Creating timelines and iterations

Edit online

When you create a project area, it has a default timeline. You can add timelines and a hierarchy of iterations within timelines.

Before you begin

You must have permission to save the project area.

About this task

A timeline represents an area of activity within a project that typically has its own schedule, deliverables, teams, and process. For example, you might use one timeline to track new product development work and a different timeline to track maintenance work. 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 customize the process at the iteration level. You can also define iteration types so that all iterations of an iteration type use the same process. A child team area inherits the timeline of its parent team area.

You cannot nest timelines.

Within a project area, you can designate one timeline to be the project timeline. The project timeline differs from your other timelines in the following ways:

  • The project timeline iterations apply to the project area. This means that if the project timeline process is customized for the current iteration, that customized process affects any artifacts associated with the project area.
  • All team areas that do not have an explicit custom timeline set are governed by the process of the project timeline.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the project area in the administrative web interface. See Logging in for project administrators and team leads (web).
  2. From within the project area, click Timelines.
  3. To create a timeline, click Create Timeline. Complete the fields of the Create the Timeline wizard as follows:
    1. Specify a name for the timeline.
    2. Select the working days for the timeline. By default, Monday through Friday are selected. The starting and ending dates of child iterations are set based on the working days.
    3. Select the start and end times for each working day.
      Note:

      The date and time reflects that of the current user's time zone; therefore, users in different time zones see different start and end times, and possibly different dates. Work with your teams to agree on the start and end dates and the times, including time zone.

    4. Optional: Select a start date for the timeline. By default, the current date is shown in the Start Date field. The start date is optional. To clear the Start Date field, highlight the date shown, then press the Delete key. If the start date is cleared, dates are not configured for the timeline or its child iterations.
    5. Optional: Select the duration, in weeks, of the timeline by clicking the up or down arrow in the Duration field.
      When you select a duration, the Preview pane is updated to show the end date for the timeline. If you set the duration to zero, the start and end dates for the timeline are not set. If the Duration field is not set (empty string), the start date and the duration are calculated based on the parent, sibling and children's dates.
    6. Optional: To make this timeline the project timeline, click Edit Properties icon, the Edit Properties icon; then select This is the project timeline.
    7. Optional: To add iterations to the timeline, click Add Iterations icon, the Add Iterations icon. The fields and controls that you use to add iterations from within the Create the Timeline wizard are the same as those in the Create the Iterations wizard. See below for instructions on creating iterations.
    8. Click OK.
      The following graphic shows a timeline named Maintenance Timeline being created. The timeline has a duration of 52 weeks and does not include any iterations. The new timeline is not the project timeline.
      Screen capture of Create the Timeline wizard, which shows a timeline named Maintenance Timeline. The Duration field is set to 52 weeks. The Preview pane shows the name of the timeline followed by the start and end dates of the timeline.
  4. To create an iteration, select the timeline or iteration within which to create the iteration, then click Create Iterations. Complete the fields of the Create Iterations wizard as follows:
    1. Enter a name for the iteration.
    2. Select the working days for the iteration. By default, Monday through Friday are selected.
    3. Select the start and end times for each working day.
      Note:

      The date and time reflects that of the current user's time zone; therefore, users in different time zones see different start and end times, and possibly different dates. Work with your teams to agree on the start and end dates and the times, including time zone.

    4. Optional: Select a start date for the iteration. Start and end dates are optional. To clear the Start Date field, highlight the date shown, then press the Delete key.
    5. Use the up and down arrows in the Quantity field to specify the number of iterations to create.
    6. Use the up and down arrows in the Duration field to specify the number of weeks in each iteration. If you set the duration to zero, the start and end dates for the iteration are not set. If the Duration field is not set (empty string), the start date and the duration are calculated based on the parent, sibling and children's dates.
    7. Click Edit Properties icon, the Edit Properties icon, to modify the default properties.
      • If iteration types are defined, you can select a type on which to base the new iteration.
      • To enable the iteration for an iteration plan, make sure that Releases are scheduled for these iterations is selected. Only iterations with scheduled releases are eligible for iteration plans.
      • Click Customize the naming convention. Each instance of the iteration is named based on the string in the Text field and a number that is calculated from the Counter field values. By default, when there are multiple instances of an iteration, the first instance has 1 appended to its name, and the number for each additional instance increments by one. To add more text or counter terms, click Add term.
        Tip: If you have a group of sequential iterations that are split across multiple parent iterations, select Continuous to have the numbering continue across parents. For example, if you have two iterations that each have four child iterations, each set of child iterations is numbered 1 to 4 by default. If you select Continuous, those child iterations are numbered 1 to 8 instead.
    8. To add a child iteration, or add an iteration before or after the selected iteration, click Add Iterations icon, the Add Iterations icon, then select Add child iterations, Add iterations before, or Add iterations after.
    9. When done, click OK.
      The following graphic shows that three iterations named Release are to be created. Within each of the Release iterations, three child iterations named Sprint are to be created. The Counter for each iteration specifies that the number 1 be appended to the name of the first instance. That number increases by one for each additional instance. If Continuous was selected for the Sprint iteration naming convention, the child iterations of Release 2 would be named Sprint 4, Sprint 5, and Sprint 6, and the child iterations of Release 3 would be named Sprint 7, Sprint 8, and Sprint 9.
      Screen capture of the Create the Iterations wizard, which shows that three iterations named Release are to be created under the Maintenance Timeline. Within each Release iteration, three child iterations named Sprint are to be created.
  5. To set an iteration as the current iteration, select it and click Set the Selected Iteration as Current icon, the Set the Selected Iteration as Current icon. The process associated with the current iteration is enforced.
    Tip: You might want to tighten the process towards the end of a release. For example, you might require developers to get approvals before they deliver change sets to the product integration stream.