Introduction

All views and information are immediately accessible via the Agile Hive menu in the Top Navigation Bar.

The Agile Hive menu updates itself automatically based on the settings made in the project hierarchies, which are maintained by Jira administrators.

Usage

Click on the Agile Hive menu so that the fly out appears.

Here you can directly access the views provided for each SAFe level. The layers use different colors for better differentiation. These colors can also be seen in the context tab of your Feature.

The illustration shows a full SAFe configuration with four levels. To access an Agile Release Train drill down to the ART Level and select the desired ART.

Managing Planning Intervals (PIs)

With Agile Hive, PIs can be created per ART. The respective sprints / iterations are then automatically created in the teams.
The user who creates the PIs must have the "Manage Sprints" and "Browse Projects" permissions in all child projects of the respective ART.

Creating new PIs

1. Open the desired ART project in which the PIs are to be created via the Agile Hive menu.
2. In the reports view click on the PI dropdown at the top right.
3. Click on "Create new PI".
4. Fill in the fields of the PI dialog & click the "Confirm" button.

After creation, PIs can be selected in the dropdown at the top right. This means that every user can switch to past, future and current PIs in order to view the reports, Breakout Boards or ART boards of a specific PI.

Editing PIs

1. Open the desired ART project in which the PIs should be edited via the Agile Hive menu.
2. In the reports view click on the PI dropdown at the top right & select the PI which should be edited.
3. Again click on the PI dropdown and click on "Edit PI".
4. Make the desired changes & click the "Confirm" button.

Note: Only future PIs can be edited.

Deleting PIs

1. Open the desired ART project in which the PIs should be deleted via the Agile Hive menu.
2. In the reports view click on the PI dropdown at the top right & select the PI which should be deleted.
3. Again click on the PI dropdown and click on "Delete selected PI".
4. Select whether to delete all corresponding Sprints and click the "Permanently delete PI" button.

Notes

• All PIs including the current PI and past ones can be deleted. Be careful, this step can not be undone.
• Start and end times of PIs and Iterations are displayed in the local time of the currently logged-in user. Agile Hive uses the timezone information configured in the Jira user profile to calculate local times.
• When the last remaining PI on ART level is disconnected from its Solution Parent PI, either by deleting the PI or by disconnecting via editing, the Solution PI is going to be deleted.

Introduction

The Agile Hive ART Reports show an automated view of all relevant information about an Agile Release Train in a specific PI.

Usage

You can access the reports in the following ways:

1. Select the desired ART in the Agile Hive Menu.
2. Within an ART project, click on the Agile Hive icon in the project sidebar.

The Agile Hive ART Reports consist of a PI Selection dropdown and the following five tiles which are described in more detail below:

1. ART Members
2. Overall ART PI Progress
3. ART PI Overview
4. ART PI Objectives
5. ART Risks

PI Selection

The information within the tiles is based on your PI selection. You can access PIs via the dropdown at the top right.

As soon as you select a different PI, all information within the tiles is updated based on your PI selection.

The ART Members and ART Risks tiles remain unaffected. You can also filter for PIs using the search field.

The current PI is always displayed automatically.

ART Members

The ART Members tile introduces all ART members with avatar, name and role.
Clicking on the respective avatar takes you to the Jira profile view of a team member.

You can add new ART members by hovering over the tile and clicking the pen that appears in the upper right corner.

This opens the editing dialog. Here you can add new members using the "+ Add team member" button.

Of course you can also edit oder remove existing members.

Overall ART PI Progress

This tile shows you five easy-to-read metrics and their progress (except velocity).

Velocity

Based on the last five completed PIs, the average number of SPs of the ART's teams completed per PI is calculated.

The specific calculation is: Sum of the burned Story Points of all teams of the ART of (up to) the last completed 5 PIs / number of PIs considered.

SP Burned (Story Points burned)

Comparison between planned and completed story points of the ART's teams. The progress is also shown in percent.

Days Passed

Shows how many days the PI has in total and how many have already passed.

Business Value

The generation of the business value is calculated on the basis of the planned and the actual business value of each Team's PI Objectives.

Load vs. Cap (Load vs. Capacity)

Comparison between all scheduled story points and ART capacity.

ART PI Overview

This section lists all planned ART issues. The parent issue is also shown and can be collapsed. Without parent, issues are categorized in the "Issues without parent" group.

