Project configuration steps - Products

Some project management methodologies recommend to clearly define the products or output of a project as one of the initial steps. In itmSUITE®, products or project output are called deliveries and are managed mainly through the Deliveries tab of a project. Here, it is possible to define the product breakdown structure which is the tree hierarchical structure of the deliveries.

Information of a delivery

Field	Description
Name	The name of the delivery. This is a mandatory field.
Output Description	The textual description of the delivery.
PBS Type	The type of the delivery, which can be one of the following: "Simple Product" (a delivery which is not made of other components), "Collective Grouping" (a delivery which contains other components) and "External Product" (a delivery which is produced outside of the scope of the project). This is a descriptive but mandatory field.
Impact	The impact of the delivery on the project. This is a descriptive field and its value can be blank or "Low", "Medium", "High".
PBS Delivery Father	This is an alternative way to build the product breakdown structure which allows to choose (and view) the father delivery. The most common approach is to manage deliveries in grid mode.
Expected Delivery	The expected delivery date of the delivery.
Actual Delivery	The actual delivery date of the delivery. A delivery can be related as an input for a sales contract billing schedule (the relationship can be established only starting from the sales contract). In such a case, it will be possible to invoice the sales contract billing schedule only if the Actual Delivery of the related delivery is filled (which means the delivery is done).
Milestone	The milestone (one only) to which the delivery is related. When this relationship is established it means the delivery should be done by the time the milestone is scheduled.
Milestone Description	The description of the milestone (see Milestone) related to the delivery.
Delivery Predecessors	One or more deliveries which are needed in input in order to complete the current one. The relationship contributes to the definition of the product flow diagram.
Delivery Successors	One or more deliveries for which the current one is needed as input. The relationship contributes to the definition of the product flow diagram.
Activities	One or more project activities which contribute to the implementation of the delivery. It is meant that the delivery is done after the end of the last contributing project activity.
Documents	A section where it is possible to manage the documentation related to the delivery (e.g. the detailed description but also the delivery itself when a document). See managing documents for more information.
Messages	A section where it is possible to manage messages related to the delivery. See managing messages for more information.

Deliveries and their associated product breakdown structure are managed through the grid mode (see grid mode for additional information). An additional functionality is provided to the grid mode standard features, PFD Report, which allows to launch and view the product flow diagram.