Iteration and iteration types

Projects are organized into a series of development periods called iterations. Each timeline contains a hierarchy of iterations, which can define start and end dates.

Note: The date and time that is displayed in an iteration is based on the time zone of the user's machine. Therefore, users in different time zones might see different times and dates. To view an iteration in a specific time zone, consider updating the time zone setting of your machine.

An iteration hierarchy typically represents broad phases of a project, each of which is divided into a series of shorter iterations. The following example contains development and maintenance timelines. The Main Development timeline contains two release iterations (Release 1.0 and Release 2.0). The Maintenance timeline contains Release Iteration 1.0.1. Each release iteration has child iterations (Milestone 1, Milestone 2, and so on).

Timelines with a hierarchy of iterations
The current iteration for each timeline is marked with a blue arrow. Completed iterations are marked with a check mark.
Tip: Start and end dates for iterations are optional and do not determine the current and completed iterations. Use Set the Selected Iteration as Current toolbar icon, the Set the Selected Iteration as Current icon to identify an iteration as the current one. Iterations that appear before the current iteration, at the same level in the hierarchy, are marked as complete.

You can create iteration types and associate an iteration with an iteration type. For each iteration type, you can configure specific permissions and, for Engineering Workflow Management and Quality Management project areas and team areas, operation behavior. Those permissions and behavior settings apply to all iterations of the iteration type. For example, your organization might want to establish stricter control on deliveries towards the end of a release. To do this, you might create an iteration type with a name such as End Game, and configure the behavior for that iteration type to require team members to get approvals before delivering change sets. All iterations of the End Game iteration type would enforce that behavior.