Provides resources to plan your project releases. The main concept of a Release in BeePlus is of the delivery of a version of the product or project. So, this comprises a delivery date and a period of work before it.
Additionally, in BeePlus the work is performed in just a release at a time. This means a team cannot work on more than one reelase during the same time, i.e., Releases are sequential.
This way, the main information for a Release is its finish date. Whenever a user adds a new release, BeePlus considers it will exist from the end of the previous release to the finish date informed. If a new release is added in between existing ones, It will start right after the finish date of the earlier and the later one will be shortened, so it starts after the finish date of the newly created one. Reordering of releases presents the same behaviour.
5.2.1 – Statistics
Show the number of releases: planned and not yet started, cancelled, and delivered. Also show the next scheduled delivery date and team's average velocity.
5.2.2 – Gantt
The Gantt chart shows project releases. The icon in orange shows the ongoing one. A simplified view appears by default. On its container title bar, on the right, there is an arrow sign where the detailed view can be turned on. The following legend is used on the simplified view:
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White bar represents the available time before the planned finishing date.
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Green bar represents the amount of points from stories to be worked on the release, until its planned finishing date.
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Stripped green and white represents the amount of additional points needed to complete all stories planned, considering team velocity, i.e., the amount o time the team will have to keep working on the release after its finish date. In a practical sense, it means the planner shal either remove stories from the release or delay its finish date.
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Black bar represents amount of points already completed and approved.
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Numbers represent amount of points completed over total amount of points on the release.
The detailed view uses de following codification:
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White bar represents the available time before the planned finishing date.
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Green bar represents the amount of points from planned stories to be worked on the release, until its planned finishing date.
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Orange bar represents the amount of points from non-planned stories worked on the release, until its planned finishing date.
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Stripped, green or orange, and white represents the amount of additional points needed to complete all stories planned or not, considering team velocity, i.e., the amount o time the team will have to keep working on the release after its finish date. In a practical sense, it means the planner shall either remove stories from the release or delay its finish date.
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Black bar represents amount of points already completed and approved.
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Numbers represent amount of points completed over total amount of points on the release.
5.2.3 – Planning Backlog
The Planning Backlog works like a planning draft. Stories are imported from the Product Backlog. Stories on the Planning Backlog can be ordered without messing with the Product Backlog. It allows for the user to accomodate the stories in a way that best suit project's objective, including release planning.
The Product Backlog can be reimported at any time, overwriting the Planning Backlog.
The Planning Backlog can automatically be ordered according to planned releases, using its menu (arrow besides the title).
Stories can be added to a release using the context menu (arrow sign or right mouse button).
New stories are created using the button above the Planning Backlog.
When the planner is happy with the plan, it can be easily implemented by just choosing on the Planning Backlog menu the option to overwrite the actual Product Backlog. The Product Backlog is then reordered accoding to the order created on the Planning Backlog.
5.2.4 – Releases
This area shows all planned releases and their respective backlogs. New releases can be added by clicking the button above.
When a release is expanded, some information is presented above the release backlog. This includes its initial and final dates, the amount of points already estimated and the amount of points planned. If a story is not estimated, it counts as the default stor planning points, defined on the project settings as Non-Estimated Stories (pts).