Creating Planning Element Types That Span a Period of Time

Create elements that span a period of time to represent a project or initiative that has a start and end date for completion, and that does not happen on a single date. Span elements can contain metrics and matrices. In the Gantt view, span elements display as a bar that spans the time between the start and end date.

You can also use the span element type to create organization buckets to build your organization's structure, or hierarchy. For example, you can create organizational buckets that are containers for all elements and initiatives for your technology roadmaps.

Note:  Accolade adds a non-gated class with the Planning Show and Planning Create options selected, and its associated model named ACC_Model_<number> for each element type. Process Designers can edit the model as needed. Administrators and Process Designers can also create classes that add element types to Innovation Planning.

To create a planning element type that spans a period of time:

1. From the Planning menu, select Planning Board.

2. Click the planning pad in the upper right corner of the page.

The planning pad element displayed shows the type of element that is created when you drag a planning element from the pad onto the Planning Board, and defaults to the last element type you selected to add to the board. The image above displays the default color and shape, and may be different than what is displayed in your Planning Board.

3. Do one of the following:

• To create an element type - Click in Types list.
• To modify an existing element type - Click next to the element type you want to modify.

4. In the Name field, enter a name, up to 64 characters long, which identifies the planning element type and its purpose.
5. Select Span to indicate that this element spans a period of time.
6. Click in the Color field, select the color for the planning element, and click outside the color panel to close the panel.

Use colors to help group related elements.

7. (Optional) To add a metric to this type, click in the Metrics field and select an existing metric from the list.

• To add a metric without having to leave Innovation Planning - Click Add New and complete the metric information as described in Creating Metrics, noting that unavailable options are not applicable to metrics created in Innovation Planning.
• To edit an existing metric - Click the metric name to open it for editing..
• To display the metric on the front of the element - Click next to the metric name. Metrics set to display are indicated with a .
• To remove a metric from the element - Click next to the metric to remove.

8. (Optional) To add a financial matrix to the element type, click in the Matrices field and select an existing matrix from the list.

Only matrices with one, and only one, Unique relative date are available to Innovation Planning.

Notes:    Element types created through configuration imports are created as a Span type with the default shape and color. To change these settings, select the element in the Types list and click to open for editing. Innovation Planning and Roadmapping are optional Accolade components that you may not have access to. To implement these solutions, contact Sopheon Customer Support.