Templates included with Microsoft Project

Templates included with Microsoft Project

Commercial construction template

Engineering template

Infrastructure deployment template

Microsoft Solutions Framework template

New business template

New product template

Project office template

Residential construction template

Software development template

Commercial construction template

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Commercial builders, including general contractors and specialty subcontractors, can profit from applying project management techniques to control their operations. Projects may range from small kiosks to giant supermarkets, malls, and specialty buildings, such as hotels, hospitals and airports.

The process used for commercial construction is methodical and relatively standard for broad categories of structures. This building process is readily modeled by a Critical Path Method schedule. That statement is key: the schedule is a model of the builder's plan for the projec 414v2116e t.

This template includes the basic tasks required to construct a multiple-story commercial space and shows the relationships between those tasks. You can use the template strictly as a training tool or to guide development of custom schedules for your projects, or modify it and use it as the basis for an initial project schedule.

Template design

The Commercial Construction Project Schedule template provides you with a basic set of common tasks and logical relationships necessary to construct a commercial building anywhere. The model is a three-story steel-framed structure with a central services core and glass window walls, built on a concrete foundation, with slab-on-grade.

The template provides basic information for each of the activities, including the following:

Duration

Resource requirements

Labor and Non-Labor Cost Information

Template organization

The Commercial Construction Project Schedule template is organized into 17 phases, depicted in a Gantt Chart:

General conditions The time required to finalize the plans, develop an estimate, bring the project under contract, obtain permits, begin the procurement process and the process of submitting monthly pay requests.

Long-lead procurement The submittal of shop drawings, approval and ultimate fabrication and delivery of the major components of a commercial building are time critical. These activities must be addressed and expedited very early in the project.

Mobilize on site Setup of temporary utility services, field offices, lay-down areas, site parking, temporary fencing, and benchmarks.

Site grading and utilities Clearing and grubbing the lot, installing underground utilities and site drainage systems, fire water lines, and constructing building batter boards.

Foundations Excavation, forming, and placement of the concrete foundations, footings, piers, grade beams, elevator pits and walls, installation of anchor bolts, elevator tubes and other required activities except the forming and placement of the first floor slab, which is completed later to ensure that it isn't damaged by construction activities.

Steel erection The erection of the steel building frame, including main and secondary members, bracing, temporary steel for construction hoists and other uses and the painting or coating of that steel.

Form and pour concrete floors and roof Installing rebar mats and in-floor utilities and conduits, forming, placing and finishing the concrete floors and roof of the structure.

Carpentry The rough carpentry required for installation of the building sheathing and metal lath and the construction of the basic frame of the building interior.

Masonry The interior and exterior masonry of the building, including the elevator and utility cores, any exterior masonry, hard tile on the floors of common areas and restrooms and restroom wall tiles.

Roofing Placement of lightweight concrete fill, installation of roof drains, flashing, polymeric or roll roofing material and coatings and the stone ballast.

Window wall and storefront closures Installation of the metal framing and glazing components of the window walls and storefront.

Building finishes The detailed work of completing the interior of the building. insulation, drywall, paint and paper, cabinets, millwork, carpet and tile, hardware, interior and exterior plantings, seeding and sodding, and paving / striping the parking areas. Includes all signage requirements under the building code.

Elevators Installation of the elevator cars and controls, calibration, testing and certification of the system.

Plumbing Rough in and final installation of service areas, restrooms, fire and irrigation systems, including piping, fixtures and controls and the effort required to obtain in-process and final inspections and acceptance.

Electrical Rough in and final installation of service, including all non-embedded conduit, cable and fixtures, controls and services and the effort required to obtain in-process and final inspections and acceptance.

HVAC Rough setting and final installation of environmental control systems, - including equipment in mechanical spaces, roof-top units, ductwork, controls and the effort required to balance air flows and obtain in-process and final inspections and acceptance.

Final cleanup and occupancy including inspections The effort required to achieve final inspection and certification for occupancy by the city or county building inspector, the builder's final cleanup and walkthrough with the owner, and the owner's final acceptance.

Each construction phase includes a number of typical activities with logical ties to other activities in that phase or another phase. These links are the mechanism that allows us to determine the overall planned duration of a project and to determine the effect of changes, delays and disruptions.

Individual activities may also contain notes describing normal practices and procedures, as well as the typical resource classifications and assignments included on the activity. These are included as a guide to you and are not meant to be prescriptive.

