Portfolio++ for Azure Boards

Build Roadmaps across diverse Project Areas with the Portfolio++ extension. Create a single page view showing the status of related Project Areas, Epics and Features. You also get a quality check view that flags missing story points, tasks, and task hours.

Portfolio++ is built specifically for Enterprise teams, Program and Project Managers.

We are actively iterating on this project—in fact, we built it for ourselves. It’s been a game changer for us, and we hope it is useful for you.

Major Features

• Build Roadmaps that show Epics and Features in timelines across Project Areas
• Use Settings panel to select multiple Epics across multiple project areas within an organization
• Drill through Roadmaps to Backlogs via ‘Epic Status’ for Backlog quality assurance
• Generate Epic dates on Timeline (Actuals), or set them Manually (Planning)
• Show Roadmap views across Projects and Feature Timelines within Projects
• Improve Backlog quality through context sensitive error messages
• Make more informed strategic plans and decisions!

Create a Roadmap

Create a new Roadmap, then add Projects and Epics. Create as many Roadmap views as your organization needs. Select which Projects and Epics show up to provide project visibility without clutter.

Epics across project areas in one location

Show Progress Metrics

You can change which progress metrics show on your roadmap. Show Story Counts and use the Roadmap view for high-level discussions of team progress. Or Story Points and Task Counts for daily stand-ups.

Quality Check

Stop clicking through each Project and Epic Backlog to make sure Stories have points, Tasks, and Task hours. The Epic Status view finds the problems and gives you a button click to the Stories and Tasks to fix the issue.

Configuration Details

• Requirements
  • Project Organization Administrator is required to install Portfolio++
  • Portfolio++ requires Azure DevOps Services
  • Users need Analytics permissions; please refer to this document
  • Azure DevOps Organization settings for Boards/Process should be Agile
• Constraints
  • Roadmaps cannot cross Project Organizations
  • Roadmap permissions are managed through Azure DevOps Organization Settings, Roles, Team affiliations and Project Area access, i.e. if you have access to all the Project Areas in a Roadmap, then you can see it
  • In the Settings dialog, selecting ‘Manual’ requires that each Epic and Feature’s Start Date and Target Dates be defined
• Recommendations (Roadmaps work better when...)
  • All work items are “parented” up to an Epic
  • Refrain from type "nesting"; i.e. Epics that are children of Epics, etc
  • All User Stories in Iterations have Points
  • All Tasks in Iterations have Hours

Documentation and Help

Watch demo videos and learn about best practices with Portfolio++ on the iTrellis product page

Feature Requests

We are actively adding features to Portfolio++—help us by submitting bug and feature requests. We are excited to hear great ideas on improvements from the community. Reach out to us here.

9/8/2020 Release Notes

• 2517: As a user, I want to see same-type "nested" work items in the Feature Timeline view
• 2553: As a user, I want to refresh my view without having to leave the page and come back
• 2735: As a user, I want the labels in epic status to be more descriptive
• 2737: As a user, I want an enhanced Settings panel for Roadmap Management
• 2746: As a user, I want to drill through error messages where appropriate