Phase/Stage Gate ® Process and
Stage-Gare
PD-Trak™ is based on a phase/stage-gate process. The PD-Trak
phase/stage-gate software allows you to define your process' stages,
gates, and tasks by phase; coordinate the dates and required information
for gate reviews; ensure that appropriate information (e.g., a business
case, marketing plans, etc.) is considered at each gate review and
throughout the project; and use a customizable scoresheet to evaluate
each project. The system guides teams through the NPD process with task
list assignments, task statusing, and deliverable templates. Multiple
processes can be established, e.g., new product, product line extension
or upgrade, technology development, contracted development, etc.
The PD-Trak™ product development software may be configured to match
any NPD process that comprises a serial set of project stages or phases
separated by gate reviews or other key milestones.
Several tools are available to develop the initial business case for
the product development project. The Project Brief summarizes the key
aspects of the project defining the market, the proposed product, the
product's value proposition or competitive advantage, the worth of the
project, and how it will be executed. The Project Brief also defines the
proposed budget, schedule, staffing, price, target cost, profit, and
financial return. The Project Brief initially serves as a project
proposal and then becomes the summary document defining the project's
boundary conditions and baseline.
Both proposed and active projects' business case is based on
estimating sales, establishing a target price and target cost, and
estimating development expenses. This is done on the Financial
Justification Worksheet.
This business case information along with other project and product
information is evaluated by a senior management team of gatekeepers that
might be called a Product Committee, Product Selection Committee,
Product Review Committee or other similar name. This group may choose to
use the PD-Trak Project Scoring Table to evaluate the project. PD-Trak
allows for different decision criteria to be established for each gate
and different weighting factors to established for each criteria. This
management team individually evaluates the project based on these
criteria. The software averages the scores for each criteria and
summarizes the scores based on the weighting factors.
This set of information provided by PD-Trak enables the gatekeepers
to make intelligent decisions about which projects to pursue and which
ones to kill or place on hold.
For further information, please contact us.
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