Stage gate template steps

A stage gate is a decision-making tool within AVEVA Contract Risk Management. Stage gates are decision points placed at the strategic points in the tendering process that are most beneficial to making decisions. The continuance of the process is dependent on approval of the stage gate.

Within AVEVA Contract Risk Management, the stage gate step requires a specific business process role to be assigned as the Responsible Party, which is the approval group or steering committee external to AVEVA Contract Risk Management which can approve a particular step in the tendering process. A decision set is also required, which contains the possible outcomes of the stage gate.

A dependent relationship exists between a stage gate and any subsequent stage gates, meaning that the first stage gate must be approved before the second can be approved. Certain types of schedule items can also be configured to be dependent on approval of the parent stage gate. Dependent schedule items can be prepared but no further action can be taken until stage gate approval has been granted. Non-dependent schedule items are unaffected.

Note The dependency between two stage gates is automatically enforced. The dependency between a stage gate and a Despatch/Tracking or Award process step is configured in the tender template.

Add stage gates to a tender template

Stage gates can only be added to a tender template if there is a business process role available in the Organization, business unit or project/dept, which has been published, has members, and has transmission slips configured for it.

Tip It is recommended that the decision set and business process role used when adding a stage gate to a tender template are from the Organization Best Practice Library. It is also recommended that the Organization-level business process role has no members, so that these can be added as necessary when tenders are created from the template.

Note Stage gates that have been added to the tender template cannot be deleted from the tender. Once the tender has been created, tender administrators can add further stage gate steps which may be deleted if necessary.

To add a stage gate to the tender template:

1. Open the navigation bar. If necessary, click the Manage tab.

2. Under Organisation Standards, click Tender Templates.

   The Tender Templates page is displayed.

3. Select the template category in which you want to edit a template from the drop-down list.

   The tender templates for the selected category are displayed.

4. Click the for the template you want to edit.

   The Tender Template Details page is displayed.

5. From the Actions menu, select Add Stage Gate.

   Note If there are no business process roles which have transmission slips, the Add Stage Gate option is not selectable. Please inform your project/dept administrator.

   The Add Stage Gate window is displayed.

6. Enter information as required in the relevant fields.

   Note The Type, Planned End Date and Mandatory fields cannot be edited.

   Field	Description
   Title	The name of the stage gate.
   Business Process Role	The business process role which will be the Responsible Party for the stage gate. The Responsible Party is the group of people from whom approval is needed to for the tendering process to continue. Only business process roles that have Are Transmission Slips required for Process Steps assigned to this Business Process Role? set to Yes are available.
   Decision Set	The decision set which will be used by the Responsible Party for approval.
   Guidelines	The guidelines for the step. Note Notes in the Guidelines field will be used to assist company users when they work on this step.
   Position	If this is not the first group or step to be added, you can choose the positioning of the step in the tender process: Select Before or After. Select the appropriate group/step from the Template step drop-down list.
   Planned Start (Days)	The number of days after the tender's start date that you want the stage gate to begin.
   Planned Duration (Days)	The number of days that you expect the stage gate step to last.
   Minimum Duration (Days)	The minimum number of days that the stage gate step is permitted to last, if required.
   Maximum Duration (Days)	The maximum number of days that the stage gate step is permitted to last, if required.

7. Click Save.

   A confirmation message is displayed.

Add a step dependent on a stage gate

Once a stage gate has been added to the tender template, subsequent tender process steps can optionally be configured to be dependent on the approval of this stage gate. This means that within the tendering process, the dependent step cannot be completed until approval of the stage gate has been granted. Non-dependent steps are unaffected and can be completed regardless of the state of the stage gate.

Only certain types of tender process steps can be made dependent on a stage gate:

• Despatch/Tracking

• Award

Dependent step packages can be prepared while awaiting on stage gate approval but cannot be dispatched or awarded until the stage gate has been approved.

To add a step which is dependent on a stage gate, select the Is Dependent on Stage Gate option when creating the step (see Tender template groups and steps) and ensure the step is below the stage gate in the tender template.