ALM: User Guide

ALM uses a "package" approach to project management. A "package" is a related set of tasks that must be completed to reach intermediate project goals. An Iteration is used to represent a work "package". Other names for an Iteration are Sprint, Phase, Stage, and so on.

Iterations can be nested (hierarchical), which gives any level of planning detail you need. The iteration level lets you classify the levels of the work-plan breakdown and tell one planning level from another, for example Stages from Phases.

Each iteration has planned start and finish dates. Child iterations affect the parent iteration's planned date: they stretch it.

Dependencies can be created between iterations (the arrows on the chart above). To do this, edit the Predecessors field of the Iteration. When you build the work plan, use the context menu to create child or following (dependent) iterations quickly. A dependency between iterations affects the planned start date of an iteration. If a preceding iteration moves to the right, every following iteration moves to the right as well.

A group of iterations can be combined into a release. A release is a large part of the project in which a new software version is prepared, and so on. Releases are usually carried out in the same way and define the cycle for delivering new functionality. Release progress can be planned with iterations. If the project goal is to deliver a single software version, or the project is an implementation project, releases are not needed and are turned off in the project methodology settings.

Milestones are points on the project schedule. They record a date that matters to the project and show it on the project plan.

The application automatically tracks whether releases or iterations (sprints) are still current. As soon as every story, issue, and task is completed, that release or iteration is treated as finished and disappears from the planning modules. In addition, you can explicitly exclude a release or iteration from the plan, drop-down lists, and so on. Set the "Completed" flag on the release or iteration card. A bulk operation for this flag is available in the "Releases" and "Iterations" modules.

The application automatically estimates the start and finish dates of a release or iteration. For example, if an iteration contains a first task that depends on a task from another iteration, the estimated start of the iteration depends on that task's finish date. The estimated finish of the iteration can be pushed past the planned dates by a task that depends on other tasks. You can show the estimated start and finish of an iteration on the project plan with the "Forecast" filter.

The overall work breakdown structure is shown in the "Work tree" module. On the additional panel to the right, releases and iterations show a detailed Gantt chart of the selected project stage.

The system automatically levels tasks on the schedule using the planned dates (the iteration start), special requirements for the start date (the "Start by" field), the task priority and order number, the finish date of the task that precedes this one, and the rule that an employee performs project tasks one after another.

Task duration is calculated from the planned effort (usually in hours), the daily load on the project (which can be less than 8 hours), employee absences, and public holidays. If effort is not set, specify the planned Start date and Finish date of the work on the task, that is, its duration. From the task duration, the system calculates the employee's load over the given time interval.