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Oracle® Product Lifecycle Analytics User Guide
Release 3.5
E70275-01
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3 OPLA for Agile PLM for Process

3.1 Agile PLM for Process Acronyms

A list of acronyms used in this document is provided here for your reference:

Acronym Expansion
GSM PLM for Process Global Specification Management
NPD PLM for Process New Product Development
NPDI New product development and innovation
ISP PLM for Process New Product Development Innovation Sales Pipeline
BU PLM for Process Business Unit

3.2 Agile PLM for Process Dashboards

The following are the types of dashboards available in the OPLA application for Agile PLM for Process:

  • Functional Dashboards - Agile PLM for Process

3.2.1 Agile PLM for Process Dashboard Content

Dashboard Description Example Prompts Example Pages Example Reports
Projects This dashboard provides visibility into the design process. It is useful for managing strategic initiatives and tactical issues related to projects. Information is presented for projects, stages, gates, activities and can be filtered to display portfolios of projects. Business Unit, Project Type, Project Visibility, Owner, Team Leaders, Global Categories, Brands, Demographics, Channels, Lead Countries, Enabling Technology, Consumer Value Perception, Project Name, Project Number, Current Stage, Planned In-Market Launch Year Portfolio, Execution, Cycle Time, Detail Active Projects by Stage, Project Distribution, In-Market Launch Next 3 Months, Project Cycle Time, Stage Cycle Time, Activity Cycle Time By Activity Template Name, Top 10 Highest Cost Active Projects, Top 10 Highest Revenue Projects - Last 12 Months
Specifications The Specification dashboard summarizes information regarding GSM specifications. The information is useful for presenting and analyzing scenarios related to specification counts, workflow cycle time, and the impact of specification ownership. Business Unit, Category / Sub-category / Group, Workflow Name, Specification Type Cycle Time BU Cycle Time By Spec Type, Cycle Time By Workflow Template, Active Specification Duration By BU, # of New Specifications By BU

3.2.2 Agile PLM for Process Key Performance Indicators

The table below lists the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in the OPLA application.

KPI Description Page
# Projects Started This Year - To Date A count of the number of projects where the initial stage Actual Start Date is equal to the current year. Portfolio
# Projects Launched This Year - To Date A count of the number of projects where the In-Market Launch Actual Start Date year is equal to the current year. Portfolio
# Projects Started Last Year A count of the number of projects where the initial stage Actual Start Date is equal to the year prior to the current year. Portfolio
# Projects Launched Last Year A count of the number of projects where the In-Market Launch Actual Start Date year is equal to the year prior to the current year. Portfolio
% Time to Market Change Over Last Year A percent variance of the project duration comparing the current year to the prior year. Portfolio
Project Late A count of active projects where the current date is greater than the Planned In-Market Launch Date and the Actual In-Market Launch Date is not populated. Execution
Phases Late A count of active projects where the current date is greater than the Stage's Planned End Date and the stage is considered active. Execution
Gates Late A count of the number of late gates in the project. Execution
Activities Late A count of Activities where the current date is greater than the Planned End Date and the activity is still considered active. Execution
Activity Status - Red A count of Activities where the SLA indicator is marked "Red". Execution

Project Detail

Activity Status - Amber A count of Activities where the SLA indicator is marked "Amber" or yellow. Execution

Project Detail

Completed Projects On Time A count of the project where the Stage 5 Actual End Date is less than or equal to the Stage 5 Planned End Date. Project/Cycle Time
Completed Projects Late A count of the project where the Stage 5 Actual End Date is greater than the Stage 5 Planned End Date. Project/Cycle Time
Completed Phases On Time A count of the project stages where the stage Actual End Date is less than or equal to the stage Planned End Date. Project/Cycle Time
Completed Phases Late A count of the project stages where the stage Actual End Date is greater than the stage Planned End Date. Project/Cycle Time
Completed Activities On Time A count of the project activities where the activity's Actual End Date is less than or equal to the activity's Planned End Date. Project/Cycle Time
Completed Activities Late A count of the project activities where the activity's Actual End Date is greater than the activity's Planned End Date. Project/Cycle Time
Activities Late A count of active project activities where the activity's Actual End Date is greater than the activity's Planned End Date. Project Detail
Activity Status - Red A count of specifications where the SLA indicator is marked "Red". Specification/Cycle Time
Activity Status - Amber A count of specifications where the SLA indicator is marked "Amber" or yellow. Specification/Cycle Time

3.3 Agile PLM for Process Subject Areas

OPLA subject areas for Agile PLM for Process helps your organization to monitor & measure processes related to New Product Development & Specifications.

