Program Increment definition & Portfolio

[Pratik Bengali]

Hi,

When we define a Program Increment within JA, Portfolio is the mandatory field and owner (the portfolio to which PI belongs) of the PI Object.

from help - "Type the PI’s number, name, short name, and description, select the start and finish dates, the portfolio to which the PI belongs, and the PI’s status..."

Although, in the Programs tab on the PI, we could add Programs from multiple Portfolios outside of the PI owning Portfolio.

What is the significance of this mandatory Portfolio dropdown if I can add Programs from other Portfolios to this PI?

If we decide to share a single PI definition/object with Programs from multiple Portfolios, which Portfolio would be the one owning this PI object?

Please clarify

Thanks.

[Rae Gibbs]

@Pratik Bengali Thanks for your question! The selection of the Portfolio is relevant to know if Capabilities are turned on or not as Capabilities are turned on at the portfolio level. If a portfolio is selected that has Capabilities turned on, the only programs that will be displayed are those that belong to portfolios where Capabilities are turned on. And vice versa. If a portfolio is selected that has Capabilities turned off, the only programs that will be displayed are those that belong to portfolios where Capabilities are turned off. Hope this helps.

[Pratik Bengali]

@Rae Gibbs Thank you for your prompt response. Makes sense.

Having a mandatory Portfolio field on the PI gives an impression that the PI belongs solely to the selected Portfolio and the selected Portfolio's Programs only.

Your clarification raises another question though.

Assuming none of the Portfolios have Capabilities enabled. Which means, all the Programs, under all the Portfolios could be added to the PI, agnostic of the selected Portfolio correct?

And if that's true, which Portfolio should be selected? Does it matter?

Most of the views determines the Portfolio by the Programs selected, how would it impact reporting if a particular Portfolio is selected verses another?

Does it make sense to have a blanket or umbrella Portfolio without any Programs just to define the PIs if the PIs needs to be shared across all the Portfolio Programs?

Apologies for so many questions. Just looking for clarity.

[Rae Gibbs]

@Pratik Bengali The Portfolio field has no bearing except for that. If a PI is shared with programs across different portfolios, it will still appear in the PI Grid when selecting any of the portfolios. It would be customer's choice as to which portfolio they want listed. If there is going to be someone specific that is going to be responsible for creating the PIs, they may want to use the portfolio to which that person belongs. I would not recommend creating a blanket portfolio.

I think the bigger question is, why are PIs being shared across portfolios and is this the correct solution.

[Pratik Bengali]

@Rae Gibbs 

Is it recommended to have PI contained within the Portfolio, i.e; all Portfolios should have their own PI objects?

[Rae Gibbs]

@Pratik Bengali I raised this question to my peers in a meeting and there are advantages to sharing PIs across portfolios if there is shared work across portfolios, especially if there are dependencies between these portfolios. If portfolios are using the same shared services teams, it also makes it easier for these teams when PIs are shared across portfolios.

I also learned something around the Portfolio selection on the Details Panel. There is currently a bug open where the Estimation Method is impacted according to this portfolio selection. Let's say that you have Portfolio A using t-shirt sizing and Portfolio B using points. These portfolios are sharing PIs. Portfolio A is the portfolio selected on the PIs. When a PI gets selected on a feature in Portfolio B, it will switch its Estimation Method on the feature only from points to t-shirt. Here is the bug related to that.

[Pratik Bengali]

Thank you so much @Rae Gibbs 

My question regarding sharing the Portfolios for the PI originated due to a shared services topic in question.

This clarifies, and thanks for including the bug details too.

[Rae Gibbs]

Happy to help!