Set the scope before comparing projects
Start by choosing the workspace and portfolio you want to review. A portfolio groups projects; a programme can group projects around a shared outcome. Confirm the manager and project membership so that the review is about the intended work.
In the Projects register, filter by portfolio, stage, health, manager or status. Needs attention highlights projects whose health is not On track or whose gate is awaiting approval or has been returned. Save a useful register view for the next review. These views reflect the projects the signed-in person can see; two reviewers with different access may see different totals.
Use Exceptions to find a concrete concern
Open Exceptions and narrow the list by portfolio, project manager or rule. AEVU identifies conditions such as an overdue milestone, an overdue risk or issue, a returned gate, an overdue invoice or a critical risk without a response type. Each reason includes an owner where one is available and a link back to the relevant project context.
Treat the reason as the start of a question. For an overdue milestone, ask what is delaying it and whether a change is needed. For a risk without a response, ask who will assess and own the response. Exceptions evaluates recorded conditions; it does not predict an unrecorded delay or supply a recovery plan.
Read health alongside its underlying records
The Portfolio health report combines lifecycle, health and exception information for the selected scope. Use it to identify patterns, then inspect a project’s milestones, risks, issues, documents or changes before deciding what to do. A project health label is computed from recorded delivery and gate signals; it is not a manager’s manually chosen traffic light.
For example, an overdue milestone can place a project in the Danger zone. A gate waiting at least five days can place it At risk. Those labels describe current rules and recorded dates, rather than a forecast of failure. Correct the source record if it is wrong, and discuss the delivery implications if it is right.
Check money and capacity in the right view
Use the Financial report for project cashflow and recorded commercial information, and Resource utilisation for booking-based capacity. Keep the period and portfolio scope clear. A payment marked invoiced or paid is a recorded workflow state, and utilisation is based on allocations; neither should be described as a bank reconciliation or measured timesheet total.
Delivery profiles also matter. Client engagements carry client billing; internal and funded initiatives use planned budgets. Do not compare every planned budget with client contract value as though they were the same measure. Report sections depend on the reviewer’s access to the underlying registers, so missing access needs resolving before interpreting a partial view.
Leave the review with a change in the work
Agree an owner and due date for each follow-up, then update the relevant risk, issue, milestone or change request. Put a stage decision through the approval workflow when that is the decision required. A report or export gives context; it does not itself approve a gate, reallocate a person or apply a change.
At the next review, return to those source records and check what changed. Where enabled, Discuss with Ari can explain permitted report facts with references. Review those references before relying on an answer. Ari’s explanation supports the discussion; responsibility for the decision and the follow-through remains with your team.