Allocation, utilization, and binding constraints
Read allocation by resource and period, never as one blended capacity number. For each cell, compare effective capacity, selected demand, slack, and utilization. A binding constraint has no material remaining slack and may explain why a high-scoring initiative was displaced. Over-capacity, missing-data, dependency, exclusion, or category issues require correction before decision use.
Utilization alone is not success. One resource can show spare capacity while a different crew, permit window, facility, or period blocks the portfolio. Likewise, 100% utilization may be operationally fragile when estimates are uncertain. Preserve deliberate reserve and contingency capacity instead of automatically treating every unused unit as waste.
Investigate displaced candidates and marginal trade-offs: what resource-period cells would they consume, what dependencies would enter with them, and what selected work would need to leave? Do not infer causality from a dashboard color; use the engineās binding constraints and the recorded model relationships.