Process Dashboard 2.3

Process Dashboard Version 2.3 has been released, containing many significant new features.

  • The main dashboard toolbar now includes an “Add Task” button. This makes it easy to quickly add a task to your plan without opening the WBS Editor first.
  • Powerful new features have been added for workflows:
    • The Workflow Process Analysis report has been enhanced significantly:
      • The report now displays an extensive collection of charts that show various process metrics, and demonstrate how those metrics have changed over time.
      • The report now displays information about the number of defects that were injected and removed in each phase of a workflow, along with advanced quality metrics such as phase yield and defect injection/removal rates.
      • The report is now available in both the team and the personal dashboard, to enable data-driven process improvement at both the team and personal level.
      • A powerful filtering feature has been added to the report, making it possible to adjust the list of components and tasks that should be included in the various charts and tables.
    • A new editor makes it possible to configure process mappings between workflows. These mappings can be used to:
      • Document the evolution of a process when a team modifies the steps in their workflow
      • Combine data from several related workflows to produce consolidated process reports
      • Leverage historical data from old workflows for PROBE planning of new work
    • It is now possible to specify fixed times and minimum times for selected steps in a team workflow. To use this feature, click the icon that appears in the top-right corner of the Workflow Editor (just above the vertical scroll bar), and enable the “Min Time” column. Then enter minimum times as needed. (To specify a fixed time, enter a minimum for a task that was otherwise assigned zero percent of the overall workflow.)
  • Significant enhancements have been made to defect logging functionality:
    • When individuals log a defect within a team project, the “injected” and “removed” selectors will now allow them to choose phases from the team’s defined workflows. (Previously, individuals were required to select a phase from the underlying metrics framework, such as TSP.)
    • The defect timer and the main timer now work more closely together to help you collect accurate data:
      • If you start timing a defect, the dashboard will start the main timer automatically. If the main timer is pointing at a different task, the dashboard will ask you if you’d like to switch to the task where this defect was logged.
      • If you are timing a defect and you change the main timer to log time to an unrelated task, the defect timer will pause automatically.
    • When you create or edit a defect, you can enter URLs to external websites in the defect description. These URLs can be used to link the defect to supporting references in a corporate defect tracker, a requirements management system, or any other web-based system. When such URLs are present, a hyperlink icon will appear over the “Description” pane, making it easy to quickly jump to the given URLs.
    • If a defect is logged to the wrong component/task, you can now use drag-and-drop in the Defect Log to move the defect to the correct location.
    • When defects are imported from ReviewBoard, the description will now include the filename and line number that each defect was logged against, as well as a hyperlink to the issue in ReviewBoard.
  • Several improvements have been made to dashboard charts and reports:
    • The Team Dashboard contains a new “Project Data Scanner” report, which analyzes team project data to look for common problems and highlight opportunities for improvement.
    • A monthly earned value status report is now available. This shows data in a format similar to the weekly report, but for an entire calendar month instead. It can be useful for tracking and communicating progress on a larger, longer term project.
    • The Tasks In Progress chart now offers a customization setting to color discs by assigned individual. Enabling this option makes it easier to see if a particular individual has a large number of problem tasks.
    • Since version 2.0.2, the Team Dashboard has provided automatic labels called “Completed_Tasks” and “Completed_Components”. These labels make it simple to filter the team reports so they only show data for completed work. Now, these labels are available in the personal dashboard as well.
  • A mobile/smartphone application is available for use with the Process Dashboard. The mobile app works alongside the Process Dashboard, making it possible to perform a number of common tasks from an iPhone® or iPad® (AndroidTM support coming soon). (Note: the mobile app requires the use of the Process Dashboard Enterprise Server, version 3.6.0 or higher.)
  • The “Rate” column in the team workflow editor is only useful for very advanced teams (who have historical productivity data, and who are skilled enough to produce accurate size estimates during a launch). But even for those teams, its use is discouraged (since proxy estimation tables provide a significantly more robust way to produce size and time estimates). In recognition of these factors, the “Rate” column is now hidden on new projects by default. Teams that wish to use it can easily re-enable it by clicking the column selection button on the toolbar of the Workflow Editor window.
  • The WBS Editor now includes a “Collapse All” button on the toolbar.
  • The filter dialog in the WBS Editor now includes an option to show tasks that have not been assigned to any milestone.
  • The Relaunch Wizard now provides better handling for PSP tasks that are in-progress when a project is relaunched.
  • The embedded data warehouse now includes baseline dates and costs, project milestones, and task dependencies.
  • If the user starts the timer and then marks a task complete before a full minute has passed, the dashboard will now round the time log entry up to one minute if no time has ever been logged to that task in the past. This captures an individual’s intent more accurately when a given project task requires a very short period of time.
  • The dashboard now provides improved support for individuals who work offline, or who experience intermittent connectivity to the team network data directory.
  • Fixes are included for a number of bugs.

Upgrade Considerations

Teams are encouraged to upgrade together. Some features may not work properly until all team members have upgraded, and exported their data at least once.