Stage/Phase-Gate Process and Phase-Gate Software

PD-Trak™ is based on a stage/phase-gate process. The PD-Trak stage/phase-gate software allows you to define your process' phases/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, product 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.

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