ScrumWorks - Documentation

ScrumWorks Reports Guide - Version 1.8.0

This guide will help you understand the reporting related features of the ScrumWorks Desktop Client. The information contained within this guide is designed to give you in-depth knowledge of how these features work so that you may use them to their full potential.

Quick Links

Dashboard Report

Overview

The Dashboard Report shows the status of releases across products selected for inclusion in the report. When a product is selected to appear in the Dashboard report, the progress against the work allocated to the release is superimposed on a chronological representation of releases (as indicated by the release begin and end dates).

Work progress is measured in "Product Backlog Effort units". For example, a progress bar that shows "217/274 (79%)" means that of 274 Product Backlog effort units currently scheduled for inclusion in the release, 217 have been marked "Done". This means that 79% of the currently scheduled work has been completed by the team.

The work progress is then superimposed on a chronological schedule. If the release is currently active (i.e., today's date is between the begin and end dates associated with the release) a red line will indicate "Today". Thus the work progress can be seen in clear relation to the proposed schedule.

This report updates itself each time there is a change to the system. In Scrum, changes are accepted as a normal occurance in project work. If the release dates, total backlog effort points or number of points marked "Done" change, then the Dashboard report will mirror the changes automatically.

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Settings

A release must have an associated beginning and ending date to show up in the Dashboard report. Two date fields are supplied for creating a dashboard report: a start date and an end date.

Releases occurring in this range are included in the report. The release doesn't have to be entirely contained within the dates; any release that overlaps the date range selected will be included in the report.

In ScrumWorks, begin and end dates associated with releases imply a schedule. The Warning Level lets users customize how releases that are behind schedule appear. When a release is behind schedule, the color of the progress bar can be either yellow or red, and the Warning Level dictates whether red or yellow is displayed. The Warning Level is the threshold above which ScrumWorks displays a red bar to indicate that the release is behind schedule by a percentage greater than or equal to the Warning Level value. For example, if the Warning Level is set to 10%, the progress bar for the release will be yellow if the project is only 5% behind schedule but red if the project is 11% behind schedule.

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Preview

The Dashboard report is accessed as a PDF file; however, a preview is available before the final PDF is published. To preview a report:

In the left pane, select all Products for inclusion in the report.
Then adjust the Date and Warning Level settings as desired.
Click the Generate button to see a preview of the Dashboard report.

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Launch

Once satisfied with the preview, click the Launch button to generate the actual report in PDF format. Take note of the URL associated to the report. The URL is accessible from outside of ScrumWorks and is a convenient way to reference the report at a later time or to share the report via email. For convenience, the Report URL is accessible directly without the need to log into ScrumWorks. As a result, be sure to keep the Report URL private if privacy is a concern.

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Product Burndown

The product burndown chart shows how much work is left to do in the product. It shows the amount of backlog effort remaining at the beginning of each Sprint. There is a basic product burndown chart and an enhanced product burndown chart available in ScrumWorks.

Basic Product Burndown

This is a product burndown chart as defined by page 11 of Agile Project Management with Scrum.

Here is an example of the basic product burndown chart:

Basic Product Burndown Example

Each bar represents the amount of product backlog remaining on the first day of the Sprint. For each selected release, the product backlog consists of all uncommitted backlog items for that release and all committed backlog items in sprints in that release.

Each backlog item maintains its own effort history, recording entries as the backlog item is re-estimated over time. This historical view of each backlog item is used to calculate the total effort remaining on the first day of each sprint.

Backlog items committed to sprints can be marked "Done". This indicates to the product burndown that this backlog item's effort is now considered as work that is done; work that has been burned. This effort is then excluded from the total effort remaining and causes the sprint bar heights to decrease. Bar heights can also go down if backlog items are re-estimated at a lower effort value. The bars increase in height when new backlog items are added or existing backlog items are re-estimated at an increase.

Data for sprints ending within one week of each other are merged into one bar. This is especially useful when multiple teams are working from the same product backlog. It helps give a more accurate (and less crowded) picture of the work being done.

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Enhanced Product Burndown

This chart distinguishes between work completed and work added/removed. This can help forecast product completion. The Velocity Trendline shows the rate at which work is completed. The Work Added/Removed Trendline shows the trend of commitment change and backlog re-estimation. A new baseline is drawn as a result of work added or removed through the last completed sprint. If work is completed faster than it's added, ScrumWorks can estimate how many sprints it will take to complete the product.

Here is an example of the enhanced product burndown chart:

Enhanced Product Burndown Example

This chart shows that if the current trends continue, project completion is forecast in 2-3 sprints.

The bar high positions on this chart are plotted by subtracting the amount of backlog burned during the prior Sprint. Each subsequent Sprint bar high position will either go down or stay flat, but never go up.

The lower portions extending below the previous Sprint's low position denote new backlog items added or additional effort as a result of re-estimation. The low bar position can also go up from the previous sprint. This happens when the total effort decreases, either through the removal of product backlog or a decrease caused by re-estimation of existing backlog items.

For additional details about the enhanced product burndown chart please refer to the ScrumWorks Wiki link EnhancedProductBurndownChart

Data for sprints ending within one week of each other are merged into one bar. This is especially useful when multiple teams are working from the same product backlog. It helps give a more accurate (and less crowded) picture of the work being done.

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Release Selection

Use the release selection to specify which releases are used for the product burndown. For each selected release the burndown charts will sum the following:

Effort for all uncommitted backlog items in the release
Effort for committed backlog items in sprints within the release

Select the Build Chart button to re-display the chart using the selected releases.

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Active Sprints

An active sprint is where the current date falls within that Sprint's begin and end dates. Any currently active sprints are not included in any trendline calculations. New baselines are drawn using the last completed Sprint.

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Marking Backlog Items Done

To show that work has been completed use the backlog editor to mark individual backlog items as "Done". The product burndown chart uses this information to draw the height of each of the sprint bars and to calculate the velocity.

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Backlog Item Effort History and Creation Dates

The current product effort remaining on the first day of each sprint is the value used to draw the height of each of the sprint bars. Sometimes a backlog item will be created after the start date of the sprint for which this backlog item belongs. You can adjust the creation date of this backlog item so that it impacts the current sprint, backdating the backlog item. Edit the first entry in the backlog item's estimate history to the first day of the Sprint you want it to impact. This allows for a more precise graphical representation within the product burndown.

Please see Edit Product Backlog Item Estimate History for more details on editing backlog item estimate history.

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References and Links to Further Reading

The product/release burndown in ScrumWorks is inspired by Mike Cohn's Alternative Release Burndown Chart

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Sprint Change Report

Overview

This report summarizes changes to the outstanding backlog including work completed this sprint, work added/removed from the product backlog, and how re-estimation affected the product backlog.

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Accessing

You can open the Sprint Change Report in one of two ways:

Click "Reports" -> "Sprint Change Report"
Open a Basic or Enhanced Product Burndown chart and select the "Sprint Change Report" tab

This presents you with a clickable chart. Single clicking a bar selects the sprint and gives you a URL that contains your report. Double clicking the bar opens your report.

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Format

The Sprint Change report is exported as an Excel spreadsheet file. Once exported, the report can be manipulated as desired. The report is divided into two sides. The left side of the report (with green headings) lists all activity that lowered the product's Backlog Effort points. The right side (maroon heading) indicates all activity that increased the product's Backlog Effort points.

Change Report Overview

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