Engineering template

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The technical process of transforming a business opportunity into a facility that can be constructed is often described as the engineering phase of a project.. The activities required to produce an engineering design are arranged and linked in a standard way.

The objective of this template is to identify the normal activities required for an effective engineering project and link them into a typical schedule format. You can use this schedule strictly as a training tool, or modify it and use it as the basis for an initial project schedule.

Template design

The general engineering template represents the steps and relationships necessary to scope, evaluate and design a $5 to 25 million capital cost project. A typical project is centered on a manufacturing process. The template assumes that the process technology is fairly well defined (that is, completed through the pilot plant and demonstration stages). Environmental and other applicable permits are handled in parallel with the design activities and may require a separate schedule.

Template organization

The engineering project schedule is organized into three phases: conceptual, definition, and design. A construction phase is also included to make it easier to develop an overall project schedule. Each engineering phase contains typical activities with their normal dependency links. These activities are described in a general manner and will require editing to reflect a particular project planning situation.

The purpose and activity logic for each phase is described later in this summary. In addition, the key activities are hyperlinked to a definition table. The individual activities also contain notes describing normal deliverables and typical resource classification assignments. These notes and assignments are included to guide you and are not meant to be prescriptive.

Conceptual phase

The conceptual phase of a project is used to explore the economic viability of the proposed venture. The engineering work performed during this stage is generally at a macro level of detail. Conceptual engineering identifies the scope required to achieve a business objective. This scope definition forms the basis for forecasting the capital and operating costs required to support the venture. Financial returns are generally estimated from this data.

The conceptual phase is the most cost-effective opportunity during the life of a project for a business entity to make strategic decisions. Typical engineering costs for this phase of a project are 1/2 to 1-1/2% of the eventual installed capital cost. Several alternates may be considered at this time, with the best financial return option moving into the definition phase.

The capital cost range of accuracy is generally held to a +/- - 40 to 50%. Alternates should be compared at similar levels of estimate accuracy. This range of accuracy helps facilitate a comparable evaluation and minimizes engineering costs.

Many projects will not proceed beyond the conceptual phase. Therefore, the engineering team is generally kept small and limited to those who are familiar with the required process technology and manufacturing operations. Project procedures are kept to the minimum necessary to control the process.

Definition phase

Typically, a project that passes the business evaluation hurdles of the conceptual phase moves into the definition phase. The objective of definition is to develop a more refined project plan for evaluation before full financial commitment to the venture. The project scope is developed in greater detail, permitting more precise capital cost estimates. A reasonable capital cost estimate range of accuracy target is +/- - 20 to 30%.

The project team size increases during the definition phase. It is usually centered on the conceptual team for study continuity. Typical effort costs for this phase are in the range of 1 to 3 % of the total installed capital cost.

In addition to the improved scope definition, issues such as project risks, process and design quality, and facility staffing, training and start-up are considered. Project planning and control procedures are emphasized, especially those that will continue to be used during the design phase.

At the conclusion of the definition phase, the business should have a fairly definitive project scope description and capital estimate so that the expected financial rate of return can be reviewed. The resulting project financials should be validated against comparably accurate market and cost-of-manufacturing data. The results of this review process can either result in the project proceeding to full funding authorization or recycling back to the beginning of either the conceptual or definition phase for additional option development.

Design phase

This phase of the project template focuses primarily on the development of a detailed engineering package that will provide the basis for the construction of the defined facilities. Many other activities need to run in parallel with this work package to ensure that the facility will start up and operate efficiently. These activities include selecting a construction contracting style, awarding the construction contract, providing for staffing and training, and managing the start-up requirements. None of these activities is included in detail in this template.

The design phase of a project is the most costly. Typical costs are about 5to 15% of the total installed capital cost. The low end of the cost range is normally associated with new or "green field" facilities. The higher end of the range is associated with renovation or expansions of existing facilities. In addition to the costs for the engineering effort, project equipment purchasing occurs during this phase. Normally about 10% of the large capital equipment costs are required to secure engineered equipment drawings from the various suppliers participating in the project.

Design quality, earned performance, and schedule compliance are particularly important during this phase. Progress tracking tools should be used to highlight areas that require management focus or specific problem solving attention.

Infrastructure deployment template

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The objective of this template is to identify and correlate the activities required for the full project life cycle of an infrastructure deployment process. The template is designed to focus on the required steps and processes to successfully initiate, design, and deploy a new infrastructure.

