Managing the Project Pipeline (NPD Accelerator)

Managing the Project Pipeline (NPD Accelerator)

The NPD Project Master Portfolio supports the NPD metrics for projects. The Portfolio Management Dashboard includes portlets to assist with future project planning and reviewing of costs and revenues.

For further details on the dashboard, refer to Portfolio Management Dashboard.

This section contains the following topics:

Automatic Project Creation

NPD Gate Process

Document Folder Structure

NPD Cost Plans

Automatic Project Creation

Once you provide idea gate approval, CA Clarity PPM Accelerator for NPD automatically performs the following actions:

• Converts the idea to a fully configured project plan that adds the following capabilities to the project:
  • A folder structure for documents
  • The work breakdown schedule (WBS) consisting of five automated stages and gates
  • Gate review
  • Product alignment
• All the fields on the idea having corresponding fields on the project are copied.
• The project process can be running.
• The first two stages of the NPD investment process (Idea Capture and Scoping) are marked as complete.

For more information, see the Project Management User Guide.

Project Stages

Stages are defined as phases in CA Clarity PPM Accelerator for NPD. Stages are where the following activities occur:

• Work is done. Activities are completed to advance the project to the next gate.
• Cross-functional teams collaborate. For example, no R&D or marketing stage exists. Activities are worked in parallel to accelerate the process.
• Risk is managed. Vital information is gathered to manage risk. For example, technical, market, financial, or operations.
• Incremental budgeting is managed. Each stage costs more than the preceding one resulting in incremental commitments. As uncertainties decrease, expenditures are allowed to rise and risk is managed.
• The process manager reviews the project plan, deliverables, financials, and issues in preparation for the gate review team analysis. This process is formalized in CA Clarity PPM Accelerator for NPD as the Stage Review.

For further details on the Stage Review portlet, refer to Stage Review.

Gates

Gates are defined as milestones in CA Clarity PPM Accelerator for NPD. Gates are where the following activities occur:

• Go/Kill and prioritization decisions are made.
• Mediocre projects are culled out and resources are allocated to the best projects.
• Focus is placed on three key issues: quality of execution; business rationale; and the quality of the action plan.
• Gatekeepers use scorecards and criteria to evaluate the project potential for success. The process is formalized in CA Clarity PPM Accelerator for NPD as the gate review.

NPD Gate Process

Once a stage is complete, you are ready for the gate.

The standard gate process has 5 stages:

• Scoping
• Business Case
• Development
• Testing and Validation
• Launch

The high-level WBS structure is as follows:

CA Clarity PPM Accelerator for NPD includes one built-in project template to support the five stages.

Document Folder Structure

For each gate, create and review specific documents. CA Clarity PPM Accelerator for NPD includes a pre-configured set of folders in the project document manager. The folders are stored on the project and available to team members.

• General Project Administration
  • Correspondence
  • Meeting Notes
  • Preliminary Specifications
  • Project Reviews
  • Technical Reports
• Stage 1 - Scoping*
  • Deliverables
  • Gate Information
  • Worksheets
• Stage 2 - Business Case
• Stage 3 - Development
• Stage 4 - Test and Validate
• Stage 5 - Launch

*Each of the five stage folders have the sub-folders listed under Scoping.

NPD Cost Plans

Once the project receives approval to move on to the next gate, CA Clarity PPM Accelerator for NPD uses cost plans and creates a detail row with the information entered on the budget page.

Note: When you create the cost plan, include User Value 2 as one of items in the plan and provide a default value. In addition, provide default values for all items you include in the plan. Enter the default values in the NPD Gate Processing section of the cost plan properties.

Once the final gate approval is submitted, the project manager receives an action item to create the cost plan, marks the Create Cost Plan action item as Done. CA Clarity PPM Accelerator for NPD automatically then creates a scoping detail row and uses the budget information from the idea for the scoping change over the fiscal time periods that comprise that stage.

Once the cost plan is in place, as the project moves through the stages, CA Clarity PPM Accelerator for NPD automatically assigns a detail row for the next stage. This also includes a budget amount displayed in the first time period. The project manager distributes the budget amount across the fiscal time periods based on when the project uses the monies.

This means, one cost plan exists for every project with multiple detail rows: one for each stage. Reporting can be for the current stage or for the entire project, depending on the view. All existing views and portlets will continue to use the cumulative totals for planned costs and actuals, with the planned cost increasing with each stage that the project enters. CA Clarity PPM Accelerator for NPD supplies out-of-the-box defined codes for the detail rows.

For more information, see the Financial Management User Guide.