Product Progress Report
Product Burndown
ScrumWorks Pro Desktop Client User Guide
Documentation Home
- Basic Product Burndown
- Enhanced Product Burndown
- Release Selection
- Themes Filtering
- Active Sprints
- Marking Backlog Items Done
- Backlog Item Effort History and Creation Dates
- References and Links to Further Reading
- Change Log View Selector
- Time Period Filter
- Backlog Item Changes Tracked
- Task Changes Tracked
- Sorting the Change Log
- Filtering the Change Log
- Refresh the Change Log
Documentation Home
Product Progress Report
Work progress is measured in "Product Backlog Effort units". For example, a progress bar that shows "217/274 (79%)" means that of 274 Product Backlog effort units currently scheduled for inclusion in the release, 217 have been marked "Done". This means that 79% of the currently scheduled work has been completed by the team.
The work progress is then superimposed on a chronological schedule. If the release is currently active (i.e., today's date is between the begin and end dates associated with the release) a red line will indicate "Today". Thus the work progress can be seen in clear relation to the proposed schedule.
This report updates itself each time there is a change to the system. In Scrum, changes are accepted as a normal occurance in project work. If the release dates, total backlog effort points or number of points marked "Done" change, then the Product Progress Report will mirror the changes automatically.
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A release must have an associated beginning and ending date to show up in the Product Progress Report. Two date fields are supplied for creating a Product Progress Report: a start date and an end date.
Releases occurring in this range are included in the report. The release doesn't have to be entirely contained within the dates; any release that overlaps the date range selected will be included in the report.
In ScrumWorks Pro, begin and end dates associated with releases imply a schedule. The Warning Level lets users customize how releases that are behind schedule appear. When a release is behind schedule, the color of the progress bar can be either yellow or red, and the Warning Level dictates whether red or yellow is displayed. The Warning Level is the threshold above which ScrumWorks Pro displays a red bar to indicate that the release is behind schedule by a percentage greater than or equal to the Warning Level value. For example, if the Warning Level is set to 10%, the progress bar for the release will be yellow if the project is only 5% behind schedule but red if the project is 11% behind schedule.
Required Permissions: View Product Progress, Sprint Change, Product/Release Burndown Reports
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The Product Progress Report is accessed as a PDF file; however, a preview is available before the final PDF is published. To preview a report:
- In the left pane, select all Products for inclusion in the report.
- Then adjust the Date and Warning Level settings as desired.
- Click the Generate button to see a preview of the Product Progress Report.
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Required Permissions: View Product Progress, Sprint Change, Product/Release Burndown Reports
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Product Burndown
Here is an example of the basic product burndown chart:
Each bar represents the amount of product backlog remaining on the first day of the Sprint. For each selected release, the product backlog consists of all uncommitted backlog items for that release and all committed backlog items in sprints in that release.
Each backlog item maintains its own effort history, recording entries as the backlog item is re-estimated over time. This historical view of each backlog item is used to calculate the total effort remaining on the first day of each sprint.
Backlog items committed to sprints can be marked "Done". This indicates to the product burndown that this backlog item's effort is now considered as work that is done; work that has been burned. This effort is then excluded from the total effort remaining and causes the sprint bar heights to decrease. Bar heights can also go down if backlog items are re-estimated at a lower effort value. The bars increase in height when new backlog items are added or existing backlog items are re-estimated at an increase.
Data for sprints ending within one week of each other are merged into one bar. This is especially useful when multiple teams are working from the same product backlog. It helps give a more accurate (and less crowded) picture of the work being done.
Required Permissions: View Product Progress, Sprint Change, Product/Release Burndown Reports
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Here is an example of the enhanced product burndown chart:
This chart shows that if the current trends continue, project completion is forecast in 1-5 sprints.
The bar high positions on this chart are plotted by subtracting the amount of backlog burned during the prior Sprint. Each subsequent Sprint bar high position will either go down or stay flat, but never go up.
The lower portions extending below the previous Sprint's low position denote new backlog items added or additional effort as a result of re-estimation. The low bar position can also go up from the previous sprint. This happens when the total effort decreases, either through the removal of product backlog or a decrease caused by re-estimation of existing backlog items.
Data for sprints ending within one week of each other are merged into one bar. This is especially useful when multiple teams are working from the same product backlog. It helps give a more accurate (and less crowded) picture of the work being done.
Options for Enhanced Product Burndown Charts
In the Enhanced Chart Options tab, two Velocity Trendlines and various Velocity Projections are offered. Either trendline may be selected and specified in combination with any of the available Velocity Projections, offering a highly customizable chart. When the option for Completion Forecasts is checked, any specified trendlines and projections that will intersect in a reasonable amount of time with the Work Added/Removed Trendline will be extended to those points, and the chart will expand in scale to display the intersections. If no specified trendlines and projections will intersect with the Work Added/Removed Trendline, no completion forecast is possible and will not be displayed.
Required Permissions: View Product Progress, Sprint Change, Product/Release Burndown Reports
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- Effort for all uncommitted backlog items in the release
- Effort for committed backlog items in sprints within the release
Required Permissions: View Product Progress, Sprint Change, Product/Release Burndown Reports
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- In the Themes subsection of the Releases & Themes tab, click the checkbox for "Filter chart by Themes"
- A Themes Filter dialog appears offering checkboxes for all Themes that exist in the Product. By default, all options are selected.
