Project Workspace

1. Overview

No matter whether you are responsible for initiating Business Design projects or running projects yourself, this software can make your life way much easier. The Project Workspace supports you in every phase of a Business Design project and is highly recommended as a CORE tool in Business Design.

Key functions are:

• Define and share your Project Charter with relevant stakeholders (e.g. sponsor)

• Document the results of each project phase and track your progress

• Manage individual tasks in your team all in one place

• Share project related documents among team members

• Work and collaborate on Business Design worksheets virtually 

• Build dashboards to visualize your results from the Discover or Validate phase 

• Connect our IoT Sensor Kit to see and analyze sensor data in real-time 

• Document decisions after each project iteration

2. Example

The screen shows the project page that members of project teams and the sponsor can see simply accessible via an URL and a password. The administration area is only available for registered users to setup the project page.

3. How to Use the Software

Setup Phase

1. The Business Design coach creates a new "project" in the Project Workspace at the beginning of the Setup phase. The Project Workspace requires a minimum set of basic information (e.g. name of the project, password etc.).

2. The innovation manager and the (internal) sponsor flesh out a Project Charter on the "Setup" panel of the software. The Business Design coach may support this. The Project Charter defines the scope of the project and should be documented digitally.

3. Before the Kick-off workshop, the Business Design coach shares the link and the password of the Project Workspace with every stakeholder. The Project Workspace keeps the documentation of the Project Charter visible for every stakeholder throughout the whole project.

Discover Phase

1. During the Discover phase, team members of the project team can define and document their research activities in the software. The "Discover" panel provides forms to document both activities and key results.

2. It is also recommended to use the task management features to define, assign and track tasks for the teamwork.

3. Key documents can be also stored in the software by just dragging them into the "Cockpit"

Design Phase

1. In the Design phase, the Project Workspace is a great tool to describe the new business model that has been designed to achieve the objectives of the sponsor. The "Design" panel of the software provides forms for this and the possibility to upload a short video that tells the "story". 

2. Moreover, we recommend keeping using the task management features as mentioned in the previous phase.

3. Digital worksheets can be also helpful to fine-tune business models, hypotheses, experiments etc. after physical workshops

Validate Phase

1. During the Validate phase, the project team use the software to define and document their research activities.. The "Validate" panel provides forms to document both activities and key results.

2. While conducting experiments, the dashboard features may help monitor the progress of the project and the achievement of your objectives by showing "live" data.

3. Moreover, we recommend keeping using the task management features as mentioned in the previous phase.

Decide Phase

1. The Project Workspace is a great tool to prepare the Decide Workshop / D-Day. All information should be ready and available to be prepare a "Decide Wall" for the project's sponsor.

2. After the presentation, the decision of the sponsor should be documented in the Project Workspace and the Business Design coach may set up and start the next iteration of the project.

4. Q & A

• Why is there only one password for the whole project team? To remove usage barriers and keep the access as simple as possible. If a registration process is necessary for every team member, half of the project team as well as the project sponsor, would never use the project workspace.

• When I go on the login page of the Project Workspace, I can't create a new account. Why? The Project Workspace is restricted and only accessible by our clients and certified Business Designers. If you belong to one of the two groups, please send us a short email (info@orangehills.de) and you will get your credentials within 24 hours.