[Processdash-announce] Process Dashboard 2.3 is Now Available

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The Process Dashboard development team is pleased to announce to
availability of version 2.3 of the Process Dashboard. To download version
2.3, visit:
http://www.processdash.com/download

Version 2.3 includes these significant new features:

   - The main dashboard toolbar now includes an "Add Task" button. This
   makes it easy to quickly add a task to your plan without opening the WBS
   Editor first.
   - Powerful new features have been added for workflows:
      - The Workflow Process Analysis report has been enhanced
      significantly:
         - The report now displays an extensive collection of charts that
         show various process metrics, and demonstrate how those metrics have
         changed over time.
         - The report now displays information about the number of defects
         that were injected and removed in each phase of a workflow, along with
         advanced quality metrics such as phase yield and defect
injection/removal
         rates.
         - The report is now available in both the team and the personal
         dashboard, to enable data-driven process improvement at both
the team and
         personal level.
         - A powerful filtering feature has been added to the report,
         making it possible to adjust the list of components and tasks
that should
         be included in the various charts and tables.
      - A new editor makes it possible to configure process mappings
      between workflows. These mappings can be used to:
         - Document the evolution of a process when a team modifies the
         steps in their workflow
         - Combine data from several related workflows to produce
         consolidated process reports
         - Leverage historical data from old workflows for PROBE planning
         of new work
      - It is now possible to specify fixed times and minimum times for
      selected steps in a team workflow. To use this feature, click
the icon that
      appears in the top-right corner of the Workflow Editor (just above the
      vertical scroll bar), and enable the "Min Time" column. Then
enter minimum
      times as needed. (To specify a fixed time, enter a minimum for a
task that
      was otherwise assigned zero percent of the overall workflow.)
   - Significant enhancements have been made to defect logging
   functionality:
      - When individuals log a defect within a team project, the "injected"
      and "removed" selectors will now allow them to choose phases from the
      team's defined workflows. (Previously, individuals were required
to select
      a phase from the underlying metrics framework, such as TSP.)
      - The defect timer and the main timer now work more closely together
      to help you collect accurate data:
         - If you start timing a defect, the dashboard will start the main
         timer automatically. If the main timer is pointing at a
different task, the
         dashboard will ask you if you'd like to switch to the task where this
         defect was logged.
         - If you are timing a defect and you change the main timer to log
         time to an unrelated task, the defect timer will pause automatically.
      - When you create or edit a defect, you can enter URLs to external
      websites in the defect description. These URLs can be used to link the
      defect to supporting references in a corporate defect tracker, a
      requirements management system, or any other web-based system. When such
      URLs are present, a hyperlink icon will appear over the
"Description" pane,
      making it easy to quickly jump to the given URLs.
      - If a defect is logged to the wrong component/task, you can now use
      drag-and-drop in the Defect Log to move the defect to the
correct location.
      - When defects are imported from ReviewBoard, the description will
      now include the filename and line number that each defect was logged
      against, as well as a hyperlink to the issue in ReviewBoard.
   - Several improvements have been made to dashboard charts and reports:
      - The Team Dashboard contains a new "Project Data Scanner" report,
      which analyzes team project data to look for common problems and
highlight
      opportunities for improvement.
      - A monthly earned value status report is now available. This shows
      data in a format similar to the weekly report, but for an entire calendar
      month instead. It can be useful for tracking and communicating
progress on
      a larger, longer term project.
      - The Tasks In Progress chart now offers a customization setting to
      color discs by assigned individual. Enabling this option makes
it easier to
      see if a particular individual has a large number of problem tasks.
      - Since version 2.0.2, the Team Dashboard has provided automatic
      labels called "Completed_Tasks" and "Completed_Components". These labels
      make it simple to filter the team reports so they only show data for
      completed work. Now, these labels are available in the personal dashboard
      as well.
   - A mobile/smartphone application is available for use with the Process
   Dashboard. The mobile app works alongside the Process Dashboard, making it
   possible to perform a number of common tasks from an iPhone® or iPad®
   (AndroidTM support coming soon). (Note: the mobile app requires the use
   of the Process Dashboard Enterprise Server, version 3.6.0 or higher.)
   - The "Rate" column in the team workflow editor is only useful for very
   advanced teams (who have historical productivity data, and who are skilled
   enough to produce accurate size estimates during a launch). But even for
   those teams, its use is discouraged (since proxy estimation tables provide
   a significantly more robust way to produce size and time estimates). In
   recognition of these factors, the "Rate" column is now hidden on new
   projects by default. Teams that wish to use it can easily re-enable it by
   clicking the column selection button on the toolbar of the Workflow Editor
   window.
   - The WBS Editor now includes a "Collapse All" button on the toolbar.
   - The filter dialog in the WBS Editor now includes an option to show
   tasks that have not been assigned to any milestone.
   - The Relaunch Wizard now provides better handling for PSP tasks that
   are in-progress when a project is relaunched.
   - The embedded data warehouse now includes baseline dates and costs,
   project milestones, and task dependencies.
   - If the user starts the timer and then marks a task complete before a
   full minute has passed, the dashboard will now round the time log entry up
   to one minute if no time has ever been logged to that task in the past.
   This captures an individual's intent more accurately when a given project
   task requires a very short period of time.
   - The dashboard now provides improved support for individuals who work
   offline, or who experience intermittent connectivity to the team network
   data directory.
   - Fixes are included for a number of bugs.

*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.

*Download*

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


PSP(SM) and TSP(SM) are service marks of Carnegie Mellon University. The
open source team that writes the Process Dashboard is not affiliated with
Carnegie Mellon University. Neither Carnegie Mellon University nor the
Software Engineering Institute have reviewed or endorsed the Process
Dashboard.