The stage/phase-gate process is described by the Task Plan worksheets which capture the objectives of each phase, the tasks that must be performed (the work flow), the deliverable documents that must be completed, the responsibility for the tasks and deliverables, the due date for completion, and the current status of the tasks and deliverables. This provides a mechanism for teams to review accomplishments and plan upcoming work. The task plans include an email notification mechanism allowing the project manager to assign tasks and request status via email.  The task plans also define what information will be available to support the gate review decision making process that terminates each phase of the project.

 

PD-Trak's predefined process templates include fully populated task plans that are optimized for different kinds of projects e.g. product development, process improvement, six sigma, operations, IT etc.  If your stage/phase-gate process is already defined, you can create your own task plans with PD-Trak.

 

The following example shows the task plan contents for the first phase of a product development project: