Depth and breadth
The underlying technology of the IFT solution is one of the best kept secrets in the NPD market, but has a long track record on serving NPD customers. Today, on an annual basis, more than $40 Billion of R&D and New Product Development projects is being managed by this technology. Having been on the market for 15 years, it has been constantly evolving to  satisfy customers in the High-Technology, Pharmaceutical, and Manufacturing industries.
Our solution is fully web based and manages both the strategic and operational dimensions of Product and Project Portfolio Management. It is also the only product with a fully functional web-based project management module managing resources in a matrixed environment.

Key Capabilities
     NPD portfolio: strategic planning
     n  Idea Management      
       o Centralized and configurable Idea Bank for all type of ideas: product, process, service, etc.
       o Fully configurable idea enhancement and evaluation processes: key data, peer and expert reviews, decision steps
       o Simple or sophisticated scoring criterias: financial (ROI, NPV, IRR), market, risks, etc. 
       o Vizualization of the idea portfolio according to multiple dimensions
       o Multiple dash-board types: funnel, matrix, scorecards, etc.
       o Collaboration: document management, colleration & search engine, alerts
       o Configurable roles and flexible definition of security rules

       n  Initiative Management
       o New product, feature and change requests identification, selection and prioritization
       o Fully definable evaluation and approval process
       o Multiple scoring with weightings
       o Vizualization of the initiative portfolio according to multiple dimensions
       o Configurable roles and flexible definition of security rules

  n  Portfolio Management
       o Health and ROI monitoring
       o Decision support for what if simulation 
       o Version management, simulation scenarios
       o What-if portfolio can be saved and compared
       o Customizable key performance indicators for cost, quality,r isks, health, etc.
 
  n  Financial Management
       o Synchronization of top-down and bottom-up budgeting processes
       o Budget financing across multiple sponsors
       o Variable and multi-year planning horizons
       o Estimating and tracking of costs (labor, procurements, expenses, etc.)
       o Benefits forecast and tracking (sales and service revenue, cost savings, etc.)
       o Project/product billing from actuals, deliverables, procurements and expenses
       o Cross-charging with variable charge rates and multiple funding by work packages and sponsors
       o Multiple currencies with no limitations
       o 15 hierarchical structures for consolidation and OLAP
       o Standard interfaces with several financial software packages and ERP systems, including SAP

   Project Management
     n  Methodology
        o Project templates
        o Management of key milestones: gates, deliverables, contractual events
        o Standardization of WBS based on activity templates                
        o Issues management: scope, integration, quality, risks, etc.
        o Version control, unlimited baselines
        o Workflow for project validation and scope changes
        o Automated estimation of activity duration, cost, load, etc. based on business rules
  
     n   Planning
        o Web-based, integrated and comprehensive scheduling engine
        o All graphic functions, web-native and interactive: Gantt, critical path, load charts, PERT network, etc.
        o Bi-directional seamless integration with MS Project, as an alternative to built-in scheduling features
        o Inter-project dependence links between milestones for management of shared platforms & development
        o Integration of OEM/contractors schedule 
        o Comprehensive scheduling model: support of CPM and effort driven scheduling

  Resource Management
        o Work request management with resource search engine
        o Time tracking for all types of activities: projects, administration, etc. 
        o Multi-level configurable workflow for resource allocation and time-tracking approval
        o Medium-term capacity planning 
        o Management of internal and contractor resources
        o Skills management
        o Multiple and variable rates for resource cost calculation
        o Matrix organization for management of shared resources from different departments.
        o Multiple viewpoints for resource effort consolidation: departments, skills, etc.

  Collaboration
    n  Workflow and processes
        o Pre-defined library of processes
        o Customizable workflow for governance and operations
        o Ability to build new specific workflows, fully integrated with the other processes

     n  Team communication
        o Issues management by category: risks, requests, to-dos 
        o Pro-active alerting through e-mail, messages or issues
        o Discussion forums, threaded discussions

     n  Document management
       o Mandatory documents can be associated with processes (for approvals, etc) 
       o Documents can be stored in the database or in an external file system or documentation system
       o Incoming and external dynamical URL links for any pages and all types of external applications
       o Document version control
       o Document access control
       o Document work-flow, to route documents for editing and review
       o Full-text search engine
       o Check speller