In the world of product development, there are two sides to success: (1) up-front planning, research and development; (2) what happens after a product has been launched. (2) means such things as: How do product managers assure the product is reaching the target market, at the right time and producing the proper profit margin?

Historically, there have been two camps. One is in the world of the financials of enterprise resource planning (ERP). The other is focused on product lifecycle management (PLM). Enter Planview (planview.com), which is said to bridge the gap between the financials in an SAP system with PLM via its “Enterprise” software..

The software’s Product Portfolio Management module provides product managers with a single solution for improved forecasting of project spending through the ability to access resources assignments and status checks in a single solution. “When we developed this module we asked a simple question up front: ‘What is it that our users want to see from their product portfolio and what answers can be derived from the information we provide?’” says Carrie Nauyalis, project manager, product portfolio management at Planview. Organizations can model all of their products and product lines based on SKU numbers or any other traceable attribute, and use the module to track just how quickly a product is reaching the marketplace, whether the product needs discounting, or updating.

If you think that product portfolio management doesn’t have a place in the new product development realm, think again. Nauyalis points out that some of Planview’s clients are using the system to help weigh “what-if” scenarios using financial and product planning data, down to detailed levels like the cost of production processes for various parts. If a part is changed, how is that going to impact manufacturing costs both internally and from the supply base? Questions like these can be answered using the product portfolio module. “Using this software, we can tell you if one of the scenarios goes out of boundary, what’s likely to happen. When you have millions of dollars riding on the success or failure of your product that’s a pretty big deal,” Nauyalis says.

Planview’s Enterprise system also includes Insight Analytics, an online platform, integrated with Microsoft Outlook and Windows SharePoint that analyzes online data from financial, manufacturing and product planning systems
to provide granular data for strategic decision making in areas like demand, resource and financial management in easy-to-use charts and graphs. The system uses live data to generate chartsets that can be used by C-level managers to understand what’s happening with a product from a financial or launch plan perspective through a graphical perspective, helping to improve communication and understanding. “The user can go through and see what, exactly, is going on at a particular point in time—’where am I spending my money in sales and marketing and manufacturing’—and see if they are above projections and drill down in this information and see the status of all these things—benefits and revenues—and then drag and drop information directly into PowerPoint, press a button and it goes out to everyone on the team. It becomes a communication vehicle,” Nauyalis says.—KMK