Deliverables
Deliverables appear in both the Schedule table and on the Tasks page. From this page you can subscribe to and reference a deliverable. Only project, program, or product managers can create a deliverable. Both managers and the deliverable owner can edit a deliverable.
Deliverables represent the tangible or measurable output of a project or program, for example, a document that is to be delivered by a specific date. Deliverables might represent design models, specification documents, prototypes, tooling modifications, and reports. In many cases, deliverables are the most important piece of plan information to manage and track. Most activities and milestones are created and executed in order to support the completion of deliverables.
In order to identify the content being delivered, deliverables can have subjects such as documents or parts. Activities and milestones can be associated with a deliverable to indicate the output of the activity is a deliverable.
Deliverables and Deliverable Activities
Standalone deliverables offer a different functionality than deliverable activities. For more information on deliverable activities, see Deliverable Activities.
Deliverable activities are not compatible with standalone deliverables. You cannot add a standalone activity to a deliverable activity.
Deliverable  |
Deliverable Activity  |
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You can only link a deliverable to one subject object.
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You can link a deliverable activity to multiple subject objects.
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The subject object can be located in any context to which you have access.
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Subject objects are restricted based on the current context:
• Project activities—The subject object must be located within the same project context. This can include objects that are shared to the project from a PDM context.
• Program activities—The subject object must be located within the same program context.
• Product activities—The subject object can be located in any PLM context (for example, a product, library, or quality context). You cannot include objects located in projects or programs.
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Create using the New Deliverable action.
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Create by selecting the Mark activity as deliverable option in the New Activity and Edit Activity windows.
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Scheduling is limited to the following:
• Start date
• Finish date
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Use the same scheduling options available for activities, including:
• Resources
• Scheduling constraints and predecessor relationships
• Duration and work
• Task types
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Deliverable work is tracked separately from the activity work by editing the deliverable.
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You can track deliverable work as activity work.
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The deliverable is always linked to the latest version of the subject object.
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You can set a tracking policy:
• Fixed Revision—Links to the latest iteration of the current revision. Use this policy if you are including objects created in a project or program context.
• Latest Revision—Links to the latest version of the object.
• Fixed Subject—Links to a specific revision and iteration of a version-controlled objects. This policy also links to non-revision objects, with the exception of change objects. Use this policy if you are including a managed baseline or lot baseline.
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There is no restriction on subject object types.
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Subject objects must be one of the following types:
• Change objects
• Parts
• Documents
• EPM Documents
• Variant Specifications
• Packages
• Baselines (managed and lot)
• Windchill QMS objects
• Windchill MPMLink objects
• Enterprise data
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Deliverable behavior changes when the Link deliverables with project activities option is selected.
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The Link deliverables with project activities option does not affect the functionality of deliverable activities.
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When a deliverable is linked to a subject object, the deliverable appears in the Deliverables table on the subject object information page.
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When a deliverable is linked to a subject object, the deliverable appears in the Plan Activities table on the subject object information page.
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Linking Deliverables with Activities
When creating a plan, you have the option of setting the Default Linked Deliverables preference. The preference specifies how deliverables that are linked to an activity are managed and tracked within the plan.
When set to False (default), linked deliverables are managed independently, allowing for individual scheduling and progress tracking.
When set to True, linked deliverables inherit scheduling attributes from the associated plan activity and are synchronized for progress tracking and completion.
The following table describes the change in behavior for activities and milestones when linked with deliverables:
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Activity
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• One or more deliverables can be associated with an activity.
• Modifying the % Work Complete value for the activity automatically updates the corresponding data for the linked deliverables.
• The start and finish dates of the activity override the Start and Finish dates set for the deliverables.
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Milestone
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• A single deliverable can be associated with multiple milestones, and multiple deliverables can be associated with the same milestone.
• A deliverable associated to an activity can simultaneously be associated with a milestone (or multiple milestones).
• The % Work Complete calculation for a milestone is derived from the data entered for associated deliverables. Consequently, you cannot directly update the % Work Complete for a milestone.
For example, if Milestone A is associated with Deliverable 1 (50% complete), Deliverable 2 (30% complete), and Deliverable 3 (40% complete), the % Work Complete for Milestone A is 40%. Updating the % Work Complete for any of the associated deliverables changes the calculated value for Milestone A.
• Resource assignments are not allowed for milestones.
• In auto-execution mode, if a milestone is linked to a deliverable with associated activities, the milestone state is automatically updated as the activity states change. At this time, a notification is sent to the milestone owner.
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When you set the Default Linked Deliverables preference to true (yes) and a deliverable to an activity, you cannot modify attributes such as % Work Complete, Start Date, Finish Date, Deadline, and Owner.
For more information, see Manage Multiple Deliverables in a Linked Plan.
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With the Link deliverables with project activities preference set, you cannot import a project from Microsoft Project if the project has milestones with resource assignments.
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