Thanks to its extreme flexibility Genius Project can map to any kind of process and/or methodology. One of the more popular industry methodologies is phase review, also referred to as a Tollgate or Stage-Gate® process.
This document explains how to leverage Genius Project to effectively support your phase review process, and how to take full advantage of Genius Project’s out-of-the-box pre-configured phase review template.
A Phase Review process, also referred to as a Stage-Gate® process, is a project management technique, in which an initiative or project (e.g. product development, process improvement, business change, etc.) is divided into phases (or stages) separated by tollgates. Each tollgate marks a decision point whether to carry on the project. This is typically performed by a manager or a steering committee. The decision is based on the information available at the time, including business case, risk analysis, availability of resources (funds, talents, etc.). The phase review model may also be known as stage-limited commitment or creeping commitment.
For decades, the phase review process has been very popular, especially in the area of New Product Development. There are several industry standards based on the basic principles of phase review:
Tollgate Review
Tollgate reviews are meetings where a designated management team, often known as the gatekeepers, decides whether a project should continue or stop. The project manager and his/her team present the results of the stage most recently completed. The gatekeepers assess the results on the basis of the criteria agreed upon and that must clarify the following:
A tollgate meeting can lead to four outcomes: go, kill, hold, and recycle.
Tollgates share a common structure and consist of three main elements:
A deliverable is input provided by the project team prior to the tollgate meeting. Deliverables to produce during the next phase are output of the last tollgate meeting. On a case by case basis, other deliverables may be added to the default list provided by the project template. It could also be the result of corrective actions or updates associated with previous stages or reviews.
Project Evaluation
Along the phase review process, each project idea (request) and project are evaluated from different perspectives. Organizations will often look at value proposition, feasibility, risks, and strategic importance. Post evaluation, it is critical for companies to find ways of prioritizing projects across the entire portfolio.
Below is a list of the most-commonly found criteria used to evaluate projects. Of course the capacity of the company to execute the project from a financial and resource point of view can be included as well.
Scorecards
During each phase a number of tasks, documents, studies, and tests must be completed in order to provide information to support the next decision gate. This is essential as it involves the livelihood of the project. Different ways exist to evaluate the go/no-go decision to proceed to the next step. One of those methods is called score cards, defining a list of goals and minimum levels of acceptance for each of the defined goals.
Each score card will carry all of the necessary information to make an informed decision at each tollgate.
Stage-Gate Process
The Stage-Gate® method from Robert G. Cooper is an approach that can be used to make the product development process more effective. From ideation to product launch, it is a blueprint for managing the new product process. With a number of predetermined phases, or stages, each of these involves a set of cross-functional and parallel activities that must be successfully completed prior to obtaining management approval to proceed to the next stage of product development. The entry point to each stage is called: a gate.
These gates often take the form of meetings that ensure the consistency of the process and serve as:
Stage-Gate® is a registered trademark of Product Development Institute Inc.
The Stage-Gate® methodology refers to phases as stages. Typical stages found are:
0. Discovery
1. Scoping
2. Build Business Case
3. Development
4. Testing and Validation
5. Launch
Discovery: Preliminary work designed to explore opportunities and lead to new product ideas.
Stage 1: Scoping: A quick, preliminary investigation and scoping of the project. This stage provides inexpensive information – based largely on research – in an effort to narrow down the project pool before Stage 2.
Stage 2: Build the Business Case: A much more detailed investigation involving primary research – both market and technical – leads to a business case. This is where the bulk of the vital homework is performed and most of the market studies are carried out. This results in a business case that includes the product definition, the project justification, and a project plan.
Stage 3: Development: The actual detailed design and development of the new product, along with some product testing work. The deliverable at the end of Stage 3 is an “alpha-tested” or “lab-tested” product. Full production and market launch plans are also developed during this possibly long lasting stage.
Stage 4: Testing and Validation: Tests or trials in the marketplace, lab, and plant to verify and validate the proposed new product and its marketing and production/operations – field trials or beta tests, test market or trial sell, and operations trials.
Stage 5: Launch: Commercialization – beginning of full operations or production, marketing, and selling. Here the market launch, production/operations, distribution, QA, and post-launch monitoring plans are executed too.
The review and go/no go decision points are named “GATES.”
APQP Advanced Product Quality Planning
Advanced Product Quality Planning is a process developed in the late 1980s by a commission of experts gathered from the 'Big Three' US automobile manufacturers: Ford, GM and Chrysler. This commission invested five years to analyze the then-current automotive development and production status in the US, Europe and especially in Japan. At the time, the success of the Japanese automotive companies was starting to be remarkable in the US market.
APQP serves as a guide in the development process and also a standard way to share results between suppliers and automotive companies. APQP specify three phases: Development, Industrialization and Product Launch. Through these phases 23 main topics is monitored. These 23 topics are all completed before the production is started. They cover aspects such as: design robustness, design testing and specification compliance, production process design, quality inspection standards, process capability, production capacity, product packaging, product testing and operators training plan between other items.
APQP focuses on: