Overview of Program Management in Analysis

This getting started article will help users to learn about interacting with Programs using the TDNext interface.

This getting started article will help users to learn about interacting with Programs using the TDNext interface. The user must have access to the Analysis and Portfolios applications.

Overview

In the Analysis application, you can create programs to manage a group of projects and project requests. A program is similar to a portfolio, allowing you to group common projects and project requests together. Additionally, programs can be added to a portfolio to for multi-level organization of your projects and requests.

Features

• Projects and project requests can be added to a program from the project or request, or directly in the program. 
• Programs can be added to portfolios. 
• A project or request cannot appear twice in the same portfolio, and the system will warn you if a conflict is detected.
• One project or request cannot be counted twice in the same portfolio, and so the system will warn you if a project or request's programs and portfolios fields cause a conflict. This is explained in more detail under the Gotchas and Pitfalls section of this article.
• Programs have managers, start and end dates, and budgets. 

Limitations

• Programs cannot include tickets, issues or risks. 

Where to Find This

This feature appears, and is interacted with, in the TDNext interface within the Analysis application. Navigate to Analysis from the application menu in TDNext, then select the Programs option in the left-hand navigation pane.

Where to Start

Creating a New Program

1. In TDNext, navigate to Applications > Analysis.
2. Click +New in the toolbar.
3. In the New Program window, fill in the required fields.
4. Click Save.
5. On the Success page, you can select View the program you just created.

Configuring and Managing Your New Program

1. Within the Analysis application, click on Programs in the sidebar to refresh the Programs listing
2. Click the Name of the newly created Program
3. The Program will open in another browser tab.

You will now be able to configure your Program to include any existing Projects or Project Requests currently in the TeamDynamix system. The following options are available to you:

• General - Lists the basic information about your Program that you completed during setup. Click Edit to change any of these settings.
• Projects - Displays all Program-related projects to your Program view. Click +Add button to add projects to your Program.
• Requests - Displays all Program-related project requests to your Program view. Click +Add button to add project requests to your Program.
• Cost/Work History - Report on the Program Cost/Work History from this tab. This tab exists as an aggregate of items added under aforementioned categories
• Work - Report on the Program Work from this tab. Work consists of the Program itself, including Projects and Tickets

Gotchas and Pitfalls

Program and Portfolio Conflicts

The system prevents you from adding any project or request to the same portfolio twice, such as by adding it directly to the portfolio and adding it to a program that is included in that portfolio. Any time when you modify a portfolio, program, project or request, the system will check to see if this creates a conflict before it saves. If there is a conflict, an error or warning message will appear.

Conflict Scenarios

Scenario One – If a program is already associated with a project, and you try to add it to another project in that same portfolio, this will results in an error message. 

Scenario Two – If a project is already associated with a program in the same portfolio, it will not be available for selection on the Projects tab of the portfolio.

Scenario Three – Cannot cause conflict when editing a Project/Request.