OGIT - Gantt

We would like to inform you that this was initially developed for internal purposes to address specific needs within our organization. After recognizing its potential value to the wider community, we have made the decision to make it publicly available.

We hope that this plugin proves to be beneficial for your needs. However, we must emphasize that it is provided "as is", without any warranties or guarantees of fitness for a particular purpose.

We understand that technical issues may arise, and we want to assure you that we are open to addressing and resolving such problems. If you encounter any issues, please provide a detailed and technically sound description, that we might solve the problem in our limited time. But we cannot guarantee any resolution.

Intro

This Azure DevOps extension is a powerful tool that visualizes your project's query results in the form of a Gantt or Timeline diagram, providing a comprehensive overview of your project timeline. The intuitive interface allows for easy understanding of project phases, task durations, and dependencies, all in one glance. The extension seamlessly integrates with your existing Azure DevOps environment, extracting data to illustrate project progression and potential bottlenecks.

1. Navigate to your existing queries or create a new query
2. Navigate to the new tab "Show as Gantt"

With version 1.1, you now have the ability to create dependencies directly within the Gantt/Timeline diagram by connecting two items. This feature enhances your project management capabilities by allowing you to visually establish and adjust task dependencies in a more intuitive and direct manner.

Please be aware that the current version of this Azure DevOps extension may not deliver optimal performance in some scenarios. You may experience slower load times or delays when generating Gantt/Timeline diagrams, especially with larger data sets or complex queries.

We are actively working on enhancements and optimizations to provide a smoother and faster user experience in future updates.

Data

The Azure DevOps extension utilizes a range of data fields from your Azure environment to generate a detailed Gantt/Timeline diagram. Here's a breakdown of how it uses each field:

Duration: The extension uses either the 'OriginalEstimate' or 'RemainingWork' fields to determine the duration of each task. This is then displayed in the Gantt/Timeline diagram relative to a standard 7.5-hour working day.

EndDate: The 'EndDate' is determined using a number of fields, in the following order of precedence: 'ClosedDate', 'TargetDate', 'DueDate', 'FinishDate', 'FinishDate of IterationPath', or calculated based on 'Start + Duration / 7.5h'.

StartDate: The 'StartDate' is determined using either the 'StartDate' field, the 'StartDate of IterationPath', or the current date if no other data is available.

Progress: The extension calculates the progress of each task using several methods. If a 'ClosedDate' is available, progress is set at 100%. Otherwise, it calculates progress as 'OriginalEstimate - RemainingWork / OriginalEstimate' or 'OriginalEstimate / CompletedWork'. If none of these calculations can be made, progress is set to 0.

Relations: The extension uses the 'Parent/Child' and 'Predecessor/Successor' relations to determine dependencies between tasks and represent them accurately in the Gantt/Timeline diagram.

Color: The color of each task in the diagram is determined by the 'workItemType color' field, allowing for easy differentiation between different types of work items.

By leveraging these Azure fields, the extension provides a comprehensive and visually intuitive representation of your project's timeline, tasks, and dependencies. Please note that the extension's functionality is dependent on the availability and accuracy of these fields in your Azure data.

Current limitations

This Azure DevOps extension is designed to work specifically with saved Azure DevOps data queries. This means that you first need to create and save a query in Azure DevOps that captures the data you want to visualize in the Gantt/Timeline diagram.

Once you have a saved query, the extension will use the data from this query to generate the diagram. This includes all tasks, their durations, and their dependencies, as defined in your saved query. Please note that the extension cannot generate diagrams from unsaved or temporary queries, and it does not have the ability to create or modify queries itself.

This approach allows for a high degree of customization, as you can create and save different queries to generate diagrams for different aspects of your project. However, it's important to ensure that your saved queries are up-to-date and accurately reflect the current state of your project, as the extension will visualize the data exactly as it is in the saved query.

In addition to working solely with saved Azure DevOps data queries, another limitation of this extension is that it operates on a fixed working day of 7.5 hours. This means that the extension calculates all task durations, project timelines, and dependencies based on this standard working day.

For instance, if a task is estimated to take 15 hours, the Gantt/Timeline diagram will display this task as spanning across two working days in the project timeline. This is something important to consider when interpreting the visualized data, especially if your team works with flexible hours or operates outside the conventional 7.5-hour working day.

Data Privacy

This Azure DevOps extension is designed with a strong commitment to safeguarding your data. It only uses the data fields within your Azure environment to generate the Gantt/Timeline diagram and does not store, transmit, or use any additional data.

All data processing occurs within your local Azure DevOps environment, and at no point does the extension transfer data to external servers or third parties. The extension does not store any data separately from your Azure DevOps environment, and all data used by the extension is immediately discarded after the generation of the diagram.

Please rest assured that your data remains under your control and is only used to provide the functionality of the extension.