PD-Trak™ NPD Project Management

There's more to project management than preparing a project plan in a Gantt chart format. PD-Trak™ provides a set of tools and functions to help plan and manage projects from initial conception of a product idea through production/ deployment/implementation.

PD-Trak™ provides a flexible approach to managing projects. Some organizations with large, more complex development projects need a comprehensive approach to project management using a dedicated project management tool such as MS Project^® with a network schedule/gantt chart, resource planning and leveling, task statusing, and performance measurement. PD-Trak™ can work effectively with this more sophisticated project management approach. Other organizations rely more on using a defined NPD process with standard stage durations and avoid the complexities of a dedicated project management system. PD-Trak™ provides the Task Plan worksheets for teams to status accomplishments and plan upcoming work while avoiding the need for a comprehensive project management system.

PD-Trak™ is unique in also providing a management summary of the status of all projects with the Master Project Schedule.

The Project File

The Project File is the basis for this NPD Project Management system. The Project File provides a consistent, structured solution for documenting projects and sharing project-related information. The Project File components may be accessed directly using MS Office applications or may be accessed via Internet Explorer. The Project Home Page provides intuitive navigation to information stored in each project's file. It uses a standard Windows^® folder structure for storing and archiving project documents.

The Project File contains the following elements:

• The Program Plan document defines the project strategy and incorporates a project schedule or gantt chart, a project resource plan, a project budget, and a risk management plan.

• The Project Brief form captures a summary of the project including planned stage-gate dates, objectives, resource requirements and a financial justification. This form provides boundary conditions for managing the project and represents the current goals for the project and product.

• A MS Project^® Gantt Chart template based on the defined NPD process facilitate creation of a project plan.

• The  Budget and Schedule Worksheet provides a standard method for estimating the development expense based on phase length and staffing profile.

• The Financial Justification Worksheet provides a standard method for assessing the financial return of the NPD project.

• The Task Plan worksheets, one for each stage or phase of the project, identify the tasks that must be performed, the deliverable documents that must be completed, the responsibility for the tasks and deliverables, the due date for completion, and the status of the tasks and deliverables. This provides a mechanism for teams to review accomplishments and plan upcoming work. These worksheets can also serve as an alternative to using a project management system.

• Project Tracking Charts compare the original plan to the actual project performance for development time and cost, shows schedule slippage over the course of the project (Slip Chart), and show product price and cost as originally planned versus as currently planned.

• The Action Item Register is a central location for storing and tracking action items with identified responsibilities and planned and actual completion dates.

• Standardized Worksheets for organizing NPD project information such as meeting minutes, project status reports, and trip reports.

The Master Project Schedule

The Master Project Schedule extracts information from the Project Files to compile a concise management summary of key information for each project. Functional and executive management use the Master Project Schedule to monitor all projects or all projects in a particular business unit or product line. There are three views that can be selected, each one showing a different set of information within the Master Project Schedule. All views aid in managing the portfolio of projects and tracking actual vs. planned accomplishment.

For example, the "Calendar" view below shows the planned and actual checkpoint dates in a timeline format (the top line represents the original plan, the bottom line the current plan).

Summary

These functions and tools provide a more complete solution to managing NPD projects than traditional project management software. They also provide an alternative to the complexity of a traditional project management system for less complex projects.

For further information, please contact us at: info@pd-trak.com or at 925-484-8436.

Portfolio Management Software  Resource & Pipeline Management Software  NPD Process Management Software
Project Management Software  Product Lifecycle Management Software Contact Us                

© 2004, PD-Trak Solutions

Stage-Gate Process Portfolio Management Software Pipeline Management Software Resource Management Software PLM Software Product Lifecycle Management Software Product Development Software New Product Development Software, NPD Process Management Software Stage-Gate Software Six Sigma Software Design for Six Sigma Software DFSS Software Automating NPD stage-gate process software project resource management project resource analysis project management software