PD-Trak™ Frequently Asked QuestionsIs PD-Trak™ based on client/server technology? PD-Trak™ is intended to operate using a client/server so that team members can access PD-Trak™ functions. How often are new software releases made and what is the cost? PD-Trak™ is provided through an annual license. This arrangement includes access to new releases at no cost. New releases will be provided annually or on request. Can PD-Trak™ archive project files and documents? PD-Trak™ provides a methodology for archiving files and documents during the development process and for archiving the entire project file at the conclusion of the project Does PD-Trak™ handle electronic approvals and support workflow? Not currently. The philosophy behind PD-Trak is to use the project team's meetings as a means to coordinate and discuss team activities rather than use a workflow solution that is more appropriate for a "transaction-oriented" business process. Collaborative tools such as project rooms and web-based meetings can be used in conjunction with PD-Trak™ for distributed teams. Can I clone or copy a project and then modify the project information and documents to save work? Yes. When a new project is setup, it normally uses the blank templates. However, worksheets and documents from other projects can be easily copied and modified. However, care should be exercised to avoid a mindless exercise of creating various documents and worksheets without original thought, planning and collaboration. Does PD-Trak™ support a stage-gate process? Yes, the system supports a stage-gate process and is based on a stage-gate process The NPD process defined in PD-Trak™ is based on a stage-gate process. Project work is scheduled and budgeted by stage using a Project Brief to summarize relevant information. The Project Brief is also intended to be updated and serve as a key part of the gate review. The Stage Assignments and Status are used to plan tasks and documents required for each stage and track their completion. The MS Project® plan template is structured based on the stage-gates. The various documents are structured where different sections are completed for each stage. Documents are archived for each stage. The software configuration process creates your company's stage-gate definition in the system. What training is provided and how many people are included? As part of the implementation and support proposal, we include training. There are typically four elements of training provided: 1) project manager/team leader, 2) team members, 3) projects administrator and 4) management. The project manager/team leader training is typically one day and covers the most detail. The other three training sessions are approximately one half day in duration. We suggest that one or two lead users be designated and participate in all of the training. We can conduct as many training sessions as required and base on implementation quote on your raining requirements. Can I eliminate or skip over some steps in the NPD process with PD-Trak™? Yes, PD-Trak™ recognizes that not all NPD projects are the same. A product enhancement/upgrade project is less complex and often does not require all of the tasks that a new to the world product would require. The Stage Assignment and Status worksheet allows unneeded tasks to be flagged as 'Not Applicable' and additional tasks unique to the project to be added in a special section. What are PD-Trak's advantages over other similar programs? PD-Trak™ provides tremendous functionality for the price compared with other higher cost systems. It provides more detailed and usable tools where other systems are more general and require more effort to setup templates and tools. Finally, use of MS Excel® as a base makes it easy to learn and use. What kinds of companies is PD-Trak™ intended for? PD-Trak™ is intended for companies developing and producing consumer products and industrial products, software, or services in a wide range of industries that have or want to install a stage-gate type of new product development process. Can PD-Trak™ be used as is without any configuration and customization? Yes, PD-Trak™ is based on our NPD Process-in-a-Box™ stage-gate process that is built upon best practices and common NPD terminology. Therefore, it can be used as is without any configuration and customization. However, the majority of customers configure and customize PD-Trak™ to their process and documents borrowing a lot from the process and documents predefined in PD-Trak™. Can we customize PD-Trak™ and its documents to our particular NPD process? Our software configuration process will customize PD-Trak™ to your particular stage-gate process. In addition, our implementation consulting will customize the following: Stage Assignments and Status worksheets to your tasks and documents; MS Project® gantt chart to your process tasks and typical timing; PD-Trak™ document templates to your process, and add additional documents and links needed. Does PD-Trak™ have a support manual? The software contains a variety of embedded help functions and detailed instructions. However, not every PD-Trak™ tool has detailed instructions at this time. In addition, since it is based on Excel and Word, which are commonly used by many, the learning curve is minimal. Does PD-Trak™ handle distributed team members and a distributed process? Yes. The client server architecture in conjunction with network allows multiple people to work with PD-Trak™ and maintain the results on a server. Can the PD-Trak™ establish different read / write privileges for team members? Standard Microsoft Word and Excel functions used in PD-Trak allow password protection that can limit the ability of some users to read only or to both read and write. Can PD-Trak™ be browsed as a web page on the internet? The PD-Trak files, since they are standard Excel and Word files, can be browsed as a web page on the internet when using Internet Explorer. Will PD-Trak™ lock records in use while allowing others to only read at the same time? PD-Trak consists of separate files for all the document templates and several separate files for the various project/process management tools for each project team. This will minimize potential contention problems. In addition, with the standard Excel protection function, Excel indicates that another user is accessing Excel and provides a read-only copy to a second user trying to access the file. Can the PD-Trak™ data be displayed in a bilingual template or translated into another language? Bilingual templates can be easily created and PD-Trak™ can easily be translated into another language since it is based on MS Excel. The only issue to be aware of is space limitations in fields in some form-oriented templates. How long have this product been around? The roots of this program date back to the early 90's. It has been incrementally developed since that time, based on the experience of many (>100) project teams. Major improvements have recently been made to the user interface, and it is now based entirely around standard MS Office applications. How many business have been using this program?See the page on PD-Trak™ Customer List. For further information, please contact us at: info@pd-trak.com or at 925-484-8436. Portfolio Management Software
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