Lesson 2: Create a timeline and iterations

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In this lesson, you will create a timeline in the change and configuration management project area, and then add iterations to it.

About this task

A timeline represents an area of activity within a project that typically has its own schedule, teams, artifacts, and process. Within a timeline, you can create a hierarchy of iterations where top-level iterations represent releases, and child iterations represent milestones within those releases.

You can create a timeline and iterations in a quality management application in the same manner. In a Quality Management project area, you use those iterations to define the test schedule for test plans in that project area.

To create a timeline and iterations:

Procedure

  1. From the Member Details section, click the link to the Customization Tutorial Project (Change Management) project area. In the project area, click Timelines. The Scrum process, which the project area is based on, defines one timeline, Main Development. Development teams typically use the Main Development timeline to track their main releases, such as Version 1.0, Version 2.0, and so on. To track maintenance releases, it is common to use a separate timeline.
  2. Click Create Timeline. Enter a name, such as Maintenance. The Display Name is the name that appears in the user interface. The Identifier field name is used in the process specification XML code. Select start and end dates a year apart. Leave This is the project timeline unselected. By default, the process associated with the project timeline governs team areas. Because most of the team areas will belong to the Main Development timeline, we will leave that timeline as the project timeline. Click OK.
    Screen capture of the Create the Timeline window
  3. Now that you have a new timeline, add some iterations to it. Select the Maintenance timeline. Click Create Iteration. Name the first iteration Release 1.0.1 to represent the first maintenance release for Release 1.0. Enter start and end dates. Be sure that A release is scheduled for this iteration is selected. Selecting this option allows you to create an iteration plan for this iteration. At this point, the Iteration Type field has no values. In a later lesson, you will create an iteration type and customize operation behavior for iterations of that iteration type. Click OK.
    Tip: You can move iterations within the hierarchy by dragging and dropping them.
  4. Select the new iteration. Click Create Iteration. Create two or three iterations within the Release 1.0.1 iteration. Again, be sure that A release is scheduled for this iteration is selected. Click Save to save your changes to the project area. When you are finished, the timeline and iteration hierarchy should look like this.
    Screen capture of the Defined Timelines section. The Main Development and Maintenance timelines are at the same level. The Maintenance timeline is expanded to show the Release 1.0.1 iteration, which contains Sprint 1 and Sprint 2 iterations.

Results

Lesson checkpoint

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In this lesson, you learned how to perform the following tasks:
  • Create a timeline.
  • Designate a timeline as the project timeline.
  • Create a hierarchy of iterations within the timeline.