How it works

Modeling for everyone

Stages enables everyone to model processes. Using a Wiki-like modeling approach Stages can be used by everyone to contribute in building the right processes.

It's easy to get started. Just take a look at the short video.

Proven methodology

Stages comes with a ready-to-use best practice methodology based on Method Park´s longterm experience in process management

• Uses proven standards like BPMN swimlanes and SIPOC charts to visualize processes or RASIC/RACI to assign activities to roles
• Easily adjustable to your specific organizational needs, rules, or terminology
• Contains automated checks for modeling guidelines, process consistency, and process quality

Solid process architecture

With Stages organizations can model their entire process landscape, from the top-level process map down to detailed workflows. This includes

• End-to-end transparency across different process areas removing organizational silos
• Maximum end user value through integrated guidance documents like templates, checklists, procedures, or policies
• Process variants for different product lines, locations, or regions, including reuse of process content

Assured compliance

Stages helps assuring the process compliance to standards, regulations, and governance frameworks like CMMI, Automotive SPICE, ISO 26262, ISO 62304, FDA, DO-178/254, EN 50128, APQC, and many more.

By mapping the requirements of these standards onto your processes, Stages will show you gaps and shortfalls, especially useful when preparing for audits, appraisals, or assessments.

Immediately share

Publishing process content for the whole organization is done with one click:

• Immediately available to all process users, no extra export or publishing steps required
• Proactive notification of user about new versions
• Controlled versioning, review, and release of process content

People can browse the released processes with any web browser from their desktops, laptops, tablets, or smartphones.

Let people understand

To make also complex processes understandable, Stages provides the right information to the right person at the right time through:

• End user centric visualization – users fully control the level of detail and can see the same process as a flow, swimlane, table, or grid, depending on their current needs
• Multiple perspectives for end users – view processes per role, work product, phase, or milestone
• Adaptable terminology – processes are presented to the audience in a language they understand

Tailor to scope

Process users see up-to-date process diagrams tailored to their scope of work, e.g. project, department, business unit, or location.

Content that is not relevant is not shown, the diagrams automatically adjust themselves.  This dramatically improves process understanding and acceptance.

Collect Feedback

Users can comment every part of the process for instant feedback.

Resulting process change requests can be managed, leading to continuously improved processes.

Submitters have full transparency about their requests, reports help process managers to track the progress until completion.

Pick the right processes

Picking the right processes for your project or program is the first step to successfully using processes in practice.

• Choose either from the organization’s process library or build a process that exactly covers your needs by combining predefined process modules.
• A rules-based tailoring engine generates lean project processes and still assures consistency and compliance.
• Project processes can be baselined and updated to newer process versions in a controlled manner and at the right point in time.

Manage work products

Create, modify, review, and release all project work products through Stages, independent of their physical storage repositories e.g. in SharePoint, Subversion, PTC Integrity, IBM ClearCase, IBM Synergy, or Serena Dimensions. 

See the status of all relevant work products for milestones or any other criteria and understand the progress of your whole project at a glance without having to manually browse through all repositories.

Automate processes

The Stages integration automatically generates work tickets, tasks or any other objects according to the defined process for each project in IBM Rational Team Concert or Atlassian JIRA.

This greatly reduces manual overhead, boosts process acceptance, and makes sure that critical steps cannot be skipped or forgotten.

Monitor performance & compliance

Provide easy access to key performance metrics and status reports by using the Stages reporting engine.

Save time and valuable engineering resources and automatically generate compliance evidences (e.g. CMMI PIIDs) and process requirements traces instead of manually collecting them in Excel sheets. All evidences can directly be fed into audit and appraisal systems.