It's all about the answers!

Ask a question

What if I don't want to set the Project Timeline? What breaks?


Nicholas Carbone (6168) | asked Feb 14 '14, 3:12 p.m.
I've seen several questions about the Project Timeline.  I can't say I fully understand it's purpose based on the help text and other answers in this forum.  My project area has multiple timelines.  The only difference between the timelines is the length of the iterations.  Therefore, no one timeline makes sense to be the ONE AND ONLY project timeline.  The team areas that wish to manage work items must choose one of the defined timelines.  Team areas that choose no timeline won't get to have any work items because I can control what categories they have available (which would be none).  I have several such team areas and the purpose of their existence is only to have a dashboard where widgets, etc. can be added to show any information they are interested in from across the project area.  Consider a high level management view for teams using different length iterations.

So, my question is...

What breaks if I don't have a Project Timeline?

It is certainly not required to have one defined.  But, I have run into some problems because I don't have one defined.  And I have been told that I should set a Project Timeline, i.e. to avoid the problem.

Until someone can convince me that there is a true need for a Project Timeline, other than to avoid problems (what I believe are defects in the tool), I don't plan to do so.

One answer



permanent link
Geoffrey Clemm (30.1k33035) | answered Feb 14 '14, 5:12 p.m.
FORUM ADMINISTRATOR / FORUM MODERATOR / JAZZ DEVELOPER
It's actually pretty simple.   You are allowed to use the project area itself as a team area ... i.e. assign it some users with specific roles, assign work item categories to it, and have plans for it.   In that case, the team that is using the project area as their team area need to have an assigned timeline.   The Project Timeline is what specifies what timeline is used for the project area, when it is being used as a team area.   Note that the main use case for having the project area be used as a team area is when you have only one team using the project area.   In that case, it is often simplest to just use the project area itself as the team area for that team.

Comments
Nicholas Carbone commented Feb 14 '14, 5:38 p.m.

Thanks for the quick response.  When I look at it from that perspective, i.e. not requiring a team area, that makes perfect sense.

However, our setup requires team areas to be used.  One reason is the different length iterations and the other is that we'll be using the Jazz SCM in the future and we need to control access to source code via the team area structure.

So, I'm still thinking that I don't need to have a Project Timeline defined, but I'm very concerned that I'm being told that I should have one in order to avoid problems that RTC has when there isn't one.

Further, if I do have a Project Timeline, then I don't believe I can define a plan that is owned by the project area unless I pick an iteration that is part of the Project Timeline.  Currently, I use my project area as the owner of plans for timelines shared by multiple team areas.  This gives me a full view of the information in the timeline, scoped across the team areas.  I fear that this setup will break with a Project Timeline defined.


Geoffrey Clemm commented Feb 14 '14, 6:27 p.m.
FORUM ADMINISTRATOR / FORUM MODERATOR / JAZZ DEVELOPER

If you aren't using your project area as a team area, it should make no difference whether or not you have the Project Timeline set.   In particular, I'm aware of no problems you will run into leaving that unset, but also, I'm aware of no constraints you will run into if you set it (for example, when the Project Timeline is set you can still create a plan for the project area and select any iteration from any timeline.

Note that you can control access to Jazz SCM source code even if you are using the project area as your team area (you can do anything in a project area that you can do in a team area).   But if you have more than one team using a project area, you almost always want every team to have its own team area, and not use the project area as a team area.  And even if you only have one team using a project area, it causes no harm to create a team area for that team.



Jared Burns commented Feb 14 '14, 7:52 p.m.
FORUM ADMINISTRATOR / FORUM MODERATOR / JAZZ DEVELOPER

+1 to Geoff's answer and comments.

Your answer


Register or to post your answer.


Dashboards and work items are no longer publicly available, so some links may be invalid. We now provide similar information through other means. Learn more here.