Tool Mentor: Reviewing Product Lifecycle Data with IBM Rational Focal Point
This tool mentor explains how to review product lifecycle data when using IBM® Rational® Focal Point™.
Tool: IBM Rational Focal Point
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Main Description

The examples in this tool mentor are based on the Product Portfolio Management, Version 1.0, add-on and IBM® Rational® Focal Point™, Version 6.4. If you use the add-on, most of the necessary modules and views have already been configured for you. If you are not using the add-on, your workspace will require some configuration to support the features described in this tool mentor.

Configuration

First, configure Rational Focal Point with the attributes needed for the product's lifecycle review by following these steps:

  1. Create a module to store your product data and name it, for example, "Products."
  2. Create the necessary attributes:

    Attribute Name Attribute Type Description
    Product Name Text    
    Lifecycle Phase Choice For example: Introduced, Growth, Maturity, Decline
    Actual Revenue Matrix Use a matrix attribute to capture financial data by product, such as revenue or cost

  3. Create a display to make the data accessible to your users.

See the "Configure" section in Focal Point Help for further details on how to create workspaces, modules, attributes, and views.

Review products by lifecycle phase

Portfolio managers are interested in following up on how the products in the portfolio distribute over the lifecycle phases. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to Rational Focal Point, if you are not already logged in.
  2. Open the Workspace.
  3. Select Display > Our Product Portfolio (r/w).
  4. Select the Statistical display  button in the toolbar.
  5. Finally, select which attributes to display at the bottom of the page. In this case, select "Lifecycle Phase" in Row, "None" in Column, and "Number of Elements" in Cell.
  6. In the result window, you will see how the products distribute over the different lifecycle phases presented in percentage and in absolute value.

Review revenue by lifecycle phase and products

Using the same Statistical display as in the previous example, you can view different types of financial information (as long as the types are included in the view definition). For example, if you want to review the actual revenue for all products, in Cell, select "Sum: Actual Revenue," instead. The data in the cells is then summarized from all products for that lifecycle phase.

Product lifecycle data selections

If you want to view the actual revenue data for a particular product, click the product link in the result view.