[Processdash-announce] Process Dashboard version 1.8 is now available

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The development team for the Software Process Dashboard Initiative is
pleased to announce the availability of version 1.8 of the Process
Dashboard.  To download version 1.8, visit:
http://processdash.sourceforge.net/


In addition to new functionality, version 1.8 includes the fix for a
recently-discovered security vulnerability which was present in earlier
versions of the Process Dashboard. Users are strongly encouraged to upgrade.
For more information on this vulnerability, visit:
http://processdash.sourceforge.net/security_advisory.htm


Version 1.8 includes these significant new features:

   - Several enhancements to the Work Breakdown Structure Editor:
      - Individuals can now open the team Work Breakdown Structure
      directly from their personal dashboard, via a new option on the
script menu.
      (The Team Dashboard does not need to be running, and the
individual does not
      need a Team Dashboard shortcut, to use this feature.)
         - This can be configured to open the WBS either in
         read-only mode or editable mode. The default is to open the
WBS read-only,
         for viewing purposes. To grant team members the ability to
edit the WBS,
         open the Team Project Parameters and Settings page for the
project, and
         check the appropriate box.
         - If individuals open the WBS using this approach, add new
         tasks, and save the changes, the new tasks will appear in
their dashboard
         immediately (a sync occurs automatically).
      - If an individual needs to perform a "Synchronize to WBS"
      operation, they will receive an alert shortly after starting the
dashboard.
      When changes to the WBS are saved, an automatic "Synchronize to WBS"
      operation will take place in the Team Dashboard immediately.
      - If another individual has the Work Breakdown Structure locked
      for editing when you attempt to open it, the dialog that appears will now
      tell you the name of that other individual.
      - The Work Breakdown Structure Editor now includes an expand all
      button on the editing toolbar.
      - When the Work Breakdown Structure editor is opened, tasks will
      initially be expanded and collapsed as they were the previous
time the WBS
      was viewed.
      - Backups of the team Work Breakdown Structure are now created
      each time the WBS is saved, and kept for 30 days. This makes it
possible to
      recover from catastrophic edits that are made to the WBS accidentally.
      - In the past, if you opened the WBS for editing, then lost and
      regained network connectivity, your lock on the WBS could be
silently lost.
      This would open the door for you and another individual to edit the WBS
      simultaneously, and possibly overwrite each other's work. This
problem has
      been resolved.
      - If you don't have permission to modify the files for the WBS,
      a warning will be displayed immediately when you open the Work Breakdown
      Structure Editor. Previously, the editor would open normally,
and you would
      only see an error when you attempted to save changes.
      - Bugfix: in the Work Breakdown Structure Editor,
      top-down-bottom-up errors would sometimes occur if the value in the Time
      column was only changed by a small amount. This error has been corrected.
   - Several enhancements to earned value support:
      - Drag-and-drop can be used to reorder tasks in the Flat View of
      an earned value schedule.
      - Forecast dates are calculated for every task in the EV
      schedule.
      - A new "Replan" column has been added to the earned value task
      list. This column displays the planned dates that would result
if you were
      to "replan from today." This column can be a useful tool for projecting
      completion dates in the face of schedule slips - particularly
early in the
      project, when the forecast dates are too volatile to be trusted.
      - In addition to the "Chart" button, the Task & Schedule window
      now contains a "Filtered Chart" button. This button will display
a filtered
      view of the earned value charts and statistics, for the selected
portion of
      the hierarchical task list. At the team level, this generalizes
the existing
      "Individual Chart" feature, making it easy to view earned value
charts and
      statistics for any hierarchical subset of the project.
      - On the "Combined" earned value chart, the "Actual Time" line
      has been replaced with an "Actual Cost" line. With this change, the three
      lines on that chart are now displaying traditional BCWS, BCWP, and ACWP
      metrics.
      - When you apply a label filter to the team project plan, that
      filter will affect all parts of the earned value report and the
week report.
      - Now, the weekly earned value report *always* has a "Next"
      hyperlink. You can move as far into the future as you like, without being
      constrained by the preexisting schedule boundaries.
      - The earned value report now includes clickable column headings
      for sorting data. Also, the "Weekly View" link has been moved from the
      bottom of the page to the top of the page.
      - If you turn of the "Assigned To" column on an EV report, it
      will also turn of the names of individuals in the task dependency status
      details. The resulting report should not indicate the name of any real
      person, making it safer to share with external stakeholders.
      - Whenever the status information for a task dependency is
      displayed, it will now display the dependent task's forecast
completion date
      instead of the planned date. (If the forecast date is unavailable, the
      planned date will be used as a fallback.)
      - When the Task & Schedule window is opened, tasks will
      initially be expanded and collapsed as they were the previous time the
      schedule was viewed.
   - Several enhancements to team project support:
      - It is now possible to view the rolled up time log for team and
      master projects. Time log entries from all individuals are consolidated
      anonymously into a single list, and displayed in a user
interface similar to
