The 'stages' tab provides a pick list of the stages defined for the project. The user can view or edit the information for each stage (depending on permissions) by selecting a stage from the list and clicking the 'Stages Info...' button.

Note: If the Method Template uses a different alias for 'Stage' (repeatable element in the method template) e.g. 'Work Package' as it is here below then this will appear everywhere in the system where Stage was previously shown.  This includes the tab header and locations in the form described here below.

Basic status information can then be seen for each stage as follows, this has been set up as default to match the expected information in a typical Highlight report.

The 'General' tab enables the user to provide a description of the stage, the stage name and user account of the person responsible for delivery of the stage, and then a commentary. All the contents of this tab can be included in a management report but this information is not version controlled in the database so it is simply a 'snapshot' view of the project.  Users can also provide an overview status for the stage here which will be reflected in the RAG reporting for projects and portfolios, as well as the Dashboards.

The 'Status' tab allows the stage manager to indicate progress through important steps in successful delivery of a stage.  These results will be shown in the Project, portfolio and dashboard reports as part of the RAG reporting.  The list presented is populated from the Method Template and may therefore be different from project to project.

The 'Products' tab provides the stage manager with space to show the products completed during this period or due for completion in the next period.

The 'Risks and Issues' tab gives the stage manager the opportunity to bring out any risks, issues and the possibility of their impact on budget and schedule

The 'Extended Properties' tab provides the user with the ability to show the budget and plan for the stage as well as the tolerance position. The form accepts the basic final statistics on these and relies on the user calculating their spend and budget position separately. Likewise it is assumed that the stage manager will feed information from the stage plan into the summary fields here for use in reporting.  These fields are under the control/specifcation of the Method template and may therefore differ on different project types.

Finally the 'Spreadsheet' tab enables the user to replace the majority of this form and instead choose to populate Stage Highlight information from a spreadsheet.  This provides flexibility should a particular project or stage need to report with an information structure outside the standard approach.

Note: The spreadsheet approach doesn't replace the data from the 'Products' tab which is used for the Project Dashboard and the colour coding of the stage statuses in the Project and Portfolio reports although this can be disabled by customising the report XSL if required.