Progress Charts

The Build Health by Iteration chart helps you analyze your build information using time boxes (such as iterations) that are significant to your project.

The chart helps you detect trends and consider questions like:

• Does the build data reflect your memory about which iterations were troublesome?
• Can you use build health as an indicator for process changes?
• Is there evidence of learning from iteration to iteration?
• Is there any correlation between build health and number of builds in an iteration?

For each iteration, you can see the number of builds with a successful, failed, incomplete or unknown status, and the average build duration in seconds. Hover over any colored portion of the iteration bar to see the total number of builds for the corresponding status. The chart reports builds for the last 10 iterations.

The chart uses your project scope setting to identify iterations.

Although it is not recommended, Rally allows you to specify overlapping iterations or gaps between iterations. If an overlap is greater than a day, the chart will display a message rather than return ambiguous data. In this case adjust your project scope to a level where iterations do not overlap, or adjust the date boundaries of your iterations so they do not overlap.

When builds exist in a gap between iterations, they will be grouped with the previous iteration.

Builds are identified by looking both up and down your project hierarchy, regardless of your project scope setting. This supports the organization of a project or product line with sub-teams that share the same build definitions and SCM repositories. Watch Understanding the Project Hierarchy to learn how to organize projects and teams in Rally.

A status of unknown may indicate a problem with an external program called during the build process. Check to see if the program hangs (reporting back nothing), or if it reports back something that your build script is not designed to handle.

The Iteration Defect Priority chart provides an at-a-glance view of all defects in the selected iteration, categorized by priority and with any state value other than Closed. Use this chart to help you quickly track and recognize the number of defects of greatest importance, and to ensure defect resolution is progressing in line with the iteration time line.

The Iteration Defect Priority chart displays a cumulative total of all active defects per day. Defects are arranged by priority with the highest priority defects displayed at the top of the chart in red.

The Iteration Defect State chart provides a graphical view of all defects, regardless of state value, that are associated with the displayed iteration. Hover over any bar section to display the exact number of defects in each state per day. Use this chart to help you monitor the defect resolution trend and ensure that you are making progress toward zero-defects for the end of the iteration.

The Iteration Defect State chart displays a cumulative total of all defects per day and their related states.
Those defects with a state of closed are displayed at the top of the chart and reflect a type of burndown action. The goal is to have the entire bar of the last day displayed as closed.

Associated refers to defects scheduled directly into the iteration, those included in a defect suite that is scheduled into the iteration, or defects associated with a work item that is scheduled into the iteration.

Each day, the estimated work remaining in the current iteration is calculated and graphed, resulting in a burndown chart. The amount of work remaining (to do) becomes smaller and smaller as development progresses until it reaches point 0 at the end of the current iteration. Conversely, the amount of accepted work (that work which has been completed, tested and met acceptance criteria) is graphed in a burnup chart. The amount of work in an accepted state starts at 0 and continues to grow until it reaches 100% accepted at the end of the iteration.

The iteration drop-down list displays only current active iterations or iterations that begin in the next 30 days.

Rally offers both perspectives in a single burndown chart. The User Story Workspace type offers an ideal burndown line that is automatically calculated and displayed based on the amount of work left to do compared to the number of days remaining in the iteration. Use this line to determine the team's likelihood of meeting the iteration end date. Hover your mouse over any dot on the ideal burndown line to see the exact number of units per day that should be reflected in each daily burndown bar.

Two axis are displayed on the burndown chart and represent two units of measurement (Plan Estimate and Task Estimate). The display has been normalized to contain both entities on the same chart.

The chart is generated for a current iteration.

From the Iteration Burndown chart, you can:

• Hover over any bar section to display the exact number of units accepted and those remaining to do per day.
• Select the print icon where available, or click the print link to print your report.

The amount of accepted work (that work which has been completed, tested, and met acceptance criteria) is graphed in a burnup chart. The amount of work in an accepted state starts at 0 and continues to grow until it reaches 100% accepted at the end of the Iteration.

A burnup chart tracks how much work is done, but it shows more information than a burndown chart because it also has a line showing how much work is in the project as whole (the scope as workload), and this can change.

From the Iteration Burnup chart, you can:

• Hover over any section of either line to display the exact number of units accepted and those planned for the release per day.
• Drag the chart onto your desktop to create a screenshot to include in presentations.

Rally provides a cumulative flow diagram to help you plan and track your iterations. This chart displays all scheduled work products for the iteration in incremental collections of days within an iteration as the horizontal axis. Each day displays the rolled up states of all scheduled items for the increment. The vertical axis of the chart references the total plan estimates displayed in your specified units.

