
# Workplan Health Index (WHI)

## Introduction & Requirements Specification

**Status:** Draft
**Purpose:** Define a quantitative KPI for structural health, coupling, and flow efficiency of workplans
**Scope:** Program-level coordination across domains and within domains
**Primary Audience:** Project leads, system architects, program management, AI orchestration agents

---

## 1. Problem Statement

Modern complex initiatives consist of multiple concurrent workplans distributed across teams and domains. Ideally, workplans should be:

* Independently executable
* Minimally coupled
* Parallelizable
* Robust against delays in other streams

In practice, dependencies emerge due to:

* Architectural constraints
* Resource limitations
* Organizational structure
* Poor decomposition of work
* Hidden prerequisite relationships

Excessive coupling leads to:

* Blocking states
* Cascading delays
* Increased coordination overhead
* Reduced throughput
* Fragile timelines
* Circular waiting situations (deadlocks)

Traditional project metrics (e.g., completion %, velocity, burn-down) do not capture **structural health** of the work graph.

Therefore, a dedicated metric is required to assess:

> **How well the program structure supports parallel execution and stable progress.**

---

## 2. Conceptual Model

Workplans form a **directed dependency graph**:

* Nodes = workplans
* Edges = prerequisite relationships
* Status = operational state
* Domains = logical grouping

Health is determined by:

1. Structural coupling (how many dependencies exist)
2. Operational blocking (how many streams cannot proceed)
3. Concentration of risk (single points of failure)
4. Parallel execution potential
5. Cross-domain entanglement
6. Presence of cycles (deadlocks)

---

## 3. Definition: Workplan Health Index (WHI)

The **Workplan Health Index (WHI)** is a composite KPI representing the overall coordination efficiency and structural soundness of the workplan network.

WHI is normalized to a value in the range:

[
0 \le WHI \le 1
]

Where:

* **1.0 = ideal independence**
* **0.0 = severe systemic dysfunction**

WHI must be computed for:

* Entire program
* Each domain (intra-domain)
* Cross-domain interactions

---

## 4. Base Metrics

WHI aggregates the following primary indicators.

---

### 4.1 Dependency Density (DD)

**Purpose:** Measure structural coupling introduced during planning.

[
DD = \frac{\text{Number of dependency edges}}{\text{Number of active + blocked workplans}}
]

Interpretation:

* Low DD → decomposed, parallelizable work
* High DD → tightly coupled system

Completed and archived streams are excluded because they no longer constrain progress.

---

### 4.2 Blocked Ratio (BR)

**Purpose:** Measure immediate operational impact of dependencies.

[
BR = \frac{\text{Blocked workplans}}{\text{Active + Blocked workplans}}
]

Interpretation:

* BR ≈ 0 → flow is unobstructed
* High BR → large portion of work cannot proceed

---

### 4.3 Single-Point Risk (SPR)

**Purpose:** Detect concentration of blocking power.

[
SPR = \frac{\text{Max number of dependents on one incomplete workplan}}{\text{Active + Blocked}}
]

High SPR indicates fragile structure where one delay propagates widely.

---

### 4.4 Parallel Execution Potential (PEP)

**Purpose:** Estimate how much work can proceed immediately.

A workplan is eligible if:

* Status = ready or active
* All dependencies are finished or archived

[
PEP = \frac{\text{Eligible ready or active workplans}}{\text{Ready + Active + Blocked}}
]

---

### 4.5 Cross-Domain Dependency Ratio (CDDR)

**Purpose:** Measure architectural entanglement between domains.

[
CDDR = \frac{\text{Dependencies crossing domain boundaries}}{\text{Total dependencies}}
]

High values indicate loss of modularity.

---

### 4.6 Cycle Presence Indicator (CPI)

**Purpose:** Detect circular dependencies (deadlocks).

CPI =

* 0 → no cycles
* 1 → at least one cycle detected

Any cycle indicates structural invalidity of the dependency graph.

---

## 5. WHI Aggregation Formula

Recommended weighted model:

[
WHI =
0.30 \cdot (1 - DD_{norm}) +
0.25 \cdot (1 - BR) +
0.15 \cdot (1 - SPR) +
0.20 \cdot PEP +
0.10 \cdot (1 - CDDR)
]

If CPI = 1 (cycle present):

[
WHI = WHI \times 0.5
]

This penalty ensures deadlocks strongly degrade health.

---

### Normalization of DD

Because DD is unbounded, normalize using a saturation threshold:

[
DD_{norm} = \min\left(1, \frac{DD}{DD_{critical}}\right)
]

Recommended:

[
DD_{critical} = 1.0
]

Meaning: one dependency per workplan is considered heavily coupled.

---

## 6. Aggregation Across Domains

WHI must be computed at three levels:

### 6.1 Intra-Domain WHI

Using only workplans and dependencies within the domain.

Purpose:

* Evaluate domain autonomy
* Identify internal planning issues

---

### 6.2 Cross-Domain WHI

Using only dependencies crossing domains.

Purpose:

* Assess integration complexity
* Identify architectural entanglement

---

### 6.3 Global WHI

Computed on the full graph.

---

## 7. Health States

### 🟢 GREEN — Healthy Structure

**Condition:** Workplans are largely independent and flow is stable.

Recommended thresholds:

* WHI ≥ 0.75
* BR ≤ 0.20
* DD ≤ 0.5
* SPR ≤ 0.25
* No cycles
* PEP ≥ 0.6

Interpretation:

* Parallel execution effective
* Delays localized
* Planning adequate

No intervention required.

---

### 🟠 ORANGE — Optimizable Coupling

**Condition:** Dependencies introduce noticeable coordination cost but system remains viable.

Trigger if ANY of:

* 0.50 ≤ WHI < 0.75
* 0.20 < BR ≤ 0.40
* 0.5 < DD ≤ 1.0
* 0.25 < SPR ≤ 0.40
* PEP between 0.3 and 0.6
* High cross-domain dependencies (> 0.4)

Interpretation:

* Parallelism reduced
* Timeline sensitive to delays
* Replanning likely beneficial

Recommended action:

> Review decomposition and dependency structure.

---

### 🔴 RED — Critical Coupling / Structural Failure

**Condition:** Systemic blockage or high fragility.

Trigger if ANY of:

* WHI < 0.50
* BR > 0.40
* DD > 1.0
* SPR > 0.40
* PEP < 0.30
* CPI = 1 (cycle present)
* Large clusters of mutually blocked streams

Interpretation:

* Serial execution dominates
* High coordination overhead
* Cascading delays likely
* Timeline unreliable

Required action:

> Immediate optimization at the planning layer.

---

## 8. Circular Dependency Handling

Circular dependencies are treated as critical defects because they imply:

* No feasible execution order
* Deadlock or hidden assumptions
* Planning inconsistency

Detection must use graph cycle detection (e.g., DFS or topological sort failure).

---

## 9. Recommended Usage

WHI should be used for:

* Program governance dashboards
* Planning reviews
* Architecture decisions
* Early risk detection
* Automated orchestration systems
* AI-assisted planning tools

WHI is **not** a performance metric for individuals.

---

## 10. Design Principles

The metric system is designed to be:

* Domain-agnostic
* Scalable
* Resistant to gaming
* Actionable
* Explainable via drilldown
* Compatible with automated systems
* Suitable for long-lived programs

---

## 11. Summary

The Workplan Health Index provides a quantitative measure of how effectively an organization structures work for parallel execution and stable progress.

It captures both:

* Structural design quality
* Operational flow conditions

By combining graph properties with status information, WHI enables proactive management of coordination complexity.