Template design

The infrastructure deployment template defines the steps and dependencies within a project to initiate, design, and deploy a new infrastructure. The template can be scaled from a small simple product local area network solution to an enterprise wide area network. The template is based on a phased methodology, which uses phase completion milestones as a mechanism for reporting. It can be customized with additional milestones and deliverables as appropriate.

Template organization

The template is organized into seven key phases: scope, analysis, design, budget, finalization/validation, deployment, and post-implementation review. Each phase contains the associated activities and their respective dependencies. The activities are generic and may require editing to fit your particular environment or methodology.

Scope

The scope phase of a infrastructure deployment project clearly defines the project's objectives. It also clearly identifies project sponsorship and core ownership. A clearly defined scope is imperative for any infrastructure process and will often actually define whether a project proceeds or is cancelled based upon its business value.

Analysis

After scope is defined and a project sponsor is identified, the project can continue with a more detailed yet still high-level analysis. The objective of this phase is to detail the current infrastructure and areas that require improvement and to identify sources to provide assistance in architectural, material, or functional design and products. It is important to note that the analysis is influenced by the current business goals and direction. This direction, in turn, may prioritize the sequence of infrastructure deployment. The conclusion of this phase ensures that those who have requested the development and the project team clearly understand the scope of the project and have obtained the necessary approvals to proceed to the design phase.

Design

The design phase of the project template is focused on the development of a preliminary design document that is approved before a detailed design document is developed. The final detailed design document ensures that business goals and direction are melded into the infrastructure phased-deployment. This document describes the detailed scope of the project and must be supported by the project sponsor before proceeding.

Budget

During the budget phase, a cost-spending model is created and approved that is in line with the business goals and direction and the overall infrastructure deployment. Whether it is a short-term or long-term infrastructure deployment, the budget must project financial impact over the life of the project. The budgeting phase can effectively show the project sponsor) the financial and business impact. The budget approval is key to continuing the project.

Finalization/validation

The finalization/validation phase ensures that the required resources are in place to deploy the infrastructure design. This team will finalize and validate the design in a test environment and coordinate efforts to ensure that the full life-cycle of the infrastructure build is successful.

Deployment

The deployment phase ensures that the infrastructure deployed and transferred to production efficiently. Technicians may join the deployment team may during this phase to make sure that the infrastructure remains stable during the creation and transition periods.

Post-implementation review

During the post-implementation review, information gathered from multiple sources during the deployment is used to effectively measure satisfaction of infrastructure users and provide for lessons-learned. The review ensures that future projects benefit from the lessons learned during this project.

Microsoft Solutions Framework template

The Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF)template is based on the Process Model for Application Development, a key component of the MSF. This flexible model has been used successfully in the software industry to improve project control, minimize risk, improve product quality, and increase development speed.

The process model is developed as part of Microsoft's Principles of Application Development course. The template is intended to assist in applying the process model in practical situations; however it does not take the place of the course itself.

Template design

The process model combines a milestone-based planning model with an iterative creative process. The milestones represent review and synchronization points rather than freeze points; that is, they allow the team to adjust the scope of the project to reflect changing customer requirements or to respond to risks that materialize over the course of the project.

Because the development process is iterative, certain tasks within the development and stabilization phases may be repeated several times, depending on the needs of the specific project. In these cases, the template elaborates only the first iteration (for example., task 125, Beta release 1). Subsequent iterations (for example, Beta release n) should be added or repeated as determined by the program manager or project team.

Template organization

The MSF template includes the four phases outlined in the MSF process model: envisioning, planning, development, and stabilization. Each phase contains numerous subtasks and culminates in a milestone event; however, specific tasks within a phase may overlap the milestone and extend into the next phase.

Tasks are assigned typical durations, dependencies, and resource allocations, which may be edited to suit the specific project. The overall project timeline depends on the number of cycles spent on iterative tasks. The template includes six resources, which are defined by the MSF application model: program management, product management, development, user education, logistics management, and testing.

The following sections present an overview of the four phases of the process model, a description of the resources that make up a typical team, and a summary of major tasks.

Template description

Phase 1: Envisioning (milestone 1: vision approved)

In the envisioning phase, you create a high-level view of the project's goals and constraints. This phase is an early planning process that sets the stage for the process that will take place during the formal planning phase of the project. Envisioning addresses one of the most fundamental needs for project success: unifying the team. The deliverables from the envisioning phase are a vision document, a risk-assessment document, and a project-structure document.

The envisioning phase culminates in the vision approved milestone. This milestone is the first point at which the project team and customer agree on the overall direction for the project, including what the product will and will not include.

Phase 2: Planning (milestone 2: project plan approved)

The planning phase provides an opportunity to establish priorities and set expectations. The deliverables are the functional specification, risk assessment, and project schedule.

The planning phase culminates in the Project plan approved milestone. This milestone is the point at which the project team, the customer, and key project stakeholders agree on the feature set and the design of the application. The Project plan approved milestone is essentially the contract with the customer to proceed with the project.

Phase 3: Developing (milestone 3: scope complete)

During development, the team strives to develop and implement all features, even if they are not stable. The development team joins with user education and testing to focus on building the product described in the functional specification and works with testing to ensure reliability from one internal release to the next. The key deliverables include the frozen functional specification, source code and executables, test specification and test cases, and the master project plan and master project schedule.

The development phase culminates in the Scope Complete milestone. At this milestone, all features are complete, and the product is ready for external testing and stabilization. This milestone is the opportunity for customers and end users, operations and support personnel, and key project stakeholders to evaluate the product and identify any remaining issues they need to address before it ships.

Phase 4: Stabilizing (milestone 4: release)

By entering the stabilization phase, the team shifts its focus from scheduling to shipping. It includes beta testing as well as testing of release candidates. The focus of testing has shifted to usage testing as the number of bugs revealed by coverage testing continues to dwindle.

The stabilization phase culminates with the release of the product. The Release milestone occurs when the team has addressed all outstanding issues and shipped the product or placed it in service. At the Release milestone, responsibility for ongoing management and support of the product officially transfers from the project team to the operations and support organization.

Resources

Product management The product manager acts as the customer advocate to the team. The product manager must understand customer requirements, create the business case, establish the shared vision between the team and the customer, and ensure that the solutions developed by the team solve the customer's business problem. The product manager handles high-level communications, manages customer expectations, and drives feature identification and prioritization.

Program management The program manager is responsible for delivering the final product on time through leadership and coordination. In addition to driving the overall process, program management manages resource allocation; manages the project schedule and reports the status; manages the product scope and specification; and facilitates team communication and negotiation.

Logistics management The logistics manager plays an important feedback role on the team by advising on manageability and supportability issues based on lessons from previous and current product deployments. The logistics manager supports the day-to-day operational needs of the team.

Development Developers provide input into high-level designs, evaluate technologies, and help to validate potential solutions and mitigate risks. As builders, developers provide low-level product and feature design, estimate the effort needed to deliver on the design, and then build the product.

Testing The role of testing is to accurately portray the status of the product at any time by clearly saying what is currently wrong and what is currently right with the product. Testing should have a good grasp of user needs and a clear understanding of how the product will meet those needs. On smaller projects, the test team may also be responsible for the build process.

User education The goal of user education is to ensure that the product is both useful and usable. User education participates in design with the goal of minimizing the need for user support material and lowering the cost of such materials. If the product needs any support materials, user education designs, builds, and tests them. User education tests and tracks usability issues and ensures that the product design addresses these issues.

New business template

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In this template the process of developing an entrepreneurial opportunity into a new operating business is divided into tasks and scheduled in logical sequence. The template may be customized to be used for a wide range of specific business situations.

Template design

The objective of this template is to help you in organizing a rigorous evaluation of the business opportunity. The information in the template should be easy to understand and use, and it should identify areas where professional assistance may be appropriate.

This template assumes the following:

You have already found a potential small-business opportunity.

You have suitable business capabilities.

You are not an experienced business analyst.

You are unsure how to evaluate the opportunity.

You may be from any country.

The new business may produce any particular product or service.

You prefer a successive procedure with stopping points available if the opportunity fails to pass certain tests along the way.

Template organization

The template is organized into three phases:

Phase 1: Analyze the opportunity strategically

Phase 2: Define the opportunity in detail

Phase 3: Put the opportunity into action

Each phase contains a number of typical activities with their normal dependency links. These activities are described in general and may need to be edited to fit a particular business situation.

The purpose and activity logic for each phase is described later in this summary. In addition, the key activities are hyperlinked to a definition table. Some activities also contain notes about the task in more detail and suggest professional counsel for key decisions. Each phase serves as a test; you proceed to the next phase only if the business passes the test of the previous phase. These notes and suggestions are included to guide you and are not intended to be prescriptive.