The progress (in percent) as well as the planned, open and completed story points are visible line by line. The overall progress is shown in the last total line.

In the team columns you can see which teams are working on which features based on the story points.

To change a team's icon, open the "Details" view in the project settings and upload the desired image. After that, reset the browser cache.

Filter issues in the ART PI Overview

To tailor the ART PI Overview widget more to your specific needs, you have the option to filter the data shown here using a JQL filter query. The textbox is an autocomplete field that helps you writing a valid query, as it gives you suggestions while you write your JQL clause. In the example, the issues shown are reduced to issues without parents only. But you could also ask for a specific issuetype, status or only issues with a specific team involved.

On the right side of the textfield, you find a dropdown with the available quick filters from the Primary Board of the current ART project. These can be applied to the data, too. They will be shown in the textfield and can also be altered or even chained together using the AND operator.

The filter query will only affect the ART PI Overview. Data in other widgets is unaffected!

Hide parent issue groups

With the "Hide parents" button, the issues in the ART Report can be shown in a single, flat list without being grouped by their parent issues. After toggling, the text will show "Show parents". This will restore the view to the standard view with issue groups.

Apply ordering to issues when parent issues are hidden

It's possible to enter JQL Queries in the autocomplete field which contains ORDER BY clauses. When the parent issue groups are hidden, these can be applied to the issues in the PI Overview. Then, the order from the query will be applied instead of the default WSJF ordering.

Be aware, the criteria must be applicable to the issues shown and also, multiple criteria might not work.

Shared Service Teams in ART PI Overview

If there are any Shared Service Teams participating in developing the Features and Enablers in your ART, these teams will also be displayed in the ART PI Overview section of the report.

To display their work, you have to follow these steps when planning the work for a Shared Service team:

1. The team's project has to be marked as Shared Service Team (Agile Hive - Getting Started)
2. Make sure, Story Points are set 
3. Use the Agile Hive Hierarchy Link to connect the team's issues to a Feature (i.e. Shared Service Issue is "Child of" ARTWIES-10)
4. The Shared Service team issue must be planned within the timeframe of the current PI, either by
   1. Assigning it to a sprint that is timed within the PI
   2. Setting the Due Date on the issue within the PI timeframe
   3. Assign the Planning Interval customfield to the issue type and select the current PI (The selectable PIs depend on the linked parent issue)

PI Selection

The information within the tiles is based on your PI selection. You can access PIs via the dropdown at the top right.

As soon as you select a different PI, all information within the tiles is updated based on your PI selection.

The ART Members and ART Risks tiles remain unaffected. You can also filter for PIs using the search field.

The current PI is always displayed automatically.

ART Risks

Regardless of the PI selected, all identified and open ART risks are shown here.

In the following, we will show you the four specific risk drop-downs with their options:

• #1 Impact / #2 Residual impact
  1. Unspecified
  2. Catastrophic
  3. Major
  4. Moderate
  5. Minor
  6. Insignificant
     
     
• #3 Probability / #4 Residual Probability
  1. Unspecified
  2. Almost certain
  3. Very likely
  4. Likely
  5. Unlikely
  6. Very unlikely

Impact and probability are combined as exposure for better readability. Same goes for residual impact and residual probability which are combined as residual exposure.

Introduction

With the help of an ART's Kanban board, the respective ART is able to collect, analyze, review & prioritize Features and other issues as well as hierarchically link Features with issues from a higher level like Capabilities (Solution Train) or Portfolio Epics.

Navigation

An ART Kanban board can be easily accessed via the Agile Hive menu in the top navigation bar. First click on the respective ART in the Agile Hive Menu. This opens the Agile Hive Reports. Next, click on the Backlog icon or the Kanban icon in the left project sidebar.

Link Features to Capabilities or Portfolio Epics

In the backlog view of an ART Kanban board, you can hierarchically link Features with higher level issues using drag and drop.

To do this, click on "SOLUTION" or "PORTFOLIO" in the panel column to open the panel. This panel shows the higher level issues. Now you can drag and drop your Features onto a higher level issues to set the hierarchical link.

Then the relation is shown in the Feature (PRO-3) as Lozenge (Compatible with An...):

If you have linked to the wrong issue, you can simply drag the Feature again to the correct issue.

Context

If issues have been linked hierarchically, this can be seen in the respective issues via the context tab.

