A stage gate process splits an initiative's life into stages, such as Ideate, Plan, and Execute, with a gate between each one. At each gate, the work so far is reviewed against the stage's assessment criteria, and approved before the initiative moves on. Stage gates make sure initiatives only progress once they're ready, and that the right people have signed off.
This article covers both the Advanced and Simple Models. For setting up a process and its stages, see Configuring the Stage Gate Process.
How a stage gate process works
Each stage is followed by a gate. While the initiative is in a stage, its team does the work the stage asks for. At the gate, the stage is submitted for approval, and the initiative can't move on until it's approved.
For example, a process might have these stages:
- Ideate — define the initiative's goals, timeline, and risks.
- Business Case — set out the expected costs and benefits.
- Plan — confirm the plan and what success looks like.
- Execute — deliver the work.
- Realize — review the initiative's results against its goals.
A gate's approval can be one person, or several steps of approvers, set by the stage's approval workflow — see Approval Workflow Types.
Working through the stages
An initiative's stage gate is shown on its Performance Dashboard and its Initiative Workbook, where available. It works the same way in both. See Standard Dashboards and Initiative Workbook.
The progress graph
The graph shows the whole process. The current stage is shown in blue. Click another stage to view it; the stage you're viewing is highlighted.
Each gate's color and icon show where its stage is:
- Black — not reached yet, or no approval requested.
- Orange, with a clock — pending approval.
- Green, with a tick — approved.
- Red, with a cross — rejected.
The stage's details
Below the graph, the stage's details are laid out in three steps. Where they're hidden, click Show Workflow on the Performance Dashboard, or the Workflow heading on the Initiative Workbook.
- Step 1: Assessment criteria — what the stage needs to achieve, and its checklist items.
- Step 2: Attach supporting documents — documents for the approvers to review. Upload a new document, or select one already on the initiative. Where the stage doesn't use supporting documents, this step shows Supporting documents not required.
- Step 3: Approval workflow — the approval steps the stage needs to pass. Each step shows its status — pending, approved, or rejected, in the words the workflow uses for them.
Requesting approval
To request approval for a stage:
- Complete the stage's assessment criteria, and attach any supporting documents.
- Under Step 3: Approval workflow, check the approvers for each step, and add any commentary for them.
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Click Request Stage Approval. Where every step of the workflow is self-approval, the button is Approve Stage, and the stage is approved straight away.
The Request Stage Approval button.
Approval can't be requested while a required step has no one to approve it. The step shows a warning that a role has no team members to approve — ask your administrator to add team members to the role, or, where the workflow allows it, add an approver to the step. It also can't be requested where a step's condition is missing from the workflow; contact your administrator.
Where the initiative has required fields that aren't filled in, the request isn't sent, and a message links to them on the Initiative Workbook. Fill them in, and request approval again.
Once requested, the stage is on hold until the workflow is complete, and the approvers of the first step are notified.
Approval steps and approvers
Each step's approvers come from the team roles the workflow names for that step, and are shown under Step 3.
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Approvers can be added to or removed from a step where the workflow has Allow approvers to be modified turned on. The workflow's Which Roles are able to modify approvers? setting decides who can do this: All Users, or only members of the roles chosen. Administrators can always modify approvers. Approvers can be changed until the approval is complete. Both settings are on the workflow — see Approval Workflows. |
Approving or rejecting a stage
Where you're an approver for the current step, the stage shows Reject and Approve. Add commentary to explain your decision, and click one.
Once every required step is approved, the gate is approved and the initiative moves to the next stage. Stage gate approvals can also be given in the mobile app — see Mobile Companion App. Each request and response is recorded on the initiative's Timeline — see Activity Timelines.
When a stage is rejected
A single rejection rejects the whole gate — even where the step only needs one approval, unless another approver has already approved it. The gate turns red, with a cross. What happens next depends on the stage:
- Where the stage has a rejection stage — the initiative moves straight to it, such as a Cancelled end stage. The rejection stage is set with On Rejection go to Stage — see Configuring the Stage Gate Process.
- Otherwise — the initiative stays in the stage, marked as rejected. Read the approvers' commentary under Step 3, update the stage's work, and click Request Re-approval once it's ready to try again.
Locked plan and budget values
Where the process has a stage set in Lock Plan & Budget Values, the initiative's plan and budget values are locked once that stage is pending approval or approved — the plan values of its benefits and measures, and the budget values of its costs. They can't be edited while they're locked. For setting the stage, see Configuring the Stage Gate Process.
To change locked values, move the initiative back to that stage, or an earlier one, which unlocks them, and then have the stage approved again. See Changing an Initiative's Stage.
Changing stage outside the process
Administrators can advance an initiative straight to a later stage, and an initiative's owner can move it back to an earlier one. See Changing an Initiative's Stage.