Custom Period Enablement

Solution Overview

The solution introduces a new entity – Period, representing a custom time frame, usually used to organize Releases (Program Increments) or Team Iterations with the exact Planned Start/End Dates. This entity is required for the solutions related to planning people's availability and capacity, managing budgets, and tracking costs if it's happening not based on Weeks, Months, Quarters or Years but rather based on Team Iterations or Releases (Program Increments).

Solution Configuration

1. Install the solution from the Solution Library.

2. Configure Period Parameters

As periods represent custom time frames, there are the following parameters which need to be configured in automation rules:

• Duration – It can be Days, Weeks or Months
• NameBase – Defines how Periods will be called. Possible values: Date, PI, TI
  • Date – Periods will be named as Planned Start Date - Planned End Date
  • PI – Periods will be named as PI1, PI2, ... (meaning Program Increments)
  • TI – Periods will be named as TI1, TI2, ...(meaning Team Iterations)
• PlannedStartDate – the date from which you need to generate Periods (date format YYYY-DD-MM)
• NumberOfFuturePeriods – the number of Periods you always need to have in future. It's better to have the max number of Periods you do planning for, i.e. if you plan 2 Years, you should create Periods for 2 Years ahead
• NumberOfDurationsInPeriod – how many Days, Weeks or Months (depending on what is selected in the Duration parameter) the Period should last, i.e. if you need Periods of 3 Weeks duration, then Weeks should be selected in the Duration parameter and 3 - in NumberOfDurationsInPeriod parameter

To configure the parameters and generate Periods, please do the following:

• Go to Settings -> Automation Rules
• Open the following rules one by one:
  • Initial - Trigger Period generation (disable after first run)
  • Trigger Period generation Weekly
• Click JSON tab
• Set the necessary values for the parameters mentioned above
• Save the rules

3. Generate Periods

When all the parameters are set, we can generate Periods. To do that:

• Go to Settings -> Automation Rules
• Enable and open the following rule:
  • Initial - Trigger Period generation (disable after first run)
• Click "Save and Trigger Now"

As a result, the defined number of Periods of specified duration and cadence will be created. The Is Current checkbox will show the current Period. It can be used in the other solutions, based on Periods, for easier access to the current period information. 

After the Periods have been generated:

• Disable the following rule:
  • Initial - Trigger Period generation (disable after first run) 
• Enable the following rule:
  • Trigger Period generation Weekly.

From now on, new Periods will be generated weekly on Saturdays or Sundays to keep the number of future Periods as defined in the rules configuration.

Note 1: In case your Periods differ from each other (for example some of them are longer than others), it's better to generate them manully and not create automatically. In this scenario:

• Go to Settings -> Automation rules
• Keep the following rule disabled:
  • Trigger Period generation Weekly
• Enable and open the following rule:
  • Initial - Trigger Period generation (disable after first run)
• In JSON tab define the date from which the Periods should be generated (for example 20 Periods from 2023 Jan 1)
• Click Save and Trigger button to generate Periods
• Next time when you need to generate Periods update the date (for example to 2024 Jan 1)
• Click Save and Trigger button to generate Periods

Note 2: For now you can manually link Releases (Program Increments) or Team Iterations to Periods if needed. In the next version of the solution, we'll enable a possibility to generate Releases (Program Increments) or Team Iterations based on Period Planned Start/End Dates automatically.

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Version 2.0