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Overview
This guide explains how to use Sprint Capacity Planning & Tracking app so it provides us with an accurate and high-level view of sprints planning and tracking.
Using Sprint Capacity Planning & Tracking is done within the context of Jira Boards, inside the Backlog view.
This adds and additional level of visibility to the daily sprint(s) and team(s) management tools.
Teams
Teams are the mechanism helping us to organize and group resources for whom we want to plan and track work together.
Once teams are created they are assigned to sprints and planning can commence.
There can be several teams for a sprint (board) and you can view each of them separately.
There are two options to create and manage Teams -
Board Teams - are created by a board administrator and are only relevant to the specific board in which they were created (and can only be used in that board).
Global Teams - are created by an administrator (see Admin Guide), and can be used multiple times in multiple projects and boards.
When using a Global Team in a board, we can change the team’s resources and their capacity, however these changes will only affect the current board.
In a way Global Teams can be regarded as templates for Teams which are used often, and which for specific usages, can be locally modified.
Setting Teams and Sprints
In order to set teams to work with sprints, we need to create teams in the board (Board Teams) or use Global Teams created by the administrator.
Whether we create a new team or use an existing one, we need to configure (or verify) the wanted resources for the team and that each resource have Role and Capacity assigned.
After Teams are configured, they can be assigned to sprints so planning and tracking are enabled.
Board Team
This section explains how to create a new Board Team and how to configure a Board Team.
Also, it is important to set the estimation method according to which the teams capacity and tracking will be done.
Estimation Method
This is a one time thing and it affects all the teams in the board.
Open the board where you want to create your team.
In Backlog view click the 'Capacity Planning' button (top right), and select 'Board Teams'.
Set the estimation method for the teams (Story Points or Hours).
Create a Board Team
Once in the ‘Board Teams’ page (Board Backlog view → ‘Capacity Planning’ → ‘Board Teams’), click ‘New Team’ and then ‘Create’.
In the dialog provide a descriptive name for the new team and click ‘Add’.
Configure a Board Team
Once in the ‘Board Teams’ page (Board Backlog view → ‘Capacity Planning’ → ‘Board Teams’) a list of the teams crated in the board will be displayed.
Expand the team you which to configure.
Add team members by clicking the ‘+Add person’ link and then in the added table row.
For each team member select relevant Role (from list set by administrator), and set a Capacity (daily commitment).
Assigning Teams To Sprints
To use the Board Teams we created with for planning and tracking, or the Global Teams created for us, we need to assign each team to one or more sprints.
Open the board you want to plan your team with.
In Backlog view click the 'Capacity Planning' button (top right), and select 'Team Configuration'.
In the Team Configuration screen you will see a list of teams already assigned to sprints.
Add a new team-sprint assigning by clicking ‘+Add Sprint Team Configuration’.
In the dialog choose the team that is to be assigned a sprint (this can be either a Global or Board team), and click ‘Add’.
The chosen team will be added to the bottom of the list assigned by default to the next sprint (as configured in the Backlog).
Change the sprint assigned for the team by selecting a different sprint from the drop-down list.
Expand a team to change any of the following attributes,
(Here is also where a Global Team settings can be changed for the current specific board and sprint) -Sprints - to which sprint this setting will be applied.
People - add/remove team members.
Roles - add/edit roles of team members (will allow you to track work per role).
Daily Capacity - daily commitment of team member for the selected sprint, value is according to selected estimation method (Hours/Point);
this setting is helpful with team members who are not working full time within the team.Days Off (n, n.5) - number of days off a team member is planning to take in this sprint.
Team Days Off - if the whole team has days off (e.g. holiday) you can set it here affecting all team members instead of setting personal days off per each team member.
Make sure that the estimation for the team (Story Points or Hours) is the estimation you need!
Capacity Planning
Once we have Teams and those are assigned to sprints we can start examining the capacity planning for each team on the board.
Planning is viewed in a special panel in the Backlog view of the wanted board.
