Create a scenario
Create a scenario in bluprnts from a preset or a blank set of levers, save it alongside your base plan, and spin off duplicates and variants.
You create a scenario on the Scenarios page, either by starting from one of the six presets or by pulling the levers yourself. Saving it adds it to the scenario rail next to Base; it never alters the plan underneath.
This guide creates a scenario, then covers duplicating one and generating optimistic and pessimistic variants.
1. Open the Scenarios page#
In the left sidebar, under What-if, select Scenarios. The page has the scenario rail on the left and the work area on the right, with a Build / Compare toggle and a New scenario button in the page header.
2. Start a new scenario#
Select New scenario — from the page header, or the button at the foot of the rail. The workbench opens on an empty draft with every lever at centre.
3. Pick a starting point, or don't#
A brand-new draft shows six presets. Choosing one fills the levers in for you, and you can then adjust anything it set:
| Preset | What it sets |
|---|---|
| Growth push | Volume +40%, headcount +20%, overheads +10% |
| Recession ready | Volume −20%, overheads −15%, headcount −10% |
| Price rise | Price +10% |
| Hiring freeze | Headcount −25%, overheads −8% |
| Raise & invest | New funding £500,000, headcount +20%, volume +15% |
| Cost discipline | Production −10%, storage & distribution −8%, shipping −8% |
The presets disappear once the scenario is saved — they are a starting point, not a setting you can return to. Skip them entirely and go straight to the levers if you know what you want to model.
4. Name it#
The title and description at the top of the workbench are edited in place — select the text and type over it. The description is worth filling in: it is what shows under the scenario's name in the picker on your dashboards.
Leave them blank and bluprnts saves the scenario as Untitled scenario, described as "Custom lever mix saved from the workbench."
5. Set the assumptions and save#
Pull the levers (see Edit a scenario's assumptions), then select Save. The scenario is added to the rail, given an accent colour, and automatically ticked for comparison.
The save state sits in the page header — Saving…, then Saved, settling back to All changes saved.
Duplicate a scenario#
Open the ⋯ menu on any scenario row in the rail and choose Duplicate. You get a copy named "Growth push copy", carrying over every lever and every targeted change, opened ready to edit. Useful when you want two variations on the same idea without rebuilding the second one.
Generate optimistic and pessimistic variants#
The same ⋯ menu offers Optimistic case and Pessimistic case under Create variants. Each one creates a new scenario named for its source and the case — "Growth push · Optimistic", "Growth push · Pessimistic" — with every lever pushed in the favourable or unfavourable direction — volume and price up or down, costs and pay the other way, payment delays easing or worsening.
Levers already set are scaled; levers sitting at centre are nudged off it. Headcount, salary and funding are left where you put them, because those are decisions rather than conditions. Any targeted changes on the source scenario are carried over untouched.
These are a fast way to get a range around a plan you have already thought about — not a substitute for thinking about it.
Delete a scenario#
Open the ⋯ menu and choose Delete.
The Base card has no menu and cannot be deleted.
Related#
- Edit a scenario's assumptions — the levers and targeted impacts in full.
- Compare scenarios side by side — put the ones you've built against each other.
- Set the working case — apply a scenario across the app.