- Check all Themes you wish to include in the Burndown chart, and uncheck those Themes you wish to exclude from representation in the Burndown chart. Note the checkbox "(no Theme assignment)" for Backlog Items that do not have a Theme assignment. Checking this box includes in the chart any Backlog Items that have no Theme assignment.
Select the Build Chart button to re-display the chart using the selected Themes.
Required Permissions: View Product Progress, Sprint Change, Product/Release Burndown Reports
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Required Permissions: Mark Product Backlog Item as Done
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Please see Edit Product Backlog Item Estimate History for more details on editing backlog item estimate history.
Required Permissions: "Product Backlog Items" > "Edit Historical Estimates"
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Sprint Change Report
Required Permissions: View Product Progress, Sprint Change, Product/Release Burndown Reports
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- Click "Reports" -> "Sprint Change Report"
- Open a Basic or Enhanced Product Burndown chart and select the "Sprint Change Report" tab
Required Permissions: View Product Progress, Sprint Change, Product/Release Burndown Reports
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Earned Business Value
The y-axis denotes the total business value of the Group or Program being reported upon in percentage format. The x-axis denotes chronological time. Therefore, this report shows rate at which Business Value is being delivered over time as restricted by the Program or Group selected.
In order to emphasize completion of business value in the current Group or Program rather than historical changes to the Program/Group structure, the report assumes that the selected Program or Group and its nesting structure existed in its current form when its oldest associated Backlog Item was created. That is, when the report is created, Backlog Items (and their business value) are graphed as if they always belonged to their current Groups.
To generate a report on a Program or Group:
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Open the Program on which you'd like to run a report
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From the "Reports" main menu dropdown, select
"Earned Business Value Report"
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In the resultant dialog, specifications and optional
displays for the report are entered in the tabs at left,
and a preview of the graph is shown at right. Below
the graph is a box showing a URL that can be used
to remotely view the report from a web browser.
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In the Program/Group tab, specify the following:
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Date Range (x-axis): Specify the date range
represented on the x-axis by selecting the start
date for the graph. The end date will always be the
current date.
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Program/Group: Select the entire Program or a specific Group to be
graphed. 100% will equal the entire Business Value of all nested
Groups and Backlog Items contained by your selection.
Note, changes to Groups or Group structure in the Program Navigator window will not be reflected in an open report window until the report window is closed and re-opened.
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Date Range (x-axis): Specify the date range
represented on the x-axis by selecting the start
date for the graph. The end date will always be the
current date.
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In the Display Options tab, choose from the following options:
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Display Completion Threshold on Graph (y-axis): The Completion Threshold
represents the level of earned business
value at which it may be acceptable to release the feature set in question.
It is most often the case in Agile development that less than 100%
of all defined business value of a feature set is delivered in the first
(or even second, third, etc.) iteration of development. Robustness
enhancements that produce diminishing returns are often left for
future iterations of a feature.
Select this option to indicate on the graph a level along the y-axis that represents a specified percentage of completed Business Value. Enter a desired value for this thershold. The threshold will be indicated by a gray background on the generated chart.
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Display Completion Trendline: Select this option to include on the
graph a line that indicates the average rate of completion of Business
Value.
Note, the trendline is impacted by the start date indicated in the Date Range. The start date selected changes the data points displayed and the resulting trendline through those data points. For example, to trend only the most current data points, use a start date that reflects only the desired data points.
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Forecast Completion: Select this option to extend a burn-up trendline
to 100% of Business Value completed, based on the average rate of
completion. Note, the Forecast Completion option will extend the
trendline through the Completion Threshold all the way to 100% even
if the Completion Threshold is set below 100%.
-
Display Completion Threshold on Graph (y-axis): The Completion Threshold
represents the level of earned business
value at which it may be acceptable to release the feature set in question.
It is most often the case in Agile development that less than 100%
of all defined business value of a feature set is delivered in the first
(or even second, third, etc.) iteration of development. Robustness
enhancements that produce diminishing returns are often left for
future iterations of a feature.
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Click the "Generate Report" button below the tabbed section at
any time to update the graphed data displayed at right with changes
you've made.
- The most currently updated graph may be viewed by stakeholders from outside the desktop client at the path displayed in the Report URL box. Click the "Open Report URL" button to view the graph in a web browser. Note, this URL is not protected by authentication and can be viewed by anyone with knowledge of the URL.
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Change Log
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Note that for large date ranges it may take a long time to retrieve and display the data.
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- Created Backlog Items
- Deleted Backlog Items
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Changes to Backlog Items:
- Title
- Description
- Estimate
- Estimate History
- Business Weight
- Status
- Release
- Sprint
- Priority
- Themes
- Attachments
- Date and time the change was made
- User who made the change
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- Created Tasks
- Deleted Tasks
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Changes to Tasks:
- Title
- Description
- Estimate
- Estimate History
- Status
- Backlog Item
- Priority
- Date and time the change was made
- User who made the change
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The Change Log can be sorted by "Key", "Title", "Date/Time", or "Username" (the user who effected the change). Note, the "Event" column is not sortable because change log entries may span multiple event types (e.g., description and title). To sort by multiple columns, hold the control key and click the second column header.
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