A tracked work item is interpreted as a contribution of
a larger, potentially cross-project effort.
About this task
To add plan items from other project areas:
Procedure
- In the column to the left of the work item to track, click
the down arrow next the Create Work Item icon
(), and then click .
- In the Add Link: Tracks window, select
the project area of the work item to track, and select Link to existing.
Note: If you select Create new, the New Plan Item window
opens, where you can create a new plan item.
- In the Select Plan Item window, search
for and select the plan items to track. You can search by keyword,
work item number, or query.
- For all work items in project areas that you want to track,
repeat these steps.
Tip: This setup can take
a significant amount of time. It is better to organize the work items
in the tracked project, so you can link to a parent plan item.
- Click Save.
Restriction: A cross-project plan snapshot does not save work
items that are included in the Tracks link.
Results
You can view the work items that are tracked in other project
areas by expanding the tracking work item. The start and end dates
that are rolled up from all of the tracked items are shown. These
dates are helpful for tracking work items across projects and servers.
To open the
Timelines tab of the project area
editor, hover over the Gantt chart in the plan schedule, and click
Open Schedule.
Tip: You can add
links across projects in plan columns to show useful information for
tracking work items. For example, you can add the
Related
Change Request as one of the columns and configure a customized
product backlog that spans across multiple projects:
What to do next
As the development plan progresses, teams and projects must
follow good practices to declare updated plans as planned snapshots.
Otherwise, the cross-project tracking plan becomes inaccurate.