Use this chart to:

• Forecast and track progress: The states of the scheduled work product indicate the progress of your development as it moves to completion. To determine if you are on target to complete the work within the scheduled iteration, track the accepted state.
• Manage scope: As your scheduled work product bars level off, it is easy to see when excess work is added to an iteration. If the level of the bars do not remain uniform and instead continue to increase, it's time to re-address the scope of your iteration.
• Identify bottlenecks: Use the rolled up states of your scheduled work products to determine if there are trends that indicate bottlenecks. For example, a large section of scheduled items in a completed state as compared to a small amount of accepted may indicate a testing roadblock.

From the Iteration Cumulative Flow diagram, you can:

• Hover over any bar section to display the exact number of units in each state per day.
• Select the print icon where available, or click the print link to print your report.

An iteration must contain scheduled items before the Iteration Cumulative Flow report displays. The report is generated for the current iteration, but you may select any iteration from the iteration drop-down list at the top of the report.

The Iteration Velocity chart provides a graphical view of all accepted plan estimate units for each of the last ten completed iterations. Use this chart to determine your iteration velocity across projects within scope in the current workspace.

From here you can:

• Hover over any bar section to display the exact number of plan estimate units accepted, accepted after the iteration ended, or not accepted.
• Print the report from the Page Tools menu.

Summary of chart data

The Iteration Velocity chart displays values for the last ten (or fewer) iterations. Only iterations whose end dates are earlier than the current date display.

A Release Burndown chart provides the big picture of the status of your release. It is used to track the scheduled items for a release against the scheduled items that have been accepted in the release. Armed with this information, the team can oversee the release as it progresses and predict the possibility of meeting release deadlines or milestones.
The Release Burndown chart displays the work remaining for work items per day, contained within the release.

Work remaining indicates the estimated amount of work remaining to complete the release. As the release progresses, the line decreases as tasks become completed and accepted. The work remaining units are measured in planning units that have been configured for your workspace.

Each day of the release is recorded in the X or horizontal axis. Hover over each bar to display the exact number of units remaining for each day.

The black total scope line indicates, by day, the sum of the plan estimates of all work items in the release. If no work items are added or removed during the release and if no estimates have changed, the total scope line will be flat for the entire release. If work items are added or removed mid-release or if estimates change, the total scope line will shift up or down appropriately at the point in time when the change occurred.

Hover over any section of either line to display the exact number of units accepted and those planned for the release per day.

A burnup chart tracks how much work is done. The burnup chart can show more information than a burndown chart because it also has a line showing how much work is in the project as whole (the scope as workload), and this can change.

The burnup chart displays work delivered so far in the release to predict whether the release date will be met.

From the Release Burnup chart, you can:

• Hover over any section of either line to display the exact number of units accepted and those planned for the release per day.
• Drag the chart onto your desktop to create a screenshot to include in presentations

The Release Cumulative Flow diagram helps you track your releases. Use this report to easily track the progression of work item states as the release moves toward acceptance. This diagram displays the amount of plan estimate units per state for all stories or work items within a release per day. The Y or vertical axis of the chart references the amount of plan estimates displayed in your specified units, while the X or horizontal axis records each day of the release.

Use these diagrams to:

• Forecast progress: The states of the scheduled items indicate the progress of your development as it moves to completion. To determine if you are on target to complete the scheduled items within the scheduled release, track the accepted state.
• Manage scope: As your scheduled item bars level off, it is easy to see when excess work is added to a release. The top level of the bars should correlate to the total scope line of your Release Burndown chart. If the level of the bars do not remain uniform and instead continue to increase, it's time to re-address the scope of your release.
• Identify bottlenecks: Use the rolled up states of your scheduled items to determine if there are trends that indicate bottlenecks. For example, a large section of scheduled items in a completed state as compared to a small amount of accepted may indicate a testing issue.

Hover over any bar section to display the exact number of units in each state per day.

The Release Defect Trend chart displays the cumulative defects opened versus cumulative closed in a release.

This chart shows the accumulation of open defects over a release time frame, the accumulation of closed defects during that time frame and an indication of Active Defects (not cumulative) for each day in the release. The chart visually shows the rate at which defects are being opened, the rate at which defects are being closed and the total number of new defects accumulated over the release time frame. The total number of new defects introduced during the release is displayed at the top of the chart.

The red and green lines show the cumulative count of opened/closed defects while the black line shows per day the number of current defects that are not closed.

From the Release Defect Trend chart, you can:

• Hover over any section of either line to display the exact number of units accepted and those planned for the release per day.
• Drag the chart onto your desktop to create a screenshot to include in presentations.
• Click on a report name or thumbnail to run the report.
• Separate email addresses with a comma to specify multiple email recipients.
• Drag the chart to your desktop or other location to save the report.

The Story Burndown Chart displays work remaining to deliver a story or a feature (epic story) supported by a group of stories. Each day, the estimated work remaining to deliver a story is calculated and graphed, resulting in a Burndown chart. Stories are frequently scheduled by many teams across many iterations and releases. As a result, the Story Burndown Chart is most useful when tracking features or products that have been defined as a collection of stories organized into an epic hierarchy.

