How to Use ITONICS Roadmap Templates

Roadmap Templates

The ITONICS Roadmap templates are based on the most common roadmap types used in different industries. When creating a new roadmap in ITONICS, they can be used to develop a roadmap faster with a given structure. In the following, the usage and structure of each template are explained:

Strategic Planning

This type is suitable for general strategic appraisal, in terms of supporting the evaluation of different opportunities or threats, typically at the business level. The strategic roadmap focuses on the development of a vision of the future business, in terms of markets, business, products, technologies, skills, culture, etc. Gaps are identified, by comparing the future vision with the current position, and strategic options explored to bridge the gaps.

Roadmap Layer	Description
Market Why? (external)	This Layer includes external trends & drivers, which may have an impact on the competitive environment. The social Trend "Sustainable Consumer Decision" & "Alternative Mobility" for example could be a trigger for upcoming electric car-sharing services. Politics and law can also have strong effects on industries and companies behavior. Relevant activities of competitors and important customers also belong to this layer.
Business Why? (internal)	The business perspective represents a company's high-level plans and goals to reach. The business goal of CO2-neutral production in 2035 for example will result in changes in product development & manufacturing which requires new skills, technologies and resources.
Product & Services What?	This view focuses on activities in the development of marketable products & services aligned to a company's vision to reach one or more discovered opportunities. All activities in this layer needs to be well harmonized with the activities in the adjoining layers. For example, the development of a CO2-neutral self-driving e-taxi could meet future trends and business goals.
Technology How? (knowledge based)	Technologies are enablers for innovative products & services. This layer visualizes current and planned technological knowledge and intellectual property of a company. In case of the mentioned example above, research in "Autonomous Decision-making Systems" and in "Carbon Sequestration" are activities to enable the desired innovation.
Skills How? (competence- based)	This layer represents personal competences, methods and qualifications which are basics to develop innovative products & services out of technological knowledge. Methods like "Design Thinking" or "Agile Project Management", for example, are supporting innovative processes. But also skills in a certain programming language could be a needed component to develop e.g. an AI for self-driving cars.
Organization How? (resource-based)	On the bottom layer, the physical, financial and human resources are which enable an organization to work on their ambitious goals are shown. To partner with research institutes or tech-startups could be an organizational activity to "import" skills and knowledge. Determining and planning R&D Budget or hiring new developers are other examples for this layer.

Product Planning

This is by far the most common type of technology roadmap, relating to the insertion of technology into manufactured products, often including more than one generation of product. The template enables to link planned technology and product developments. This template should be used to have a more detailed look on the interactions between product and technology development processes. To make sure to develop the "right" product & technologies, it is recommended to use this template after developing a strategic roadmap.

Roadmap Layer	Description
Product What?	The top layer focuses on the current and planned activities in the product and service development process. For more complex products, it is useful to break this layer down into different sub-layers to visualize activities in on different components of the product(s). A self-driving car e.g. could have simply the sub-layers hardware, software and design. Also, other sub-layer perspectives which e.g. represent different generations or versions of a product are common.
Technology How?	The bottom represents current and future technological resources which enable a company to develop products or services. Different sub-layers could be useful to represent activities in different R&D departments or technological fields.

Knowledge Asset Planning

This type aligns knowledge assets and knowledge management initiatives with business objectives. The template enables to visualize critical knowledge assets, and the linkages to the skills, technologies and competencies required to meet future market demands. The pivotal role of knowledge management is more pronounced in knowledge-intensive organisations such as those involved in research and development, and new product development.

Roadmap Layer	Description
Business Objectives	The business perspective represents a company's strategic goals, which are based on analyzed opportunities and threats.
Leading Projects & Actions	The leading Projects & Actions to achieve the high-level business goals above are visualized in this layer.
Knowledge Management Enablers	Exploitation of knowledge requires managers' support. Typical key KM enablers are strategy & leadership, corporate culture, people and information technology. They should to be implemented well within a company to enable knowledge flow and development.
Knowledge-related Processes	This layer represents knowledge-related communicative interactions within an organization. Typical processes are: organizational learning, knowledge sharing or employee empowerment. Methods like E-learning, lessons learned, or so-called brown bag meetings are common tools to implement such processes.
Knowledge Assets	Knowledge assets are the intellectual resources a company currently has access to or wants to implement to reach high-level business goals or visions. They can be unstructured, tacit knowledge. So as an example, there would be the deep expertise of key personnel. Or knowledge assets can be structured, explicit knowledge, codified. Examples there would be patents, copyrights and intellectual proprietary rights in codified form.

Program Planning

This type focuses on implementation of strategy and more directly relates to project planning (for example R&D programs). This template enables to show the relationships between technology development and program phases and milestones. It is very useful to add project milestones and key decision points when using this template.

Roadmap Layer	Description
Project Flow What?	Typically, this layer shows the phases and milestone of larger R&D-based projects or programs. To reach a new market, the phases could be "Consolidation", "Acquisition" and "New Market".
Technology How?	The bottom represents current and future technological resources which enable a company to reach milestones in a R&D- based program. Different sub-layers could be useful to represent activities in different R&D departments or technological fields.

Service & Capability Planning

This type is more suited to service-based enterprises, focusing on how technology supports organizational capabilities. This roadmap focuses on organizational capabilities as the bridge between technology and the business, rather than products.

Roadmap Layer	Description
Drivers & Markets	This Layer includes external trends & drivers, which may have an impact on the competitive environment. The social Trend "Sustainable Consumer Decision" & "Alternative Mobility" for example could be a trigger for upcoming electric car-sharing services.
Capabilities to meet	On this layer, an organization's current and planned capabilities are visualized, which are necessary to offer marketable services. Capabilities for an electric car-sharing services could be "manage a fleet" or "repair electric cars".
Technology Development	The bottom layer shows the development of technological assets to enable the planned services. In case of an electric car-sharing service, this could be the development of an app for end users or the integration of GPS trackers in shared e-cars.