Defining Phases for Planning Element Types

A phase within an element type can represent a stage of a project, such as Discovery, Design, Build, and Testing, or any time frame you define. For example, the Discovery portion of a project may consist of several phases that may or may not overlap, such as Marketing, Financial, and Resource phases. Using special list metrics, define the phases that display for each element in your innovation plan, providing more finite information about a planning element's schedule when displayed in a Gantt view.

Once included in a planning element type, Planners who are members of the team can enter phase names and dates and select the phase metrics values to define the colors used to represent phases for individual elements when they display within a Gantt view.

To define a phase for a planning element type:

1. From the Planning menu, select Planning Board.

Phase metrics can also be edited by navigating to Process > Configuration > Metrics, and selecting the metric to be modified.

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. Click next to the planning element type to modify.
4. Click in the Metrics field and do one of the following:

• To define a new phase metric - Select Add New and create a new list metric with the Available to Phases option set and color options assigned to each list item.
• To modify an existing phase metric - Select an existing phase metric from the Phases section of the list.

Phase metrics are list metrics that have Available to Phases selected, and are indicated with a . Only metrics with this option are allowed for defining the phases for an element.

5. Click Update to save your changes.

The metric is now available within the phase setup on planning elements created using the planning element type.

Notes:    Phases for planning element types are created as matrices in Accolade, which are also editable through the Process > Configuration > Matrices page and viewable in reports containing matrix details. Each phase matrix includes the Phase End Date metric and Phase Name metric, which you cannot edit or delete in Accolade. The phase metrics created to define phases are created as matrix metrics, and are a part of the overall matrix metric count in Accolade. To remove a phase matrix from a planning element, remove the matrix association from the element type's process model. When the phase matrix is no longer associated with the model, the phase definition is no longer available in an element's details. To delete a phase matrix from Accolade, you must delete the matrix through the Process > Configuration > Matrices page. Deleting a phase matrix does not delete its associated phase metrics. Innovation Planning and Roadmapping are optional Accolade components that you may not have access to. To implement these solutions, contact Sopheon Customer Support.