# Reading the ROI dashboard

> What each ROI figure means, planned versus actual, the reporting period, and where to drill in.
>
> Source: https://roiva-staging.com/docs/reading-the-roi-dashboard
> Checked against the product on September 22, 2026

The ROI dashboard (**ROI** in the sidebar) is your top-level view of how your AI portfolio is performing. Here's what each piece means.

#### The tiles

- **Total value** — sum of approved value entries across initiatives in the reporting period (pending entries don't count)
- **Total cost** — sum of all cost entries across initiatives in the reporting period, estimates included
- **Net value** — Total value minus Total cost
- **ROI** — Net value divided by Total cost, shown once there's both approved value and cost in the period

#### Planned vs actual

Each tile sets the planned figure beside the actual one. **Planned** comes from each initiative's financial expectations as they stand today, over its time horizon: planned value is its annual value times the horizon, and planned cost its CapEx plus annual OpEx times the horizon. An initiative with no time horizon set counts three years, and one with no planned figures is left out. Changing an initiative's targets changes its planned figures. **Actual** is approved value and every cost entry recorded in the reporting period.

#### Progress against plan

Cards for CapEx, OpEx, value and ROI show how actuals are tracking against the plan, including whether spend is under or over plan. The OpEx card compares the plan over the months to date with the OpEx spent in them. The plan is the business case, which anyone can edit; what an initiative was approved to spend is its budget, on **Finance → Budget**. See [Budgets and budget vs. actual](https://roiva-staging.com/docs/budgets-and-budget-vs-actual).

#### Reporting period

The period selector at the top sets how far back the actual figures count: the last 1, 3, or 5 years, or all time. The default is all time, which gives cumulative ROI since each initiative began. The Roiva Assistant and a connected AI assistant (MCP) count all time too when you ask about ROI without naming a period, so their answer matches the dashboard. Planned figures always cover each initiative's full time horizon, whatever the period.

#### Going deeper

- The actual value and cost figures open **ROI → Value Entries** and **ROI → Cost Entries**, the entries behind them. These lists are for reading. A value entry opens in a panel with a link to its full page, which has **Edit**; a cost entry is changed from the initiative's own **Costs** tab.
- **ROI → Initiatives** has each initiative's figures. Open one for its **Formula Trace** (its approved value and total cost broken down by type and platform) and **Edit Targets** (its planned figures).
- **ROI → Metrics** shows how the metrics behind the value moved over the same period.
- **ROI → Reports** has the Portfolio Snapshot (Excel, PDF or PowerPoint), the Board Brief (PDF or PowerPoint, for one closed fiscal quarter) and the Value Evidence Register (Excel), plus the history of past exports.

#### Next

- [Board Brief and reports](https://roiva-staging.com/docs/board-brief-and-reports) — what each report shows and counts
- [How Roiva calculates value](https://roiva-staging.com/docs/how-value-is-calculated) — where the value figures come from