PD-Trak Solutions offers a range of services to assist clients with the implementation of the PD-Trak project portfolio management system. PD-Trak implementations vary in scope considerably and some services may not be needed.
The implementation steps are as follows:
If your processes are already well defined, steps 2 and 3 take one to two weeks depending on the number of processes to setup and the number of people to be trained. Project managers will need some time to setup or move their existing projects into PD-Trak, typically 2-12 weeks depending on the number of projects.
If you have a well-defined and effective product development process(es), you can quickly move forward. If your processes are not as well-defined or effective, we recommend that the implementation process start with an assessment of your existing product development process and its effectiveness. These assessments are based on the review of process documents, project data and interviews with key personnel which may be conducted on site or by telephone.
If your process is not well-defined, we suggest a process definition workshop to develop your stage / phase-gate process, portfolio/resource management process and gate review process based on industry best practices.
In this step we gather the information needed to configure your PD-Trak system including types of projects to be managed, details of your existing stage/phase-gate process (if not covered in a preliminary process assessment), resource types, resource names, project categories (to support filtering management reports), financial factors for ROI calculations etc.
The software is installed and configured using the information gathered in the prior step. Some of the key items that can be configured are: business area list, user access table, project category list, currency conversion rate table, resource types, resource names, resource groups, default financial factors, metrics for measuring project performance, project brief format, financial justification format, default settings for management reports.
A key part of the implementation is the training. We offer both onsite and web based workshops and training in the use of the PD-Trak system; workshops to define the product development process, the gate review process, and the portfolio planning and management process; and workshops to facilitate the setup of projects. Training materials are also available for instruction by knowledgeable PD-Trak users within your organization. The training materials may also be customized to describe the specifics of your process(es).
A typical implementation plan and timeline for implementation within a medium-size organization or business unit is as follows. Contact us to discuss your situation and needs and request an implementation plan customized to your company.