Teams need to carefully verify the coordinates entered in the Size and Performance cells. They should not enter 0 in these cells to terminate a product. Doing so will only create an unmarketable product (to terminate a product, sell all its Capacity on the Production Spreadsheet). Teams should make sure the coordinates entered fall within a segment circle. If they are outside of all segment circles they will not appeal to any customers and consequently will not sell.

When teams launch an R&D project they will see the project completion date in the Revision Date column. If an R&D project takes more than one year to complete, the team will not be able to start a follow-on project in the following round. Teams cannot start a new R&D project before the previous one completes (the entry cells for that product will be yellow- teams will be unable to enter new numbers). Also, the new coordinates will not appear in the next Capstone^® Courier (the product is still at its old coordinates as of December 31 of the previous year).

Teams need to check Revision Dates carefully. Starting a second R&D project, or changing (on the Production Spreadsheet) the Automation level for a product in R&D will change the Revision Date.

The term Age and Perceived Age are used interchangeably. An existing product has its Age/Perceived Age cut in half on the day it emerges from an R&D repositioning project. For example, if a product with an Age/Perceived Age of 3.6 years is repositioned (revised) today, customers would perceive the Age to be 1.8 years. An R&D project that changes only MTBF (reliability) will not change Age/Perceived Age.

Product invention requires four entries: a Size value, a Performance value, an MTBF and a Name. To invent a product, enter a name in an NA cell.

Important: Teams need to make sure that the new product name starts with the first letter of team's team name.

Important: Teams need to be sure to purchase production Capacity and Automation for a new product one year prior to the product's release.

During the R&D period, products continue to be produced at their old specifications (Size, Performance and MTBF). On the Revision Date, the product begins production at the new specifications. Any products in inventory are reworked to match the new specifications.