      the Time Log Editor. Time log entries can be analyzed by WBS
component, and
      filtered by date.
      - For convenience, many of the buttons on the Team Tools and
      Settings page have been replicated in the script button's drop-down menu.
      - It is now simpler for a user to add tasks to a team project
      within the Hierarchy Editor. A new task can be added with a single step
      (rather than adding a subtask then adding a phase underneath).
In addition,
      the Common Team Workflows defined by the team will appear as entries
      underneath the "Add Templates" menu in the Hierarchy Editor.
      - Many teams do not use the full list of phases provided by
      their team metrics collection framework, and the extra/unused
phases clutter
      their team project plan summaries and charts. The Project Parameters and
      Settings page now allows each team to select the set of phases
they wish to
      appear in team forms, charts, and reports.
      - It is now possible to define a defect type standard at the
      team level for shared use by the members of a team project.
(This feature is
      available on the Project Parameters and Settings page)
      - Overzealous internationalization logic in the dashboard was
      preventing the proper operation of team functionality for users speaking
      Spanish, Japanese, or Chinese.
   - A new "Quick Launcher" tool is provided for quickly opening a
   dashboard instance without making a shortcut first. This launcher can open
   any arbitrary pspdata or teaminstance directory you specify, as well as any
   backup file (such as the ZIP files automatically exported by individuals).
   The launcher can even find dashboard data in ZIP files inside another ZIP
   files.
      - For access to this new tool, run the installer, select the
      "Tools for Team Leaders" option, and create shortcuts.
      - To use the launcher, simply drag and drop a directory, ZIP
      file, or PDBK file (see below) onto the Quick Launcher icon.
Alternatively,
      you can start the Quick Launcher application by clicking on the
icon, then
      drag and drop files onto the Quick Launcher window.
   - A new option has been added to the "C > Tools" menu, allowing the
   user to save a backup of their data directory to a file of their choosing.
   The backup can be saved either in ZIP format, or Process Dashboard Backup
   (PDBK) format. (The latter format is provided as a convenience for
   organizations that have difficulty emailing ZIP files.) The resulting files
   can be opened in the Quick Launcher from any computer, at any point in the
   future, with or without network access, to view exactly what that dashboard
   instance looked like at the moment the backup was made. This new option
   provides several powerful uses:
      - Individuals can save a snapshot of their personal Process
      Dashboard instance, and send it to a team leader, coach, or
instructor for
      mentoring or other support.
      - Team leaders can save a snapshot of their Team Dashboard
      instance, and send it to a launch coach for mentoring / support.
The coach
      can open the resulting file with the Quick Launcher, see their team plan,
      open their WBS, and even edit the WBS - all without modifying the "real
      plan," and without needing access to the shared network
directory where team
      data is stored.
      - Team leaders can save snapshots of their *entire* Team
      Dashboard instance on a periodic basis. Unlike the current plan summary
      snapshots, these data backups capture the complete state of the
team plan at
      an instant in time, with full interactivity. This makes it
possible to open
      a historical version of the team dashboard, and see exactly what the team
      plan looked like at some time in the past.
      - A team leader can save a backup of their team data directory,
      then open that backup to perform limited "what-if" analyses, without
      altering the real team plan.
   - Additional enhancements:
      - A new visual indicator has been added to the main Process
      Dashboard toolbar, displaying the percent spent for the current
task. This
      makes it simple for individuals to notice that they are
overrunning the cost
      estimate for a given task.
      - For convenience, the dashboard's LOC accounting tool has been
      added to the Tools menu.
      - When a user manually enters interrupt time in their time log,
      the delta time is now adjusted accordingly.
      - It is now possible to select time log entries in the personal
      Time Log Editor or team Time Log Viewer, and copy these to the
clipboard for
      analysis in another program like Excel.
      - The PROBE Wizard is now displayed in a larger, resizable
      window to address width problems with the "Historical Data"
page. Also, when
      the user has mismatched size and time estimates, the final page of the
      wizard now includes a hyperlink allowing them to accept those
estimates and
      quit anyway.
      - A bug in the PSP(SM) for Engineers template was preventing
      students from adding phases to their Interim Report and Final
Report tasks.
      This bug has been corrected.
      - The injection phase of a fix defect is now initialized by
      default to the removal phase of the causative defect.
      - Bugfix: some users on Windows Vista were receiving an error
      when starting the dashboard, complaining that the time log file
could not be
      read. This error has been corrected.

Upgrade Considerations

   - Teams are encouraged to upgrade together. Some features may not work
   properly until all team members have upgraded, and exported their data at
   least once.
   - Teams using the built-in metrics collection framework will enjoy
   this functionality simply by upgrading. Teams that have defined their own
   custom metrics collection framework will need to refresh the
   definition<http://www.tuma-solutions.com/metricsFrameworkEditor.html#upgrading>of
that framework.

Download

For more information, or to download the Process Dashboard, visit:
http://processdash.sourceforge.net/


PSP(SM) is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University. The open source
team that writes the Process Dashboard is not affiliated with Carnegie
Mellon University.