Each subject area contains specific measures and dimensions pertinent to NPD and Specifications. You can create reports by combining the measures and dimensions. These reports assist you in making strategic decisions on various business processes in your organization.

3.3.1 New Product Development

The New Product Development (NPD) subject areas help you manage your active Projects and learn so you can continuously improve your processes - based your outcomes of past projects.

Some benefits of these analysis areas are as follows:

  1. Gain Phase Gate visibility into the Project pipeline.

  2. Identify Projects that may be behind and take appropriate action before it impacts the business.

  3. Facilitate better management and help accelerate time-to-market with improved visibility to project activities.

  4. Analyze project and activity workflows to identify bottlenecks in the process.

OPLA provides subject areas that give analysis across NPD. These subject areas are as follows:

  • Project Summary

  • Project Detail

  • Phase Gate

For more information on NPD, see the Agile Product Lifecycle Management for Process New Product Development User Guide.

3.3.2 Agile PLM for Process - Project Summary Subject Area

The Agile PLM for Process - Project Summary subject area focuses on Project and Phase analysis.

Examples of some of the most common questions answered in this subject area are:

  1. How many active Projects are we managing by Business Unit/ Project Type?

  2. Which of the high priority Projects are at risk?

  3. For a Project, what percent of activities are complete?

  4. What Projects are about to be launched?

  5. What Projects/Phases are taking longer than planned? What is the variance?

  6. What Projects/Phases completed late?

  7. By BU/Project Type, what Projects take the longest/shortest cycle time?

  8. Is there a time to market improvement compared to last year?

  9. How many related Trade & Packaging specifications are associated with this Project?

In addition the external data templates bring in additional information into Project Summary subject area.

The external data templates help answer the following questions:

  1. What are the launch risks to Top-5 product projects by revenue potential?

  2. What Projects are consistently over budget?

These measures qualify only with limited dimensions and the same is described in the Appendix.

Key Measures Project Actual and Scheduled Durations

# of Projects

# of {Specifications} in Project

# of Team Members Assigned On Active Phase

Phase Actual and Scheduled Duration

# of Phases

External data templates:

Project Forecast Revenue

Project Actual Revenue

Project Planned Total Cost

Project Actual Total Cost

Key Dimensions Project Name

Current Phase

Business Unit

Project Type

Team Leaders

Priority

Risk

Phase Name

Phase Number

Strategic Brief

Innovation Sales Pipeline (ISP)


Warning The # PROJECTS YTD measure only works with the Fiscal Year dimension. The # PROJECTS YTD measure does not work with any other Time dimension. In addition, the # PROJECTS YTD measure does not work with Fiscal Quarter, Fiscal Month, Fiscal Week and Day.

3.3.3 Agile PLM for Process - Phase Gate Subject Area

The Agile PLM for Process - Phase Gate subject area provides detailed information about Project gates and time taken to sign-off on the gates.

Examples of some of the most common questions answered in this subject area are:

  1. How many gates are currently delayed?

  2. What is the actual duration of the gates?

  3. What is the variance in actual completion of gate over scheduled date?

  4. By Signatory, what is the duration taken to sign-off on the gates?

  5. What are the days to red or amber for a gate in a Project?

Key Measures Phase-gate duration days

Gate actual duration

# of delayed current gates

Gate template days to red

Gate template days to amber.

Key Dimensions Project Name

Business Unit

Project Type

Gate Name

Gate Number

Gate RAG Status


3.3.4 Agile PLM for Process - Project Detail Subject Area

The Agile PLM for Process - Project Detail subject area provides detailed information about Project activities.

Examples of some of the most common questions answered in this subject area are:

  1. What activities are behind schedule?

  2. What activities are currently in Red or Amber status?

  3. What is the actual duration of activities?

  4. What activities take the longest?

  5. By Business Unit/Project Type, what is the average variance of actual activity durations compared to planned durations?

  6. What is the average duration for each of the steps activities?

Key Measures # of activities that are complete

# of incomplete activities that started late

# of activities in red,

actual activity duration days

activity workflow cycle time

SLA red

SLA amber (yellow)

Key Dimensions Project Name

BU

Project Type

Activity Name

Activity Template Name

Step Name

Step Owner

Functional Area


3.3.5 Agile PLM for Process - Specification Subject Area

The Agile PLM for Process - Specification subject area answers questions related to Global Specifications.

Examples of some of the most common questions answered in this subject area are:

  1. By specification type, what is the number of specifications?

  2. How many specifications are not approved?

  3. What is the cycle time of specification from creation to approval dates?

  4. What is the cycle time of each of the steps in specification workflow?

  5. What specification steps are in red?

Key Measures # of new specifications

specification create to approve cycle time

open specifications - in process cycle time

specification step cycle time days

# specifications with active steps in red

Key Dimensions Specification Number

Business Unit

Category, Sub-Category, Group

Workflow Name

Step Name

Owner

Fields related to Specification Types


3.4 PLM for Process - Best Practices for Analytics


Important:

The custom milestone must be created by selecting an existing activity template. If you create a custom milestone 'textually'. That is by entering the name of custom milestone and not by adding an existing activity template, OPLA will not recognize the custom milestone to be a matching pair, and the Planned Start and End dates are not available.

OPLA requires certain best practices to be followed when using the PLM for process.

Some of these best practices have a higher impact on metrics within the OPLA.

The highly recommended best practices for New Product Development (NPD) are shown in the table below.

Description Impact on OPLA if this best practice is not followed
Planned Start & End dates for Projects, Phases & Gates

Use Project Schedule Activity Type to capture Planned Start & End dates for Projects, Phases & Gates & the In-Market Launch date

OPLA will not be able to compute the Scheduled duration calculations for Projects, Phases & Gates which help you to determine the variance to plan.
Planned Start & End dates for Activities using the custom milestones.

Use Custom Milestones to capture the Planned Start & End dates for Activities.

The name of the Custom Milestone needs to be identical to the Activity listed in the Activities tab.

OPLA will not be able to compute the Scheduled duration calculations for Activity which help you to determine the activity variance to plan.
Project Templates:

1. Setting durations within templates: Use templates to create expected durations for Project, Phase, Gate, and the In-Market launch date.

2. Using a Single template for a Project: In case of a Project with multiple instances of Project Schedule, create each of the instances using the same Project Template.

3. Creating Projects that can be traced back to one single Project Template.

Note When the Project Templates are created, avoid creating templates at Project Type hierarchy levels that may result in more than one template being available for a specific hierarchy level.

1. OPLA will not be able to compute the Template durations for Projects & Phases. Which help in comparing the Project /Phase performance against the Template durations.

2. The Project/Phase Template durations will be inaccurate.

3. OPLA will not compute the Project Project Template duration. The Gate days to red & days to amber will not be based on those provided in the Project Template.

Projects with more than one Project Schedule: The Project Schedule must be in the Complete state, or the last termination step, but not in an Approved step.

A Project can have a multiple number of Project Schedules in the Complete state. When this occurs OPLA computes only the scheduled dates for the last completed Project Schedule template.

Multiple instances of an activity being created in different Phases. Activities are associated with the Phase they were created in.

The highly recommended best practices for Global Specification Management (GSM), are shown in the table below.

Description Impact on OPLA if this best practice is not followed
To identify the approval step in a specification workflow use the Is Approved tag. OPLA will not be able to provide, the following:

Create to approved date cycle time

Count of approved Specifications