Rally Software

Product Announcement: Blocking Portfolio Items

  • 1.  Product Announcement: Blocking Portfolio Items

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted May 13, 2019 06:06 PM

    We heard your feedback! You can now block portfolio items.

    Blocking Portfolio Items is simple and follows the same pattern as blocking other work items like User Stories and Defects.

     

    When you block a portfolio item, the portfolio item displays as blocked, but the associated work items remain unblocked. You can add a blocked reason as well, which helps communicate this state in more detail to all users with permissions to see this work.

    Please note, blocking a portfolio item has no effect on the child work items associated with that portfolio item and parent portfolio items.

     

    Below are screenshots showing blocked work items in boards and grids in the application:

     

    • add the 'blocked' and 'blocked reason' fields to your grid
    • click on the 'blocked' icon to toggle between blocked & not blocked
      • selecting blocked with activate the blocked reason which can be inline added
      • selecting not blocked will remove the blocked reason if one existed

     

    Notes:

    1. We are addressing a small defect, where the blocked reason is not displaying on the Portfolio Kanban Board. We will update this post with more details, once the defect has been addressed. --> A fix for this has been released.
    2. Please also note that blocked & blocked reason is not working on our older Portfolio Items page. This page is slotted for deprecation in the near future. Timeline to be communicated.

    Please switch over to the newer Portfolio Items page OR create this view on your Work Views page to see this data. Please see below for Work Views instructions.

     

    FAQs

     

    We used a custom blocked field until now. How can I update my portfolio items to show their blocked state using the new core ‘blocked’ field?

    Here are some helpful steps that your workspace or project administrator can follow:

    1. Navigate to Plan --> Work Views
    2. Select the projects in your workspace for which you’d like to update the blocked field
    3. Select the portfolio item types (Work Item Type picker), for which the custom blocked field was created and should get updated
    4. Select the following columns to add to your grid
      • Your custom blocked field
        • If your custom blocked field is called 'blocked', you might want to rename this first to make this process easier. This way it is easier to tell which field is custom vs. core when you select your filters. 
      • Blocked field (new Rally core field)
    5. Add a filter for your custom blocked field = YES
      • This will generate a list of all portfolio items that are blocked by means of your custom blocked field
    6. Select all portfolio items on the grid that need to get updated
      • You can set your page size to 200 and update 200 portfolio items at a time
    7. click the edit ‘pencil’ icon
    8. In the modal select the Rally core blocked field & set the value to YES
    9. Click APPLY
    10. Now you can go ahead and hide your custom blocked field for your workspaces if so desired
      • Please remove the custom blocked column & filter from your Work Views page, prior to making this update. We are in the process of addressing a preference issue with Work Views related to hiding fields. Thanks!

    Please open a ticket with our Support Team if you need assistance with these changes.

     

     

    How can I tell if I am using the older Portfolio Items page?

     

    • You are using our older Portfolio Items page if you see the 'Try New Version' button at the top of your page.

     

    How can I set-up a portfolio items view using the Work Views page?

    • Navigate to Plan --> Work Views
    • Select your project(s) by using the project picker on the page
      • Work Views supports displaying work items across dispersed projects within your workspace
    • Select the highest level portfolio item you are interested to see (e.g. Feature OR Initiative OR Theme)
      • portfolio items will render with full hierarchy if child items exist
    • click on the column selector to select the columns to show on your grid

    create a SAVED VIEW to access this page in the future