Requirements as Key Milestones

[Mariia2]

Hi all,

It has been discovered during Requirements configuration that it is possible to mark Requirement as Key Milestone or Milestone, but it has not occurred on Project WBS. Could you please clarify how this configuration of Requirements is working and how it could be used within project activities?

Thank you.

[Sheila Llewelly]

In Project Management a WBS gives the timeline of the project. Key Milestones have no duration so they will not show up as a step in the progression of the WBS. 

Key Milestones are tasks with no duration to be used as checkpoints in the project: contract sign off, task sign off, customer sign off, etc. 

[Mariia2]

Thank you, Sheila, but it is still not clear the purpose of this field on Requirement form. Maybe you can provide more details about the functional necessity of the field and how we can track such key milestones from requirements in case they are not available on Project WBS?

Thank you.

[Sheila Llewelly]

Hi, Mariia, 

It sounds like there are a couple of items at play here. The Requirements form: I am assuming this is the requirements to complete the project, usually written or dictated by the customer. And the Key Milestones on PPM. I will give my thoughts on this and you can let me know if it is helpful. 

In Project Management, we write the Statement of Work (SOW) according to requirements for completing the project. If this is internal, there may not be a SOW, but we still have documented requirements. From those requirements we create tasks that will need to be completed in order to complete that deliverable. 

NOTE: Deliverable is what is given to the customer. i.e. Implemented Service Portal

Requirement is what the customer expects. i.e. Service Portal implemented for ITIL Users. 

Tasks are the work it takes to produce the deliverable. i.e. Create page for Service Portal. Install widgets for Service Portal. Configure header page. 

Milestones are like a schedule that we set to let the customer know that we have reached a certain point on completing the deliverable. A Milestone has no duration so it is not a part of the critical path calculations, it is only a statement of where we are in the timeline. A Milestone may be: Header page configured. A Key Milestone has no duration and usually shows the completion of a phase of tasks or milestones. i.e. Service Portal page created, widgets installed, and Header page configured. 

There is no direct relation to the requirements form except to let the customer know where you are in the project completion. 

[Mariia2]

Hello Sheila, 

Thank you for your responses, much appreciated!

Let me correct myself, as I feel that incorrectly expressed my question. During investigation of project Requirement form it has been discovered that Key Milestone check-box could be added on the form, but functional need of this check-box is not clear as such marked requirements are not added to Project WBS and not visible of timeline for portfolio, for example. So in order to ensure we use the function in full it is important for us to make sure we understand how this OOTB check box could be used. Print screen is attached.