Structure Gantt - stage dates visualisation

[francis]

Like many, we use Epics to scaffold our development process, with a couple of well-defined stages

• Prepared (scope and approach defined)
• Code Freeze (all stories implemented)
• Validated (Feature in product)

We are looking into structure gantt to create some visibility on the planning of these epic and would like to show when each stage will be reached.

Ideally the task line would contain a couple of <> milestone indicators, but I assume this is a stretch

What is the best approach?

[Stepan Kholodov _ALM Works_]

Hello Francis,

Structure.Gantt uses data in your structure to build the Gantt chart, so the whole scope of tasks would need to be added to a structure first - Epics, Stories, Features, anything and everything you want to be shown on your chart. As for the scheduling of tasks itself - Jira fields' values can be used directly or values - dates, estimates etc. - can be calculated automatically, using existing data, or both. It depends on what your requirements are, how everything is configured and what kind of a Gantt chart you want to have.

We would be glad to look into your use-case and help you with building the structure and the Gantt chart. To avoid sharing any sensitive data here, please contact us via our Service Desk at support.almworks.com or just send us an email at support@almworks.com and we'll get back to you shortly with the proper assistance.

Best regards,
Stepan Kholodov
ALM Works

[francis]

Ii can use the other channels - but I guess that my question is generic enough - other people might benefit


What I would like is some representation of these 'internal dates'



The orange line is when the epic is targeted to be prepared, the green line when the code freeze is projected ...

Being able to move the stage lines would be nifty - updating these dates on the fly.

[Stepan Kholodov _ALM Works_]

Each task is represented by a bar that is scheduled by Start & Finish Dates, and the bar's size can be represented by a used work estimate. There are no additional UI elements such as you described in a task's bar itself.

If I understand you correctly, the orange line represents the Epic's Finish Date - when the work on it is currently expected to be finished, - and the code freeze's green line represents a sort of deadline by which the work should be completed, i.e. the expected Finish Date should be before the code freeze date.

If this is the case, you can do the following:

- If the code freeze date is individual for all tasks, you can use it in a form of a milestone: have an extra issue in your structure which would have a Date field in Jira, filled with a date of the code freeze for a task or several tasks. Once this issue is turned into a Milestone, it will only be shown as this date on your chart. You can create dependencies from the task to it to indicate that the tasks should be finished before this date. And if any task's Finish Date goes beyond the Milestone, there will be a scheduling conflict to attract your attention.
- If the code freeze date is one for the whole chart, you can use the Fix Version marker which shows Versions' release dates on the timeline of the chart. So if you create a version in any project and assign a Release date to it - the code freeze date, - and then select this project in the Fix Version Timeline Settings section, the date will be shown as a line and it will go through the entire chart. And if you change the version's release date, it will also be changed on the chart.
- If there is an actual Finish date for a task which determines the task's position on the chart and if there is the expected Finish date - a different planned date that you want to be able your current scheduling with - you can use the Baselines feature. You can first schedule your chart using the expected Finish date as the Finish Date for all tasks, save the scheduling state as a baseline and then change the scheduling to be based on the regular data you use. Then once the saved baseline is selected, you will be able to see when each task was expected to be finished and how it compares with its current state.
- And if the expected Finish date is a date that you want to use for actual scheduling, you can just configure it in the settings.

Please note that only used Start & Finish Dates (which determine when a task's bar starts and ends) can be calculated automatically, i.e. not necessarily be taken from existing Jira fields. The code freeze data and the expected Finish date, if you don't use it as primary scheduling data, should be both taken from Jira.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to contact us if you have more questions.

Best regards,
Stepan Kholodov
ALM Works

[francis]

Hi Stephan, this is a feature request in disguise :-)

Ii will try to break down the request as follows.

The flow of an epic is - and what I'm looking for in the gantt chart

• Work starts on May 3, 2020
• The specifications are fleshed out by May 10, 2020
• The code freeze is reached on June 2, 2020
• The feature is fully validated and implemented on June 16, 2020

May03         May10                  Jun02           Jun16

Each of the stages can be tracked as dates in the epic (so that we can query for it)

Having a way to represent it in the chart without too much overhead would be ideal. Ie no need to create subitems to the epic. Just update the dates.



Not sure if I'm clear now?

[Stepan Kholodov _ALM Works_]

Hello Francis,

Thank you for sharing more details about your use-case, the requirement seems clear now. I will pass your request to the team for consideration in case we decide to add new UI elements to the chart. There are some ideas being discussed, so your feedback is appreciated.

Best regards,
Stepan Kholodov
ALM Works

[francis]

Sure - thanks