Phase Gate Review

[Brian Lukanic]

What is a Best Practice for building in a phase-gate review in MS Project.
For example, I want to include a "go/no-go" decision point in the schedule.
The dilemma I face is whether to bake in the followon tasks for both decision
points.

Although a Project schedule should be deliverables-based and not
activity-based, our use of Project is actually to wrap actions around our
deliverables. Because of this, there are some deliverables that conclude with
a phase gate review. A "Go" decision would lead to a new set of deliverables
and tasks, while a "No Go" would lead to closure activities, documentation,
etc.

Although a chronology in Project is not recommended, I at least want to
build in these phase-gate reviews. When in planning the schedule, should I
simply design in the steps for either decision (go and no-go), and then when
tracking the decision actuals simply delete the follow-on tasks that were not
chosen?

Anyone who has used phase gates in MS Project I'd love to hear your thoughts
on this.

 

[John]

What is a Best Practice for building in a phase-gate review in MS Project.
For example, I want to include a "go/no-go" decision point in the schedule.
The dilemma I face is whether to bake in the followon tasks for both decision
points.

Although a Project schedule should be deliverables-based and not
activity-based, our use of Project is actually to wrap actions around our
deliverables. Because of this, there are some deliverables that conclude with
a phase gate review. A "Go" decision would lead to a new set of deliverables
and tasks, while a "No Go" would lead to closure activities, documentation,
etc.

Although a chronology in Project is not recommended, I at least want to
build in these phase-gate reviews. When in planning the schedule, should I
simply design in the steps for either decision (go and no-go), and then when
tracking the decision actuals simply delete the follow-on tasks that were not
chosen?

Anyone who has used phase gates in MS Project I'd love to hear your thoughts
on this.

Brain,
Gee I didn't know there was such a rigorous decision process in the cake
industry, "The dilemma I face is whether to bake in the ..."

I'll give you my thoughts, I'm sure you will get others. Project is not
well suited for decision branch type scheduling in the conventional
sense. In other words, it does not have decision ability built in to
it's scheduling engine, but that doesn't mean it cannot be used
effectively.

One approach is of course to schedule known activities up to the
decision point. Then when that decision point is nearing or at hand, add
the next phase to the next decision point and so on. This approach could
be called sequential phase scheduling (I don't know if there is an
actual name for it or not).

If a little more "complete" schedule is needed, you can use what are
called planning packages. Lay in the schedule detail up to the first
decision point. From that point on, create the equivalent of summary
level planning packages that have budget and resource estimates but no
detail. Again, as the decision point approaches, planning packages can
be expanded to include full detail or perhaps another level of detail
until the final decision is actually made. The planning package approach
allows project managers and performers alike to have a better "feel" for
what the overall project looks like instead of just one bite at at time
as with the sequential phase scheduling.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP