card at the top of the scenario rail. Neither is something you edit directly.
Projects add things#
A project is a layer of real drivers: its own products, sales, people, costs and financing, scoped to one initiative. Each record carries the project it belongs to; a record with no project belongs to base.
Switching a project on adds its records to the forecast. Switching it off removes them. Nothing is deleted either way, which is what makes "what does this initiative actually do to us?" a question you can ask and un-ask.
Scenarios bend everything#
A scenario changes no records at all. It applies multipliers and shifts over whatever the forecast currently contains — base, plus whichever projects are switched on.
That's why the order matters: a scenario acts on the projects that are enabled when it runs. Turn a project on and a "volume 20% under plan" scenario applies to the project's sales too.
The three questions#
Each layer answers a different one:
- Base — what are we doing?
- Projects — what if we also did this?
- Scenarios — what if we're wrong about it?
Model a new site as a project, switch it on, then apply a pessimistic scenario. That combination asks the useful question — not "does the new site work?" but "does it still work if demand disappoints?"
What changes what#
| Changing this | Affects |
|---|---|
| A product, sale, employee, cost or financing entry | Base — and therefore every scenario, since they're all measured against it |
| A project toggle | The forecast, immediately |
| A scenario's levers | Only that scenario |
| Which scenario is applied | Every dashboard, statement and report |
Because scenario levers are relative, editing your plan while a scenario is applied doesn't corrupt the scenario — a 20% increase stays a 20% increase on whatever base now says.
Related#
- What scenarios are — the levers.
- Add or edit a project — building a layer.
- Scenarios vs projects — choosing between them.