Scenarios – Runway Help Center

Understanding scenarios

Scenarios let you play with your model

Think of a scenario as a parallel universe for your business model—it’s a sandbox for testing new ideas or imagining future outcomes. Find out what happens if you double your marketing budget, or see how different launch timelines impact your metrics.

Any changes to your formulas, assumptions, or plans do not affect your main model (until you merge them). Your team members can also independently propose scenarios, and see how your model responds to their decisions. Once everyone's happy with the modifications, you can merge your new scenario into the main model.

Main vs. draft scenarios

In Runway, your Main Scenario is the forecast calculated from your current model, and is the definitive reference for it.

Making a data edit pushes you to a draft scenario.

Draft scenarios are created automatically

Making any of these edits creates a draft scenario:

For drivers:

Creating or deleting drivers

Modifying the forecast, actual, or rollup formula

Modifying/setting an actual or forecast value

Moving a driver to a new model or driver group

Modifying formatting: name, color, precision, type

Marking or unmarking a driver as KPI

For models:

Creating or deleting models

For databases:

Creating or deleting databases

Creating or deleting an object (database row)

Modifying the value of a database attribute for a specific object

Modifying formulas

Modifying database schemas

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Edits scoped to a draft scenario remain local to it, and do not affect your Main Scenario (or any other scenarios) until merged.

Working with scenarios

Creating a draft scenario

To prevent unintentional modifications to your Main Scenario, Runway automatically pushes you to a Main Scenario (draft) when you make a data edit.

You can also click + Add scenario in the scenarios list (at the top left) to create a new scenario.

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The yellow frame around the app and the (Draft) suffix in the scenario name denote that you’ve been pushed to a draft scenario.

Managing a draft scenario

After making data edits, you’ll see several options depending on your permission level:

Discard draft to return to your original Main Scenario.

Review and merge to incorporate your edits into your Main Scenario.

If your role is Admin, you'll find this button in the top right corner.

Save as scenario to create a separate scenario for your edits.

Non-admins will only see this button to prevent un-vetted changes from being merged into the Main Scenario.

The impact of merging scenarios

Custom scenarios work by first computing and rendering everything the same way as the Main Scenario. Then, edits scoped to the new scenario are layered on top.

For example, let’s say Bob and Alice both modify the same driver:

Bob creates a draft scenario where he modifies Driver A.

Alice creates her own draft scenario where she also modifies Driver A.

At this point, both Bob and Alice see their own versions of Driver A in their separate draft scenarios.

If Bob merges his changes into the Main Scenario, Alice will still see her own version of Driver A in her draft scenario. This is because Runway renders the Main Scenario first and then layers the custom scenarios' edits on top.

Now, when Alice merges her draft scenario into the main scenario, Driver A in the Main Scenario will be updated to reflect Alice's version.

Let’s look at another example:

Bob creates a draft scenario where he modifies Driver B.

Alice creates a draft scenario where she modifies Driver A.

In Alice's draft scenario, Driver B is shown the same way as the Main Scenario because Bob’s edit isn’t merged into the Main Scenario they both share.

When Bob merges his changes into the Main Scenario:

Alice will see the updated Driver B based on Bob's merge action.

Alice will still see Driver A as she defined in her draft scenario.

Comparing scenarios

You can do this in 3 different ways:

1. Tabular comparison in a page or a model

Start by navigating to a model, or by creating a Driver table in any page.

Add the drivers you want to compare across different scenarios.

Next, click Customize at the top right of your table.

Click Compare on the menu that opens up, and select the scenarios you want to compare.

The default view shows time series values from each scenario. You can add Variance and Variance % from the same menu.

2. Graphical comparison in a page

You can compare drivers across different scenarios using line charts, instead of tables:

Create a Driver chart in any page.

Add the drivers you want to compare across different scenarios.

Next, click Customize at the top right of your chart section.

Click Compare on the menu that opens up, and select the scenarios you want to compare.

3. Comparing within the review & merge flow

This only works if you’re an Admin:

Click Review and Merge in the top nav or in the 3-dot menu next to the scenario name.

You’ll see a comparison of your current and main scenarios in the approval modal.

Reviewing and merging a scenario

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Only users with an Admin role can merge scenarios.

To review and merge:

First, switch to the scenario you want to merge.

Click the 3-dot menu next to the scenario picker in the top nav.

Select Review and Merge to open a modal featuring the impact of your edits on your KPIs. (You can select KPIs by starring drivers within your model.)

This modal also summarizes changes across your model so you can see the specific impact.

If everything looks good, click Merge Changes at top right to merge your edits into your Main Scenario.

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When there’s a large volume of edits being reviewed, the merge modal will show a sampling of those edits for performance reasons. The total numbers of edits will be shown in the merge modal.

Deleting or renaming a scenario

Navigate to the scenario you want to rename (using the top nav).

Double-click the scenario’s name to change it.

You can also click the 3-dot menu next to the scenario picker and select Rename or Delete.

You can also use the Description box (next to the Scenario name) to comment on key changes within the scenario, track status before merging, or assign work to team members.

Publishing and sharing a scenario

Different roles have different permissions when it comes to accessing scenarios:

A draft is only visible to its creator.

Admins have access to all scenarios, regardless of their published status.

Managers and Members can only access scenarios that are published.

Guests can only see the Main Scenario and any scenarios that have been explicitly shared with them.

To publish a scenario:

Start by navigating to it.

Click the 3-dot menu next to the scenario’s name (in top nav), and toggle the Publish scenario option on.

With the toggle on, Managers and Members will be able to access your published scenarios.

You can share a scenario with Guests at the model or page level. Guests won't see a model or a page unless at least one scenario is enabled for them.

To share a specific scenario, go to the relevant model or page.

Click Share. Go to Guest settings to enable or disable specific scenarios.

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