To open the panel, In Backlog view click the 'Capacity Planning' button (top right), and select 'Show panel view'.
Planning Panel View Areas
The planning panel view displays the total planned work for a selected team-sprint assignment, in four main areas thus providing different views of original estimation compared to resource time assignment in the team (Potential Capacity vs. Planned Work) -
Team Planned Work - total planned work of the whole team compared to the total team potential capacity (all members planned work combined).
Role Planned Work - planned work overview for each Role taking part in the Team, compared to the calculated potential capacity of each Role for the specific sprint (as defined in the Team Configuration, by total potential capacity of team members set to Role).
Status Planned Work - total planned work by statuses of issues assigned to the team members defined for the selected team-sprint assignment, compared to the total calculated potential capacity of the team members assigned to these issues.
Team Members Planned Work - planned work per each of the team’s assigned members, for the specific sprint, compared to the team member potential capacity as configured in the team.
The values displayed in the Panel view, are updated at 20 seconds refresh intervals.
Planning Panel View Modes
The planning panel view allows to switch between three modes, each affecting the context of what is displayed in the panel view areas (as described above) -
Capacity (hours) - Planning mode, show all planned work calculations based on hours estimations (if hours estimations in use).
Capacity (story points) - Planning mode, show all planned work calculations based on story points estimations (if story points estimations in use).
Tracking - (switch panel to) Tracking mode. All areas will change name from ‘<area> Planned Work’ to ‘<area> Tracking’, and the values presented in the areas will reflect the amount of planned work as was at the start of the sprint, compared to the work that was logged as completed by the team-sprint assigned resources (Planned Work vs. Actual Work). The calculation base used when in Tracking mode depends on the estimation method set for the Board (see above).
To switch between these modes, simply choose the wanted one from the view modes drop-down list in the top left of the view panel.
Planning and Tracking Calculation
Planned work capacity is calculated based on the sprint's tasks 'Remaining' field values (and not 'Estimate' value), giving the sprint planner a more true view of the actual work effort that is planned for the team and team members. Once a sprint starts, planned work values are locked. Any updates to the sprint's tasks 'Remaining' field values (such as with log work), do not affect Planned Work values recorded when the sprint started.
Tracking actual work is calculated based on the work logged as completed in the sprint by a team member assigned to it, so for this to be accurate it is critical team members update their progress through the use of 'log work'.
Calculation Issues Selection Options
In the view panel, for either Planning or Tracking modes, there are additional options to select the issues on which estimation and logged work values, the planned work and actual work calculated values are done and displayed -
Tasks - calculate only values of issues of types such as tasks, bugs and other issue types in that same level.
Tasks + Sub-tasks - calculate all the above elements and their sub-tasks (the original estimation given in the sub-tasks will be addressed and populated).
Sub-tasks - calculate only sub-tasks (the original estimation given in the sub-tasks will be addressed and populated).
Smart Calculation - Tasks + Sub-tasks, however, if for sub-tasks having original estimate, parent task values are not calculated.
To change between these options, choose the wanted one from the top left drop-down list in the view panel (located above the modes drop-down).
This is still to be rewritten/removed - waiting for the release of the next version of plugin, in order to also add program view section.
Still thinking how to present the area change when switching to tracking view. own section, or the comment in the Modes is enough….
Tracking view -
Different views of total time tracking (Original estimation,Remaining estimation, Logged work) of team resources. (10 sec refresh intervals, updates the views with time tracking changes and assignees)
Team - Team overview of total time tracking of team resources per related sprint
Role - Team time tracking overview per role (defined in the Team Configuration of total capacity of team resources per related sprint
Resource - Time tracking overview per person on the specific sprint compared to its availability configured in the team
Issues - Time tracking overview of all sprint issues in one place
Risk assessment of the progress by time of logged work Vs. sprint progress - Work progress alerts (Triangles) - GREEN:On track, YELLOW:Warning, RED:Overload
Support
Support tickets can be opened Here