Phase 1: Analyze the opportunity strategically

In the strategic analysis phase, you analyze the potential viability of the new business at a high level. Broadly estimated dollar amounts are used. Many of the factors you consider in this phase are interdependent, and the process is iterative. A view of the opportunity should gradually emerge during this initial analysis. And at the end of the phase, you evaluate potential risks and rewards and test the apparent viability of the potential business.

Phase 2: Define the opportunity in detail

In the definition phase, you are guided through a more detailed analysis of the opportunity, including more in-depth data gathering. You refine estimates of dollar amounts developed in the first phase. This phase of the analysis is also iterative.

Phase 3: Implement the opportunity

During implementation, you first write a business plan. The plan is based on the information you've gathered and analyzed in the first two phases.. It summarizes the potential of the business and can provide a basis for submitting financial information for capital funding and banking.

Finally in this phase, you are provided a list of essential items required to prepare for startup.

New product template

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Developing new products effectively requires a disciplined approach. This discipline comes from generating reliable data and reviewing it at regular decision points to reaffirm the organizational commitment to continued development of the new product. This template is designed to provide the framework for developing a new product using a disciplined approach that should increase the success rate for new product development.

Template design

This process can be used for minor product line extensions, in which case many of the steps can be taken quickly because reliable data is usually available, and the risks of moving to commercialization quickly are usually low.

The process should be used for major new products or product lines, which entail higher risks and uncertainty. New data generated during the development process can radically alter the course of action or the commercial viability of the new product. As new data is generated during the new product development process, it must be reviewed by key decision-makers and stakeholders to be sure that continued development of the new product is still consistent with the organization goals.

You should adapt this process to your specific organizational structure and products to help provide organizational buy-in. In addition, modifying the new product development process to make it more familiar to your organization will help you gain organizational acceptance and regular use.

Template organization

The template is organized into five stages plus a review stage after the new product has been commercialized. Each stage is followed by a decision whether to proceed to the next stage in the new product development process. These decision points force the organization to make conscious decisions and keep it focused on the critical issues. Such decision-making also helps the organization avoid activity that is not essential to commercialization of the new product.

It is strongly recommended that organizations also use a sixth stage, the post-commercialization review. This review allows the organization to learn how to use the process with increasing effectiveness on subsequent new product development opportunities and to build organizational support for the new product development process.

Each stage of this project brings together the best people from across the organization to assess the information generated and seek consensus on moving forward with additional resources, towards commercialization. If consensus cannot be achieved, team members should at least agree on which issues are the most critical to achieving success. These issues will guide the next steps in the development process.

New idea stage

In many organizations, a high percentage of new product ideas are generated within the research department. These ideas are based on the researcher's perception of opportunities for the organization. In some current management theories, the sales organization, which is most closely involved with key customers, should be a major source on market-driven new product opportunities. However, there is often a conflict between pressure on the sales organization to generate increased sales of current products at the expense of investing time seeking new product opportunities. Organizations must make a conscious decision about how new ideas should be generated from various parts of the organization.

A second area that will affect the source and quality of new product ideas is the balance between product line extensions and major new products. Product line extensions or variants on current products can often advance quickly through the new product development process because the quality of information about the product is high, and the risks and uncertainties are usually low. Major new products or product lines will take considerably more work, as well as longer cycle times, because the risks and uncertainties are much higher.

Organizations must consciously decide how to balance new product ideas in the portfolio. Normally there should be some short-cycle-time new ideas that can produce an evolutionary flow of continuously improved financial results. However, the balance must include some major new products that can build a more dramatic or revolutionary effect on profitable growth if they are successful. All parts of the organization must understand this balance, and the related allocation of resources, if personnel across the organization are to support and collaborate in decisions.

In the new idea stage, a decision must be made within one to two weeks, based on the best available information. The decision group may decide not allow the idea to pass to the preliminary assessment stage and may seek additional information before passing or rejecting the idea. A quick, formal decision is necessary to avoid diluting effort on noncritical issues, rather than on the most critical information needed to move the idea through the process. The new idea decision meeting also forces early cross-functional support for the new idea.

Advancing a new product idea into the preliminary assessment stage must include the following criteria:

Strategic fit with the business direction

Economics

Uniqueness or potential for competitive advantage

Market growth rate.

Preliminary assessment

During preliminary assessment, the new product idea is advanced through limited experimentation and technical proof-of-concept. Data is gathered from available sources to confirm the idea's market, manufacturing, and economic viability.

During this stage, there must be an idea "champion," normally the idea generator. However, the champion must involve people from other functional areas to be sure the data from their areas of expertise is acceptable at the decision point at the end of preliminary assessment.

The biggest potential problem during the preliminary assessment stage is that the new product idea becomes focused on the functional area of the champion, for example, an idea that becomes a research project, focused on achieving technical objectives, when the critical issues might be related to marketing or manufacturing.

While the elapsed time for the preliminary assessment stage varies, it is important to advance to the development stage quickly. Preliminary assessment is intended to gather the best available information, and decide whether the new product warrants a significant allocation of development resources or not. Three months is a recommended target time for a new product idea to stay in preliminary assessment. This time limit forces a commitment to gather the best available data quickly and avoids a prolonged search for increasingly accurate data, much of which may be more appropriate for later stages in the new product development process.

A complex assessment may require more than three months in the preliminary assessment stage, but six months should be an absolute maximum before the decision meeting at the end of the preliminary assessment stage. It is better to hold a decision meeting, and decide to keep the idea in this stage until more data is obtained on one or more issues than to allow the idea to languish. In most new product areas, long cycle times allow competitors to find and develop similar products and greatly reduce the potential returns from your new product programs.

Advancing a new product idea into the development stage must include the following criteria:

Product economics look attractive

Key customers and competitors have been identified

Simple written plan with milestones for the development stage

Selection of the right champion to lead the development stage

Development stage

When the decision is made to advance an idea into the development stage, there is a major commitment of resources as well as a cross-functional commitment. The written project plan from the decision meeting at the end of the preliminary assessment stage should guide this stage. Support from across the organization must be available to complete all necessary steps, because the new product is now part of the business portfolio. The new product is no longer isolated to one part of the organization under a functional area champion.

When the decision is made to move the idea into the development stage, the right project Champion must be selected. The selection of a champion should be based on where the critical issues are. If success depends on solving a technical problem then it may be appropriate to leave a technical manager in the champion role. If the critical issue is in manufacturing, then a champion might be selected from that functional area. However, it is imperative that the champion for the new product be capable and committed to the project.

When the development stage is completed, and the new product idea successfully passes into the pilot stage, the probability that the new product will be a commercial success should be at least 50%. The development stage is where it is most critical to develop good data on all of the factors critical to making an informed decision about commercializing the new product.

Advancing a new product idea into the pilot stage must include the following criteria:

Customer response to laboratory or other small-scale prototype products

Patent applications filed and other intellectual property issues resolved

Marketing, manufacturing, and overall business plans written

Leader and key team members for the pilot stage identified

Pilot stage

In the pilot stage, you should be able to produce quantities of the product large enough for a customer to evaluate on their commercial equipment. The pilot stage could be characterized by one of the following three scenarios:

Pilot equipment is in place and can be used to product enough product for customers to evaluate on commercial equipment.

Scale-up trials can be run on existing commercial equipment, which can shorten the commercialization elapsed time.

Pilot equipment has to be purchased and installed, which lengthens the commercialization elapsed time considerably.

This template assumes that the pilot stage is one of the first two scenarios, with pilot or commercial equipment available for the production in the pilot stage. The critical outcome from the pilot stage is confirmation that the product can be made and will work in customer processes or by its users as appropriate.

Advancing a new product idea into the commercialization stage must include the following criteria:

Customer commercial trial feedback and commitment to the product

Manufacturing process plan established, including process and product specifications, required capital and equipment, staff, and operator training plans

Logistics issues resolved

Final business plan

Commercialization stage

When a new product enters the commercialization stage, the probability of success should approach 100%. Customer commitment or test market results should ensure that the product can be made and sold and that it is highly certain that the product will work for the customer use or intended market.

The focus in the commercialization stage is to implement the business plan developed as part of the decision at the end of the pilot stage.

Some process optimization and some product modifications or extensions are likely, but the fundamental processes and product specifications should not change dramatically. This is particularly true in capital-intensive manufacturing industries.

In some industries, such as software development, the risk of a radical and urgent reassessment of a new product in the commercialization stage is much higher.

Post-commercialization review

This stage is not a required step to commercialization. It is highly recommended as a component of product development. The review gives your organization an opportunity to step back and look at what was projected for a new product compared with what actually happened. This assessment of the economics, sales volumes, technical merits, and other aspects of the new product allow the organization to accomplish the following two goals:

Learn what worked well and what did not, and learn how to improve the use of the process in the future.

Gain increased organizational support for the value of the new product development process

This post-commercialization review must be used constructively, as a learning tool to improve organizational skills in new product development. It will be detrimental if it is used to assign blame for the frequent surprises, setbacks, delays, or redirection that arise during the development of most new products.

Project office template

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The objective of this template is to identify and correlate the activities required for the full project life cycle involved in the conceptualization, development, and creation of a project office. The template is designed to focus on the required steps and processes to successfully initiate, monitor, and establish an enterprise project office.

Template design

This template is based on a phased methodology that uses phase-completion milestones as a mechanism for reporting. It can be customized with additional milestones and deliverables as appropriate.

Template organization

The template is organized into six key phases: scope, planning, initiating, management, historical and post-implementation review. Each phase contains associated and their respective dependencies. The activities are generic and may need to be edited to fit your particular environment or methodology.

Scope

The scope phase of a project office project clearly defines the objective for the project. It also clearly identifies project sponsorship and core ownership. A clearly defined scope is imperative to any project office undertaking and often the scope phase actually determines whether a project proceeds or is cancelled based upon the its business value.

Planning

After the scope is clearly defined and the project sponsor is identified you can continue with more detailed yet still high-level planning. The objective of this phase is to detail the role, business processes, and need for a project office. In addition, job descriptions and resource needs will be reviewed. It is important to note that the analysis is influenced by the current business goals and direction that in turn may influence the office scope. The conclusion of this phase ensures that those requesting the development and the team clearly understand the scope of the project and have obtained the necessary approvals to proceed to the initiate phase.

Initiate project office

The initiate phase of the project office template focuses on establishing the physical office and collecting and reviewing existing projects along with guidance for any new project initiatives. This process ensures that all projects managed by the project office comply with the standards and initiatives of the organization and guidelines of the project office.

Management

The management phase provides for the ongoing analysis and reporting of projects. The office helps resolve problems, analyze risk, identify and provide resources and other activities. and ensures that project status is properly reported. The office is also the escalation point for issue resolution.

Historical

The historical phase ensures that the lessons learned from the project are captured and that a knowledge base of project information is created as a baseline for future projects. The information contained in a historical archive significantly improves processes of creating and managing future projects.

Post-implementation review

This phase utilizes the feedback obtained from multiple sources during the project office initiative to effectively measure end user satisfaction and provide for lessons learned. The PIR is significant in that it will insure future engagements benefit from any lessons learned.

Residential construction template

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Small homebuilders, including general contractors and specialty subcontractors, can profit from applying project management techniques to control their operations.

The process that builders use for residential construction is methodical and relatively standard. This building process, whether planned for a one-story, single-family unit or for a group of apartment units, is clearly modeled by a Critical Path Method schedule. That statement is key: the schedule is a model of the builder's plan for the project.

This template includes the basic tasks required to construct a single-family home and the logical relationships between those tasks. The template may be used strictly for training or to develop custom schedules for your projects, or it can be modified to use as the basis for an initial project schedule.

Template design

The single family residential construction project schedule template provides you with a basic set of common tasks and logical relationships necessary to build a house in any part of the world. The model home is a two-story frame home with brick veneer, built on a full basement.

The template provides certain basic information for each of the activities, including the:

Duration

Resource requirements

Labor and non-labor cost information

The template has not been tailored to specific local building code requirements, for example, the special earthquake requirements of the U.S. west coast or the hurricane-resistance requirements of Florida. Understanding and following local codes is the responsibility of you, the builder. Labor and cost data from the U.S. mid-continent area from 1997 was used for cost and duration estimates. You should not rely on this data for budgeting or bidding purposes.

Template organization

The single family residential construction project schedule template is organized into 10 phases, representing the life of the project:

General conditions the time required to finalize the plans, develop an estimate, bring the project under contract and obtain permits.

Site work Clearing the Lot, Installation of Underground Utilities and Temporary "Construction" Utilities.

Foundation work Excavation, forming and placement of the concrete for a basement (this can be modified to reflect a simple slab for a house built on grade).

Framing The rough carpentry required for construction of the basic wooden frame of the house.

Dry-in The addition of the "skin" to the house. Sheathing, roofing, windows, and doors make the house weatherproof and enable the interior finishes to proceed.

Exterior finishes Installation of the brick, siding and exterior trim.

Utility rough ins and complete concrete Routing of plumbing, electrical and communication cables, installation of electrical "boxes" and rough placement of interior HVAC equipment and ductwork before insulation and drywall are installed.

Interior finishes The detailed work of completing the interior of the home. Insulation, drywall, paint and wallpaper, cabinets, trim, carpet and tile, as well as completion of the plumbing, electrical, and HVAC systems.

Landscaping and grounds work Driveways, sidewalks, fences, and plantings that complete the outside of the house.

Final acceptance The final inspection and certification for occupancy by the city or county building inspector, the builder's final cleanup and walkthrough with the owner and the owner's final acceptance.

Each construction phase includes a number of typical activities with logical links to other activities in that phase or another phase. These links are the mechanism that allows you to determine the overall planned duration of a project and to determine the effect of changes, delays, and disruptions.

Individual activities may also contain notes describing normal practices and procedures, as well as the typical resource classifications and assignments included on the activity. These are included to guide you and are not meant to be prescriptive.

Software development template

To open this template

The objective of this template is to identify and correlate the activities required for the project life cycle of the software development process. The template is designed to focus on the steps and processes required to successfully initiate a software development process. You can use the template as is, or modify it for recursive development.

Template design

The software development template defines the steps and dependencies you can use within a project to develop any software solution. The template can be scaled for a small simple product based solution to an enterprise development scenario. The template is based on a phased methodology, which uses phase-completion milestones as a mechanism for reporting. You can customize the template by adding milestones as appropriate.

Template organization

The template is organized into 10 key phases: scope, analysis/software requirements, design, development, testing, training, documentation, pilot, deployment and post-implementation review. Each phase contains associated activities and their respective dependencies. The activities are generic, and you may need to edit them to fit your particular environment or software development process.

Scope

The scope phase of a software development project clearly defines the objective of the project. It also clearly identifies project sponsorship and core ownership. A clearly defined scope is imperative to any software development process, and often the scope phase actually defines whether a project proceeds or is cancelled based on its the business value.

Analysis/software requirements

After you have defined the project scope and identified the project sponsor, you can continue with a more detailed yet still high-level analysis and requirements. This phase details the software specifications, defining a preliminary project budget and a high-level timeline. The conclusion of this phase ensures that those requesting the development and the team clearly understand the scope of the project and have obtained the necessary approvals to proceed to the design phase.

Design

The design phase of the project template focuses on developing a detailed functional specification for software development. The functional specification is key to all product features and further development. The functional specification also finalizes the detailed scope of the project and must be supported by the project sponsor before development can proceed. A properly defined functional specification can make increases in scope more visible in a project. The specification also ensures that the sponsor maintains association with the project.

Development

The development phase allows the programmers and project managers to begin the process of coding and preliminary testing of the associated code. Depending on the size and scope of a particular project many components can be broken into modular development and assigned to different programmers and programming groups. The development phase can be recursive or single-step, depending on your particular environment. After this phase, the code is released to product testers.

Testing

The testing phase provides for product testing both in units and in integration. After a test plan is designed, the code is tested on , a modular level and through integration to satisfy the requirement of the test plan. Any anomalies identified will be directed back to development for modification and subsequent retesting.

Training

With any software development application the key to success is adequate training for all involved, including end users, the help desk and operations. This phase ensures that all aspects of training on the new software are properly accounted for, developed, and delivered.

Documentation

The documentation phase ensures that all product-related documentation, the Help system, user manuals, and user documentation, is developed in accordance with the software application.. Any software development project must have the proper documentation available for use by all organizations.

Pilot

During the pilot phase a subset of the effective user population receives the new software to determine final usability refinements and overall validation. This phase is a mirror of the overall larger deployment process and is used to validate all aspects of the software, its delivery, its functionality, and its support. Successful completion of the pilot phase will lead to full-scale deployment.

Deployment

During the deployment phase, the product is released to production and distributed to you community. This phase uses the refinements identified in the pilot phase to ensure a successful transition to the new software.

Post-implementation review

This phase uses the feedback obtained from multiple sources during the deployment to effectively measure end user satisfaction and provide for lessons-learned. The review ensures that future projects benefit from any lessons learned.

Template customization

The template is designed to provide for most software development methodologies including client server, multitiered, and RAD. Depending on the methodology you use, items (such as prototype) can be removed or greater detail (for example, Identify modular/tiered design parameters) can be embellished to provide greater detail.