All parents are shown and at hover also the SAFe levels.

Print Features & other Jira issues

Every Jira issue can be printed out with Agile Hive - either individually, in sprints or based on a JQL.

This function is used both during PI planning for the analog ART board and in teams that generally want to work with analog boards.

Print individual Features

Open the desired Feature and click on the InstaPrinta button on the right.

In the InstaPrinta Print Wizard, select "Agile Hive Feature" as the template and either click "Save as PDF" or, if set, click Print.

Print individual columns from the ART Kanban Board

Open the "Kanban Board" view of the desired ART and click on the InstaPrinta button on the right.

In the InstaPrinta Print Wizard, select "Agile Hive Feature" as the template.

In the selection field you also have the option to print only issues that are in a certain column.

Finally, either click "Save as PDF" or, if set, click Print.

Print issues based on a JQL

Open the Jira search, insert your JQL and click on the InstaPrinta button on the right.

In the InstaPrinta Print Wizard, select "Agile Hive Feature" as the template and either click "Save as PDF" or, if set, click Print.

Introduction

The following Jira issue types for ARTs are delivered as standard with Agile Hive (of course, Jira administrators can edit the standard configuration.):

• Feature
• Enabler
• Objective
• Impediment
• Risk

Creation

To create one of the above issues, click on the "Create" button in the top navigation bar. Make sure in the "Create Issue" dialog that the desired ART project is selected.

Based on the issue type selection in the dropdown "Issue Type", the fields displayed in the form below may vary.

Example: Only risks contain typical risk fields such as impact or probability.

After the issue has been created, it can be found in the Funnel (Backlog view) of the ART's Kanban Board.

Introduction

There are two ways to open a ART Planning Board:

Option 1

1. Select the desired ART from the Agile Hive menu in the top navigation bar which will display the Agile Hive ART Report.
2. Now click on the "ART" button.

Option 2

1. Select a team from the Agile Hive menu in the top navigation bar which will display the Agile Hive Team Reports.
2. Now click on the "ART" button.

This view is designed to facilitate a conversation between two or more teams, working out how best to schedule work based on the desire to fulfill the Feature outcomes of the interval.

ART Planning Board

The ART Planning Board is generated automatically on the basis of the PI planning. Teams are represented as swimlanes and herein you can view all planned ART work items, their dependencies and the time of the delivery.

The iteration and swimlane, in which the feature appears is determined by the Teams' planned sprints: 

• The issue appears in the last iteration, where the Team has planned child issues
• If multiple Teams work on the same ART issue, the issue will be shown in the Team's swimane, that is going to finish the last child issue
• If multiple Teams work on their last child issues in the same iteration, the Team with the highest Sprint ID will show the ART issue

Filtering issues on the ART Planning Board Board via JQL

At the header of the ART Planning Board Board, you will find a text input field that enables you to filter issues using a specific JQL query. It is an autocomplete field where you can enter any valid JQL statement.

• Sending a query filters the displayed issues on the ART Planning Board Board.
• The JQL query filters the ART issues in all teams.
• Team issues will only shown up, if they have an active dependency to an ART issue.
• If an filtered issue has active dependencies, they will also shown up.
• If a query does not return any hits for a team, the team will not appear.

Dependency Management

Agile Hive displays dependencies visually in the ART Planning Board and the Breakout Overview.

You can set dependencies with the Agile Hive Dependency Link:

• This link type links issues to dependent issues.
• It consists of the two link directions "requires" and "is required by".
• Link two issues with the desired link direction.

Understanding Dependency Health:

• A green line indicates the dependent issue is scheduled in a sprint before its dependency (healthy).
• An orange line indicates the dependent and dependency are scheduled in the same sprint (a risk).
• A red line indicates the dependent issue is scheduled in a sprint after the dependency (critical blocker).

You can filter the visibility of dependencies via the [...] button.

Virtual Dependencies

Due to the dependencies of team-level child issues, dependencies can also arise between the associated parent features without these dependencies being stored as links between the parent features. Therefore we provide a way to represent these "virtual" calculated dependencies.

If you enable the Virtual dependencies option, these are shown in dashed lines. The color of the virtual criticality at the side of a feature is displayed even if the checkmark for the virtual dependencies is not active.

