Overview

This artifact is prescribed by SAFe to define a long-lived self-governing system that plans and manages change to deliver value aligned with business strategy. Programs (Agile Release Trains) realize Value Streams.  They are where development teams and other resources are applied to important ongoing work efforts.

Typically, portfolio budgets are allocated to Value Streams and then Value Stream budgets are dispersed across Programs. In your environment, you or may not have a Value Stream artifact specifically defined, which is fine. In that case, the portfolio budget is allocated directly to the Programs.

To learn more, visit the Scaled Agile Framework topic program-level.

Artifact Template

The Program has a corresponding artifact template that can be used when you create a new Program artifact. The template reminds you about the things you should consider when defining a Program for your Value Stream or Portfolio.

[Program Title]

Summary

<Describe the Program in terms of the capabilities and value to the business and to customers.

Example: Provides customers with a fast, consistent banking experience online or via mobile devices. <remove>

Customer(s)

<Describe the customers that use capabilities provided by this Program.>

Example: Personal banking customers, small business owners. <remove>

Triggers

<Describe the customer activities that trigger usage of the capabilities delivered by this Program.>

Example: Open a new bank account, transfer money, check balances, check recent activity, bill pay, budget management, initiate loans, plan for retirement. <remove>

Inputs

<Describe the inputs involved in the trigger activities.>

Example: New bank account (with customer information), logon to existing accounts (with customer information), new loan. <remove>

Outputs

<Describe the outputs involved in the trigger activities.>

Example: Account opened, money transferred or deposited, bills paid. <remove>

Includes

<Describe the products, subsystems, applications or components that are included in this Program.>

Example: Bank Account Management, Retirement Planning, Loan Management.<remove>

Attributes

The Program artifact type defines the following custom attributes:

• Allocated Capacity - A real number representing the total capacity (resources) actually consumed by the Program in a given planning cycle
• Allocated Investment - A real number representing the total dollar investment actually required by the Program to deliver Features in a given planning cycle
• Budgeted Capacity - A real number representing the disbursement of capacity (resources) at the onset of a planning cycle. This is the Program "budget" of resources.
• Budgeted Investment - A real number representing the disbursement of funds (budget) at the onset of a planning cycle. This is the Program "budget" in terms of dollars.
• Owner - The owner of the artifact
• Status - The status of the artifact (see States below)

States

The Program artifact type has this workflow:

• Draft - Initial state of the artifact
• Under Review - Indicates that the artifact is being reviewed by the Portfolio team
• In Playback - Indicates that the artifact is being reviewed with stakeholders and customers for feedback
• Approved - Indicates that it is approved by the Portfolio team as well as stakeholders/customers
• Rejected - Indicates that the artifact is rejected and no further work will be done
• Deprecated - Indicates that the artifact has been deprecated and there may possibly be a newer version of it

Traceability