The start date of any Story Burndown Chart is today minus 30 days.

Story metrics are displayed above the Story Burndown chart. Metrics include the following information:

The green bars indicate accepted work and the blue bar indicates tasks. The amount of work remaining (Task To Do and Accepted) becomes smaller and smaller as development progresses until it reaches point 0. A red dotted line indicates release dates.

To display a Story Burndown chart, enter an ID or keyword (the keyword must include at least 3 characters) in the Story text box. A Story ID search must include the "S" before the ID number.

Story keyword search is case sensitive. Click the magnifying glass icon in the Story search box to return to your previous search results drop-down list.

The Story Burnup chart displays work completed on a story or a feature (epic story) supported by a group of stories. Each day, the work on a story that has been delivered is calculated and graphed, resulting in a Burnup chart. Stories are frequently scheduled by many teams across many iterations and releases. As a result, the Story Burnup chart is most useful when tracking features or products that have been defined as a collection of stories organized into an epic hierarchy.

The amount of accepted work (that work which has been completed, tested and met acceptance criteria) is graphed in a Burnup chart. The amount of work in an accepted state starts at 0 and shows the progress of epic stories by reporting over the collection of epic children stories.

A burnup chart tracks how much work is done. The value in the burnup chart is that it clearly illustrates change in scope whether it's the addition of scheduled stories or a change in an estimate. Scope creep is a common challenge for teams, and this report can illuminate it.

Story metrics are displayed above the Story Burnup chart. Metrics include the following information:

The green bars indicate accepted work. The amount of work completed becomes larger and larger as development progresses until it reaches 100% completion. A red dotted line indicates release dates.

The Story Burnup chart also includes a trend line. The trend line is essentially the trend at which work is being accepted (done). The key value of this report is when the trend line intersects the scope line. The intersection of these two lines indicates a forecast of completion. Given that Epics (stories) don't have fixed deadlines or dates, this is a unique way to get visibility into the expected delivery of a set of stories, features, and so on.

The Story Burnup chart provides an expected completion date up for epic stories completed in a year or less. A trend line not intersecting the scope line indicates a completion date further than a year away.

The date range on this report is automatic. The report begins when there are estimates on at least one child story. The end date of the report is today if the trend line intersects the scope line today or earlier. Otherwise, the end date is the date when the scope line intersects the trend line or 365 days after today — whichever comes first.

To display a Story Burnup chart, enter an ID or keyword (the keyword must include at least 3 characters) in the Story text box. Story keyword search is case sensitive. The report begins when there are estimates on at least one child story.

The Tagged Story Burndown chart displays work remaining to deliver a story or a feature (epic story) supported by a group of stories identified by a common tag. Each day, the estimated work remaining to deliver a story is calculated and graphed, resulting in a Burndown chart. Stories are frequently scheduled by many teams across many iterations and releases. As a result, the Tagged Story Burndown chart is an effective way to report on features and/or products worked on by multiple teams by leveraging a common tag identifying the various parts of that feature or product.

Story metrics are displayed above the Tagged Story Burndown chart. Metrics include the following information:

The green bars indicate accepted work and the blue bar indicates remaining task hours. The amount of work remaining (Task To Do and Accepted) becomes smaller and smaller as development progresses until it reaches point 0. Red dotted lines indicate release dates.

To display a Tagged Story Burndown chart, enter a tag (the tag must include at least 1 character) in the Tag text box. Tag keyword search is case sensitive. The Tagged Story Burndown Chart returns story information only (no defects or test cases). The drop-down selector for start date will default to today's date minus 30 days. You may set this value to any valid date the tag was in use. Multiple tags are not supported at this time. The name of exported reports is truncated to 15 characters followed by the story number.

The Story Cumulative Flow diagram helps you track your stories. Use this report to easily track the progression of stories as the release moves toward acceptance. This chart displays all scheduled work products for the Iteration in incremental collections of days within an Iteration as the horizontal axis. Each day displays the rolled up states of all scheduled items for the increment. The vertical axis of the chart references the total plan estimates displayed in your specified units.

Use these charts to:

• Forecast and Track Progress: The states of the scheduled work product indicate the progress of your development as it moves to completion. To determine if you are on target to complete the work within the scheduled iteration, track the accepted state.
• Manage Scope: As your scheduled work product bars level off, it is easy to see when excess work is added to an iteration. If the level of the bars do not remain uniform and instead continue to increase, it's time to re-address the scope of your iteration.
• Identify Bottlenecks: Use the rolled up states of your scheduled work products to determine if there are trends that indicate bottlenecks. For example, a large section of scheduled items in a completed state as compared to a small amount of accepted may indicate a testing roadblock.

Hover over any section to display the exact number of units in each state per day.

A story must contain scheduled tasks before the Story Cumulative Flow diagram displays. A story ID search must include the S before the ID number.