Planning work for iterations

If you are following an Agile or iterative development model, you can assign work items to iterations. After you create iterations and work items, assign the work items to iterations by modifying the Planned for field in the Details view, or by dragging work items to iterations.

Before you begin

Use the Details viewlet to perform this task. In the navigation bar, click Work, and click the Details tab.
Create the project WBS, including iterations, and work items, such as tasks, defects, change requests, and so on.

About this task

To assign work items to an iteration:

Procedure

  1. To assign work items to iterations by using the Details view:
    1. In the WBS tree, click the work item to view the details in the WBS Details viewlet.
    2. From the Planned for list, select the iteration to plan the work item for.
      Note: By default, the Planned for field is not available for projects.
    3. Click Save.
  2. To assign work items to iterations by dragging them:
    1. In the WBS tree, drag the work item to the iteration.
  3. Refresh the WBS tree by clicking Refresh in your browser.

Results

The work item, and its child work items, if any, are moved to the planned iteration in the WBS tree. However, even though the child elements are shown under the iteration in the WBS tree, the child elements are not automatically assigned to the iteration. To assign the child work elements to an iteration, you must separately assign each child element to the iteration.

The expected and planned dates of the assigned work item are not rolled up to the iteration. Only the expected and planned effort of the work item is rolled up to the iteration, and is also retained in the roll up of the effort of the parent work item. For example, if you moved a work item from a summary task to an iteration, the effort for the work item rolls up to the effort for the iteration, and to the effort for the summary task. When you make any changes to the proposed effort for the work item, the changes are rolled up to the iteration, and to the parent work item.

What to do next

To unassign work from an iteration, in the Details viewlet, set the value of the Planned for field to Unassigned. You can also drag the work item to the existing parent or a new parent. After you refresh the WBS tree, the work item is moved from being nested under the iteration to being nested under the parent project or parent work item. The effort for the work item is also removed from the effort for the iteration.

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