Rally Software
- Natallia_Mendzel@epam.com
- Zhanar (Unlicensed)
- Ivan_Kaschenko
- 1 Select Rally as data source
- 2 1. Configure credentials
- 3 2. Distribute workflows
- 4 Using criteria builder for configuring settings
- 5 3. Configure scope management
- 6 3. Set quality management rules
- 7 5. Configure on-time delivery targets
- 8 6. Complete configuration process
- 9 Rally Software specifics in PERF
Select Rally as data source
1. On the main menu, click Perf, and then open the required unit.
2. On the right of the toolbar, click the Configure Data Sources icon. The data sources configuration opens.
3. In the Data Sources Configuration window, in the Data Sources tab, select Rally Software. The Step 2. Configure Source pane opens.
1. Configure credentials
The following information must be provided:
Rally Software instance URL (without a project key);
Login;
Password or API token;
Workspace;
Project key: you can specify more than one project key.
API Token vs. Password
To ensure security you can use the "API Token" instead of a password for Rally Cloud. If a token is used login field should stay empty. How to generate API Keys in Rally - https://github.com/RallySoftware/rally-oauth-examples#api-key.
Default credentials
If you enter an URL that coincides with any URL from Default Credentials, no password/login is needed. For more information, see PERF Administration.
Check connection
Once you completed credentials configuration, check the connection.
To check connection:
Click Check Connection. If the connection is successful, the Next button appears.
Click Next.
2. Distribute workflows
Workflows represent processes on your project and give you control over the project's progress. PERF simplifies workflows by distributing each of them into three different buckets.
At this step issue statuses pulled from Rally Software project are to be distributed into 3 buckets: To Do, In Progress, and Done.
To Do: for statuses meaning the item is not ready for development.
In Progress: for statuses meaning the item is in development.
Done: for statuses meaning the item satisfies the "Definition of Done" criterion in a project.
To distribute statuses across buckets click status and drag it to the respective bucket. This mapping will directly affect charts in PERF, e.g. "Done" statuses will influence the calculation of a team velocity.
To distribute unused item types drag the item types which are not used for tracking, to the Ignored Issue Types bucket. Click the X icon in the item to deactivate the item.
Shift of status meaning
Some work item types that have the same set of statuses, can belong to different workflows due to differences in status meaning.
Example
The Story and Improvement work items have the same statuses: Open, In Progress, Resolved, Verified, Closed, and Reopened. However, the meaning statuses can be different for different work item types, like the Resolved status for different work items means:
Work Item | What “Resolved” Implies |
|---|---|
Improvement | Done, or finished |
Story | Not done, but still in progress |
In case of such a collision, you need to separate the workflows.
To separate workflows:
Drag Improvement to the Drag&Drop Work item types to create a new workflow row.
The system opens a new row and pulls the related statuses over there.
Include sub-items
Checkbox "Include sub-items into metrics calculation" works as follows:
If the checkbox is checked all sub-items estimates and their quantity will be taken into account while calculating metrics (it mostly affects Productivity & Scope and Backlog metrics).
If the checkbox is unchecked sub-items are not included in the calculation in items at all but estimates are summarized in most of the Productivity metrics.
Change is applied immediately, data load is unnecessary.
For more details, see Include Sub-Items into Metrics Calculation.
Workflow updates type
Rally workflows could be changed and then a new status could be added or removed the existing one. To manage changes in the configuration you can choose between automatic and manual workflows update.
Workflow Updates Type | Description |
|---|---|
Automatically | If any Rally workflow was changed, then the PERF application after next data load does the following:
|
Manually |
|
Using criteria builder for configuring settings
While using the Add new rule or ADD CRITERION buttons, pay attention to multiple conditions and how they logically interact with each other.
Button | Logical Operator | Description |
|---|---|---|
ADD CRITERION | AND | A new criterion is connected to existing criteria inside the rule by logical AND |
Value | OR | Multiple values for a criterion are connected by logical OR |
Add new rule | OR | A new rule is a set of criteria, which is connected to other rules by the logical OR |
3. Configure scope management
This section describes how to configure scope management for Rally data source.
Definition of ready
Is used to configure what work items are considered to be ready for development for the project, so the affected metrics are calculated correctly.
Definition of work buckets
Configure what issues are considered as features, defects and debts on the project.
Defects work bucket affects all quality-related metrics based on data from release and task tracking data sources (defines work items used for defects tracking).
Sprint grace periods
Grace periods are used to adjust sprints lengths to the project’s specifics. See the affected metrics section to learn more.
Estimation & tracking hygiene
These settings define what work items should be estimated in story points or person-hours on the project, to manage estimation & tracking discipline on the project.
Filter and group sprints expressions
3. Set quality management rules
Invalid defects
This setting is used to mark defects that are IN-valid (thus actually NOT considered) by the team as the defects. This setting affect https://telescope-ai.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EPMDMO/pages/766178541 metric.
Top-priority defects
Define the attributes you use to label defects to be fixed in the first place
5. Configure on-time delivery targets
This step is necessary of you wish to use metrics to monitor commitments fulfilment, e.g. all critical bugs are fixed within 24h after reporting.
PERF uses information provided at this step to properly calculate metrics related to the productivity area such as follows:
Parameter | Impacted metric |
|---|---|
Reaction Time Target | |
Resolution Time Target |
6. Complete configuration process
To complete Rally Software configuration:
Click Save. The Run Data Load button appears.
Click Run Data Load to start data loading from Rally Software.
Rally Software specifics in PERF
The PERF application uses the following attributes originated from Rally Software:
PERF Attribute | Default Rally Software Field | What It Affects |
|---|---|---|
Epic | Parent | Capacity widget: roll-up of reported time to the epic level in the report for downloading |
Estimation in Original Hours | "Estimate" as an original estimate, "To do" as a remaining estimate. Assumption | Metrics measured in hours: Effort variance, Workload, Velocity: Committed vs Completed in hours, |
Estimation in Story Points | PlanEstimate Applicable for: Defect, DefectSuite, UserStory (HierarchicalRequirement). Non-applicable for: Tasks, Portfolio Items. | Metrics measured in story points: Velocity in story points, scope metrics, |
Fixed release | Release | Metrics by release: Velocity by release, scope metrics by release, Bug Growth by release, |
Priority | Priority (applicable only for Defects) | Target Fulfillment charts by priority, Open Bugs Over Time by Priority |
Severity | Severity (applicable only for Defects) | Target Fulfillment charts by severity |
Sprints | Iteration
| Metrics by sprint: Velocity by sprint, scope metrics by sprint, Bug Growth by sprint, |
Specific features of Rally entities
This section describes special features of Rally Defect and Rally User Story. If misunderstood, these features may confuse your expectations on how PERF metrics are calculated.
Defect
A Defect in Rally Software has two possible states: 1) taken from the field State and 2) taken from the Schedule state. PERF uses only Schedule state.
User Story
A User Story in Rally Software may have two parent work items at once: Feature and Parent.
Depending on a percentage of work items with filled Feature or Parent field in each project, PERF considers the field with the highest usage rate on that project to be taken as a parent relationship.