Working With Plans

Plans enable you to schedule and assign demand items based on priority, cost, and resource availability. For more information about plans, refer to About Plans.

Plans are created by submitting a proposal into the Demand Plan process app in one of three ways:

The submit feature on the Demand Plan tab in the SBM User Workspace (http://serverName/tmtrack/tmtrack.dll?)
The Create Plan link on the Configure menu in Demand Center.
The Project Proposals service request in Serena Request Center (http://serverName/tmtrack/tmtrack.dll?shell=srp)

Once a plan has been approved, it becomes available in Demand Center. For details on the plan life cycle and approval process, refer to About the Demand Plan Process App.

There are three types of actions you can perform on plans:

Plan Editing
Edit a plan in Demand Center to:
- View the plan's timeframe and other details.
- Allocate teams to the plan.
- Share the plan with other users.
For details, refer to Editing a Plan.
Plan Item Actions
Use the Actions menu on an item in a plan to:
- Split a large item into smaller items.
- Adjust scoring and sizing details that were provided in analysis.
- Move the item to another plan.
- Move the item into a backlog.
- Return the item to analysis.
- View the original request
You can also rank plan items by dragging and dropping them.

For details, refer to Working With Items in Plans.
Plan Life Cycle Actions
Use the drop-down list in the upper right corner to move the plan through its life cycle in the Demand Plan process app. For details, refer to Moving the Plan Through Its Life Cycle.

Editing a Plan

Edit a plan to view its details, allocate resource teams, and share it with others planners.

To edit a plan:

From the Planning tab, select the portfolio that contains the plan, and then select the plan to edit.
Click the edit icon ( ).
On the Details tab, view the plan name, description, and time frame.
Note: This information is specified in the Demand Plan application and cannot be changed directly in Demand Center. To change the plan duration, select Update Plan from the actions menu located on the Planning tab
On the Teams tab, search for and add resource teams created by your administrator. Once a team is added to the plan, you can see its available capacity and allocate the team to tasks. For details on teams and capacity calculations, refer to Working With Resources.
On the Sharing tab, search for and add users who can view your plan. These users cannot modify your plan or add or remove demand items, but they can view and update analysis data, such as task allocations.
Note: By default, the plan owner's manager specified in the owner's resource record and plan reviewers are listed on the Sharing tab. You can add or remove other users who are granted privileges in the Demand Plan process app as needed.
Click OK to save your changes.

Moving the Plan Through Its Life Cycle

The Demand Plan process app moves plans through a life cycle from proposal to completion, as described in About the Demand Plan Process App. Depending on your role in the Demand Plan process app and the current state of a plan, you can perform various life cycle actions in Demand Center.

Plan life cycle tasks include:

Finalizing a Plan

After planning is complete for some or all of the items in a plan, select Finish Planning:

The Finish Planning form from the Demand Item application opens. Depending on your organization's process, you can:

Select "Yes" from the Requires Sign-off drop-down to send the plan to those selected in the Plan Reviewers field.
Select "No" from the Requires Sign-off drop-down to bypass sign-off and send the plan directly to the execution phase.

If your plan requires sign-off, it will be sent to the in-flight phase after all sign-offs are complete. Plan owners can override this sign-off if reviewers are unavailable by selecting Override Sign-Off from the actions menu:

Once a plan is in-flight, the planned items are "unpaused" and can follow the regular process in their demand item application.

Canceling a Plan

Plan owners can cancel plans that are no longer valid. Plans can be canceled when they are planning, in-flight, or in a scheduled or ad hoc review.

Demand items assigned to canceled plans are "unpaused" and returned to demand views as "rejected" if they meet report criteria for the view.

To cancel a plan:

From the Planning tab, select the plan to cancel.
Select Cancel Plan from the actions menu.

Handling Plan Reviews

In-flight plans can be sent to review at one of these points:

Scheduled Reviews
Scheduled reviews during the in-flight phase are determined by settings made for the plan in the Demand Plan application. Depending on your organization's process, plans may be automatically sent to review one day before the scheduled review.
Ad-hoc Reviews
At any time during the in-flight phase, plans can be sent to ad-hoc review directly from Demand Center.
Plan Completion Reviews
When all of the work in plan is completed, the plan owner selects Project Complete from the actions menu to send the plan to a final review.

During the review, you can add minutes to the plan directly from Demand Center:

Minutes are stored in the Demand Plan Review Results auxiliary table and can be viewed on the Notes/Attachments tab of the plan in the SBM User Workspace.

When the review is finished, select Complete Review from the actions menu to open the plan and add work notes and other information as needed.

Changing a Plan Owner

Plan owners are responsible for adding items to plans, allocating and monitoring resources, conducting reviews, and ensuring a plan is signed off and completed.

If a plan owner is unavailable, you can delegate the plan to another owner, as long as the new owner has appropriate privileges in the Demand Plan process app.

To change a plan's owner:

From the Planning tab, select the plan.
Select Update Plan.
Select the Details tab, and then select the new owner from the Plan Owner field.
Click OK.

Completing a Plan

Once all work has been completed on items in a plan, you can close it by selecting Project Complete. This closes the plan in the Demand Plan process app.