The color of the virtual dependency is determined by the most critical dependency of the child issues. And it is determined by the sprint in which the relevant child issues are scheduled. So even if the displayed position of the features itself (which indicates the planned completion) seems not to be critical.

External Dependencies

The ART Planning Board is also capable of displaying dependent issues that do not belong to the ART or its teams. We call them 'external dependencies'. This means that external dependencies are displayed of other ARTs, other teams or from other projects, that are completely detached from Agile Hive.

In order to achieve this, proceed as follows:

1. Link an external issue from any Jira project (i.e. also from a Team, ART, Solution Train or Portfolio project) with either 'requires' or 'is required by' with an ART issue that has been planned in a PI.
2. The external issue must be scheduled in the current PI using the "Due Date" or "Sprint" field.
   a) Set a 'Due Date' for the external issue. (You may have to add the 'Due Date' field in the respective screen first.) The date must be within the PI period.
   b) Alternatively, an iteration from the date range of the current PI can be selected in the "Sprint" field of the external issue. 

This displays the corresponding project as a swimlane with the label 'EXTERNAL'. Within the swimlane all the dependent issues are shown with their individual dependency line and their due date.

Introduction

After ART issues have been prioritized according to WSJF and are in the status 'ART backlog', product management uses the ART roadmap to schedule those issues on a roadmap. This would be the procedure according to SAFe.
However, Agile Hive allows all issues to be planned, completely independent of the status or the prioritization.
You can access the ART roadmap of an ART via the Agile Hive Menu in the top navigation bar:

1. First click on the respective ART in the Agile Hive Menu. This opens the Agile Hive ART Reports. 
2. Next, click on the Agile Hive View Switcher and select the ART PI Roadmap from the dropdown.

As long as you haven't scheduled any issues or created any PIs, the roadmap is initially empty. For a first impression, here is an overview of what a planned roadmap can look like:

Before you start planning issues in the roadmap, you should have created at least one PI, otherwise it is an arbitrary planning that is not based on SAFe. PIs display directly in the roadmap and you can create them in the ART Reports or other views using the 'Create PI' option in the dropdown.

Working with the ART PI Roadmap

Adding ART issues onto the roadmap

To add unplanned ART issues to the roadmap, do the following:

1. Click on the Show unplanned issues button on the right.
2. This opens the Unplanned Issues sidebar.
3. To find issues faster, you can use a text or quick filter.
4. Now you can drag and drop the desired ART issues into the roadmap.

Scheduling ART issues
You can move planned issues horizontally and vertically in the roadmap using drag and drop. In other words, you can sort and arrange issues however you want.
You can also set the duration of an issue effortlessly. Hover over the right or left edge of a scheduled issue and drag the issues longer or shorter.

Measuring Progress

An indicator shows the progress for each ART issue in realtime. Agile Hive calculates the progress on the basis of the completed story points of the hierarchically linked team issues. The Today Marker makes it easy to see whether the ART issue finishes faster, slower or just right.

Filtering issues on the Roadmap

At the header of the ART Roadmap, you will find a text input field that enables you to filter the features on the roadmap by using a specific JQL query. It is an autocomplete field where you can enter any valid JQL statement.

Showing Milestones on the Roadmap

There are multiple ways to create Milestones and show them on the Roadmap.

1. Milestones are issues in the ART project and can be created via the Create Issue Dialog
2. Use the "Add Milestone" button in the right corner of the Roadmap. The correct issue type and project are already set
3. Hover over the ART Header to create a Milestone on the corresponding date. 

Showing multiple ARTs on the Roadmap

The Agile Hive Roadmap can show other ARTs' roadmaps below the main one's. This offers the possibility to plan issues regarding to other ARTs in the same Portfolio or Solution Train, for example. But also unrelated ARTs, i. e. in an Essential SAFe setup, can use this feature.

To enable this feature, you will have to do the following steps:

1. Find the "Agile Release Trains" dropdown in the ART Roadmap view's menu
2. Choose which other ARTs should be shown from the list
3. If the list is too long to show all ARTs in your instance, type the ART's name or project key in the text box
4. Select wich ARTs should be shown

Your selection will be persisted in your browser. The next time, you open the Roadmap for (in this example) "ART Wiesbaden Unit", the ART Paris Unit will also show up. To change it, simply uncheck the ARTs you no longer want to be shown on the roadmap view.

Caveat: This feature can slow down the application and impact the user experience if there is a lot of data.